Job credits and volunteer obligations

How credits work

• Every cell in an event’s grid carries a credit value, whole or decimal (1, 1.5, 2). Sign up for the slot, earn the credits.
• Credits count at signup. There is no separate “worked” check-off. If someone didn’t show, remove their signup and the credits go with it.
• Each signup can carry a Credit override (“Leave blank to use the slot’s credits”), for the parent who stayed a double shift. Overridden credits show an asterisk.
• A write-in’s credits go to the family you pick under Credit goes to the family of. Families adding their own write-in earn it themselves.
• Credits are live, not snapshots. Change a cell’s credit value and every existing signup in that cell changes with it. That’s why credit edits on a published event ask you to unpublish first.
• A signup counts toward the obligations the event was tagged with (the Counts toward obligations checkboxes on the event’s Details tab) at the time of signup.

Set up an obligation

1. Open Jobs → Obligations and click New obligation.
2. Name it (“Fall 2026 volunteer requirement”) and set Credits required (decimals allowed).
3. Requirement counts: Per family (one total per household) or Per swimmer (total multiplies by the family’s swimmers). A 3-swimmer family with a 5-credit per-swimmer obligation owes 15.
4. Applies to: All families, Families with swimmers in specific registration groups, or Families with swimmers in specific training groups.
5. Auto-include from / until: job events created inside this window are tagged to the obligation automatically. The tagged events are what counts, and you can adjust the tags on any event or on the obligation’s Events tab.
6. Shortfall fee (optional): No fee, a Flat fee when the obligation is missed, or a Fee per missing credit. This powers shortfall billing.

The obligation page then shows how many families have met it, projected shortfall fees, and a Families table with Credits, Status, Short by and Projected fee columns, filtered by All, Met, Under and Excluded. Export gives a spreadsheet or PDF.

Different rules for different families

• Only one group owes credits: point the obligation’s Applies to at that registration or training group. Everyone else is not subject.
• Different amounts per group: make one obligation per group (Seniors owe 12, Novice owe 6). Obligations run side by side, and a single signup can count toward several if the event is tagged to both.
• One family owes more or less: click the family on the Families tab. Under This family’s requirement, type their Required credits and a Note (why) (“joined in October, prorated”) and Save. The table marks them as custom.
• Exempting one family: in the same drawer, tick Exclude this family from this obligation entirely. They drop out of the counts and the billing, and show under the Excluded filter until you untick it.

Credits earned outside a signup

Club credits cover the board member, the family bringing hours from your old system, or a make-good. Click the family on the Families tab (or the Jobs section of a swimmer’s profile) and click Add credit. Enter the Credits, a Date, a Description (“Snack bar coordinator, fall season”) and tick which obligations it Counts toward. Club credits flow through every total, report, export and shortfall calculation. They can be edited, never deleted, and keep a history of who changed what. Families see them in My Credits tagged Club credit.

What families see

Families watch their own progress everywhere they already look: a Volunteer Obligations card on their dashboard, a Your obligations bar on their Jobs page (“6 / 5 credits · met!” or “2 to go · $50 fee if not met”), and a My Credits history with every signup, who worked it, and any club credits. A Counts toward filter shows them which upcoming events would close their gap.

The credits report

The Credits tab on the Jobs page (or Generate Report) is the credits report: one row per family with Credits, Hours, Signups, and a column per obligation showing earned against target with Met and Under filters. Filter by family, From and To dates, registration Groups or specific Events, click a row for the line-by-line detail, and Export to spreadsheet or PDF.

Family statements builds one PDF with a page per family: their signups and where they stand on each obligation, for the whole history or only the report’s date range. Email them out or hand them to the board.

Common questions

Do credits carry across seasons? An obligation counts only the events tagged to it. Start each season with a fresh obligation and its auto-include window, and the new season counts from zero. Carry a balance forward with a club credit if you want to.

Can a swimmer earn credits for the family? Yes. Parents, swimmers and staff all earn for their family, and write-ins credit whichever family you attach.

Can credits be halves? Yes. Credits take up to two decimals, so a short shift can be 0.5 and a long one 1.5.

How do I see one family’s history? Click the family on the credits report or the obligation’s Families tab, or open the Jobs section on the swimmer’s profile. Families see the same numbers, so “your records are wrong” conversations end fast.

A family is in two registration groups with different obligations. They are subject to both, and a signup on an event tagged to both counts toward both.