Match process

When you select Assign volunteers on the volunteer schedule or job schedule, the program compares the traits of a volunteer with the traits a job requires. The program also checks volunteer availability, including location availability.

The program uses several guidelines to match volunteers and jobs.

• Volunteer type - If a volunteer type is assigned to the job, the volunteer must have the same volunteer type, and it must be active. If there is no volunteer type assigned to the job, all volunteers meet the volunteer type requirement to match.

• Availability - To match, a volunteer must be available on the date and time of the job occurrence. All availability on the volunteer’s record is checked. If no availability is defined for the volunteer, the program assumes the volunteer is always available. If the volunteer is already scheduled to work during the selected time, he or she will not display as a match for the selected job.

• Location - The volunteer must be available at the location assigned to the job. If no location is assigned to a job, the program assumes any volunteer can complete the job. If no location is assigned to a volunteer, the program assumes the volunteer is available to work at any location.

• Special needs traits - If one of the volunteer’s traits is a special need, that volunteer is matched only with jobs that accommodate that special need. If no special needs traits are defined for a job, the program assumes that job cannot accommodate volunteers with special needs.

• Traits - After volunteers are matched with jobs according to volunteer type, availability, location, and special needs traits, the remaining traits are used to create a percentage match. For traits to be considered in the matching process, they must be verified on the volunteer’s record. If a trait is expired on the volunteer’s record, the volunteer is excluded during the match process. If a trait is required for the job, only volunteers with the trait are matched.

When the match process is complete, a list of all eligible volunteers or jobs appears. Match results are based on a percentage. The match percentage is the number of matched traits divided by the number of traits on the job, rounded up to the nearest whole number.