Dear HarmonySite administrator,
We have a major new feature to announce today: Name badges. It is now possible to print name badges for all your members using HarmonySite. They can be printed out one at a time, or for all members (or a subset of members) at once. You get to design the badge layout/template yourselves.
But wait, there's more...
It's also possible for each badge to contain a barcode (QR code) which, when scanned, will mark that member as having attended whatever event is being held that day. The only physical equipment you'll need to do so is an Internet-connected mobile phone.
It works like this...
- Member name-badges are printed for everyone (and worn to events!)
- At an event, someone with a mobile phone (or other device with an Internet connection and a camera capable of scanning QR codes) scans the name-badge of each attendee. They should be currently logged into your HarmonySite, in their phone's browser, with privileges for administering the attendance database.
- Scanning the QR code on the phone will open a (new) HarmonySite page in your phone's browser, where that member will be marked as having attended whatever event is happening THAT DAY. Or an error will be shown if...
- There are no events that day
- There are no events that day that have attendance-tracking turned on
- If there is more than one event that day with attendance-tracking turned on, the person will need to select the correct event, by clicking on one of the event links on the page.
- If the selected event has not yet been switched from AVAILABILITY-tracking to ATTENDANCE-tracking, the person will be presented with a button to do so (when the first badge is scanned)
To get everyone's name-badges printed, you have two options...
- Each badge can be printed one-by-one, perhaps by the members themselves, by clicking a new button on the member's profile page. The new button is at the top of the tab on the profile page called "Member of ABCDEF". Clicking that button will take you to a page where the badge is previewed. If you have admin privileges over the member database, you will also be shown some options to customise the data that's printed on the badge. If you have "Webmaster Access" there will also be a link on that page to change the actual badge template/design.
- You can print badges for the whole group (or a subset thereof) by going to the Admin Dashboard and clicking the new link on the "Members" row called "Print Name Badges".
Customising the badge design/template is easy enough. A very basic badge layout has been pre-programmed into your HarmonySite. Feel free to change it. You can change colours, add new fields (such as "Occupation", "Member ID", "Spouse/Partner", etc - basically any field from the member database), add a logo or other graphical components, etc, etc. This process may require some knowledge of HTML for fine-tuning.
Note: If you set background colours or images in your badge design, you will likely also need to enable the "Print background colours and images" option in your web browser's print settings - for every browser that's going to print a badge. I can't describe where to find that option for your particular browser, as it's different for every browser. Google will be able to tell you.
This badge system is still very new, and may need some bugs ironed out of it in the first couple of weeks. Be sure to report anything that doesn't look right.
If you want a fancy badge layout created, and you don't have the HTML skills to do it yourselves, then send us a mockup (JPEG or similar) of what the badge should look like, and we'll create it for you. There'll be a charge of $60 for this service.
Other New Features
- Along with links to your group's Facebook profile, Twitter, YouTube, Myspace, etc, we have a new field called "Spotify page". To find it, click the little "cog" icon in the top-right corner of the site, then click the cog icon next to the name of your group's primary ensemble. Then click the "Promotion" tab.
- On the Financial Members report, there's a new option, right at the bottom of the page, to "Mark all members as inactive". This can be useful if you have the sort of choir where everyone needs to re-enrol (or sign up again) at the beginning of every year, or every semester.
As usual, if you have any questions about, or issues with, these new features, please email them to our support team, at support@harmonysite.com. Please do not reply to this email.
Kind regards,
Mark Virtue
HarmonySite
Australia
+61 2 8005 4277 (Australian number)
In North America, call: 1-415-651-7009 (San Francisco number)
Skype name: mvirtue
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