AAPG Student Chapters can now submit their reports online.
AAPG Student Chapters can now submit their reports online.
This is because AAPG has developed a new wizard to guide chapter leadership through the process and, on the back end, allow AAPG staff to receive more timely information.
“Student Chapter reporting is one of the most crucial ways that we receive information from our existing student chapters,” said Mike Mlynek, assistant manager of AAPG’s member services department and staff liaison to Student Chapters. “It is the lifeblood of the chapter that keeps it moving forward, affecting everything from chapter status, eligibility for various programs and rankings for the Outstanding Student Chapter Awards.”
Previously, chapter leadership would either mail or email their reports to AAPG. But with computer access now common on college and university campuses, “It is only fitting that we introduce a better way to deliver those reports to headquarters,” Mlynek said.
This new streamlined process allows for a Student Chapter to upload the reports that are due every six months. It immediately confirms to the chapter and member services staff that it has been received.
Several manual steps are eliminated, including a delayed confirmation of receipt of reports.
Brian McBroom, member services specialist, points out the efficiency since “the new wizard ties into pre-existing applications such as the student chapter search and the approval processes for the Weeks Grant recipients.”
McBroom helped establish the L. Austin Weeks Undergraduate Grant wizard to assist the AAPG Foundation collection of reports required for the Weeks Grant process.
“Updates to these applications will be immediate as well, using the information provided for the reports,” McBroom said.
Step-by-Step
So let’s review the steps of the Chapter Report submittal wizard.
♦ First, gather what you’ll need:
- Student Chapter ID.
- Report(s) saved to a PDF, Word document, text file such as ASCII or Rich Text Format. Those extensions would be: PDF, .doc, .docx, or .zip.
♦ Go to AAPG’s student website. If familiar with this page you may already have noticed a new link within the header labeled “Chapter Reports.”
♦ Enter your Student Chapter ID, as it is required to begin the process. This will bring up information from your records on file confirming your chapter.
The person submitting the data will be asked to enter their name and email address.
♦ Choose the correct report option – mid-year or end-of-year – and the report year.
♦ Click the “Choose File” button to locate the file of your report on your local hard drive, then select the upload button.
An on screen confirmation will appear and an email will be sent to the email address provided and to AAPG staff.
And … you’re done.
“We are positive that this will improve upon our efforts and look forward to the introduction of other improvements to help AAPG students and their chapters in the future,” Mlynek said.
Mlynek and McBroom worked closely with Taron Graves, AAPG .NET developer, to bring this new tool to the Student Chapters.
Good browsing!