BEECN Journaling System

In order to help ensure BEECN caches are ready for deployment at a moment's notice, PBEM asks BEECN volunteer teams to:

• Once a month, do a visual check of their assigned BEECN cache (opening the box is not required);
• Once a quarter, do an inventory of the BEECN cache (opening the box and confirming contents are present and functional);
• Once a year, participate in a BEECN test. An inventory can be done concurrently with a test.

A BEECN Coordinator should not always complete these tasks. PBEM recommends a BEECN Coordinator assign these tasks to be regularly completed by their team members in rotation.

The purpose of the BEECN Journaling System is to centralize readiness monitoring of BEECN caches, which contributes to the BEECN Readiness Score and also helps PBEM address supply and security concerns. The BEECN Journaling System is powered by Smartsheet, and BEECN volunteers make inputs to it through the BEECN Journal Entry form.

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BEECN Journal Entry Form

BEECN Journal Entry Form: Header

Figure 1: Screenshot of the BEECN Journal Entry Form.

The first screen of the Form appears simple but has logic built into the questions that open new sets of questions depending on the type of journal a volunteer inputs (reporting a visual check, an inventory, a test result, or reporting a cache theft).

#	Field Name	Required?	Field Type	Notes
	Journal Entry Header.
1	Journal Entry	Yes	Radio button	Use this section to indicate what type of report to make to PBEM: a visual check (Qs #5-6), an inventory (Qs #7-15), test results (Qs #16-17), an equipment theft (Q #18), or (if the report does not fit into any of those categories) making a note about the BEECN (Q #19).
2	Resource Name	Yes	Drop-down	Select the BEECN cache, fire station radio, or other resource from the drop-down menu. This is important because this step ties the journal entry to the specific BEECN resource.
3	Review Date	Yes	Date	The date of the observation, NOT the day the journal is inputted (unless those dates are the same).
4	Your name	Yes	Text	Name of the reporter in case a PBEM staffer needs to follow up with questions about the report.

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BEECN Journal Entry Form: Visual Check

The first screen of the Form appears simple but has logic built into the questions that open new sets of questions depending on the type of journal a volunteer inputs (reporting a visual check, an inventory, a test result, or reporting a cache theft).

#	Field Name	Required?	Field Type	Notes
	Visual Check Questions When "Reporting a visual check" is selected on question 1, these are the questions that appear.
5	Equipment Visual Check	Yes	Radio button	"Looks good" or "There is a problem". If "Looks good" is selected, a message appears clearing the volunteer to submit the report.
6	Visual Check: report problem	Yes	Text	Selecting "There is a problem" for question Q5 opens a text box where the volunteer can type in the issue they detected and then click "Submit" to end the journal entry. If the problem is that the cache is missing, the volunteer should select "Reporting equipment theft" on Q1 and complete the form from there.

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BEECN Journal Entry Form: Inventory Report

One of the benefits of using a Smart Sheet form for inventorying is that it is optimized for viewing on a smart device, like a cell phone. This means BEECN volunteers can inventory right from the field and submit their report.

#	Field Name	Required?	Field Type	Notes
	Inventory Report Questions When "Reporting an inventory" is selected on question 1, these are the questions that appear.
7	Inventory: Check the cache box	No	Checkbox
8	Inventory: Check the radio	No	Checkbox
9	Inventory: Check the canopy	No	Checkbox
10	Inventory: Supportive equipment	No	Checkbox
11	Inventory: Check the notebooks	No	Checkbox
12	Inventory: Small duffel bag	No	Checkbox
13	Inventory: Large duffel bag	No	Checkbox
14	Inventory: Cache tidiness	No	Checkbox
15	Inventory notes	No	Text	Please tell us if any cache equipment is missing and/or damaged. Please leave this field blank if there are no problems.

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BEECN Journal Entry Form: Test Results

#	Field Name	Required?	Field Type	Notes
	Test Results Questions When "Reporting test results" is selected on question 1, these are the questions that appear.
16	BEECN Test Rating	Yes	Radio button	How strong was the signal coming in (or, how well could you hear incoming messages)? If you were at a fire station and taking in messages from several BEECNs, select the average from the list below. Indicate "1 - No signal" if you got all the equipment set up and the radio turned on, but you couldn't pick anyone up on the other end. Indicate "0 - Test Fail/Abort" if an equipment failure or some other circumstance prevented you from getting on the air.
17	Test notes	No	Text	For any issues/observations a volunteer would like to report about the test and/or cache.

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BEECN Journal Entry Form: Reporting Theft

#	Field Name	Required?	Field Type	Notes
	Theft Report Questions When "Reporting equipment theft" is selected on question 1, these are the questions that appear.
18	Reporting possible equipment theft	Yes	Text	Text box to capture what the volunteer saw that indicates a theft of a cache or cache equipment.

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BEECN Journal Entry Form: Submitting a Note

#	Field Name	Required?	Field Type	Notes
	Theft Report Questions When "Making a note" is selected on question 1, these are the questions that appear.
19	Note	Yes	Text	Note space to indicate anything with the BEECN that doesn't fall under the other categories (e.g. cache moved to a new location, new combination for a BEECN lock, etc).

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Back-end of the BEECN Journaling System

This is not necessary reading for BEECN volunteers, and only PBEM staff have access to the back end of the BEECN Journaling System. The main purpose of this part of the article is to preserve institutional knowledge.

Inputs to the BEECN Journal Entry Form on SmartSheet are reflected in five PBEM-internal spreadsheets and a public-facing BEECN dashboard.