A report type is a template for the data you want to collect after an activity session. When a volunteer (or manager) submits a report at the end of a shift, they're filling in a report type you've designed. This guide covers how to create and manage report types end-to-end.
Three concepts to know
These three terms get used a lot. They're related but distinct:
Report type — the template. Defines what data to collect (e.g. "Outreach Service Report" with fields for people served, items distributed, hours, photos).
Report field — a single building block within a template. Each field collects one piece of data (e.g. "How many people did we serve today?"). Fields are reusable across multiple report types.
Session report — an actual submitted instance of a report type, filled in by a volunteer or manager after a session.
In short: you build report types out of report fields, and your volunteers submit session reports based on them.
Where Report Types live
Navigate to Management > Report Management from the main menu. The page has two tabs:
Report Types — list, create, and edit your report templates
Report Fields — the library of all fields ever created across your report types, with cross-cutting management actions like merging and archiving
You'll do most of your work in the Report Types tab. The Report Fields tab is for tidying up your field library and making sure you're not collecting the same data twice across different reports.
Creating a Report Type
From the Report Types tab, click Create Report Type.
Give your report type a:
Name (required) — short and descriptive (e.g. "Soup Kitchen Service", "Beach Clean-up")
Description (optional) — a longer note explaining what this report is for, visible to managers configuring it on a session
Then build the form by adding fields and headings.
Adding fields
Click Add Field to add a field to your report type. You can either:
Choose an existing field from your library — useful when you're collecting the same data point across multiple reports (e.g. "Hours Volunteered" used everywhere)
Create a new field inline — set it up here and it's automatically added to your library for reuse later
For each field you can mark it as Optional (volunteers can skip it) or leave it required.
Adding headings
Click Add Heading to add a section title. Headings don't collect data — they're just visual breaks for organising long reports into sections like "Service Delivery", "Materials Used", "Reflections".
Reordering
Drag and drop fields and headings to reorder them.
Saving
Click Save Report Type to save. Your report type is now available to assign to sessions.
Field types
Volaby supports eight field types for reports:
Checklist Item — a yes/no checkbox for confirming something happened
Dropdown — pick one (or multiple) from a list of options. Configure the options when creating the field. Toggle "Allow multiple" if you want volunteers to be able to select more than one.
Rating — star-style rating (e.g. how did the session go?)
Thumbs Up/Down — a simple positive/negative judgment
Attachment — upload a file (photo, document)
Time — time input
Text — free-form text. Toggle "Long text" for a multi-line area for reflections, observations, comments.
Number — numeric input — the most common type for quantitative impact data (people served, hours volunteered, items distributed)
Each field has a name and an optional description. The description appears as helper text under the field when volunteers are filling it in.
The Report Fields tab — your field library
Switch to the Report Fields tab to see every field ever created in your organisation. This is your library — fields you created in one report type are available to reuse in any other.
The list shows:
Field name and type
Description
Status (active or archived)
Which report types currently use the field
Use the search box to find a specific field by name, and the status filter to show only active, only archived, or all fields.
Click into any field to see its details and take action:
Edit — update the name, description, or type-specific options
Merge — combine this field with another field of the same type (covered below)
Archive — deactivate the field. Existing uses remain but the field can't be added to new report types.
Reactivate — bring an archived field back into use
Pinned Fields
When creating or editing a field, you can toggle Assign as a Pinned Field to mark it as a featured stat. Pinned fields show up as hero metrics in two places:
Your organisation's Impact Dashboard — as featured stats on the dashboard
Each volunteer's My Elements page — as personal stats in their dashboard card
Pin fields you want to highlight and showcase as the headline numbers for your organisation's impact (and each volunteer's personal contribution). We recommend a maximum of three pinned fields so they don't fight for attention.
Merging fields
If you have two fields collecting the same kind of data (e.g. "Hours Volunteered" and "Volunteer Hours" — different name, same purpose), you can merge them into a single field.
From the source field's details, select Merge. You'll be asked to pick a target field of the same type. When you merge:
All report types using the source field switch to the target field
All historical session reports update to reference the target field
The source field is automatically archived
The merge cannot be undone — Volaby shows a warning before proceeding
You can only merge fields of the same type — text with text, number with number, dropdown with dropdown.
Archiving and reactivating
Both report types and report fields can be archived rather than deleted. Archiving deactivates the item:
Existing uses remain intact (historical reports still display correctly)
The item can't be assigned to new sessions or added to new report types
The item is hidden from active lists by default (use the status filter to see it)
To bring an archived item back, click into it and select Reactivate.
Use archive instead of delete when something is no longer relevant but you don't want to lose its historical data.
Assigning a Report Type to a Session
Report types only collect data when they're attached to a session. Each session in an activity has its own report type assignment, set in the session configuration on the activity timeline.
When you configure a session, the report type dropdown shows three kinds of options:
Your report types — the ones you've built in Report Management
No Report Required (Impact Tracked) — no manual report is submitted, but Volaby auto-generates a basic report from roster data and the session's start and end times. Use this for sessions where attendance is the only thing you need to track.
No Report Required (No Impact) — no report at all and no impact data. Use this for sessions like training, meetings, or anything that doesn't need to be reported on.
You can also create a new report type directly from a session's settings if you discover mid-setup that none of your existing report types fit. The shortcut takes you into the same Report Type creation flow described above.
Check In / Check Out and reports
If your organisation has Check In & Check Out enabled (Admin Console > Activity Reporting > Check In & Check Out), volunteers can check in to and out of their rostered sessions. The recorded check-in and check-out times surface alongside report fields when a session report is submitted, giving you accurate attendance and impact hours without manual entry.
CICO can be enabled at the organisation level (the default) or overridden at the activity level.
Org-wide reporting settings
Several reporting settings live at the organisation level rather than on individual report types. Find them at Admin Console > Activity Reporting:
Strict Session Reporting — when on, completed session reports are visible only to volunteers who were rostered on the session, plus Activity Leaders, Program Managers and Admins. When off, any volunteer on the activity team can see any submitted report. Use this when reports contain sensitive information.
Prevent Volunteer Reports — hides the activity reports section from general volunteers entirely. Activity Leaders, Program Managers and Admins continue to view and manage reports as normal.
Light Touch Reports — when enabled, activity reports won't be flagged as incomplete if a roster was never published for that date. Stops your reports queue filling up with false positives for dates that didn't actually run.
Check In / Check Out — covered above
Ad-Hoc Reporting — lets volunteers submit reports outside scheduled sessions, with rules you configure
These settings are documented separately. They're worth knowing about because they shape how the report types you create actually behave in the volunteer experience.
Permissions
Create and edit report types: Admins, and Program Managers with the Manage Report Types privilege
Submit a session report: any volunteer on the activity team, plus Activity Leaders, Program Managers and Admins. If Prevent Volunteer Reports is on, volunteers can't submit reports at all.
Edit a submitted report: Activity Leaders (their activities), Program Managers, Admins, and in some cases the original submitter
View a submitted report: depends on Strict Session Reporting — see above
Cross-links
For related setup and management:
Activity Reporting Settings — Admin Console > Activity Reporting toggles in detail
Check In & Check Out — full guide to CICO
Impact Dashboard — where pinned field data shows up across the organisation
No Report Required — when and how to use the two no-report modes