Outreach rounds module: plan your outreach rounds
Know where to go, who to see and what to take.
Plan your next round from the encounters already recorded: suggested stops, people to find again, a route on foot or by vehicle and an estimate of the supplies to take. Your teams set off with a clear route sheet and add to the follow-up at every encounter.
These buttons are about this optional module: add-on pricing and a 1-month trial of the module.
Illustration · sample data
What does the eBrigade Outreach rounds module do?
The Outreach rounds module brings together round planning and follow-up of the people you meet. Based on your geolocated encounters, it suggests stops, people to see again, a visiting order on foot or by vehicle and the supplies to take. In the field, every encounter adds to the history of actions and distributions. The module is available as an option, with a 1-month free trial.
When the round relies on the memory of a few volunteers
Where should we go tonight? Who has not been seen for several rounds? How many meals or blankets should we take? When the answers stay in notebooks or in the heads of the regulars, preparing an outreach round takes time and the next team has nothing to go on.
A team that sets off with bearings, follow-up that carries on
Past encounters become a concrete basis for the next round: places to visit, people to see again, visiting order and quantities to plan for. The team leader adjusts the round with their knowledge of the ground. Volunteers take over with a route sheet, and every new encounter adds to the follow-up for future rounds.
What you can do with Outreach rounds
Geolocated encounters from the last 30 to 180 days are grouped by location and ranked by recent footfall. You choose which stops to keep for your next outreach round.
For each stop, see the people known there and when they were last seen. Those met at least twice but not seen for 14 days are flagged “to find again”.
On foot or by vehicle, a visiting order is suggested from your starting point. Adjust the stops and the return to the starting point; the map updates.
Meals, drinks, blankets, kits: distributions from previous rounds are used to estimate the quantities to take for the stops selected. You adapt them to the needs of the day.
Print the map and the stops with the people to see again and the usual actions. On a phone, each stop offers a link to open GPS navigation.
Every encounter adds to the person’s record: location, date, actions and quantities handed out. With the Inventory module enabled, the supplies distributed update your stock.
Listening, referral, distribution, care: customise the actions offered to teams to keep a consistent history from one round to the next.
Control access to records and to the round planner. Confidential mode reduces the surname to its initial, sharing between organisations is configurable and printing a round is logged.
Step by step
From your outreach activity, open “Round”. Choose a period of 30 to 180 days: your organisation’s geolocated encounters reveal the places frequented and the people met.
Select the suggested stops, remove unnecessary ones and choose the starting point, any return trip and whether you travel on foot or by vehicle. The visiting order is recalculated on the map.
Check the people to see again and the estimated quantities to take. Print the route sheet or open navigation to each stop from your phone.
In the field, record the location of the encounter, the actions carried out and the supplies handed out. This information adds to the follow-up of the people concerned and to the suggestions for future rounds.
Where this module really pays off
Regular outreach rounds: find recently frequented places and plan your route from previous rounds.
Volunteer teams working in rotation: hand over stops, people to see again and usual actions with a printable route sheet.
Community distributions: estimate the meals, drinks and kits to take based on the quantities actually distributed at the selected stops.
Multi-branch networks: each organisation plans its rounds from its own past encounters; the shared register, depending on your settings and permissions, makes continuity of follow-up easier.
Frequently asked questions
Can I adjust the route and open GPS navigation?
Yes. You choose the stops from the suggestions, the starting point, any return trip and whether to go on foot or by vehicle. The order is recalculated and each stop offers a navigation link on a phone. The road route depends on the mapping service; if it does not respond, an order and an as-the-crow-flies estimate remain available. The round is recalculated every time it is opened.
How are the supplies to take estimated?
The planner uses the average quantities distributed per round at each selected stop, then totals them for the round. It is a planning baseline drawn from your recorded distributions: volunteers adapt the quantities to the weather, the season and the needs of the day.
Do we need to have recorded encounters already to plan a round?
Yes. Suggestions are based on your organisation’s past encounters that have their own location. Start by entering encounters with an address or a point on the map. Encounters without their own location are flagged and left out of the calculation. If no stops appear, widen the period or complete the locations.
Can we plan the next round from encounters already made?
Yes. The activity’s “Round” button groups the geolocated encounters from your organisation’s previous outreach rounds — 30 to 180 days as you choose, 60 by default — into stops, ranked by recent footfall. Each stop shows the people found there, those not seen for a long time, the actions carried out and the supplies usually handed out. A visiting order is suggested on foot or by vehicle, and the route sheet can be printed. Nothing is saved: the round is recalculated every time it is opened, from the encounters at that moment.
Who can view the route sheet of a planned round?
The same people who can view the history of an individual met: an authorised manager, the manager of the organising organisation or the activity leader. The “Outreach” role assigned on an activity is not enough, because the sheet shows where to find vulnerable people. Printing it is logged like an export, in the Cybersecurity tab of the history.
How can we limit the personal data kept?
A confidential data mode lets you store only the initial of the surname of the people met, so you can use the follow-up without keeping their full identity. Profiles remain attached to your eBrigade organisation with the usual access controls and the platform’s hosting.
Can we configure the types of action offered during an encounter?
Yes. The catalogue of actions (referral, distribution, follow-up, putting in touch...) is configured from the module’s administration. Each action shows how many times it has been used, and the list adapts to your organisation’s practices.
Can we track supplies distributed in the field?
Yes. For each encounter, you record the supplies handed out (blankets, meals, kits...) with their quantity and storage location. If the Inventory module is enabled, stock is updated automatically.
Is this module linked to the eBrigade activity schedule?
Yes. Each encounter is attached to an “Outreach” activity created in the schedule. This lets you cross-reference field data with recorded attendance and count encounters in activity statistics.
Can the register of people be shared between several units?
Yes. The shared organisations setting makes a person met visible across several sections or branches, which avoids duplicates and ensures continuity of follow-up when several teams are involved.
How are access rights managed?
Access to the module is set per activity on four separate levels — view, add, edit and delete — checked on every operation. Each team only sees and edits what its rights allow.