1. 1 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – to make life easy Introduction to VMIS Tax-Aide’s Volunteer (& Site Data) Management Information System Stan Marshall, Jr. Administration Specialist Maine State Coordinator Presentation

2. 2 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Getting Started AARP ITS Help Desk 1-888-925-2002 helpdesk@aarp.org Hours of Operation Monday–Saturday 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM, EST

3. 3 Regional Conference - 2009 Signing on to VMIS  www.access.aarp.org (set up a hotlink) www.access.aarp.org  1 st User Name/Password gets you through the AARP firewall  2 nd User Name/Password gets you into VMIS  To start both passwords will be identical Before being assigned a password there is a brief orientation to the nature of VMIS and confidentiality.

4. 4 Regional Conference - 2009

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6. 6 Sign on to get through AARP firewall

7. 7 Regional Conference - 2009 If you are impatient …

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9. 9 Select to enter VMIS system

10. 10 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS logon User Name & Password

11. 11 Regional Conference - 2009 When your password doesn’t “take” … Reenter the password – it will be ok. If you care about the time zone – better change it! Otherwise report times will show as unusual hours.

12. 12 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS Home Screen Site Locator – Same as Sites - View This IS homeMy Report Docs provides data output as PDF or Excel Log off VMIS Log off AARP For National Staff Use ONLY Statement of Policy Change password *** * - non-functional VMIS Reference Manual 2006 – in small bites Activity Reporting UTS Upload

13. 13 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – That’s the BIG picture Viewing Data Volunteers Sites Creating Reports ADS’s can also enter and edit data.

14. 14 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – View Volunteer Information Enter a: Volunteer ID Or First & Last Name & State Or Supervisor name Beware – Entering only State brings up people with no active Tax-Aide assignment. Complete request with SUBMIT. For some states - Enter first letter of state and then arrow keys. Then Tab to a blank field and Enter.

15. 15 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – View Volunteer Information Searching for Stan. He is a Maine Counselor

16. 16 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – View Volunteer Information Where’s Stan? 11 pages in. Entering a last name and state will likely produce a manageable list.

17. 17 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – View Volunteer Information To leave a record - use the browser back button, or place cursor over a menu choice

18. 18 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – View Site Information The approach to viewing Site Information is the same as for Volunteer information Place the cursor over Sites/View and left click.

19. 19 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – View Site Information Entering a DC or LC Volunteer ID brings up all corresponding sites. Entering a City and State brings up all corresponding sites.

20. 20 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – View Site Information This is the same information provided in a Site Dump report.

21. 21 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports There are three types of reports: Volunteer lists Site lists Site Activity Reports These both have the same selection criteria screen. The only difference is the report title. Volunteer Reports include: Leadership Roster (Also on side bar under Help) All Volunteer Roster (Also on side bar under Help) Inactive Volunteers Volunteer Ad hoc Report Start Year Validation Report

22. 22 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports ME1 Leadership roster can be for a specified supervisor or for a specified split state. Versions can be saved for repetitive requests for reports. The option to Overwrite Existing Version only applies to the PDF Version. Generally the Volunteer or Tax Aide Information choices will be sufficient When executed the report will appear in the My Report Docs section with an Email to announce its arrival. Don’t open the email. Go directly to My Report Docs. Reports are in PDF and/or Excel formats. Show Advanced Page allows control of data retention.

23. 23 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports When a report request has been received VMIS will issue the message shown above. Reports are ordinarily available within 5 minutes of making a request, and prior to receiving a confirming Email. Do not select the web link shown in the Email. It is only for AARP employees. REMEMBER – The report will be available in My Report Docs section at the top of the Home screen.

24. 24 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports The My Report Docs menu has been changed to provide several optional views. Filters allow restricting which reports are displayed. View options default is - Categories Other Views: Details Icons List

25. 25 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports View option Details is the most compact display. When holding the mouse over the report icon (on the left) three choices become available: View doc, Delete, Details. In the Categories view double clicking the report title will open the report. In this example Filter is set On. Latest Version Only can save space. The other choices do not provide any useful function. Use Apply to change filter conditions.

26. 26 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports - PDF and Excel Outputs PDF version is comparable to the paper records available prior to VMIS being available on the web. It is easy to read. The Excel version is susceptible to editing using Excel commands including: Freeze Panes, Filter, Sort, Hide Rows and Hide Columns along with others to generate a compact, useful report. Notice that Site Activity & Volunteer reports are initially generated in both PDF and Excel. Site Reports (except Site Dump) are initially generated only in PDF and must be converted to Excel format using Search. Site Dump defaults to Excel. To return to the Home Page select VMIS HOME at the top right.

27. 27 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Create Reports - Activity Reports VMIS has been developed in stages by multiple IT staff with numerous “improvements” being added over several years. The result is “clunkiness” – uneven approaches to producing results. VolunteersPDFExcelPreliminary Result Leadership RosterYES All Volunteer RosterYES Volunteer Ad HocNOYES Sites Sites with CoordinatorsYESNOYES Sites w/o CoordinatorsYESNOYES Site DumpNOYES Non-ApprovalYES

28. 28 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Create Reports - Activity Reports VMIS has been developed in stages by multiple IT staff with numerous “improvements” being added over several years. The result is “clunkiness” – uneven approaches to producing results. VolunteersPDFExcelPreliminary Result Leadership RosterYES All Volunteer RosterYES Inactive VolunteersYESNOYES Volunteer Ad HocNOYES Start Year ValidationYES Sites Sites with CoordinatorsYESNOYES Sites w/o CoordinatorsYESNOYES Site DumpNOYES Non-ApprovalYES

29. 29 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Create Reports - Activity Reports Site Activity ReportsPDFExcel National Flash ReportYESNO State/District/Local FlashYESNO Site Activity National ReportYES Site Activity Dump ReportYESOPTION DC Non-Approval ReportYES

30. 30 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports PDF File Output – Leadership Roster Example To move from page to page use First Prev. Next Last Or enter a page number. The on-screen page size can be adjusted as required using the 100% window. The report can be prepared for printing using the Download option. Not functional Not functional – need to Download and then print This feature allows producing reports with only selected fields saved in Excel. To leave the report menu click “x.” This offers help with Crystal Reports – Hope you do not need it! Download can be used to View or Save a report in PDF format.

31. 31 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – PDF Output by selecting Download To get a conventional report in PDF format select the PDF option BUT – be sure to select the All radio button rather than the default Current Page. The other formats offered provide substantially the same result as the PDF output. Then print from View Report for immediate output or Save Report and print later using the saved file. An Excel file, produced at the same time as the PDF file, is immediately available in My Report Docs without the necessity of using this option to provide usable data. Using the View Report option will provide a printable report from the screen. After saving to a disk or thumb drive, print the report.

32. 32 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – PDF Direct to Excel Selecting the Excel Data Display output from the Download option, and then saving to a file, provides an editable report ordered by default by SC and then DC. Page breaks in the PDF format are lost. Generally this is a less useful output format than using Search to convert to Excel and modifying the page column layout gaining increased information on a page.

33. 33 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Excel Output This is the RAW form of the Leadership Roster in Excel as provided in My Report Docs. Although data may look forbidding, it is extremely useful as the data can be manipulated using basic Excel commands. This is the form of the report I find to be most useful as I can hide columns, to display only what is needed, sort by DC or another field, and filter to create specialized reports containing only some of the data such as one DC, or only DC’s. The key to its value is in becoming familiar with several Excel commands.

34. 34 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Excel Output Here is a list of DC’s with volunteer ID, mailing address, phone number, and Email address. My Email list came from copying this list to my Email address book. My DC’s Volunteer ID # report came from reorganizing this file. There will be more information about using Excel formatting commands, for those who are interested, in the evening tutorial session. This is the same as the previous slide after editing for readability.

35. 35 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports Note – The PDF file is saved in the Tax Aide directory with the name - 080624 Leadership Roster A note about windows directories – My preference is to segregate all Tax Aide activity on my computer – I use a few subdirectories within the Tax Aide directory. C:\Tax Aide Files are named in a way to make searching easy. YYMMDD ranks files with similar names in order using either date or alphabetical sorts. To have a copy on your hard drive Save a Copy. By default reports are saved only for 90 days in VMIS! Better to save on report creation

36. 36 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Inactive volunteers You have the basics with respect to generating reports. 1. Select a report from the menus. 2. Go to My Report Docs to retrieve the report 3. Produce the report in PDF or Excel to extract required data.

37. 37 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Inactive Volunteers Confession time! I have never used this option because it has never been needed. The determination of search criteria is complex and the results are awkward. The on- line training manual has details for those who are interested. Click Help in the top blue bar of the VMIS screen to open the on-line training manual.

38. 38 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Volunteer Ad Hoc Report This report offers flexibility in data selection and indexing. It is available only in Excel which avoids having to convert a PDF file.

39. 39 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Ad Hoc Report This report request form – with additional criteria on the following page – allows flexible data selection and sorting of the results. Reports must be requested using the Submit option. The output is only in Excel.

40. 40 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Ad Hoc Report As usual, select the Submit button when criteria have been defined. Here are sorting options

41. 41 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Sites With Coordinators Site information reports can be prepared in three ways as listed. Sites with Coordinators reports provide all recorded VMIS information.

42. 42 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Sites With Coordinators This report provides several sort criteria which can be helpful in preparing reports ordered by DC, then city, or some other criteria. Status - Select Active unless you want all categories. Available index field criteria

43. 43 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Sites With Coordinators This is the Sites with Coordinators report in PDF format – as was provided in printed form prior to ADS’s use of VMIS. A report to be edited in Excel can be created by using the Download option in My Report Docs and saving the file.

44. 44 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Site Reports – in Excel Fields that can be edited are identified by a shaded area (when selected with one left click) and added to the field list. They can be deleted by returning to the selected field and clicking again. The Excel report is in the order shown at the left. Select Search Now to generate the report.

45. 45 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Site Reports – in Excel Select the MS Excel File option and then Go When asked Save the file. Using Search to convert from PDF may have value if only a few of the available fields are required for the desired report.

46. 46 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Sites With Coordinators This is a Sites With Coordinators report in raw Excel format before being prepared for distribution. After sorting by DC it will be a useful means of asking DC’s to update site information where they can make changes in bold or color and return the report for VMIS updating. Fortunately LC’s & DC’s can now make changes to variable site data. Training your volunteers can save your ADS a lot of time and make information widely available quickly.

47. 47 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Sites Without Coordinators This is the same report as the Sites With Coordinators report but NOT INCLUDING the names of the coordinators.

48. 48 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Sites Without Coordinators The selection criteria are the same as for Sites with Coordinators report. Status - Select Active unless you want all categories.

49. 49 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Sites Without Coordinators Results preview screen. Shows number of resultsShows number of printed pagesContinue executes PDF report generation Use the browser back arrow to return to the prior screen and NOT execute the report.

50. 50 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Site Dump

51. 51 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Site Dump Site Dump Report downloaded in PDF format. You may not want to print a large file. IMPORTANT: To return to the menu use the Previous Page Icon at the top left of the screen. (not shown here)

52. 52 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Site Dump Partial view of the Site Dump Report in Excel. It includes 100% of the fields shown on the Site edit data screen. Reformatting the data may make it more useful. Using the Site Dump Report saves having to convert from PDF

53. 53 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Site Activity 5 Site Activity Reports National Flash Report State/District/Local Flash Report Site Activity National Report Site Activity Dump Report DC Non Approval Report

54. 54 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – National Flash Report

55. 55 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Site Activity National Report Excel Version Also available in a PDF Version

56. 56 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS - Creating Reports - State/District/Local Flash Report Select District Coordinator Select State Select Year Ordered by SIDN PDF Version

57. 57 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Site Activity National Report PDF Version Also available in an Excel Version

58. 58 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – Site Activity Dump Report

59. 59 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – DC Non Approval Report

60. 60 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Creating Reports – DC Non Approval Report Excel Version of the DC Non Approval Report ADS’s are able to follow monthly activity data entry and prod LC’s or DC’s who have not entered data timely. ADS’s can also make corrections to erroneous reports.

61. 61 Regional Conference - 2009 VMIS – Deleting Reports It is not necessary to delete old reports. They will be deleted automatically after 90 days. You must download and save to a thumb or hard drive those reports to be kept long-term. If the list of reports in My Reports Doc becomes too large reports can be deleted from the list by selecting delete when the mouse is over the report icon. 1 2 You confirm the file is to be deleted. On selecting “Yes” the system shows the menu at left. THEN you select VMIS Home and return to My Reports Doc. 3 - 4 If the Categories View is used use the magnifying glass at the right most column to delete.