GRS App & Volunteer Website

User Guide
NHS COVID-19 Vaccination Programme
St John Ambulance

AUTHORISATION
Release Role Name Signature Date

Release National Project Manager Chris Hawkswell 03/02/2021

2.6

DISCLAIMER
This document is correct at the time of printing. Please do not share this user guide. All vaccination volunteers
are sent this document when they have completed all steps in the recruitment and training programme.

This and any associated documents must not be circulated outside of the organisation and must not be published
on any website (or similar) without the explicit permission of the National Delivery Team.
1. GLOBAL ROSTORING SYSTEM
INTRODUCTION
GRS (Global Rostering System) is the new rostering management software used to manage / rosters shifts and
volunteers to the NHS COVID-19 vaccination programme. It is also being used in other parts of St John nationwide
with roll out to further functions planned for later in 2021.

This document provides a guide to using the GRS App specifically for St John volunteers within the NHS COVID-
19 vaccination programme. Please read these instructions carefully.

YOUTUBE VIDEO – GRS APP INTRODUCTION

We recommend that you watch our introduction video on YouTube to give you an overview of the GRS app, then
come back and read the instructions in this user guide to get you started.

https://youtu.be/QTYxiFufr0A

GETTING STARTED – AN OVERVIEW

1. Download the app (see below)
2. Select ‘Microsoft Azure’ from the drop-down menu, then tap ‘next’ to continue at the bottom of the app
3. Scan the QR code provided within the app (see below)
4. Register using your St John account log in detail (see below)
5. You may be asked to verify your details through a Microsoft text authentication process. Enter the code in
the app verification field and continue
6. Enable ‘push notifications’ when prompted
7. Tap ‘Complete’

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Download the ‘GRS Mobile App’ from the App Store for Apple devices or the Google Play store for Android devices.

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REGISTERING THE APP
Once downloaded, open the app and when asked ‘Please select how you authenticate with GRS’:

1. Select ‘Microsoft Azure’

2. Scan the QR code (below)
3. You will be asked for your St John address ([email protected]). This is the same email you used to log
in to complete your online learning modules. Your password and a One Time Passcode (OTP) which will
be sent automatically to your mobile. You will not be able to log in using any other email address.
4. This registers you as a permitted user of the GRS St John Mobile App and allows you access to the system

SJA EMAIL PASSWORD RESET

If you need to reset or unlock your [email protected] account / password please follow the appropriate
instructions below:

• New St John volunteers: please email [email protected] providing your SJA account name.
• Existing St John volunteers: follow existing password reset processes.

LOGGING–IN
Once you have downloaded and registered the app you will need to log in each time you open the app. You will
see the following authentication screen each time you open the app:

1. Tap on the ‘AUTHENTICATE’ button to log-in

2. Once you are in you will see the home screen along with a conformation welcome message

AUTHENTICATION FAILURE
If, for any reason, the authentication process fails then you may need to use the RESET function.

In the top right of the screen you should see a RESET GRS button, tapping on this button will restart the Registration
the process described previously. Once you have logged in you will see the home screen below.

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THE APP HOME PAGE
As a volunteer you will only be using the purple box at the top and the menu
options.

Clicking on the purple box will take you to your upcoming schedule.

NB: You will not see any confirmed shifts until you have ‘volunteered’ and had
your volunteering offer has been accepted.

Absences and annual leave are not functions used within the vaccination
programme. Please do not use them.

MAIN MENU

Tap the menu icon (3 blue lines) at the top left of the screen to show the main
menu.

The two options of note are:

• My Duties – shows confirmed shifts and home location entries

• Volunteer – apply for shifts

NB: You will not see any confirmed shifts in ‘My Duties’ until you have
‘volunteered’ for them and they have been accepted by the resourcing team.
See the ‘find vacant shifts’ section of this document for more information.

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FINDING VACANT SHIFTS
Shifts available to be volunteered for can be viewed via the ‘Volunteer’ tab on the main menu. Only vacant shifts
that require volunteers are displayed.

1. Click on ‘Volunteer’ from the menu options

2. Enter the dates you would like to volunteer
3. Enter the vaccination centre location you would like to volunteer at
4. Search

1
2

Date – try to be specific with the dates that you search for, rather than a broad range of dates. Entering a large
date range will increase the time the app takes to search for shifts and locations. Ideally enter the specific date you
would like to volunteer for only.

Location – You need to enter a location within the location field and press
the ‘search’ icon before being able to view results.

Search: VAX to see all vaccination centres St John is supporting.

Be specific with what location details you enter. Ideally enter the name of
the vaccination centre you are looking for. Details of centres can be found
on the vaccination volunteer website.

If you enter an actual location in the app it will search for all possible locations
for the search criteria you enter. This will include all vaccination centre
locations but also other locations available within the app: this includes
ambulance stations, base locations, other events and shifts outside of
vaccination shifts.

The screenshot shows that you will receive multiple locations which are not
related to the vaccination programme if you search for a broad location such
as ‘London’.

Details of active vaccination centre can be found on the vaccination volunteers website: www.sja.org.uk/vaccination

Search results when you enter a specific vaccination centre name to view
accurate entries as shown within the screenshot to the left.

Then select the line with the role specified next to the location, eg lines two
or three (highlighted).

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REQUEST TO VOLUNTEER FOR A SHIFT
When you have entered your search criteria and found the vaccination centre the types of shifts available at that
vaccination centre are listed by the roles required:

• Vaccinator shifts
• Vaccinator Carer shifts
• Patient Advocate shifts

Only the shifts you are eligible to volunteer for are shown.

• Vaccinator trained volunteers will see vaccinator, carer, and advocate shifts
• Carer trained volunteers will see carer and advocate shifts
• Advocate trained volunteers will see advocate shifts

Select the role you would like to undertake to see all the vacant shifts for that role at that vaccination centre for the
date you have entered. You then see all the shifts available for that role. In the image below the user has selected
the vaccinator role at the ExCel centre in London.

To request to cover a vacant shift:

1. Tap on a vacant shift & select ‘Volunteer’ from the pop-up menu
2. Your request is then passed to be processed and the shift accepted
3. You will receive a follow up email to confirm that your shift has been
accepted.

Once you have selected the

volunteer option, a green

1 Volunteered flag will appear next

to the shift you have volunteered
for.

Additionally, the No. of Volunteers count will increase by 1, giving an

indication of how many people have volunteered for that specific shift.

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REMOVE A REQUEST TO VOLUNTEER

If the shift is still showing with the volunteered message, then you
can cancel your request by tapping on the shift and then tapping on
‘remove request’ option on the pop-up menu at the bottom of the
screen.

If your request to volunteer has already been accepted the

volunteered message will have been removed and will be
displayed in ‘My Duties’. This is now a shift you have been ‘rostered
onto a duty’ then you will need to contact the resourcing admin team
by phone or e-mail to cancel the shift.

Please Note: You can only cancel a request to volunteer, you

cannot cancel a confirmed shift through the app.

CONFIRMED SHIFTS
Volunteers will receive a confirmation email from the resourcing admin team to advise that shifts they have
volunteered for have been confirmed. We recommend that volunteers add the shift details to their calendar to
remind them they have a confirmed shift.

Further information about the vaccination centre can be found on the volunteers vaccination website:
www.sja.org.uk/vaccination

CANCEL OR CHANGE A CONFIRMED SHIFT

Shifts which have been accepted and confirmed by the resourcing admin team will appear in ‘My Duties’. These
shifts can only be cancelled by contacting the resourcing admin team, either via email or phone.

• Resource admin team (North): [email protected]

• Resource admin team (East): [email protected]

• Resource admin team (London & South): [email protected]

• Resource admin team (West): [email protected]

Please check your junk mail and add these emails to your email safe senders list.

Resource admin team phone (national number): 0161 443 4902

Check the map further down this user guide for the region your county falls under.

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FIND MY DUTIES
The ‘My Duties’ screen is accessed via the main menu (tapping the 3 lines icon) and will look similar to the image
below. ‘My Duties’ are confirmed shifts that have been accepted, but they are also something known as ‘home
duties’. ‘Home duties’ are details of your home unit – your volunteer virtual unit that provides you support throughout
your volunteering experience. More information about these entries can be found below.

In the ‘My Duties’ example below, there are three confirmed shifts which the volunteer has been accepted for. We
know they are confirmed shifts as they provide the following details:

• Day & date

• Shift times
• Vaccination centre name and location
• The role you have been allocated to at the vaccination centre

‘My Duties’ displays a maximum of 7 entries. To view more entries:

1. Tap the magnifying glass icon to change a date range of duties to viewed

You can see further details about the shift by:

1. Tapping on the shift

2. Selecting ‘Duty Details’ from the pop-up menu 1

This will display further details about the shift:

• Location
• Shift times
• Post (role assigned)
• Location details (address)

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HOME DUTIES
‘Home duties’ are not shifts that you have volunteered for or are expected to work, but they do display in the ‘My
Duties’ section. Home duties are used by the system to know where in the organisation you belong and is used by
the system. These lines should be ignored.

Confirmed shifts are indicated by those entries within ‘My Duties’ that have a time listed against the shift and that
have a vaccination centre as the location.

In the ‘My Duties’ example below there is one confirmed volunteering shift and several ‘home duties’.

A confirmed shift:

Displays the shift times

and vaccination centre location

A home duty:
Does not display shift times
and displays the virtual unit the volunteer is part of.
It also displays the role you are assigned

Every vaccination volunteer is allocated to a ‘home unit’ to provide them support, leadership and a point of contact
within St John. These units are known as vaccination volunteering units and are not to be confused with a
vaccination centre (where vaccinations are administered).

Each volunteering unit is provided a name which starts with an abbreviation for the district – a geographical area,
normally encompassing a number of countries or local authority areas. There are a number of volunteering units
within each district and they are provided a number.

For example, WM-Vaccination Unit 1 indicates the first volunteering unit within the West Midlands district.

A full list of district codes can be found on the following page.

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DISTRICT CODES
The following codes are used as part of your volunteering unit & indicate the district your volunteering unit is within.
They are not used as part of vaccination centre naming convention. This detail is provided as information only.

Code District
BAS Bristol, Avon & Somerset
CAM Cambridgeshire & Suffolk
CMB Cumbria & Lancashire
COR Cornwall
DER Derbyshire
DEV Devon
DOR Dorset
DUR Northumbria & Durham
ELON East London
ESS Essex
GLO Gloucestershire
GM Greater Manchester
HAM Hampshire & Isle of White
HFW Hereford & Worcester
HUM Humberside & East Riding
KEN Kent
LINC Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire
LNR Leicester & Northamptonshire
MER Cheshire & Merseyside
NOF Norfolk
NYT North Yorkshire & Teesside
SLON South London
SSW Staffordshire, Shropshire &
Wolverhampton
SUF Suffolk
SUR Surrey
SUS Sussex
SWY South & West Yorkshire
TV Thames Valley
WAN West Anglia
WAR Warwickshire & Coventry
WIL Wiltshire
WAN West Anglia
WLON West London
WM West Midlands

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2. VOLUNTEER VACCINATION WEBSITE
INTRODUCTION
A dedicated internal website is provided for all vaccination volunteers. You will find sections providing information
about:

• Vaccination centre locations

• Your virtual unit & leader
• Your wellbeing and support
• Uniform
Access the website: https://sja.org.uk/vaccination

REGISTER
First time users will need to register:

• To register on the website, click ‘register’

• Ensure you register using the email address first used to register your interest with St John when you
signed up to the NHS COVID-19 vaccination programme. This is likely to be a personal email address
• Only volunteers who have completed all training and screening will be provided access

Once you have registered on the site and your details match our system you will be able to log in within 24 hours.

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NAVIGATE
• Use the menu at the top of the page to navigate

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FIND A VACCINATION CENTRE NEAR YOU
• Navigate to ‘Location’ to see vaccination centres St John is supporting
• Select a region – North, East, West, or London & South
• Select an area – a local district
• Active vaccination centres where St John is supporting within the specified geography will be displayed

You can use the name of the vaccination centre to search within the GRS rostering app to search for shifts at this
location. Using a specific vaccination centre name reduces the number of options displayed within the GRS app.

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3. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Question / Comment Response

1 How frequently will the admin resourcing The resourcing admin team will operate a minimum of 12 hours
team process volunteers shift requests? a day. They will process volunteer shift requests asap working
through requests daily.

2 How do I know when my volunteer offer Conformed shifts show in the app within ‘My Duties’.
has been accepted?
A shift confirmation email will be sent to you by the resourcing
admin team when the shift is confirmed.

We recommend you add confirmed shifts to your personal

diary / calendar.
3 Can I see a history of the ‘shifts’ I have Yes – go to ‘My Duties’ and select a date range in the past,
volunteered at? you should be able to see the shifts you were rostered onto
during this time period.

4 Are my hours still recorded in MyData? Yes – data captured on your timesheets will be pulled from
GRS onto MyData. MyData will still be the source of truth for
(for existing St John volunteers)
your volunteer hours.
5 How can I see which shifts I have Whilst there is not a specific page for this, when searching for
‘volunteered’ for before they have been shifts, anything you have already volunteered for will have
accepted? appear as volunteered.

You may want to keep a note of shifts you have volunteered

for, perhaps adding them to your personal calendar / diary.
6 How do I cancel a shift? A confirmed shift which is showing in ‘My Duties’ can only be
cancelled by contacting the resourcing admin team via email
or phone.

Resource admin team (North):

[email protected]
Resource admin team (East):
[email protected]
Resource admin team (London & South):
[email protected]
Resource admin team (West):
[email protected]

A shift which has been volunteered for but not yet confirmed
(not showing in ‘My Duties’) can be removed from within the
app. See the appropriate section of this document for details.

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7 How do I know where the vaccination New vaccination centres are added constantly. Due to the
centres are and what to search for within changing nature of centres coming on line we are providing all
the GRS app? details within the vaccination volunteering website:
www.sja.org.uk/vaccination

Check the website for current active vaccination centres.

In GRS search for the name of the vaccination centre

(found on the website) or search VAX in the App to see a list
of all vaccination centres St John is supporting.
8 Why can’t I see certain shifts at There are many reasons for this, including:
vaccination centres? • Not all vaccination centres require every role every
day. Only roles required will be viewed
• Only vacancies are shown. Filled shifts by other
volunteers are no longer viewable

Should you not see the role you searched for consider
volunteering for a role you are eligible for.

If you are unable to see any shifts available on the app there
any be a problem with your app settings. Please email
[email protected]
9 I completed a specific training course, am St John is providing the following roles at NHS COVID-19
I able to undertake other roles? vaccination centres:
• Volunteer vaccinators (VV)
• Vaccination care volunteers (VCV)
• Volunteer patient advocates (VPA)

You will have undertaken a specific course, but you are also
able to volunteer for other specific roles.

• A vaccinator can undertake vaccinator, care, and

advocate shifts
• A care volunteer can undertake care and advocate
shifts
• A patient advocate can only undertake advocate shifts

If you would like to know more about the roles please see the
vaccination volunteering website (www.sja.org.uk/vaccination)
or speak to your line manager (volunteer virtual lead).
10 I don’t have access to the app. How do I You can speak to the resourcing admin team to volunteer for
volunteer? shifts.

See the vaccination volunteering website for contact details:

www.sja.org.uk/vaccination

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 11 Can I use the GRS App on my smart Yes, you can download and use the app from both smart
phone and my tablet? phones and tablet devices.

12 I have an old smart phone; can I still use The GRS App is available to download on an iPhone that has
the app? iOS 10.0 or later.

It is available for download on an iPad that has iPadOS 10.0

or later.

For Android version it varies with devices. Older devices which

have a smaller screen size may not display the entire app
leading to a lack of functionality.
13 I have an azure log in error message that This error message indicates that you have not been made
says ‘ec_configGRSAzure’ error. ‘deployable’ within our systems. This is likely to waiting for a
DBS check being returned, or that certain aspects of training
or recruitment may not have been completed.
Please contact [email protected] to check on
your progress through the process.
14 Can I volunteer at a vaccination centre Unfortunately, not. St John is contracted nationally by NHS
that isn’t listed on the website or the GRS England to support specific vaccination centres. These are
app? listed on the GRS app and on the website.

Volunteering on behalf of St John at any other vaccination

centre would lead you to not be covered by our indemnity
insurance and leave you personally liable.

HELP
Please read this user guide thoroughly. Should you then need help setting up the GRS app or the website please
email our national single point of contact team at [email protected] in the first instance.

They will help you with your problem and if required escalate any problems to our IT team.

Please do not share this user guide with anyone. All volunteers are sent a copy when they have completed the
recruitment and training process.

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