Those volunteering in JPs in the Community signing sites will surely welcome today the beginning of the end of ad hoc statistics recording of hours worked and documents processed. An email seeking our help to collect accurate statistics came from the JP Branch today 22 August 2017.
Soon each JP will be able to enter their own stats at My Volunteer Page. In the first instance the signing site coordinators will issue a standard paper tally sheet for all JPs at a site to complete. Each coordinator will then enter the stats online.
In my own case I volunteer as a Forerunner for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games that uses the same volunteer site. It is a very straightforward online system to use.
At last all sites will record values for:
- JP volunteer name
- hours worked on a particular date
- number of clients serviced
- number of documents witnessed
This will allow proper comparisons between signing sites and help identify under- and over-servicing and determine the locations of future sites.
Of course the eternal question of what exactly constitutes a complete document arises immediately. Fortunately JP Branch have given us a definition of a document:
One example would be an affidavit, this is one document. While we are aware that a lot of work goes into witnessing this document, it is still to be counted as one. The same rule applies to EPAs, AHDs and land transfer documents.
Another example would be if you certified six copies, that would count as six documents. If there are four identity documents on one page to be certified, that counts as four documents.
Well done JP Branch. This will be a much sought-after improvement.
Guides to the use of the new system are promised in the near future and I am keen to participate.
