VSys One: Volunteer Management Software

Reference Checks and VSys Live

If you have VSys Live, you can include a web link in your reference check letters that lets the reference complete the reference check online. There are two major setup steps first: setting up the online "application" which the reference fills out about the applicant in VSys Live, and adding the link to the reference check letters.

See Advanced VSys Live features for information on the help needed to configure these for you.

Setting up the online application

This is the trickiest part. For VSys Live to give the reference the right fields to fill out (your fields - the ones you designate), it needs an application form. The instructions here assume that you're comfortable with the basics of setting up an application form in VSys Live.

1. Create a new application form. In its properties,
   Application type must be VSys Live application,
   Usage must be Updating certification,
   Certification must be Background Reference Check.
2. Place any fields you want onto the application. In most cases you'll stick with user fields, but you can also put read-only fields about the volunteer/applicant such as their name.
   
3. Any fields from the reference check certification itself (Add field -> Certifications -> Background reference check -> field) that you put on the application will be updated by the application when it's filled out. For example, placing the Comments field as above will put whatever the reference enters on the application into that field of the reference check itself. Putting the Result field (you'd want to limit the options available to just "Positive", "Negative" and "Neutral" to avoid them being changed to something inappropriate such as "Uncontactable" lets the reference directly recommend the volunteer. Otherwise you'll do that yourself after seeing each reference's responses.
4. Don't put any links to this application in VSys Live menus: this application only works when it's being used as part of a reference check.
5. Save the application.

Never put any private information about the volunteer on this application, or allow editing of fields that you wouldn't want edited by the reference. Anyone with access to the link in the generated letters could view and/or edit those fields!

The VSys tech support folks will happily give you a sample template to start with if you want.

Adding the link to reference check letters

The reference check letter you're using will have a Data source of Certifications, and a Certification type of Background reference check. Within the letter's template, click on Insert -> Data field --> (the name of your VSys Live site) --> Online reference check link using application "(your online application)". Run reference check mail merge to see some letters that are created.

That field will generate a link something like
http://demo.vsyslive.com/pages/refcheck:DHEOYQMH4BZDTUR8:NQ6OULKNJ6G9MD16:9AUSZTP1VAI6UD7V:PGVH598E3ZMAQDC0
Wow - that link is ugly! But it has everything in it so that when someone clicks on it, VSys Live knows:

• The ID code of the letter itself,
• Who the volunteer/applicant is,
• Which reference check request this is associated with.

Note that the volunteer does not have to sign in on VSys Live, nor does the reference. That's an important part of why no information beyond name and other non-private fields should be included in this online application, and why any personal properties of the volunteer should be in read-only fields: anyone with access to this link can edit them.

Completing the reference check

When the reference follows the link in their e-mail, they'll see something like this:

Exactly what fields, their layout and the site design look like are of course dependent on your VSys Live site's setup and the fields you include in the application.

The reference now just needs to fill out the appropriate fields and click Submit. You can then see what the reference has entered using the Application Approval Manager tool. If you want to be notified when these are submitted, use a notification subscription based on "VSys Live Application".

Results

VSys Live has two special fields that it uses: Submitted values and Log. Both of these are read-only, meaning that you can't change their contents.

Use these to see exactly what the reference actually entered online, and when the reference check was completed.