Assigning Role Books

[Awana@CBVB]

Note: This post was originally for the Legacy database. It has been updated to address the same issue in the Windows App.

The Awana Role Books are a great tool for training and I am trying to keep track of which of my leaders I give them to.  Having taken over as commander for a longstanding program and just implementing this db 3 years ago, it is taking some time to know who is certified and who isn't.  Currently, I am in the process of giving role books to all new leaders and any interested.  To keep track of inventory and fees, I am assigning them the book as a fee and waiving the fee so I know how much our club budget is going toward leader training.  However, what I noticed this year is that those that I gave out last year only show up when I look at the fees that were associated with the leader during the club year that I gave them the book. With 60+ leaders, I know I won't be able to keep track of who I have given them to over the years.  It would be nice to have an easier way to track that in the system.

I then got to to  thinking that it might be nice to have the role book assigned to the leader as a handbook, much like we do with the leaders.  There are specific steps (i.e. sections) that the leader is to complete in order to finish the role book and training to be certified.  This book would always be accessible under their Handbook tab, regardless of which year it was given out and we can then track where people are in their certification process. 

Off the top of my head, here are some of the steps we could include:
- Attend Orientation
- Attend Basic Training
- Complete Role Test
- Memorize Gospel Wheel (each verse could be checked off as a separate "section")

Upon completion of the assigned book, it could generate the appropriate certification pin.

Any thoughts??

[Annette]

I know this post is from last fall, but the topic seemed worth addressing as others may be wondering how to track the leader role books.

We considered the suggestion of adding the Awana Role Books to the curriculum. However, "attend orientation" and "attend basic training" should be tracked under Leader Training. The two components left are "complete Role Test" and "memorize Gospel Wheel". These can also be tracked as Leader Training.

Training records may be created under Leaders > Training History or from an individual leader's Member Form on the Leadership tab. Basic Training for each club should already be listed as a training item. Additional training items (such as Orientation, Role Book/Test, and Gospel Wheel) can be added under Admin > Generic Lookups. (In the Windows App: Admin > System Settings > Generic Lookups.) Under Category, choose Leadership Training. Use "click here to add a new row", enter the information, then click the check mark at the bottom to complete the entry. In the screen capture (Add_Leadership_Training, from the Legacy database), the new training items are listed once for the Awana club. Club-specific Role Books may also be added, similar to the Basic Training items.

Add a new Training record for a role book when it is given to a leader and mark it as "not complete". A note could be included indicating the date the book was given. (This will not track it for inventory/ordering purposes. To do that, it would need to be a fee that is waived, as indicated.) When the role book test is completed, the training record can be marked complete. Use the "training has been completed" check box on the top of the individual member's leadership tab to indicate when the orientation, basic training, gospel wheel, and role book are all completed.

Use the Training History tab of the main Leader list to filter and group records to check training status such as role books that are not completed.  (The note section would show when the books were assigned, even from a previous club year.)

[Awana@CBVB]

Thanks for your posting Annette.  I will look to incorporate this as it seems to address the issue at hand. 

Now just a few more weeks to finish out the Awana year and then I hope to have time to set this up over the summer.  I also have three secretaries to train which will be a high priority as well!

Grace & Peace,
Jason

[Awana@CBVB]

Follow up on this process...I took Annette's advice to do most of the tracking through the Leader Training tab under the Leader module. This worked well and was easy to manage.  I also recorded all the Awana Ministry Conference attendance here also (I had previously recorded it under events).

There is still one thing that I have found that using this method will not do...trigger a certification pin for those who complete the four steps in the training process.  This was one of the reasons that I thought using the Handbook idea might be better...in addition, if it was included as a "handbook" you would see their progress on the check-in module or in the Leader tab under "current handbook." 

If anyone knows how to make the db trigger an award (certification pin for each role book) when completing a training record for a leader, let me know.  If not, maybe considering that for the future would be nice. While speaking of the training module improvements, it would also be nice to have the same options as the event module when adding a training record; "Same Training New Member" or "Same Member New Training."

[Annette]

A few more notes on this for those using it for reference:

There is not a mechanism to trigger an award related to completion of the training. This may be difficult to trigger automatically since completion requires several parts. However, I think we could tie it to the 'training is complete' checkbox. Maybe when that box is checked, an award dialog could pop up and allow selection of an appropriate certification pin. We will enter this as an enhancement request.

Relating to the request for "Same Training, New Member", if there is a particular training item that all leaders (or all leaders in a specific club) need, here is how to do that:

In the Legacy database, those training records can be automatically added. Under Admin > Generic Lookups, select Leadership Training. For any items, like 'Background Check', that are Required, in addition to setting the Required status as 'Yes', also check the box to 'Automatically Add' the training item to a leader's record. Add any training items that aren't listed (such as 'Role Book'). When new leaders are created, the training records will be automatically added. To add the records for existing leaders, after indicating which records to auto-add, go to Admin > Database Utilities and run the Optimize procedure with "verify the auto-add Leadership Training records for Active Leaders in the current club year" checked.

In the Windows App, the training records are not automatically added; however, the same training item can be added to multiple leaders at one time from the main Leaders grid. Select multiple records, then right click and choose "Add Leadership Training record..." In the pop-up dialog, select the training item to add and click OK to add that item to all of the selected leaders.