User manual

Anyone can visit the site without signing in to:

• Read published announcements (including team-specific and project-linked updates), see images and dates, and open shareable detail pages
• Browse active organization projects and events, their summaries, cover images, working teams, and announcement timelines
• Browse active community polls and view current results
• Explore RESA teams on the Our team page—responsibilities, cover images, members, and designated contacts (organization teams only; project-only teams stay on project/event pages)
• Browse the Documents page folder tree; signing in is required to download a file
• Read the Help page for this user manual
• Find team phone contacts on the Contact page

The site works on both desktop and mobile.

Members and administrators sign in with the email address and password set on their account. There is no shared administrator password.

After signing in, what you can do depends on your role and the permissions assigned to that role.

Signed-in members can:

• Browse all RESA teams and see whether each is Open, Closed, or Batch
• Join open teams directly, or use a shared join link (you will be asked to confirm after login)
• View the roster and membership change history for teams they belong to
• For closed teams they belong to, add or remove members—the designated contact cannot be removed until another contact is chosen
• Browse active polls, cast an anonymous vote, and change that vote while the poll is still open
• View poll results (totals and percentages)
• Open the member document library, download files, and read or add comments on documents

Batch teams show HSC year and batch admins. Members do not join or leave Batch teams themselves; membership is set through user management.

Administrators manage the portal from the member/admin area after signing in. Menu items appear based on your permissions.

Users

• Create and update member profiles: contact details, SSC year, HSC Batch, locations, login email, and passwords
• Assign roles (within the rules described under Roles and permissions)

Donors

Donor management uses the same Add, Edit, and Delete rights as Users—there is no separate donor permission.

• Add a donor by email first. If that email already belongs to a member, mark them as a donor without changing their role, password, or login access.
• If the email is new, enter profile details (no password or role). That creates a donor-only profile that cannot sign in.
• Donor-only profiles appear in the Users list and other admin pickers so you can manage them, but they cannot log in.
• Removing donor status keeps a normal login-capable member account. Donor-only profiles are deleted when donor status is removed.

Teams

• Create teams as Open, Closed, or Batch
• Set initial members and a contact person, describe responsibilities, and upload a cover image
• After creation, closed-team membership is managed by current members; open teams accept self-joins
• Teams editors can set each member’s public Role, Show Phone on Web, and Sequence for the Our team page

Batch teams

• Only Owner or the built-in Admin role can create a Batch team or change its HSC year and batch admins
• Ordinary Teams edit/delete rights still cover other Batch fields: name, responsibilities, contact, and cover
• Each Batch is tied to a unique HSC year. Assigning that Batch to a user sets Batch membership and updates the user’s displayed HSC year
• A user can belong to at most one Batch team
• Owner/Admin can name one or more batch admins per Batch. Batch admins stay regular User-role accounts and must belong to that Batch
• Batch admins can open Users management without full Users permissions. They may list, add, and edit only regular User accounts in Batches they administer. They cannot delete users, change roles, or assign a Batch they do not administer
• Accounts with full Users permissions still have global user access, but can assign an HSC Batch only for Batches they administer. Owner/Admin can assign any Batch

Projects and events

• Create and manage items as either a Project or an Event (same fields and permissions; labels and homepage sections differ)
• Each has a summary, rich description, cover image, and active/archived status
• Public pages show linked working teams and published announcements as a timeline
• Link existing organization teams to a project/event, or create project-scoped teams (open/closed only) that are hidden from Our team and Contact but shown on that project/event page
• Deleting a project/event leaves linked announcements in place (clears the link) and removes its project-scoped teams

Announcements

• Create General, team-specific, and/or project-linked announcements with rich text and images
• Save drafts, schedule when they go live, edit, or remove them
• Published announcements are visible on the public site—do not treat them as private team messages

Polls

• Create multiple-choice polls, turn them on or off, set closing times, and review results
• Once voting has started, poll choices cannot be changed (to keep results fair)

Documents

• Upload and manage dated documents for members
• Members can download files and discuss them in comments

Roles and permissions

• Configure separate Add, Edit, and Delete rights for Users, Teams, Projects, Announcements, Documents, and Polls (Projects permissions also cover Events)
• Create custom roles and assign roles to accounts
• Owner always has full access; at least one Owner must remain
• You cannot give someone permissions that you do not have yourself
• Non-Owners cannot assign the Owner role

Email templates

• Create, edit, preview, and remove reusable email templates for supported communication workflows
• Templates can be prepared now, but automatic outbound email is not yet available

HSC batches

1. Owner or Admin creates one Batch team per HSC year (for example HSC 2005).
2. Assign one or more regular users from that Batch as batch admins.
3. Batch admins enroll classmates through Users, choosing only their administered HSC Batch.
4. Keep Open/Closed teams for functional groups (volunteers, committees); use Batch teams only for graduation cohorts.

Volunteer management

Use two complementary teams rather than a single roster:

1. Volunteer Management (Closed) — trusted coordinators only.
   • Keep this team small. Every closed-team member can add or remove other members and view the membership change log; there is no separate team-leader permission.
   • Designate one coordinator with a phone number as the public contact.
   • Use this team for coordinator coordination and roster control over related closed groups when needed.
2. Volunteers (Open) — the broader volunteer roster.
   • Share the team’s direct join link so registered members can enroll themselves.
   • Keep the designated contact on a coordinator account that has a phone number; the contact must be a current member of the team.
   • Publish volunteer calls, schedules, and updates as team-specific announcements targeted at this team. Published announcements are public, so do not treat them as private team messages.

Optional access for coordinators who also need admin tools:

• Create a custom role (for example Volunteer Coordinator) and grant only the global permissions they need, such as Announcements Add/Edit.
• Role permissions apply across the whole portal, not to a single team, so grant them sparingly.

• Passwords are stored securely; sessions stay signed in using protected browser cookies.
• Text entered in rich editors is cleaned before it appears publicly.
• Uploads only accept supported file types and size limits set by the system.
• Announcement pages include social sharing information so links look correct when shared.
• Donor status is separate from roles. Donor-only accounts have no password and cannot sign in.
• Batch membership is managed through Users, not through team join or leave actions.