Tracking Attendance and Activities in Trail Life Connect

This guide covers how to use the Track Attendance tool, as well as the different ways to log and track Activities and Service Hours for Trailmen. *The ability to track Attendance is dependent upon a leader role that contains the permission to track attendance. *Approving Activities and Service Hours requires a leader role that contains the permission to track advancement. Views used in this guide are from the perspective of the Troop Ministry Liason.

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Tracking Attendance

To mark attendance for a Calendar event, click the "Attendance" button on the main Dashboard or click "Track Attendance" under "Calendar" on the left navigation menu.

The top of the 'Track Attendance' page will display a notification message if any Trailmen have missed at least 3 Troop meetings in a row (for awareness and an opportunity to reach out if needed.) Before marking attendance, make sure the correct event is displayed under 'Select event.' The event dialogue box allows you to search for an event by name or date (using a date format of mm/dd/yyyy.) If needed, the leader tracking attendance can filter the list by a specific level or patrol.

Other available options prior to marking attendance include: - **Show only users that have RSVPd** check box (if the event was set up to capture RSVPs, this would only display the names of those members who affirmed they would be attending) - **Track advancement with event activity plans** check box (if activity plans are specified, this option will need to be checked prior to marking attendance for the integration to work)\ *\*more information about attendance and advancement integration is available in a separate guide on the TLC Help Documentation page* - By default the list is sorted by 'Level,' but can also be sorted by 'Patrol' or sorted to list names alphabetically

While remaining on the 'Track Attendance' page, check boxes for 'Attended' can checked/unchecked at will. To lock in marked attendees, either refresh the page or navigate away to a different part of the TLC site. Previously marked check boxes are locked by default. However, if changes are needed, you can uncheck the **Lock attended** box to allow for unchecking any attendance that was marked in error. When using 'Level' or 'Patrol' sorting, check the box in the header to mark everyone within that group as attended in one click.

Tracking Activities

One way to record Trailmen's Activities is through Calendar events. Within the event setup, options exist to specify: - Tent Camping Nights - Cabin Camping Nights - Hiking Miles - Paddling Miles - Cycling Miles For any options where a number is specified, this will be applied to the Trailman's record if he is marked as attended for that event.

To view all of the Activities logged for the Troop, expand "Calendar" on the left navigation menu and click "Troop Activities"

The 'Troop Activities' page displays all logged activities for every Trailman. Search, sort, and filter options are present along the top to refine the on-screen results as needed. Above the list of Activities, to the right, you can click the reset button to clear all filters, as well as click the button to export the Activities to either Excel or CSV. \*If an adjustment needs to be made for a listed Activity, click the edit icon to the right of the Activity to make changes. (For example: an event was specified to include 2 camping nights, but the Trailman only camped for 1 of those nights.)

For Trailmen and parents, the Trailman's Profile has a 'Troop Activities' tab for the ability to view only that Trailman's list of Activities.

Logged in Trailmen (and/or parents of Trailmen) can also manually submit Activities within the 'Troop Activities' tab of the Trailman's Profile by scrolling to the bottom of that page. If the Activity was part of a pre-existing event, that event can be selected from the drop-down. Otherwise, for Activities the Trailman completes outside of scheduled Troop events, enter the relevant information into the corresponding fields and then click the button to **Record Activity**.

When a manual Activity is submitted by a Trailman or parent, the Activity will initially appear in the list with a red x, indicating that it is not yet verified (so not yet included in the Trailman's official Activity log.)

Troop Leaders with the ability Track Advancement will see a link under the 'Notifications' section of the main 'Dashboard' in TLC that there are one or more unapproved activities.

Clicking the link to unapproved activities on the 'Dashboard' will bring the leader to the 'Troop Activities' page, and display only the Activities which are pending and awaiting approval. To approve a listed Activity, simply click the red x - changing it to a green check mark.

After approval by a leader, the submitted Activity now shows as 'Verified' within the Trailman's list of activities, and the information will be added to his official record.

Tracking Service Hours

Similar to Activities, one way to record Trailmen's Service Hours is through Calendar events. Within the event setup, the option exists to specify 'Servant Service Hours.' If a number is specified, this will be applied to the Trailman's record if he is marked as attended for that event.

For Trailmen and parents, the Trailman's Profile has a 'Servant Service' tab for the ability to view only that Trailman's list of Service Hours.

Logged in Trailmen (and/or parents of Trailmen) can also manually submit Service Hours within the 'Servant Service' tab of the Trailman's Profile by scrolling to the bottom of that page. If the Service Hours were part of a pre-existing event, that event can be selected from the drop-down. Otherwise, for Service Hours which the Trailman completes outside of scheduled Troop events, enter the relevant information into the corresponding fields and then click the button to **Record Servant Service Time**.

Similar to Troop Activities, submitted Service Hours will initially be listed with a red x in the 'Verified' column. Troop Leaders will see an unapproved activity notification under the 'Notifications' section of the TLC 'Dashboard.' Upon clicking that notification, the leader will be taken to the page listing the unapproved hours and can click the red x to change it to a green check to approve/verify. After leader approval, the submitted hours will appear in the list with a green check and the hours will be calculated towards the Trailman's overall hours for the program year.

Freedom Trail Integration

Any Navigator or Adventurer Trailman will also have a 'Freedom Trail' tab within his Profile. In addition to showing progress towards various Badge and Rank advancements, separate sections of the Freedom Trail also calculate and display information related to Attendance, Activities, and Service Hours.

The Troop Attendance section of the Freedom Trail will calculate and display the overall percentage of "Troop Meeting" calendar event types for which the Trailman has been marked as attended. (Other Activity-related events, such as "Campout" events, do not factor into this calculation.) For more accurate calculations, be sure to click the box for setting the start and end dates for when the Trailman was active within each of the Navigator and Adventurer program levels. *\*More information about Attendance in the Freedom Trail can be found within other guides on the TLC Help Documentation page.*

The Troop Activities section of the Freedom Trail will show the total number of approved Activities for the Trailman; whether the Activities were part of existing Calendar events or manually submitted by the Trailman or a parent.

The Servant Service Hours section of the Freedom Trail will show the total number of Service Hours for the Trailman, broken down by program year.\* Reflected totals are calculated from approved hours, whether logged as part of existing Calendar events or manually submitted by the Trailman or a parent. *\*The program year is determined by the start date specified within the 'General Settings' page for the Troop; available for edit by Troop Core Leaders.*