ARTICLE: Communications Module - Notifications

ARTICLE: Communications Module - Notifications

The Communications Module allows you to send messages / notifications to any individual or group of users in your boarding community easily and efficiently. The Communications menu allows each user to send messages, these are sent as "no-reply" items.

Send any combination of modes
You can send messages / notifications as Email, SMS, Push notification or Internal message or in any combination.

Example Notifications
  1. Notifications or Alert messages to individuals or to all staff / students / parents
    1. Filter and send based on a particular location, or group of locations / dorm, or group of dorms                                                                       


How to send notifications to your Reach users

Go to:  Communications >> View My Mailbox


Clicking on the New Message button in the My Mailbox screen, will provide the message details screen.   
Create a subject heading for your new message.
Then you can select:  WHO the message will be sent to / HOW the message will be sent / WHAT message will be sent



WHO

When the Message details screen is open, you can add the intended recipients in two ways; 
 
1. Add recipients individually 
Click in the Recipients panel and a drop-down menu will list all current profiles within your schools Reach portal
 - Scroll and select an individual, click-scroll and add another
 - Alternatively, start typing the name of the individual and the drop-down menu will filter the matching users



2. Add multiple recipients using the bulk selector
Click on the Bulk Selector icon at the right hand side of the Recipients panel
 - The Contact Selector pop-up panel will appear
 - This provides three sections of control

The first section on the left is the filter panel, providing the standard Reach filters
 - Click on the plus icon of a filter to drop-down the menu, select or deselect items as required, the center Contacts panel will update directly


The second section provides the list of available users to select
 - Click on each contact to highlight
 - Use the search bar to find a specific contact
 - The 'Select All' option is also provided, if you require the entire selection to be highlighted
 - 'Select None' to clear the selections and start fresh
 - Once all required users are selected, click the green 'Add to List' button, this button also shows the number of users currently highlighted to be added



The third section shows the selected users, grouped by user Role
 - Click on a plus icon to open that group, you can then view or delete individual users
 - You can also add all associated parents to the group by clicking on the green 'Add' button within that group, these will add directly
 - Once your selected users are all correct click on the green 'Done' button



Important Note:
The message / notification will be sent individually to each recipient. Recipients will not see the contact details of other recipients when sending in bulk.  

HOW

Messages / Notifications can be sent using each method individually or  in any combination. 

Email

Email messages are sent to the recipient's email address as a "no-reply" message
The sending email address is the same email address regardless of which email is set as your default email for communications
 - Default Email  - System Configuration  >> Communications >> Default Email Address
 - Additional information, please view this Document: Setting Communications

Internal

These notifications are 'Internal' messages, sent to the recipient's Reach login ID only

SMS

These messages are sent to the recipient's mobile phone number, as listed in their contact profile
Note that SMS messages incur a fee per message and are limited to 160 characters per message
- Additional information, please view this Document: Setting SMS in Reach

PUSH

PUSH Notifications are only useable within a software platform, in this case, notifications sent / received within your schools Reach platform

Priority

The drop-down selector provides a priority of Normal or High to send your message / notification 

Important Note:
 - It is important to note that not all contacts in your contacts register will have a login account  
 - Be sure to setup the SMS functionality with your phone service provider 
 - When sending by SMS or Push notification your message cannot be sent with any rich text formatting                                                
 - Ensure users activate PUSH notifications on their mobile device to receive messages

 

WHAT

These are the details that you will send in your message / notification

Your message content can be sent with rich text formatting when you are sending as email only. This allows you use a range of editing functions for your content, such as bolding, underlining, text colour controls, background colour controls, adding images / videos and adding hyperlinks.

When sending an SMS each message there is a maximum limit of 160 characters, anything over 160 characters will be sent as an additional message to the entire distribution list.


System Configuration

Your schools Communications configuration settings determine usability, user access, default email addresses and display names that your users will see in messages and notifications that are sent by Reach.

GO TO: System Configuration > Communications

Reach setup for communications may also include your schools 'Email from Address', Country Code Mobile Prefix, SMS Caller ID, SMS API Key and Kitchen / Nurse Email Address.
Please view this Document for details for Setting Communications and view this Document for details regarding the Setting SMS in Reach.




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