[RC] AERC Trail Volunteer Hours Reporting - Jim Holland
The AERC Trails Program has been a resounding success.
Many AERC members, not just Trail Masters are out there working with land
managers, saddle clubs, etc. to improve and build trails, trailheads, and other
facilities for all equestrians. It is important for AERC to track the
many hours our AERC members contribute to this effort. We can use this
information to lobby for legislation, apply for grants, justify appropriations,
and many other purposes. In addition, the database generated can be used
in a wide variety of ways to track exactly what our volunteers do and where.
The difficulty has always been how to collect this information. Other
organizations, such as the Forest Service and Back Country Horsemen also ask us
to log work time, travel time, and travel hours for their records.
We are pleased to announce that Technical Committee members Russ
Humphrey and Mike Maul have provided an application on the AERC website to make
this a simple process for AERC members. As we have said many times and still
don’t say often enough, “Thanks, guys!”
OK…here’s how it works:
The directions for using and reaching the application are on
the “Trails” pull down on the AERC website main screen. (www.aerc.org) Put your mouse
pointer on “Trails”, and choose the “Volunteer Hours Log”
tab.
OK….now that you know what to do, here’s how to
enter your volunteer work.
Remember that you must be an AERC member and you must
“Login” to your member page on the AERC website to get to the
application. You won’t see it unless you do. “Login” is
under the last gray horse to the right on the directions screen and also on the
website main menu screen. Once you know how to use the application you
can login to your member page without going through the directions page.
If you have never activated your member page, you will be prompted to do
so. Once you are logged in, you will have a menu bar with a
green background. Put your mouse on the “Volunteer” tab and
choose “Volunteer Hours Reporting”. You will then be
presented with a welcome screen and a menu on the left. Read the brief
instructions and then click “Enter Hours”. You are now on a
summary page which shows all the entries you have made previously. (Initially,
it will be blank) To enter a workday, click on “Add New Hours Record”
in the center portion of the screen.
-You can only enter ONE DAY AT A
TIME. If you work multiple days, you must enter a record for each day.
-You can enter data, even for
previous dates, simply by choosing the date on the calendar at the top
-The first 3 files are pull
downs…..the STATE field should be WHERE THE ACTIVITY TOOK PLACE.
For example, although I live in Georgia,
if I work in Tennessee, the STATE field should
be Tennessee.
-You can enter information for other
AERC members from your login by entering their member number in the “your
AERC Member Nbr:” field.
-Note that there are two
“hours” fields. “Work hours” is the time you
worked that did not employ motorized equipment. Work time using hand
tools (loppers, pulaskis, rakes, etc.) are not “Equipment
Hours”. “Equipment Hours” are the hours you worked that
day using motorized equipment such as chain saws, weed whackers, backhoes,
etc. The sum of these two fields should
be the total hours worked that day. The reason for the
distinction is that “Equipment Hours” are more valuable monetarily
than hand tool labor.
-“Value of Materials”
would include nails, bolts, screws, gas, oil, boards, etc.
-Click “Done” when you
are finished, which will record the day and return you to the activity summary.
-There are required fields on the
data entry page. If you decide to abort without creating an entry, the
easiest way is to click “Enter Hours” on the menu to the left.
“Return to Summary Grid” will only work if you have data keyed in
the required fields. A future update will allow you to “quit”
using this option.
-At the Summary, click “Add New
Hours” to enter another day.
-Try to be as accurate as possible. You can edit your entries on the Summary page for two
weeks. After that, they are permanent.
I have requested that at least all the “hours”
fields appear on the summary page as a high priority update. This would
allow you to print a record of your volunteer hours for use with other
organizations. We will continue to improve this summary page. I
would eventually like to have some basic search/print capability for members
here. I will be working with Jerry Fruth and Mike to determine what
standard reports would be most appropriate to generate from the database.
In addition, we will eventually have the capability to export portions of the
database to provide query capability for appropriate purposes.
I will be the liaison for any problems, issues, suggestions,
or concerns regarding the application. Please drop me a note if I can be
of assistance. Your feedback is solicited and appreciated.
Thanks for all you do for our trails! In the words of
Jerry Fruth_ “Remember, all you need is a horse and a trail”.
