Volunteering with the Scouts often requires covering expenses out of pocket. To streamline reimbursements, we’ve developed a user-friendly online form that ensures quick and easy processing, reducing the financial burden on leaders as much as possible.
Why an Online Form?
Scout groups often incur expenses for materials, travel and food. An efficient reimbursement system helps reduce administration and eliminates the need for paper receipts. Our online form is tailored to the needs of Scouts and Guides, making expense reporting simple and organised. By submitting claims digitally, we ensure that all the necessary information is included, saving time and paper.
Technical Background
We use the popular WordPress plugin Contact Form 7 (CF7) combined with “Drag and Drop Multiple File Uploader” and “Friendly Captcha.” These plugins provide the following benefits:
- File Upload: Up to ten files can be uploaded (10 MB max) for receipts. Supported formats include JPG, PNG, and PDF.
- Spam Protection: “Friendly Captcha” ensures that only genuine requests are processed, keeping our system spam-free.
- Anonymity: Only the last four digits of the IBAN are requested, so no full bank details or personal data are stored.
How Our Form Works
The form is designed to capture all the necessary information while remaining easy to use. Here’s a brief overview of the fields that must be filled in:
- Name and Email Address – Basic contact details to match the request.
- Activity – A short description of the activity or event where the expenses were incurred.
- Category Selection – Select the type of expense, such as travel, camp, or materials.
- Participant Number – Number of participants (if relevant).
- Dates – The date(s) when the activity took place.
- Amount – Total expenses in euros.
- IBAN – The last four digits of the IBAN, to ensure payment is made to the correct account.
- Receipts – Upload receipts for a clear and accountable process.
- Notes – Additional information, if needed.
Approval process: After submitting the application, the Directors receives an email with all the details and can approve the application directly. By clicking on ‘Reply’ in the email, the address is pre-filled by the treasurer. This means that the money can be transferred directly to the group leader who made the request.
Additional Technical Details
We’ve also implemented special settings to make file management easier:
- File Storage: Uploaded documents are stored solely on the web server to reduce email inbox load. In the plugin “Drag and Drop Multiple File Uploader” settings, “Don’t delete files” should be checked as “Yes” to prevent deletion.
This solution allows groups to save all receipts and associated approvals as a PDF at the end of each year, creating a digital expense logbook for easy documentation and tracking.
Form Code
For those interested in integrating this solution into their own website, here’s the code used for our form:
<label> Dein Name (Pflichtfeld)
[text* your-name] </label>
<label> Deine E-Mail-Adresse (Pflichtfeld)
[email* your-email] </label>
<label> Aktion / Fahrt / Lager (Pflichtfeld)
[text* your-subject] </label>
<label>Tag (Pflichtfeld)
[select* art "Fahrt, Haik, Lager, Aktion" "Wö-Kasse" "Juffi-Kasse" "Pfadi-Kasse" "Rover-Kasse" "Ausbildung" "Versicherung" "Material" "Georgsburg"] </label>
<label>Teilnehmer*innen [number teilnehmer]</label>
<label>Von / Am (Pflichtfeld) [date* von]</label>
<label><span>bis </span>[date bis]</label>
<label>Auslagen (Pflichtfeld)
<span>€ </span>[number* Betrag]</label>
<label>Letzten vier Stellen der IBAN (Pflichtfeld)
[number IBAN max:9999]</label>
<p>Des Kontos, an das die Auslagen beglichen werden sollen. Sollte es ein neues Konto sein, schick dem <a href="mailto:kassenwart@pfadfinder.de?subject=Neue%20Kontodaten">Kassenwart</a> bitte eine gesonderte Mail.</p>
<label>Belege (Pflichtfeld)
[mfile* upload-file-349 filetypes:jpg|jpeg|png|gif|pdf|doc|docx|xls|xlsx limit:10000000 min-file:1 max-file:10]
Es ist zwingend erforderlich, dass alle Angaben des Beleges leserlich sind. Ansonsten kann die Auslage nicht beglichen werden.
</label>
<label> Anmerkungen
[textarea your-message] </label>
[acceptance accept-this-1]Ich habe die <a href="https://pfadfinder.de/datenschutz/">Datenschutzerklärung</a> gelesen und akzeptiert.[/acceptance]
[submit "Senden"]Email Notification Code
When the form is submitted, an email is automatically generated and sent to the board. Here’s a sample of the email code, which is also customizable:
<p>Hallo lieber StaVo,</p>
<p>könnt ihr folgende Abrechnung so freigeben?</p>
<p>Von: [your-name] <[your-email]><br />Auslagen <strong>[your-subject]</strong> von [von] bis [bis] mit [teilnehmer] Teilnehmern</p>
<p>Tag: [art]</p>
<p>Betrag: [Betrag] €</p>
<p>Letzten vier Ziffern der IBAN: [IBAN]</p>
<p><br />Anmerkungen:<br />[your-message]</p>
<p>Beleg: [upload-file-349]</p>
<p><br />Wenn alles so in Ordnung ist und alle Angaben des Beleges leserlich sind, antwortet mir bitte, dann überweise ich [your-name] die [Betrag] €.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Gruß & Gut Pfad<br />Der Kassenwart</p>
<p>-- <br />Diese E-Mail wurde über das Abrechnungsformular von https://pfadfinder.de/interner-bereich/ gesendet</p>
Image: Gerd Altmann auf Pixabay
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