Program administrators can configure time tracking for events and other activities to support accurate reporting and gain meaningful insights into participation within their community. This empowers group leaders to enable and manage time tracking for events and other activities, ensuring alignment with program goals and guidelines.
Note: While activities in the admin space often refers to polls, quick questions, and quizzes, in the context of this article, it refers to activities such as inviting new members for a coffee chat or preparing and sharing resources with your group to share awareness around a relevant topic.
Permissions:
- Program administrators control community-wide time tracking settings, including whether event and group activity time tracking is allowed and the default options for these features.
- Group leaders can manage time tracking for events and activities for their groups through the Group Leader Dashboard. They cannot change community-wide settings.
Configuring time tracking for group events and activities community-wide
Program administrators control community-wide time tracking settings to establish consistency across groups and define default preferences for event and other activity tracking. By setting clear parameters, program administrators provide a framework that group leaders can work within to effectively manage their groups and events.
To configure community-wide time tracking:
- Navigate to Admin > Platform Set Up > Time Tracking.
- Adjust the following settings as needed:
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Enable event time tracking in this community: Turn this on or off to allow or restrict time tracking for events. When enabled, group leaders will see an option to activate time tracking when creating events.
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Would you like the ‘allow time tracking’ option to be selected by default when creating an event?: Use this option to determine whether the Allow time tracking for this occurrence checkbox is selected by default when leaders create new events. This saves time and creates consistency, while still allowing group leaders to override the default as needed.
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Enable group activity time tracking in this community: Turn this on to allow group leaders to enable time tracking for group activities, beyond events. When this is enabled, the Track time for group activities option becomes available in the group actions dropdown menu.
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Set default group time tracking permissions: Use this option to define the default permission level (e.g., leaders only, all members) for who can track time for group activities. Group leaders can refine these permissions but cannot override the community-wide defaults.
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Enable event time tracking in this community: Turn this on or off to allow or restrict time tracking for events. When enabled, group leaders will see an option to activate time tracking when creating events.
Managing time tracking for activities and events in a group
Group leaders manage time tracking settings by visiting the Group Leader Dashboard for their specific groups.
Enabling event time tracking
If time tracking is enabled for the community by a program administrator, group leaders can activate it for specific events they create. The following steps show how to enable and manage time tracking for events in the Group Leader Dashboard:
- Go to the Events tab in the Group Leader Dashboard.
- Select Add Event.
- In the event creation form, locate the Allow time tracking for this occurrence option and turn it on or off as appropriate for each event.
When enabled, a time tracking record is automatically created in our system’s database for members who log their attendance, based on the event duration. Users can view all of their tracked time in their profile, and group leaders can view tracked time for all events in groups they are leaders of.
Enabling group activity time tracking options
If group time tracking is enabled by a Program Administrator, group leaders can manage who can track time for their specific group. Follow these steps to access and adjust time tracking permissions:
- Select the Group Details tab in the Group Leader Dashboard.
- Select the Actions button on the far right under the tabs, followed by Edit.
- Locate the Group Time Tracking section and select a permission level for who can track time (e.g., leaders only, all members, or no one).
Tracking time for group activities
- Go to the group you want to track time for.
- Select Group actions from the right hand side of the screen.
- From the dropdown menu, select Track time for group activity.
- In the pop up screen, fill in details such as How many hours and minutes would you like to track?, When did you participate?, and Who can verify your participation? You can also use the Additional comments box to explain what you did during this group activity.
- Select Submit when you have filled out all the information and a time tracking record gets created in our system’s database.
Using time tracking effectively
We strongly recommend establishing clear guidelines for time tracking to ensure it aligns with your program’s goals and structure. For example:
- Events: Enable time tracking for Employee Resource Group (ERG) hosted events, such as panels and workshops, but consider disabling it for social gatherings like happy hours.
- Group activities: Enable time tracking for activities run by Resource Groups but disable it for hobby or interest-based groups.
By tailoring these settings to your program’s needs, you can enhance reporting accuracy and promote consistent use among group leaders.