Need Management
Use Need Connect to identify users with needs and users who can help provide assistance. Staff can assign needs through the Platform, or approved Providers can claim needs on the Connect Board. See the Quick Start for how to get started.
Promoting Need Connect
Each church can promote Need Connect however they see fit. Some tips and ideas to get started include:
- Email the Connect Form link to existing, active volunteers first to seed a pool of providers ready to help.
- Email the Connect Form link to all contacts over 65 years old to encourage them to make requests for help.
- Email the Connect Form link to all active Small Group leaders and members to accept both requests for help and offers to help for a smaller scale start.
- Email the Connect Form link to all active contacts in your database to accept both requests for help and offers to help when you're ready to manage a larger scale.
- Link the Connect Form on your website home page, COVID update page, or RSS Feed.
- Promote "from the stage" during any streaming services or recorded messages to your community.
- Share the Connect Form link with local partner organizations to extend this service of your church into your community.
Managing Needs
Staff can manage Need Campaigns from the Platform. Staff are required to:
- Add or update a Need Campaign.
- Add or update Need Types.
- Approve Providers.
- Review Need Type - Other Providers.
- Review Unassigned - Other Needs and assign.
Staff can also (optional):
- If staff also helps fulfill needs for the current Campaign, they can create and approve other staff as Need Type Providers.
- Review Unassigned, Aging, and Outstanding needs to ensure there are sufficient Providers and Provider engagement for the current level of needs. Supporting Views are provided on the Needs page.
- Assign Needs to approved Providers.
- Determine, execute, and review post-completion need follow up (for example, a qualitative feedback survey).
Need Fields
- Requester Contact: The Contact who expressed a need for help.
- Postal_Code: Collected in the Connect Form for the Connect Board.
- Need_Type_ID: Identifies which Need Type a Requester expressed they need help with.
- Other_Need: Provides additional information if "Other" was selected in the Connect Form.
- Provider_ID: The Provider assigned to this Need.
- Date_Assigned: The date a Provider was assigned.
- Target_Date: A specific date on which this Need should be addressed. Need Connect doesn't currently reference this field.
- Complete: Indicates this Need has been completed.
- Notes: Additional information related to this Need.
- Need_GUID: A unique identifier assigned to this Need.
Assign "Other Type" Needs
This is required. You must manually assign Needs requested with a Type of "Other" (write in, not selected from predefined Need Types) to a Provider because they don't display on the Connect Board.
- From the Needs page, choose the Review Unassigned - Other view.
- Review the Other Notes to determine the following:
- Is this help that is appropriate? You might need to close or follow up with this Need.
- Is this really an existing Need Type? You must change the Need Type.
- Is there a trend? You need a new Need Type.
- Click Edit.
- Assign the Need to the appropriate Provider.
- Click Save.
The Need displays for the provider on My Assignments with details and contact information. We recommend you send an email to notify the Provider that you manually assigned them to an issue.
Manually Assign Needs
Optionally, approved Providers can self-assign, or claim, Needs from the Connect Board. However, to facilitate Need management, especially for time-sensitive needs, you may need to also manually assign Needs.
- From the Needs page, choose the Review Unassigned - All view.
- Click Edit.
- Assign the Need to the appropriate Provider.
- Enter today's date as the Date Assigned.
- Click Save.
The Need displays for the provider on My Assignments with details and contact information.
Notify Provider of Manual Assignment
We recommend you send an email to notify Providers that they receieved an assignment manually.