Remote Check In [V5]

AlumnIQ comes with a phone- and tablet-friendly app for working the door at your events. It allows you to check people into events as they arrive; and in some cases do walk-up registration, too!

The app is located at https://{you}.alumniq.com/checkin/, where {you} is your school's AlumnIQ subdomain. For example, the University of Delaware is ud.alumniq.com.

Overview

Point your phone, tablet, or computer browser to the URL described above.
Log in with one of two possible approaches described below
Tap on the event you want to check people into
Tap on the activity you want to check people into
As attendees arrive, search for and check them in
Go enjoy the party!

One of the biggest complaints about the previous version of Remote Check-In was that it was difficult to grant access to volunteers and other helpers, because you don't necessarily want them to have access to the rest of AlumnIQ admin. This problem has been solved! But first, let's get through the approach that's easy to describe:

1. Admin Users

For users with existing AlumnIQ admin accounts, there are two new security roles (ems:checkin:v5:all-events and ems:checkin:v5:limited). These can be assigned to any AlumnIQ Admin account. The all-events role allows the user to access check-in for all events and activities until they are closed. The limited role allows the user to access check-in only for events to which they have been assigned, and only until 24 hours after the event ends.

For both of the above cases (regardless of which role they have assigned), users can open /checkin and click the "I have an AlumnIQ account" button. If they are already logged into AlumnIQ Admin, they should be quickly logged into remote check-in. Otherwise, they will log into admin and this will send them back to remote check-in with an active session.

Once a user has been assigned one of the two check-in roles, they will appear in the Check-In Admins list accessible in the Security section of the AlumnIQ Admin menu. From here you can (in)activate their check-in admin status (does not affect their Admin access), or "roll" their security keys. Rolling their keys generates a new access token, and will force them to be logged out of the application the next time they try to use it. As long as they are active, they will be able to log back in. This is a handy way of forcing a user to log out, for example if they lost their phone or if you suspect someone is misusing access.

2. Helpers

Helpers are usually either community volunteers or staff from other areas of campus that are helping with check-in, but who don't need AlumnIQ Admin accounts. Anyone with the security role can create and manage Helper accounts by selecting the "Check-In Helpers" menu item, in the Security section.

Helpers access Remote Check-In via what we call "Magic Login Urls" -- they won't be prompted for a username, email address, or password. They are assigned a unique code that we put into a link and send to them. Alternatively, you can copy and paste the link to send it to them via whatever means work best for you.

Please communicate to your helpers the importance of keeping that URL private! Anyone accessing Remote Check-In with that link is acting on behalf of them personally, and their actions are being logged and audited.

At any time you may inactivate or "roll" the security keys of a helper account. In both cases, the helper will be logged out of the app the next time they try to view or change any data. In the case of inactivation, they will not be able to log back in. In the case of rolling their keys, if they have the new magic login url, they can log back in with the new keys.

Assigning users and helpers to events

One common –and valid!– criticism of the previous remote check in application was that it opened up too many events to too many people for too long, while simultaneously cutting off access too early for certain users. We've solved this problem by adding tiered access.

You probably have a small number of users who need access to all events all of the time, and for everyone else it makes more sense only to show them the events where they'll be working at check-in. Helpers are a lot like users, but they don't get AlumnIQ Admin accounts.

The former is the type of user that you will assign the role ems:check-in:v5:all-events. They'll see every event from the time registration opens until the event is closed (not the same as event-end).

The latter, users and helpers who should only ever see a couple of events and only until 24 hours after the event ends, need to be granted access to each event. Anyone who can edit event setup (role: ems:setup:modify) may assign users and helpers to run check-in at an event.

Clicking the "Grant Access" button will open the dialog where you can do just that:

Search is here!

While we were quite fond of the letter picker from the previous version of Remote Check-In, we heard you loud and clear: You wanted search! Now you've got it.

In addition to simple searches like, "Jones" you can also perform advanced searches to more precisely look for a specific person. Enter a partial last name, followed by a comma and a partial first name, and we'll find all people who match those criteria.

For example, searching for t,a will include Adam Tuttle in search results, but will not include Steve Rittler (because there's no A in Steve). Alternatively, if you don't like the last, first format, you can achieve the same result by doing a partial first name, then a space, and a partial last name: ste rittl.

Offline support is gone

While sometimes handy, more often than not there is some level of internet access available, and offline support made everything exponentially more difficult to debug.

Plus, by going online, we gain the ability to do several things we think you'll really love:

Walk-up registration with Warehouse search for matching
Combined Checkin+ functionality (no-preregistration, access only via ACL)
We no longer store all registrants for your selected event on your phone (no weird data issues)
Checked-in counts stay (roughly) in sync across all devices currently working at check-in!

Walk-up registration

Previously, we had two apps and three use-cases (one of which wasn't covered at all). Now it's all handled in one app.

Walk-up registration is currently only avaible for FREE events. Adding support for fee selection and post-registration billing is on our roadmap for a future addition.

In the same settings pod where you assigned users and helpers to your event (see above), you may control the walk-up registration configuration for your event.

This section shows us a summary of the walk-up registration settings and allows us to open the dialog to edit them. As pictured above:

This event does allow walk-up registration
Search for primary registrants against the warehouse
Allow primary registrant to register unmatched (without an xid)
Guests are also allowed (No effort is made to respect the event limit on party size. This is up to you!)
Search for guests against the warehouse
Allow guests to register unmatched (without an xid)

Clicking the Edit Config button opens the Check In Configuration window:

For any given event, you may choose to disable walk-up registration. This is the default.
If you enable walk-up registration, you first must choose how primary registrants can be added:
- Using an Access Control List
  - You may select multiple lists to act as the walk-up registration ACL
- Search the Warehouse
  - You may either require all primary registrants to be matched, or allow them to be added unmatched using a "not found" button.
You may choose not to allow guests by un-checking the "Allow guests" checkbox. If guests are allowed, you have all of the same options as primary registrants, with the following notes:
- Guests and primary registrants do not have to follow the same rules. For example, you may choose to require an ACL for primary registrants but allow warehouse search for guests.
- If both primary registrants and guests are using an Access Control List, they may optionally draw from different lists.

Walk-up registration ACLs are not connected to the pre-registration ACL

Using an Access Control List is a good way to tightly control who can register for your event, but you might find yourself in a situation where you want to allow the person working the door at the event to make the determination of who to allow in, and who not to allow in.

Or on the other side of the coin: Maybe pre-registration is wide open but once the event starts you want to control who can register at the door with an ACL.

For these reasons, walk-up registration ACL's are entirely separate from the pre-registration ACL. You can use any combination of lists, or no ACL.

Occasionally asked questions

Just what are they being checked in to? This activity, and this event only.
Does it work on my ____? Yes, as long as your ____ has a web browser!
So should I use my phone, iPod, or iPad? We've found that smaller screens work better. (We were surprised by that too!) Holding and scrolling with one hand seems to be far easier to manage than the two-handed approach a tablet demands. Try it with both and see if you agree.
I have to check in a lot of people. Do we really need to involve the internet in this? Need? No. But it'll save you the effort of doing it after the fact.
Should I still print the headcount report? Absolutely yes. Always travel with an emergency backup. Doing otherwise wouldn't be prudent.
I can't see my event! Why not? There are a variety of reasons you might not be able to see your event in the list.
- If registration hasn't opened for the event yet, nobody can see it in check in. (There would be virtually no point, right?) This is to help reduce clutter.
- If you don't have the all-events role (it's a special permission), then you can only see events for which registration has already opened, and only if you've been assigned as a check in helper for the event.
- If you don't have the all-events role, you need to be granted access to each event individually. If registration has opened already (people can register to attend the event), and you still can't see it in the list, chances are you haven't been assigned as a helper for that event.