Assignments and decisions

An assignment links one volunteer to one shift and records planned and logged hours. Its status distinguishes Draft, Submitted, Confirmed, Attended, No Show and Cancelled. Volunteer Coordinator creates the placement through the assignment action. That action writes an action receipt and returns the new assignment identifier, giving staff a way to inspect the outcome when the placement does not appear as expected.

A submitted placement goes to coordinator review. Assignment Decision writes a review decisions record with Approve, Reject or Return, updates the assignment and writes an operation receipt. The decision is linked to the same assignment and can carry a reviewer, decision time and reason. Staff can therefore follow a placement from its request through its decision rather than relying on a message thread.

• Place. Volunteer Coordinator chooses a person and shift and checks that the resulting assignment points to both intended records.
• Decide. The coordinator reviews Submitted work and records an approval, rejection or return with a reason when needed.
• Follow through. Confirmed placements move toward attendance; exceptions remain visible in the assignment and action records.

Decide who may submit and decide assignments, whether the same coordinator can do both, and which cases require another reviewer. The reviewer reference points to team members; make sure staff records are current before using decision history for accountability. Agree how Reject and Return are explained to the person managing coverage, and who corrects a placement that references the wrong shift.

Pick one staffing case that is straightforward and one with a conflict, such as an unavailable volunteer or a role requiring screening. Use both in rehearsal. The team’s status convention should be clear: a created record is not the same as an approved placement, and attendance is a later record change.

A coordinator selects an Active volunteer and an Open shift, then uses the placement action. The returned identifier should resolve to a volunteer assignments record with the correct Volunteer and Shift. If the action fails, Action exceptions should show the related receipt and reason rather than leaving the coordinator to retry blindly.

Next, submit the placement for review. A coordinator records Approve with the intended team members reviewer. Check that the decision refers to the same assignment, the assignment status reflects the decision and the operation receipt records the action outcome. Rehearse Return as well: record a reason for the decision and the team should know who revises the placement before a fresh decision.

• Submitted assignment inbox — Placements waiting for a coordinator decision, with volunteer and shift context.
• Assignment progress board — Draft through attended placements grouped by current status.
• Assignment decision history — Reviewer, decision date and reason against each linked assignment.

See assignment review for the decision path and service verification for work recorded after attendance.