The problems of an intern
A typical task within an internship: the everyday process of keeping report books. On the one hand, care must be taken to ensure that working hours are accurately recorded and matched. On the other hand, the signature of the supervisor must be requested for each individual report book.
Due to a lack of time, it is often the case that report books are filled out months in arrears. The big problem here is that errors and mix-ups can creep in very quickly within different time periods. This can lead to the situation being misconstrued and, in the worst case, can be considered fraud. In addition, it is almost impossible to complete an intern's report card one hundred percent correctly when making a subsequent entry. The reason for this is memory lapses, which become larger the further the respective time period progresses. This is human, but still not a long-term way to keep report books. We have developed a very pleasant solution for the annoying keeping of report books, which is presented in this blog article.
The solution is the manaBooklet - A must have for interns
The manaBooklet is an independent module in the ERP system Odoo, which automatically provides the report books for interns and trainees. It is possible to send the contents with a short message and an encrypted link to a web view to all participants, such as training center, vocational school and IHK/university, via e-mail.
The central advantages through manaBooklet
- automated processes for the creation of the report portfolio
- no transmission errors during time recording
- no permanent sending between trainee, training company, vocational school and IHK
- enormous time saving for training company and trainee
- more flexibility, as there are no critical time windows in the event of last-minute changes to the report portfolio
- Less communication effort
- more sustainable approach through digitization process
Sustainable and environmentally conscious with manaBooklet
Manabooklet not only conserves human resources, but also physical ones. The digitization process makes it possible to save large amounts of paper. In the normal process, report books are often printed out at the end of an activity. In addition to this, the signed paper packages have to be sent to the training company and the vocational school. This is not a sustainable process. Not only are vast amounts wasted on the paper printing, but also the supply chain when sent by mail generates CO₂ which we can easily save. In addition, the variant of sending the report portfolio by mail is quite cost-intensive for trainees and apprentices. This is mainly due to the fact that it has to be sent with the corresponding shipping insurance.
Once all the signatures have been collected and entered, the report cards must be scanned and then sent to the Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
Report books of trainees
ManaBooklet facilitates the creation of report books by automating the entire process. Report books no longer have to be scanned, printed in paper and sent; manaBooklet can handle the entire process itself.
How it works
To begin with, the application reads the data from the time recording module. In the process, the times are automatically determined and evaluated. Afterwards, the time period and interval can be selected for later implementation in the report booklet. The sending and signing of the report books can be done digitally for all required participants in an uncomplicated way.
The portal view
In the portal, there is a web view in which the report books to be signed are displayed. These are intended for external participants (in this example: vocational school and practice company). Here, the existing report portfolio can be signed and printed out via a button according to the user's own choice of web browser.
In the report portfolio below, a message can be sent directly to the trainee.
If the signature of a participant is successful, the trainee will also receive a notification within Odoo and in by e-mail.
The user interface
The manaBooklet is available in two views. There is the list view and the form view.
The list view is also called tree view. This view shows the records in tabular form. Here, the instructor has access to all of the trainee's records. Conversely, the trainee has access only to his own records. In the following image we can see the list view.
Another view is the form view. Here single records can be created and edited. In the form view the button "Send & Print" is defined. This opens a window and by means of an e-mail template the portal link is transferred in a message. Also, an excerpt of the report portfolio is automatically attached.
The button "Show report portfolio" enables the view in the portal view.
In order to protect the signatures of the trainer and the vocational school in the best possible way in the event of possible manipulation attempts, the signatures are deleted when changes are made to the report portfolio. When this happens, the trainee receives a warning in the user interface. This warning allows to change back the old record to prevent the deletion.
In order to guarantee the best possible process for the user, the report books are mapped in different status levels. Here the first status is "Draft". It is set when a report booklet is created.
The status "To be signed" is set as soon as the report portfolio is sent to the vocational school and the trainer with the portal link and is waiting for the signatures. In the user interface, a checkbox also indicates when the signatures have been set.
As soon as all signatures are set, the status "Complete" is set. The possibility of setting a status level and its change is determined by the trainee in the user interface.
The most important functions summarized
The module manaBooklet is basically available from Odoo version 15.0. The application offers the possibility to generate the working hours of a trainee or apprentice from the module "time recording". It offers the possibility to adjust the entries afterwards and to create or delete new entries manually. When creating a new report portfolio, the information is automatically pulled from the last periods and set to another day to avoid duplicate execution.
The "Signature" tab in the form view contains the signature of the intern with the corresponding date and name, which is printed in the report portfolio. The tab "Note" within the form view implements the viewing of the intern's own note. The "View report" button grants access to the portal view. There is a warning window if the record has changed and a signature has already been set (only at the training company or vocational school, not the trainee's own). If the report books are changed, the signatures already set are deleted, which reinforces the measures for data security. When the button "Send & Print" is clicked, an e-mail template with a short message and a link to the portal view, as well as an attachment of the report portfolio for trainers and school is sent.
The date is set automatically if a previous record already exists. Then the start date is enumerated to one day. If no record exists, the start date will be the 1st day in the current month.
There are different access rights and groups so that not every trainee/apprentice can read or change the read or write rights of another. However, the training center is allowed to view the report books all records of its trainees.
Are you interested in setting up an ERP system or do you also want to enjoy innovative benefits within your company through modern IT processes? Contact us now, we will be very happy to help you and provide you with advice and support!