Within VolunteerMatters your contact records can be assigned an Attendance ID. This is a unique ID that will be encoded in a barcode to identify a specific contact record. This ID field is only used in conjunction with VolunteerMatters Attendance Tools. Though they may be populated with the same values, this ID field is entirely separate from the membership ID field.
Closerware’s recommended approach is to utilize pre-printed keychain ID tags for your membership. You can buy the key tags from Closerware in blocks of 500 with sequential Attendance IDs. You can then assign a specific key tag to a contact. This provides numerous benefits.
- Key tags are similar to those for bookstores, fitness centers, and grocery stores. They attach to your keychain and are more likely to be with you when attending events, programs, or facilities.
- Key tags are easier to replace. If a contact loses their key tag, you can just pick another from inventory and assign its unique code to that contact.
- Contacts can self-activate their Attendance ID to facilitate assignments
- They are much less expensive to produce
Assigning Attendance IDs
- An administrator can manually edit a contact record. This is typically most useful when assigning relatively few IDs to new members, transfers, or for replacement key tags.
- A contact can update the Attendance ID field via their ‘My Profile’ screen. This is very useful when assigning IDs in mass to your contacts. For example, you could simply distribute key tag IDs to your members and instruct each contact to visit the ‘My Profile’ section of the website, edit their core contact data, and type in the unique ID on the key tag they were given to “activate” the ID.
To track activations, your administrators can run reports and filter email and letter merges to only include those contacts who have yet to activate their ID card (contact records where Attendance ID is empty). The scans for those members who use the card before activating it will not be lost. As soon as they do activate the ID all previous scans associated with that ID will now be associated with the contact. - You can bulk import Attendance ID values via a “member update import”. The import file itself only requires one column for the contact’s membership ID and a second column for their Attendance ID. You can make all assignments in a single spreadsheet then upload the assignments in mass.
Barcode Reports
There are two reports that may include a barcode encoded with each contact’s Attendance ID. The first is a “Sign-In Sheet” report. This report can include contact name, status, a space for signature, time in and time out columns, and the contact’s Attendance ID barcode. This can be used for those events where a portable scanning device is not available or as a backup to a contact forgetting their ID. The sign-in sheet could be scanned at a later date/time to record an individual’s attendance.
The second is a “Member Attendance Sheet” report. This report produces a PDF file that can be printed on Avery 5160 or compatible labels to be adhered to existing ID cards, name badges, or other items.
NOTE: Depending on your printer, ink, quality of paper, and other factors, self-printing of barcodes is not always 100% predictable. Closerware highly recommends testing barcode output with a portable scanning device prior to use in a real-time environment. Additionally, paper-based barcodes tend to wear over time, so if they are to be re-used there is a higher probability that they will not be recognized by the scanning device. We strongly recommend the primary use of PCV/Plastic key tag IDs only relying on paper-based barcodes as a secondary scan method.
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