How to Get Technical Support
Telephone support is not offered at this time. Please review the Documentation and Frequently Asked Questions below.
E-mail questions to support tandtsoftware.com.
Documentation
Download Getting Started documentation here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is i-Volunteer Online? How does it work?
A: i-Volunteer Online helps organizations with the process of signing up volunteers for events. An Administrator first designs a sign-up sheet for an event with slots typically defined by stations and blocks of time, and then shares this sign-up sheet with potential volunteers by distributing a public link to the event. Volunteers use that public link to view the sign-up sheet and key at least their name and e-mail in one or more slots to volunteer. The volunteer then receives an e-mail from which he or she must click a link to confirm that he or she has in fact signed up to volunteer.
Q: Can I extend my 14 day free trial?
A: Your trail may be extended one time upon request. You may keep events you created for the trial when you purchase.
Q: How do I buy i-Volunteer Online?
A: Buy it online directly from T&T Software. Go here and press the button to buy either the Hosted Service or the Software.
Q: Can I change the URL that I received for the free trial?
A: When you purchase the hosted service you can request a change to the file portion of the URL (i.e. whatever.asp).
Q: Is there a way to organize the volunteer sheet other than rows and columns (because I end up with a lot of slots that I don't need)?
A: Currently this is the only way a sheet can be organized. You can optimize your events by giving thought to using more or less rows versus columns. For example, repeating s crowded time slot across multiple columns might reduce the number of rows needed. Disable slots that you don't need by putting "N/A" or a dash in the name field.
Q: How can I disable slots that I don't need?
A: Disable slots that you don't need by putting anything (such as N/A or a dash) in the name field. You must do this while editing the event logged in as the Administrator and don't forget to press Save. The Administrator can hide custom fields (i.e. fields other than name and e-mail) for specific slots by keying N/A in the field.
Q: How many volunteer slots can I fit on one event sign-up sheet?
A: There is no specific limit to the number of rows or columns, but a large sign-up sheet might open slowly on some computers and is more likely to confuse volunteers. Consider splitting a large event up into multiple volunteer events. We have successfully used sign-up sheets with as many as 150 slots.
Q: Is it be possible to report or export all events together?
A: Not at this time. The Administrator can report or export to Excel one event at a time.
Q: How do I send out reminder e-mail as events' dates approach?
A: Log in as the Administrator, select an event, and press the Reminders button.
Reminder e-mail will be sent out immediately to the volunteers for that event.
Currently you must repeat this step for each event that you wish to send out reminders for.
Currently there is no way to schedule automatic reminders.
Q: Can I put multiple headers above volunteer fields?
A: Yes. Alternatively you can use <BR> for a line break in a single header.
Q: Can I provide default values for fields?
A: No, not currently. The administrator can hide an event's additional field(s) for specific slots by keying "N/A" for the field's value.
Q: Can I see what date/time volunteers signed up?
A: The Administrator can see dates that volunteers signed up in the Report or Excel feature. Currently it does not show times.
Q: How do I remove a volunteer?
A: A volunteer can cancel themselves unless the Administrator has keyed alternative instructions in the "how to cancel" field for an event. When a volunteer cancels the slot becomes open, but the volunteer's name will remain visible to the Administrator with the word "canceled" appearing in red. This allows the Administrator to see who had volunteered until someone else signs up for the slot. The Administrator can remove or replace a volunteer simply by backspacing or keying over both the name and e-mail address from the slot and then pressing Save.
Q: What if two volunteers sign up for the same slot at the same time?
A: i-Volunteer Online will give the first volunteer about five minutes to respond to a confirmation e-mail before another volunteer is allowed to sign up in the same slot. If the first volunteer does not confirm, then another volunteer may sign up for the same slot and the original, unconfirmed volunteer will be sent an e-mail notification that someone else has taken the slot.
Q: Why is Export to Excel not working?
A: Save the file and then go to Excel and open it from there. In Office 2007 you may need to right-click the dialog where you should be given options to Open in a New Window or Save. Select Save.
Q: Why is a volunteer not receiving confirmation e-mail?
A: The most common reason for e-mail failure is because the volunteer misspelled their e-mail address. Also check to make sure the e-mail wasn't delivered to a spam folder (this has particularly been an occasional problem for yahoo e-mail addresses). If no one is receiving e-mail make sure your e-mail addresses set in the Preferences screen are valid, as well as the SMTP e-mail server. If your confirmaton e-mails are going to spam folders then try setting e-mails appear from to an address in the same domain as the SMTP server (if T&T Software is hosting your service then set it to confirm@i-volunteeronline.com). Use the Reminders button to re-send confirmation e-mails. Finally, an Administrator should review the event periodically to see if any unconfirmed volunteers should be contacted manually.
Q: Can we enter or confirm volunteers on their behalf and bypass e-mail confirmations?
A: Yes. A user logged in as the Administrator can enter volunteers (or disable slots) simply by typing something in the name field and pressing Save. Also type an e-mail address if you intend to use e-mail reminders and want to include that volunteer. The Administrator can also mark unconfirmed volunteers as confirmed by unchecking the box in front of "Not confirmed" and pressing Save.
Q: Is there a way to eliminate requiring e-mail confirmations?
A: Yes, however this is not recommended because doing so may expose the event to volunteering abuse or internet spam. This is also not intended as a solution for volunteers not receiving confirmation e-mails. Only use this feature briefly and temporarily for situations where your entire volunteer pool is trusted and sign-ups can be completed within a short period of time. For example, a meeting where the volunteer pool is present at the same physical location with internet access, but having everyone access e-mail is inconvenient. It is recommended that you turn e-mail confirmations back on after such a situation. Do not turn off e-mail confirmations if your volunteer pool is signing up from many different locations across the internet. To turn off e-mail confirmations first go to Preferences, uncheck "require confirmation by e-mail for all events," and Save. Then go to a specific event, uncheck "Volunteers must confirm by e-mail", and Save.
Q: Is there a way to disable online cancellations?
A: Yes, if the Administrator puts anything in the "How to Cancel" field for an event it will disable online cancellations for that event and override the cancellation instructions set in the global Preferences. For example, a day or two before an event you might want to say "Please call if you need to cancel at this time."
Q: Are volunteers' e-mail addresses safe?
A: Volunteers' e-mail addresses are only visible to a user signed on as an Administrator, and are only used by the i-Volunteer Online system to send system-generated confirmation e-mails. Once the Administrator deletes an event, all of the e-mail addresses for that event are permanently deleted from the database. If you are using T&T Software to host your database, each customer's events are stored in its own separate database. Furthermore i-Volunteer Online will never share, copy, or review customers' databases other than to support technical problems or to backup the system as a whole.
Q: Can we display our logo on the sign-up sheet?
A: Yes, use an HTML <img> tag in the sign-up instructions and reference your logo on another web server. For example: <img src="http://www.tandtsoftware.com/main/images/logo.gif" align="right">.
Q: Can we group or categorize events?
A: Each event can be accessed directly by a unique link (i.e. a URL that ends with ?EventId=someid) that is displayed for the Administrator and can be copied to any web site, e-mail, or online newsletter. This approach allows you to publish an index to your events in any way you like. Alternatively you can publish a link to a list of your events instead of a specific event (i.e. a URL without the ending ?EventId=). The i-Volunteer Online system displays a drop-down list of your events sorted by alphabetical order and then by date. So you can group your events by naming them correspondingly. Curerntly these are the only ways to group or categorize your events.
Q: Can we have multiple Administrators?
A: Currently there is only one Administrator login for each organization. More than one person can sign on as an Administrator at the same time, however they share the same password and have access to modify all of the organization's events. Although multiple Administrators can log with the same password, T&T Software strongly recommends that you exercise caution in sharing your password as T&T Software cannot recover lost events or volunteer information.
Q: If I purchase the hosted service is my data backed up?
A: The system is backed up as a whole by the host to avoid a loss in the event of a system failure, however at this time T&T Software will not be able to restore events or volunteer information that you overwrite or delete on your own. You can backup your own individual event information by running a Report or Exporting events to Excel. Be sure to review this topic in the license agreement (available for review in the online checkout process) when you purchase i-Volunteer Online.
Q: How do I get additional help?
A: Telephone support is not offered at this time. Please e-mail questions to supporttandtsoftware.com.
Q: Are you working on any upgrades? If I buy it now will I receive the upgrade?
A: Yes, a new system is in the works, however there is no time frame for when it will be ready. Current customers of the hosted service should receive any upgrade without any additional charge to their current subscription.
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