Program Staff Guide

Purpose

Program staff use AidOrbit to execute assigned-program work: fill shifts, review applicant follow-up, support volunteers, run day-of attendance, send program messages, and keep mission records current. Use this guide when you need to complete operational work inside programs you are assigned to.

Default Persona Access

Default access is based on the user's assigned persona and scope. A user can have more than one persona, and narrower location, program, Mission, shift, group, or team scopes can further limit what they see.

Persona	Default scope	Default access	Not included by default
Organization Leader	Whole organization	Organization profile and readiness, staff access, billing portal, volunteer hubs, organization communications, organization insights, and organization settings.	Program persona pages such as Missions & Events, program operations, volunteers, tasks, and reports unless the user also has program permissions; AidOrbit platform, support, and billing operations.
Organization Staff	Whole organization operations	Organization operations, volunteer hubs, organization profile and staff views, organization communications, organization insights, and organization settings.	Program persona pages such as Missions & Events, program operations, volunteers, tasks, and reports unless the user also has program permissions; billing management unless the user also has Billing Representative access; platform or support administration.
Billing Representative	Own organization billing	Customer billing portal, plan and usage review, invoices, payment methods, checkout, and billing support materials.	Program operations, volunteer management, Mission management, staff administration, and platform billing administration.
Program Leader	Assigned programs	Program readiness, applicants and training, requirements, program settings, program GoodNearby page, Missions & Events, assigned-program volunteers, communications, incidents, reports, and program staff coordination.	Organization-wide settings, billing, staff administration outside assigned scope, and unrelated programs.
Program Staff	Assigned programs, Missions, shifts, groups, or teams	Day-of attendance, assigned-program rosters, limited volunteer support, requirements view, communications, task queues, incidents, and scoped Mission support.	Program configuration, organization settings, billing, broad reports, and unrelated programs unless separately granted.
Volunteer	Own profile and approved volunteer relationships	Profile, applications, approved programs, eligible Missions, schedule, tasks and forms, credentials, teams, hours, impact, and recognition.	Staff workspaces, other volunteer records, program administration, billing, and organization settings.
Guardian	Linked minor or household context	Guardian consent, required forms, household profile updates, quiet hours, transport notes, and minor-related approvals where configured.	Staff operations, program administration, billing, and unrelated volunteer records.
Donor	Donation and impact context when enabled	Donor-facing impact updates and giving context for supported programs when donor features are enabled.	Donor workspace access is disabled by default in this phase; no staff, volunteer management, billing admin, or platform access.

Start Of Shift Review

Outcome: know what needs attention before volunteers arrive.

1. Use the global program selector in the left navigation when you need to change program scope.
2. Open the Program Staff dashboard or assigned program workspace.
3. Review the Program model runbook strip. It uses the selected Program model and focus areas to highlight the day-of checks most likely to matter for this assigned Program.
4. For Food Bank / Pantry Programs, check pantry, warehouse, distribution, mobile pantry, delivery route, group day, safety, dress code, lifting, and driver eligibility notes before volunteers arrive.
5. Review upcoming missions, staffing gaps, roster changes, open tasks, and unresolved volunteer blockers.
6. Open Programs > Schedule or the affected Mission detail page for active shifts.
7. Confirm roster, check-in method, location notes, requirements, and staff owner.
8. Escalate gaps that need a Program Leader decision.

Review Readiness Status

Outcome: identify assigned-program readiness blockers without opening requirement decisions or sensitive evidence.

1. Select your assigned Program, then open Readiness & Records.
2. Review coverage, expiration, and blocker counts to see where day-of work needs attention.
3. Use the requirement status list to identify the affected readiness area; it does not include Volunteer-level evidence, document links, or review controls.
4. Escalate a blocker when a Program Leader or separately authorized reviewer must approve, deny, waive, or inspect a requirement.

Escalate From Operational Context

Outcome: ask for a Program Manager or Organization Leader decision without leaving the source Mission, person, requirement, attendance, or report context.

1. Open the relevant assigned-program surface, such as Mission details, Tasks escalation, the Mission day-of roster, Program Requirements, Attendance, Reports, or the Mission reply inbox.
2. Choose Escalate when the issue needs authority you do not have, such as a requirement exception, registration problem, hours correction, incident follow-up, or report concern.
3. Confirm the summary, add the person involved when applicable, and describe the decision needed.
4. Submit the escalation. AidOrbit preserves the source program, Mission, person, report, and route context when those values are available.
5. Continue the operational workflow while Program Leaders and Organization Leaders receive the escalation notification and audit trail.

Fill A Staffing Gap

Outcome: find eligible volunteers for an open shift.

1. Open the staffing alert, task, or Programs > Schedule.
2. Review the mission, shift, capacity, time, location, and requirements.
3. Search the roster for volunteers in the assigned program.
4. Filter by availability, skills, credentials, training, and prior participation when available.
5. From Calendar, open the Mission shift preview and use Assign volunteers when your role has scheduling, roster, or assignment permission. Select eligible approved program volunteers from the picker instead of typing user IDs.
6. For program Events, open the Event preview and use Assign volunteers to manually RSVP approved program volunteers when staff are coordinating attendance directly.
7. Watch for confirmations and update the staffing task when coverage is secured.

Configure Mission Operations

Outcome: publish and run a Mission with the right controls before volunteers register.

1. Open Programs > Schedule, then create or edit the Mission.
2. Use Mission Operations to apply a saved template when the Mission should reuse requirements, shifts, contacts, or volunteer-facing settings.
3. Set a scheduled publish time when the Mission should become public later.
4. Set registration open and optional close times when volunteer signup should be gated by a specific window.
5. Set an optional cancellation deadline when volunteers should contact staff instead of self-cancelling close to the shift.
6. Keep Auto-promote waitlist enabled when the oldest waitlisted volunteer should move into a newly opened confirmed spot.
7. Add the volunteer-facing contact name, email, and phone.
8. Leave Requires ICS / Incident Command off for routine Missions such as pet shelter shifts, food bank coverage, cleanup days, and transport support.
9. Enable Requires ICS / Incident Command only when the selected Program is a Disaster Response / Emergency Management Program and the Mission needs ICS forms, COMU tools, command structure, and incident-action planning fields.
10. Save the Mission, then use the generated share link or calendar link when sending volunteers to the Mission.
11. When editing a published or scheduled Mission, run Preview impact before saving so you can see registration, reminder, eligibility, capacity, and report impact before volunteers are affected.
12. Review the recent Mission audit entries when you need to confirm what changed, who changed it, and whether a cancellation reason or published-change preview was captured.

Change Multiple Missions

Outcome: update repeated Mission work without losing visibility into volunteer impact.

1. Open Programs > Schedule, then open Manage Missions.
2. Select the Missions that need the same operational change.
3. Choose Clone selected, Cancel selected, or Update selected.
4. Enter the cancellation reason, capacity value, or status update required for the selected Missions.
5. Use Preview Impact before applying the action.
6. Review how many Missions will change, how many active or waitlisted volunteers may be notified, and whether published Missions are included.
7. For public GoodNearby changes, open the specific Mission editor and update GoodNearby site, marketplace, search, sharing, location, or signup visibility there.
8. Use Apply Bulk Action only after the preview matches the intended change.
9. Confirm the Mission list refreshes and follow up on any affected-volunteer communication.

Support Applicant Follow-Up

Outcome: help applicants complete missing steps before leader review.

1. Open Programs > Applicants & Training.
2. Filter to applicants with missing information, training, credentials, or forms.
3. Open the applicant record and identify the missing item.
4. Send a focused next-step message.
5. Add notes for the Program Leader when a decision is needed.
6. Confirm the applicant record shows the latest status.

Run Day-Of Attendance

Outcome: keep attendance and hours accurate during service.

Check-In Leads receive a read-only day-of roster for each Mission specifically assigned to them. It contains only the Volunteer name, approved phone contact, registration state, and arrival status needed on site. Check-In Leads cannot open sibling-Mission rosters, change roster membership, or access incident-command, profile, report, or export details from this view.

If a name is missing, the minimum roster shows Volunteer, not the person's email address. If an assignment is removed, refresh the roster; without another valid access grant, the next request is denied. Ask a Program Leader to review the assignment rather than using another Mission's link. Minimum-roster access does not authorize ICS/PDF forms or incident-command edits.

For the assigned Mission only, a Check-In Lead can choose Launch kiosk / QR and open the fresh link on a shared device. This does not grant any Program settings, registration-management, reporting, export, or other Mission access. Generate a new link if the session expires.

1. Open the affected Mission detail page, Programs > Attendance, or the live mission view.
2. Confirm the roster and check-in location.
3. Use Register or Calendar Assign volunteers when staff need to manually add an existing volunteer to a shift. AidOrbit checks assigned-program scope, capacity, requirements, and schedule conflicts before updating the registration.
4. Use Promote, Approve, Reject, or Cancel from the roster when a waitlist or registration issue needs a staff decision. Capture the reason so the audit trail and volunteer notification explain the change.
5. Check in arriving volunteers, then use Check out and Confirm hours after service so Mission attendance and approved hours stay aligned.
6. When a volunteer served outside a normal check-in/check-out flow, open their volunteer profile and choose Record hours to manually enter the date, hours, assigned program, notes, and proof files.
7. Record late arrivals, no-shows, substitutions, and walk-up changes. Enter the reason whenever you mark a no-show or correct attendance.
8. Use Incident from the roster row when a safety event, injury, hazard, equipment issue, conduct concern, or near-miss must stay tied to the current Mission shift.
9. Use Print roster or CSV export when staff need a paper or file backup for on-site operations.
10. Use the roster-row Escalate action when a volunteer concern, registration blocker, attendance correction, or hours question needs Program Leader or Organization Leader review without losing the Mission and volunteer context.
11. Review Offline attendance reconciliation when kiosk actions were saved during an interruption. Retry only items marked Retry safely; items marked Needs staff review remain pending until the roster or attendance conflict is resolved.
12. Review submitted Mission Photos from Programs > GoodNearby Site > Media Library and publish only photos that should appear on the GoodNearby public page and to other volunteers.
13. Keep emergency and sensitive information visible only to authorized staff.
14. After the mission, confirm check-out, hours, notes, incident follow-up, and unresolved follow-up.

Review Staff Notes & History

Outcome: understand a volunteer's current operational context before staffing, messaging, or follow-up.

1. Open Volunteers > Roster & Profiles.
2. Search for the volunteer and use Escalate volunteer from the roster row when the issue needs a Program Leader or Organization Leader decision before you open the full profile.
3. Open the profile when you need more context.
4. Use Staff Notes & History to review the unified timeline, tags, program-scoped segments, availability, documents, household links, communication history, and duplicate candidates.
5. Add tags or staff-private notes only when they help another authorized staff member act.
6. Use Escalate volunteer from the profile header when the blocker is tied to the volunteer record, readiness, assignment, or communication context.
7. Keep emergency, demographic, household, duplicate review, and sensitive details limited to authorized staff.
8. Return to Programs, Readiness, or Communications when the profile points to a concrete next action.

Report A Day-Of Incident

Outcome: capture a mission-scoped incident without leaving the operational workflow.

1. Open the live mission view, the Mission detail page, or Manage Missions for the affected Mission.
2. Choose Report incident or Report Safety Issue.
3. Select severity and enter the incident title and description.
4. Add location details, involved people, witnesses, immediate actions, and photos when available.
5. Mark follow-up needed when the Program Leader or safety team needs to act quickly.
6. Submit the report and continue attendance, volunteer communication, or escalation work from the same mission context.
7. For Disaster Response / Emergency Management Programs running Incident Mode, open Programs > Incident Mode to track active incident records and operational periods.
8. When after-action reporting is enabled, use Reports to review Program-scoped incident summary and after-action counts before closeout.
9. Download report CSVs only when your assigned role includes export permission; view-only report access does not allow direct CSV downloads.

Run A Shared Kiosk

Outcome: let volunteers check in or check out without exposing staff tools or another volunteer's information.

1. Open the Program Staff workspace or Programs > Attendance while the on-site Mission shift is active or upcoming.
2. Use Start check-in station to generate a fresh kiosk QR code for the current assigned Mission shift. If more than one shift is active, confirm the Mission and shift shown in the launch dialog.
3. Open the QR link on the shared device, review the expiry time, and confirm the kiosk shows an online connection.
4. Ask each volunteer to enter the email tied to their AidOrbit account, then choose Check in or Check out.
5. Watch for limitation states. If the kiosk says the QR code is missing, invalid, or expired, generate a fresh code. If the device is offline, use the day-of roster or staff-assisted attendance until the connection returns.
6. Use Reset between volunteers when needed. Successful entries also clear automatically so the next volunteer does not see the previous email.
7. Use Exit when the shared device is no longer attended.

Update Volunteer Records

Outcome: keep assigned-program volunteer information current.

1. Open Volunteers > Roster or the linked volunteer profile.
2. Use Org and Programs to review the organization profile fields, assigned-program membership, program custom fields, and program-specific notes. Fields marked staff-only are hidden from the volunteer and should be maintained here.
3. When a volunteer has left the service area or should no longer be active in the assigned program, open More > Archive volunteer or Edit program info, set the program status to Archived, and enter the reason.
4. Confirm the archive reason appears in that volunteer's program-specific notes.
5. Update custom organization or program field answers only when your program role allows it and the value belongs in the volunteer profile; visible fields can also be edited by the volunteer from AidOrbit or GoodNearby.
6. Use Record hours from the profile header when assigned-program service time needs to be entered manually for that volunteer.
7. To bring an archived volunteer back, search for and open the volunteer profile, change the program status back to Active, and enter the reactivation reason.
8. Add a note or task when another staff member needs context.

Send Program Messages

Outcome: communicate clearly to the right program audience.

1. Open Tasks > Messages > Send Updates from the assigned Program or Mission context.
2. Choose the permitted Mission audience and saved segment. When a Mission is selected, both the recipient preview and delivery history remain limited to that Mission; you cannot use the history view to open a sibling Program's messages.
3. Apply a template or write the message with the change, affected people, timing, and required action.
4. In a Mission message dialog, use AI Assist Draft for a short reviewed message or AI Assist Check to review Mission terminology, timing, location, and broad-audience risk.
5. Review included recipients, excluded recipients, consent blockers, and delivery preferences before sending. AI Assist does not send the message.
6. If AidOrbit warns that a similar operational message was already sent or scheduled, confirm the duplicate only when the same audience should receive it again.
7. Use Escalate reply from the Mission reply inbox when an inbound volunteer response needs a Program Leader or Organization Leader decision while preserving thread and Mission context.

Recommend Recognition

Outcome: acknowledge volunteers without crossing privacy or preference boundaries.

1. Open Volunteers > Hours & Recognition.
2. Review the recognition workflow panel for assigned-program recommendations, pending approvals, and privacy-aware leaderboard status.
3. Use Recommend eligible recognition when recent approved hours should be submitted against milestone recognition rules. This creates approval-ready recommendations only; it never awards a badge or sends a thank-you.
4. Review skipped opt-out recipients before escalating any follow-up.
5. Leave badge awards and thank-you approvals to a Program Leader or another authorized approver. Include the verified Mission service context when escalating a follow-up.
6. Use Annual export when leaders need a program recognition artifact for planning or appreciation events.

Common Problems

I only see some volunteers

Program Staff access is scoped. You may only see volunteers tied to assigned programs or missions.

A mission action is unavailable

The action may require Program Leader or Organization Staff access. Add a task or note with the mission ID, affected volunteer, and exact action needed.

I can see the Program model but cannot change it

Program Staff can use the Program model runbook as read-only operational context. Program model changes, portal publishing, staff access, report exports, and broad configuration stay with Program Leaders or other assigned roles that have the matching permission.

The kiosk says the QR code expired

Kiosk QR codes are time limited. Generate a fresh QR code from the assigned Mission shift and reopen the kiosk on the shared device.

The kiosk device is offline

The kiosk cannot submit new attendance while the browser is offline. Keep the QR page open if the connection may return, and use staff-assisted attendance for urgent check-ins or check-outs.