Training Step-by-step Directions Needed

I am currently in the process of training a second staff member how to do much the same thing.



I agree with Barb, screenshots are helpful. And that book looks handy. However, even with the book, every organization uses Attributes, Solicit codes, and Bio fields a little differently. I'm a big believer in taking time to learn things right, rote practice for memorization, and breaking things down into smaller pieces. With my new assistant, I have made this into two-hour training blocks twice a week, so I still have time to get other tasks done, and assign him "homework" tasks in between. For you, since you are training 6 people, I would recommend separating your trainees into groups of 3 at different time periods so you have more one-on-one supervision to make sure they are learning things correctly.



Day 1: Gave him a tour of the database and helped him set up his account options. Homework - look around, but don't change anything.

Day 2: showed him how to change an address correctly in an existing record. (Address source, date, Primary address, you get it.) Homework - a stack of mail returns.

Day 3: showed him how to change an email/phone number correctly in an existing record. Homework - email/phone updates.

Day 3, 4 & 5: Explaining Attributes. Giving him a cheat sheet on common Attributes for new donors. We will sit down together and enter new donors with the objective of him learning common Attributes combos.

Day 6: Plan to show him New Constituent Batches. I already have these set up so all he needs to do is enter information. I want him to learn manual entry first, though, so he learns all the components of a person's record. Homework - enter a few batches.

Day 7: Learning about Gift Records. We will explore gift record fields, types of funds, how funds and appeals work together, etc.

Day 8-12: He will assist me in entering gift batches.

Day 13-15: We will probably be receiving our Donor Acquisition mailing back, so he will get lots of practice entering new donors. We will go over Default settings in the Batches and how to create a new Constituent Batch, and how to use the green bar in Gift Batches.

Day 16-18: Practice in Online Express gift processing.



This is as far as I've planned, covering 9 weeks of training. My hope is that by 12 weeks he will be prepared enough that I can actually take a vacation.  Of course, with each thing, I have a "Changed By" Query/Export set up, and he is instructed to run it every evening and place it in a network folder for me to review at my convenience for errors.