use cases for non-accruing categories

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• What are non-accruing categories? 
• What are the use cases? 
• How do I tell them apart? 

What are non-accruing categories? 

Think of non-Accruing Categories as a separate pot of time. These are activities you want to track, but you DON'T want to count towards official AmeriCorps hours; you'd like them to split off separately from Segal Education Award time.

Let's use the example of Lunch Breaks, a common Non-Accruing Category. Many programs need to track that their AmeriCorps Members took a documented lunch break, but that time should not count towards AmeriCorps time. With Non-Accruing Categories, we can make sure reporters track their lunches through an official category, but that category is tracked separately and doesn't total alongside other AmeriCorps Categories (e.g. - Service, Training, and Fundraising Hours). 

Here's what this would look like on the Reporter Dashboard:

What are the use cases? 

Here are some use cases where Non-Accruing Categories have been helpful for programs:

• Lunches and Breaks: Many programs have a policy that reporters must take documented lunches and breaks throughout the day, but that these mandatory breaks cannot count towards their AmeriCorps time.
  
  Here's how this could look on a time sheet (non-accruing category highlighted for this example):
  
  
• Teaching Time: Some teaching programs have teachers splitting time between AmeriCorps teaching time and other teaching time they'd like to document, but that does not count towards their AmeriCorps Service.
  
  Here's how this could look on a time sheet (non-accruing category highlighted for this example):
  
  
• Vacation Days or PTO: Many programs (and VISTA) stipulate that reporters have a set number of PTO days each program year. PTO can be tracked as a non-accruing category, where members add 8 hours to each day they take off. This category is set to non-accruing so that these reporters aren't getting AmeriCorps Service credit for their PTO days, but the time is still tracked.
  
  Here's how this could look on a time sheet (non-accruing category highlighted for this example):
  
  
• Other Grant Time or Accreditation Time: There are scenarios where a program is managing multiple grants, and a service member is serving hours both in both AmeriCorps and another grant at the same time. Non-Accruing Categories effectively split those hours, so it's very clear what time was spent within each funding source.
  
  Here's how this could look on a time sheet (non-accruing category highlighted for this example):
  
  
• Accreditation Time: Similar to above, some programs have their reporters gaining an accreditation through and alongside their AmeriCorps Service. In these scenarios, there are often times activities that are not allowable or counted through AmeriCorps, but the program still needs to track on the reporter time sheet.
  
  Here's how this could look on a time sheet (non-accruing category highlighted for this example):
  
  
• Paid Time - Some programs pair AmeriCorps Service with other paid opportunities for their reporters. Since these hours cannot be combined, Non-Accruing Categories allows the tracking to be split. 
  
  Here's how this could look on a time sheet (non-accruing category highlighted for this example):
  

How do I tell them apart? 

It's easy to tell these categories apart because they total time in two distinct pots. Here are the three places where Non-Accruing Categories will appear.  

1. When You're Building the Time Sheet Template: 
   In your time sheet category settings, you'll be asked this question to indicate if a category is non-accruing:

   
   

   Indicating No under the section, "Deduct approved hours in this category from the total number of hours that need to be accrued" will make this category Non-Accruing.
   
   You will then be asked to name the new Non-Accruing pot of time:
   
   
   The labels will default to AmeriCorps Hours and Non-AmeriCorps hours, but you can customize this to meet your program language. Maybe it is Lunch Hours you're tracking separately, or Teacher Accreditation Hours. You have the flexibility to name these in a way that makes sense for you and your reporters
   
   

2. In the Reporter Dashboard: 
   Because you've indicated a category is Non-Accruing in the Time Sheet Template Settings, it will separate this time from AmeriCorps Time in the Reporter Dashboard, with your customized language around the label. Here's an example with PTO Time used for the hours type label:
   
   
   
   
3. In the Time Sheet 
   This will appear in the Totals for the Period area of the time sheet where reporters see total time entered before submitting. Here is an example:
   
   
   Reporters will also see non-accruing time separated in the daily summaries. Here is how it looks from the Reporter view:
   Once submitted, here is how it looks from the Staff view:
   

Feeling excited about taking advantage of Non-Accruing Categories? Check out this article on how to set them up.