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Glossary

Find here all the terms and concepts you may need related to Better Impact.

Updated over 2 weeks ago

A

Active (status) – Feedback Field If associated with an Activity, a value will be requested for the Feedback Field when hours are logged for the associated Activity/Activities

Active volunteer A volunteer is active with your organization, either as an applicant, in the process of being approved, or accepted

Activity Category Activities with something in common can be grouped together into Activity Categories

Activity Report Group A group of related Activities gathered from various Impact accounts within an enterprise

Activity Shift Template A template containing a schedule of regularly-occurring shifts that can be associated with Activities and used to add further dates to an Activity’s schedule

Activity The volunteer’s job, assignment, task, position, etc.

Administrator (role) A profile with administrative rights can create, modify, and delete any object in Volunteer Impact

Applicant (volunteer status) The prospective volunteer has just signed up and is about to go through your approvals process

Application Form Settings Organization settings pertaining to the process when a new volunteer signs up, such as whether or not they require approval, a message to be sent to them automatically upon signup, and your volunteer policies which require their acceptance

Application Form Prospective volunteers sign up to volunteer with you and enter values for Custom Fields and Qualifications that have been added to one of three possible application forms

Approve Once a volunteer moves from applicant to in process, they can have their status changed to approved, as per your organization’s orientation/approvals process

Archived (volunteer status) A volunteer is no longer part of your organization according to the reason (rejected, dismissed, moved, quit, deceased) given

Assigned (Activity) A volunteer has been assigned to perform an Activity

Assignment Removal Whether or not volunteers can remove themselves from an assignment for which they have already confirmed

Auto Lock An Activity or shift can be set to lock, preventing volunteers from signing up for it, once a specified maximum number of people have been assigned to it

Automation (Activity) The set of auto lock, auto assign and assignment removal options for an Activity

Available (Activity) The volunteer has expressed an availability for an Activity or specific shift

B

Backup List The volunteer has expressed an interest in an Activity that may be full (has the maximum number of volunteers assigned to some or all shifts). The backup list is associated with the overall Activity. Those on the backup list for an Activity will not be automatically be assigned to a shift should space become available.

Badges Badges are a symbol of achievement or proficiency for your volunteers.

C

Classifications When an Activity typically occurs, the area of work involved, who it would be suitable for, the daily/weekly/monthly/yearly time commitment required, community, and how long a volunteer is required

Committee A group to which volunteers can be assigned, enabling communication between volunteers, if desired

Confirmed (Activity) The volunteer has confirmed that he/she can perform the Activity on the date/time assigned

Custom Field Header Custom Fields that have something in common can be grouped and displayed together in a Custom Field Header

Custom Field Data can be entered and stored in text (short, long), number, date, yes/no, drop down, and checkbox fields and files can be uploaded

D

Date Logged When logging hours, this is the date that the hours were entered

Date Worked When logging hours, this is the actual date that the Activity was performed or worked

Description – post-assigned The description of an Activity that people will see only after being assigned to it

Description – pre-assigned The description of an Activity that people will see before being assigned to it

Description Extra textual details entered for a Custom Field, Qualification, Feedback Field, Committee, Email Template, or Activity Shift Template to further describe it

Disjointed (Activity schedule) An Activity that occurs on an irregular basis

E

Email Filter (search) When searching for a person, you can filter for those with/without email and/or a mobile number

Email Message Communication to people in the organization via email

Email Template Boilerplate text for frequently-sent email messages

Enterprise Edition A version of Volunteer Impact typically used by large organizations with multiple departments or divisions spread across multiple Volunteer Impact accounts

Exact Match (Qualification) A Qualifications whose levels (i.e. answers) are not listed in order of importance or significance

Export Generate a report to a variety of file formats (Excel, Word, PDF)

F

Feedback Field Additional numeric or text information that can be entered when an Activity is performed

Filter (search filter) When searching for a person, you can create include people based on status, module and whether or not they have email addresses in their profile

G

General Availability The generic days and times of day when a volunteer is available

General Interest A list of custom areas of interest

Group A single profile that is treated as if it was a group of people

H

Header Text Additional helpful text that can be added to headings above Custom Fields and Qualifications to assist volunteers in filling in the information requested in MyVolunteerPage.com

Hours When a volunteer completes an Activity, the hours worked can be logged by the volunteer, administrator, or via a Timeclock

Hover Moving your mouse over a button, heading or link (without clicking on it) will often reveal a tooltip or further information on the item

I

In Process (volunteer status) The prospective volunteer has applied and is currently going through your approvals process

Inactive (volunteer status) A volunteer is not currently active with your organization (short term, long term)

Instance (shift) The specific time(s) an Activity occurs

Interactive Sample Form You can find these on your Application Form Settings to see the example of your application form as it shows to volunteers.

J

K

L

Links For Your Website A link can be generated to any one of your application forms and placed on your website, enabling people to apply as new volunteers with your organization

Limited Admin Role Creating a Limited Admin Role, lets your organization chose which information a administrator has access to.

M

Mailing Label Address information that is assembled into a selected pre-formatted layout

Maximum (Activity) The maximum number of people that can be assigned to an Activity or shift before it will lock, preventing other volunteers from signing up

Message to Volunteers Specific organizational information that will display to a volunteer upon logging on to MyVolunteerPage.com

Minimum (Activity) The minimum number of people needed for an Activity or shift

Mission Statement Statement of the purpose of your organization, detailing your overall goals and direction

Mobile Email Message Communication to people in the organization via text message to a mobile device

Module (eLearning) This is where you add content to your training material

Module (Miscellaneous) There are several modules on Better Impact (Volunteer, Administrator, Donor, Client, Member). You can learn more about these here: https://www.betterimpact.com/

MyImpactpage.com Volunteers use this page to sign up for Activities and log hours

N

News You can use News to communicate with your users and/or other admins.

O

Occurrence (shift / template) A single shift or instance of an Activity, indicating the date and time

One Time (Activity schedule) An Activity that occurs once only

Organization A single Volunteer Impact account (can also be referred to as sub-account)

P

Phone List A report listing volunteers, their contact telephone numbers and call time preferences

Profile Information about a person (volunteer, administrator) containing contact details, Custom Field and Qualification values, Activity schedule, hours logged and other miscellaneous information

Public People who are not associated with your organization as volunteers or administrators are referred to as the “public”

Q

Qualification Level The answers associated with a Qualification

Qualification A single response (level) can be selected from a list as data for the volunteer’s profile

Qualified (Activity) According the Qualification levels in the profile, the volunteer possesses the minimum requirements to perform a specific Activity

R

Ranked (Qualification) A Qualifications whose levels (i.e. answers) are listed in order of importance or significance

Recurrence (Activity) Settings pertaining to how often an Activity occurs such as once every one/two/three/four weeks

Recurring Pattern (Activity schedule) An Activity that occurs on a regular basis

S

Saved Search The ability to save the search options used for a specific menu item

Scheduled (Activity) An Activity that has specific dates and times associated with it

Scheduling Gap The difference between the number of people confirmed for the assignment and the minimum number of people needed for the assignment (i.e. Minimum Number Needed minus Number Confirmed)

Search Criteria When searching for a person, you can create conditions upon which to retrieve profile information based on contact information, General Interests, availability, Custom Fields, Qualifications, Activity assignments, etc.

Search Results The list of people retrieved by a search

Seasonal (Activity schedule) An Activity that has no time associated with it and is performed on the volunteer’s own time, but only occurs between two dates

Security (Role) Filter (search) When searching for a person, you can filter for volunteers, administrators or all people

Self-Scheduling An Activity can be set so that all, qualified or no volunteers are assigned to it automatically when they express an availability

Shift (instance) A single occurrence or instance of an Activity, indicating the date and time

Signed Up (Activity) The volunteer has expressed an availability for an Activity or specific shift

Signup Cutoff (Activity) The time interval before an Activity begins when no further volunteers may declare that they are available (i.e. sign up)

Standard Edition A version of Volunteer Impact typically used by small to medium sized organizations, with information in a single account

Status Filter (search) When searching for a person, you can create include people based on whether or not they are active, inactive, or archived (and the various reasons, where applicable)

Status Updates Section enabling administrators to approve new volunteers or values entered for Custom Fields / Qualifications / hours, monitor expired and expiring Qualifications, recognition messages listing birthdays and anniversaries of service

Sub-account Also referred to as "Organisation", is a single Better Impact account.

T

Timeclock A facility enabling volunteers to sign in, select the Activity they are going to be working, and have their hours accumulated automatically

U

Unscheduled / No Schedule (Activity) An Activity that has no date or time associated with it

V

Visibility (Activity) Options that indicate who can see an Activity include only those signed up / assigned / on the backup list for the Activity, members of the public, and volunteers (either qualified and/or with a specific status)

Volunteer (role) A profile with volunteer rights can edit his/her profile, sign up for Activities and log hours (where permitted) in MyVolunteerPage.com

Volunteer Impact Administrators use Volunteer Impact to manage volunteers, Activities, schedules, and hours

Volunteer Permissions Whether or not a Custom Field or Qualification is visible to a volunteer and if a value can be entered/updated with or without administrative approval

Volunteer Policies A list of policies, guidelines, expectations etc. that can be displayed to potential volunteers when they are signing up with your organization

W

X

Y

Z

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