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Automating Hours Logging
Updated over a month ago

Sometimes, it can be useful to have hours logging automatically for your volunteers. This way, even if they forget to do it, the hours for that activity will still be logged and it relieves you from the strain of having to log hours for several volunteers/activities.

Everything that you set, regarding auto log hours, on Configuration >> Activities >> Hours and Timeclock Settings will be the default settings for your organisation.

How Auto Log Hours work:

  • Hours are logged for all assigned / assigned-and-confirmed volunteers for the shift (depending on the organizational-level Hours and Timeclock Settings for Auto Log Hours)

  • The number of hours logged is equal to the duration of the scheduled shift

  • The type “Automatic” is applied to the entry

  • The shift is marked as “Has been auto logged

  • The need for approval of hours is determined by the organizational-level Hours and Timeclock Settings

Important: Feedback Field information cannot be entered if auto logged hours is enabled. You may want to consider not having hours logged automatically when an Activity has Feedback Fields associated with it.


Auto Log Hours Organization Settings

Here, you can set how you want Auto Log Hours to work in your Organisation.

  1. Go to: Configuration >> Activities >> Hours and Timeclock Settings

  2. In the General Logging Settings section, go to the “Auto Log Hours Settings” and select the desired options:

    • Auto logged hours require approval: Hours that are logged automatically by Volunteer Impact require the approval of an administrator

    • Only auto log hours for confirmed assignments: Volunteers need to confirm their scheduled assignments if hours are to be logged automatically

    • When creating new scheduled activities, default the “Auto Log Hours” setting to Enabled: For new scheduled activities, the default setting for Auto Log Hours will be ‘Enabled’

  3. Click the [Save] button

Notes:

  • If Auto Log Hours require approval, you'll need to approve them so they can be seen on your volunteers' profile.

  • You can override these settings for specific volunteers (if you want them to have different permissions than the organisation default. You can do this on the Miscellaneous tab on the volunteers' profile under Volunteer Settings.


How to enable Auto Log Hours for a specific activity

Note: This feature is only available for scheduled activities if enabled for the organization.

  1. Go to: Configuration, then click on “Manage Activities” found in the sidebar under Activities

  2. Create or edit an activity

  3. Go to the “Basic Info” tab

  4. Check the box “Auto log hours for this activity”

  5. Click the [Save] button

If enabled, the software will automatically log the hours within a few hours of the end of the shift.

Important: If you have Auto Log Hours enabled AND also have Allow Hours Logging enabled, it may result in duplicate hour entries, since the volunteers may log hours for the activity that is already logging hours automatically.

Notes about Auto Log Feature

  • Auto Log Hours apply only to active scheduled activities with this feature enabled

    • Changing an activities active status:

      • if an activity is changed to inactive, all future shifts are set to the status of “do not auto log”

      • When an activity is re-activated, all past shifts will remain in the status of “do not auto log” and all future shifts will be marked as “awaiting auto logging”

    • Editing a current activity:

      • When shifts are added to an active activity that has auto log hours enabled, the same rules apply (i.e. past shifts will be marked as “do not auto log” and future shifts will be marked as “awaiting auto logging”)

      • If adding this feature to a current activity, past shifts will be marked as “do not auto log” and future shifts will be marked as “awaiting auto logging”

      • When auto log hours is disabled for an activity, all future shifts are marked as “do not auto log”

    • Volunteer scheduling changes:

      • Removing someone from a past shift that has had hours auto logged for it will not result in their timelog entry being removed

      • Assigning someone to a past shift will not cause hours to be auto logged for them

Important Notes and Warnings for Admins

  • An activity’s “Volunteers are allowed to log hours” setting works independently of the auto log hours setting. If both are enabled, volunteers will be warned but could create duplicate entries.

  • You cannot edit the start/end times of shifts that have been auto logged, either individually or in bulk.

  • If an administrator attempts to log hours for an activity where auto log hours has been enabled, they will be warned that, by doing so, they may be creating duplicate entries


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