Information about setting up and running DutyMan
How does it work?
What computer skills do I need?
How do I get my duties into DutyMan?
What are the options for uploading files?
What is a comma separated value file?
What information goes into the CSV file?
How do I create a CSV file?
About member names
About passwords
How do I upload a file?
How do I tell club members about DutyMan?
I want to make a lot of changes to my duty roster. How do I set about
that?
What about members who have not been allocated duties but need to
be available for duty swapping?
How does it work?
DutyMan stores duty and member information in a database. Each club maintains the
content of its own section of the database by adding, modifying or deleting duties
and member contact details.
DutyMan uses the information stored in the database to display duty rosters on the
web so that club members can view their duties and when necessary arrange swaps.
DutyMan periodically scans the database and emails duty reminders to members according
to a schedule set up by each club.
Password-protected web pages give authorised
users access to a set of administrator functions. These functions let you
maintain the lists of members' details and duties and set up DutyMan to
your club's requirements.
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What computer skills do I need?
To maintain your club's information you need no more than the ability to use a web site. In order to create and upload
files, you also need a basic knowledge of spreadsheets or databases.
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How do I get my duties into DutyMan?
You can either type them in on the web via Admin Pages, or you can upload them in
a file that you have created on your computer.
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What are the options for uploading files?
There are two options -
1. Upload your member details and duties separately in two comma separated value
(CSV) files, or
2. Upload them in a single CSV file of both duties and members.
The advantage of uploading a list of member details (name, email address and optionally
phone number) is that you may be able to export this information directly from a
membership database. Your list of duties can be uploaded subsequently with
duties linked to members by member name.
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What is a comma separated value file?
CSV is a simple file format widely used to transfer information between computers.
A file in CSV format is simply a text file of values, or items of information, separated
by commas. Examples of items of information are Duty Date, Duty Type and Member
Name. Each row in the text file contains related items of information; in the case
of DutyMan all the information in a row relates to one duty. The first row of a CSV file contains names for the items of information in the subsequent
rows. So the first few rows of a DutyMan CSV file might look something like this
-
Duty Date, Event, Duty Type, Member Name,...
1/6/2007, AGM, Chairman, John Smith,...
1/6/2007, AGM, Secretary, Jill Brown,...
1/6/2007, AGM, Treasurer, Sue Jones,...
You can find out more about CSV files in Wikipedia
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What information goes into the CSV file?
Upload File
Format describes the structure and contents of the CSV file.
This document is also available in PDF format (approx 55Kb).
These three sample CSV files (max 6Kb) illustrate what you are aiming for:
Member Details Only
Duties Only
Duties and Member Details
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How do I create a CSV file?
CSV files are usually, and most easily, created using either a spreadsheet or a
database. If using a spreadsheet you save it as file type CSV; if using a database you
export to CSV.
Roster Spreadsheet
(XLS, approx 600Kb) is an Excel spreadsheet with a worksheet for entering duties.
It includes techniques for quickly adding members and duty types, and a macro for
saving the worksheet as a CSV file. Before opening the spreadsheet you may want to set your Excel macro security
level to medium to prevent the macro from being disabled.
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About member names
An upload file can contain members' names as either two columns headed 'First Name'
and 'Last Name', or a single column with the heading 'Member Name'.
The choice between one or two name columns is often dictated by how member names
are held in your club's membership database. Separate first and last names can make
searching for member names easier in the admin pages, but using a single member
name column works equally well.
Within a roster each member must be identified by either a unique First Name/Last
Name combination or a unique Member Name.
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About passwords
Members should have individual passwords to protect their log in. You can either
supply passwords for your members or tell DutyMan to generate them for you.
To supply your own passwords put them in a Password column in the CSV file. Alternatively
you can tell DutyMan to generate passwords at upload time. DutyMan generates a random
8-digit password for each member who isn't already on the DutyMan server.
Note: Passwords, whether supplied by you or generated by DutyMan, are allocated
only when a member is first loaded onto the DutyMan server. Once on the server members'
passwords are left as is.
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How do I upload a file?
Go to the DutyMan admin pages, choose
Upload from the menu, and follow the on-screen instructions. Once
uploaded you can use the
Members and
Duties admin pages to make minor amendments. You can subsequently
download your duties and members as CSV files from the Download admin pages.
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How do I tell club members about DutyMan?
DutyMan can email members to tell them that the system is available and advise them
of their log in name and password. Initially this function is disabled until
you are ready to release DutyMan to your membership. When you are ready, go
to the DutyMan admin pages, choose
Set-Up>Emails from the menu, and tick
Send Emails. You can type your own message in the
Welcome Text box. Allow
24 hours for the emails to arrive.
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I want to make a lot of changes to my duty roster. How do I set about that?
You can either make the changes on-line or upload them in a file.
If you are uploading and have not yet released DutyMan to your club members then just modify your existing file or files and upload again.
If you have released DutyMan to the membership then some may have swapped duties and your original duties upload file will be out of date. To get an up to date version
go to the DutyMan admin pages, choose
Download > Duties > DutyMan Format from the menu, and follow the on-screen instructions. Choose
to suspend swapping in order to
prevent members from swapping duties while you are working on them.
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What about members who have not been allocated duties but need to be available for
duty swapping?
An effective technique is to create a fictitious event named Reserves on an unlikely
date such as 25th December. Allocate your reserve members to this event with Reminders
set to No. These members appear on the roster and can swap duties but they won't
receive reminders.
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