Creating Instructor Notifications

Automated notifications are a way to notify students, instructors and staff when something changes in the Skillable TMS. Most Notification Plans are triggered based on an action taken in the platform, but we also have time triggers for Enrollments, Classes and Course Assignments. Using notifications can save you a significant amount of time because you will not need to email people with updates.

Please keep in mind, all users have the right to opt out of notifications. Even though a notification is sent out by the platform it does not mean that the email will be received by the user.

Preparation for Creating a Notification

Take some time to answer the following questions for each notification you want to create.

1. What action triggers a notification?

2. Who is the user completing the action triggering the notification?

3. Who are the user(s) receiving the notification?

4. A valid email address to display in the “From” line of the notification

5. Subject for the email notification

6. Text for the email you are sending through the notification

Select a Trigger Event

The Trigger Event is an action in the platform causing a notification to be sent out. In most cases this is an action that is taken in the platform, like adding an instructor to a class, then when the class is saved it triggers the notification to be sent. A Time Trigger is also available based on when a class begins and ends or when a course assignment is set to expire.

One or more trigger events may be used. When multiple triggers are in place a notification is sent when any of the event triggers are met. After choosing the first trigger the selection list is limited to similar types of notifications based on filters and replacement text options used.

Types of Instructor Notifications

There are two types of instructor triggers, the ones for an instructor being assigned or removed from a class, and the ones related to Instructor Blockout Times.

The instructor assigned to class and Instructor removed from class triggers initiate notifications when a class is saved. Upon saving, the platform checks if a new instructor has been assigned or an assigned instructor has been removed.

Instructor blockout triggers are available for Instructor blockout time changed, Instructor blockout time created, and Instructor blockout time deleted. Instructors can input blockout times for vacation or appointments. The platform considers their time scheduled and will omit them from the instructor chooser on classes when the Does not have schedule conflict filter is in place.

Add a Trigger Event

Select trigger(s) for your automated notification.

1. Beside Trigger Event select the Add event link, this opens a pick list of triggers.

2. Select a trigger and select Add to enable the trigger for your notification, it is added in the Trigger Event field.

3. Select Add event again to add more triggers.

Trigger Filters

After adding a trigger event, different filters can be applied to further define when a notification is sent. Along with the Trigger Event you can add criteria to limit it to specific circumstances. This will also allow you to send different notifications for the same type of trigger event with different criteria enabled.

Trigger filters must be applied with a time trigger, but they are optional for all other trigger types. A time trigger must have the number of hours and the class start or class end options added.

Instructor Filters

Explanations of the filters available when setting up Instructor assigned to class and Instructor removed from class notifications are listed below. Instructor blockout times triggers do not have any filters.

Dedicated Classes

Dedicated classes are set up to only allow registration of students who belong to a specific company. Use Do not check for the notification to go out whether or not the class is dedicated, or you can specify the notification to only go out for dedicated classes, or to only go out for classes that are not dedicated.
Dedicated class is set up in a class. It is found on the Basic Information tab with Advanced Settings opened; the Company field must have a company added for the class to be dedicated.

Class Status

The Class status is set to show that a class is going to run or not. You can have notifications sent based on the status set on the class. You may only want notifications to go out based on a class status being Scheduled or Guaranteed to Run. If a class status is not specified, then notifications are sent for all class statuses.

Add Trigger Filters

Select filters you wish to add.

1. Enable check boxes and choose from pick lists if you wish to change the default filter settings.

Select the User Triggering the Notification and Users Receiving the Notification

The Triggered by and Send to selections are based on the user’s Roles. Trigger by allows you to choose the person completing the action triggering the notification, while Send to indicates who the recipients of the notifications will be. For example, if you would like to have a notification sent when a staff member enrolls a student into a class, then you will choose Triggered by Administrator and Send to User.

Triggered By

For most notifications, two user types are available to select from as the one triggering the action to send the notification, User or Administrator.

For Triggered by:

• User refers to a student taking an action in the platform.

• Administrator means a user with a role with administrative rights acting in the platform.

One or both can be selected as the one triggering the notification. For example, both a student and an administrator can cancel a student’s enrollment, you may want to set up a notification where it is sent when either have initiated the cancellation.

No user is selected for time-based triggers, they are triggered based on the time selected in the trigger filters.

Add a Triggered by User

Select the user taking the action in the platform that triggers the notification.

1. Check the box beside User or Administrator based on the criteria above.

Select Users Receiving the Notification

Notification recipients are set by role. For some choices the user role chosen is limited based on their connection to the trigger event. In other cases, everyone in your Organization with the chosen role will receive the notification.

Send to Options:

Explanations of the users available when setting up notifications are listed below.

User
When the user is the recipient, user is not defined by role but is a user that the trigger event and filters apply to. For example, for the Class Enrollment enrolled trigger, all users enrolled in the class receive a notification.

Account Executive
Adding the Account Executive as a recipient will send a notification to a user’s Account Executive when the trigger event and filters applies to that user. The Account Executive is set on the User Profile.

Instructor
Adding Instructor as a recipient sends a notification to the assigned instructor(s) on a class.

Creator
Enabling Creator as a recipient sends a notification to the user who created an item, like a class, an enrollment, a course assignment, etc.

Editing Delegates
Editing delegates is for Organizations using roles that limit editing of a class to the class creator. Adding Editing delegates on a class allows the creator to assign other users to be able to edit their class. Adding an editing delegate as a recipient on notifications will send a notification to any editing delegate that is added to a class.

Class Custom Users
Class custom users is a custom field option that can be added to a class allowing specific users to be selected based on their role. Enabling Class custom users on your notification allows you to select from Custom Fields that are enabled to use Class custom users. Select the custom fields you want added and notifications are sent to the users added to a class through that field.

Organization Managers
Adding Organization managers allows you to choose roles, like Operations Manager role or Automated Notification Recipient 1, once added all users with that role are sent a notification.

Company Managers
A company manager has access to users based on the Company added on their user profile, management of users in a company is added on the User profile’s Company Management tab. Adding Company managers to your notification allows you to choose roles, like Company Training Manager, once added all users with that role are sent a notification.

Add Recipients of the Notification

One or multiple recipients can be set for a notification. Follow the instructions below to add recipients in the To field.

1. Place check marks beside all recipients for the notification.

2. For Class Custom Users, once checked a section opens below, select the Add Class Custom User Field link opening the Choose Custom Field dialog. Search for and select one or more custom field and select OK to add your selections.

3. For Organization Managers, once checked a section opens below, Include parent Organizations is selected by default, uncheck this if you do not want users in your parent organizations to receive notifications. Select the Add Organization manager user role link opening the Choose User Role dialog. Search for and select one or more user role and select OK to add your selections.

4. For Company Managers, once checked a section opens below, select the Add company manager user role link opening the Choose User Role dialog. Search for and select one or more *user role ** and select OK to add your selections.

Email Header Information and Calendar Appointments

Each notification sends an email showing a Subject line and From line. You can also add a CC’d email to receive the notification.

Notification From Line

You need to provide a valid email address to display in the From address, an invalid email address may be read as spam and be rejected by a recipient’s email server. The email will be sent by our servers, but this is the address which is shown to recipients.

Notification CC Line

A carbon copy (CC) email address can be added. When in place a copy of each notification is sent to the recipient.

Notification Subject Line

Input a Subject for the email notification. Replacement text fields can be added to the subject.

Add Email Header Information

Follow the instructions to add information in the From, CC, To, Subject fields, and add a calendar appointment.

1. In the From field input a valid email address.

2. If needed, add an email address in the CC field to be copied on each notification sent.

3. Input a title in the Subject field to let the recipient know what the email is about.

4. Uncheck Enabled until you are ready to test the notification.

Email’s Content

The Notification text tab is where you input the message you want to send out to recipients.

You can use HTML code to format the email, add links, and images, like a logo. Replacement text fields are located below the text field, these are used to pull data from the platform to add information specific to the recipient. For example, using the replacement text field [InstructorFirstName] inputs the instructor’s first name, as shown in their user profile.

Add Email Content

Follow the steps below to add the text to your notification email.

1. Open the Notification Text tab.

2. Input plain text by selecting the top left corner of the text field.

3. Use the formatting bars to enhance the text.

4. Use the Source Code button, < >, to enter HTML code directly.

5. Be certain to use Replacement text for anything that can change by person or event, like the student’s name, class name, class date and time, etc.

Organization Availability

Organization availability determines which organizations the notification is enable for.

Organization management, set on the user profile, determines which organizations an administrative user can view and manage. If you only have one organization, then check the organization to enable your notification for it. If you manage multiple organizations, check the box beside the organizations that will use the notification.

The organization show in their hierarchies, if a down arrow, v, shows beside an organization name, then the arrow can be selected to show its child organizations. Checking the box beside a parent organization automatically selects all its child organizations, however, child organizations can be selected individually if the parent organization is unchecked.

Add Organization Availability

Follow the instructions below to enable your notification in your chosen organizations.

1. Open the Organizations tab, you will see a listing of organizations you manage.

2. Check the box beside the organization(s) that will use the notification.

Specify Which Courses are Required for the Notification to be Sent

Your notification can be set to apply to all courses or to only apply to specific Course(s). It defaults to being used with all courses and that is what is needed in most cases. When you have unique instructions for a course that do not apply to other courses, it can be helpful to be able to send instructions about that course or courses. You can set up the notification against individual courses or use course groups. Course groups are given a title and a group of courses is added, this feature is for convenience of finding a set of courses in the platform.

It is best to not set a Program. Most organizations only use the Training program. Programs align with permissions and entities, if you set a program that doesn’t apply to your Users, courses, Subscriptions, or classes, then the notification will not work.

Add Courses to Trigger Notifications

Do the following to add courses as triggers for notifications. Using courses as a trigger limits the notification to only be sent for the selected courses.

Individual courses

1. Open the Courses tab, Applies to all courses is selected by default, select the radio button beside Specify courses.

2. Under Individual courses, select the Add Course link, this opens the Choose Course dialog.

3. Input part of the course name, select Search, and select the desired course.

4. Continue to search and select all the courses needed, then select OK. The selections are added under the Individual courses heading.

Course Groups

1. Open the Courses tab, Applies to all courses is selected by default, select the radio button beside Specify courses.

2. Under Course Groups, select the Add Course Group link, this opens the Choose Course Group dialog.

3. Input part of the course group name, select Search, and select the desired course group.

4. Continue to search and select all the course groups needed, then select OK. The selections are added under the Course Groups heading.

Please note: Notifications related to a class must have Enable Notifications checked to have them sent. This can be done on a class, in the Basic Information section select Show Advanced Settings and check the box for Enable Notifications. You can also add this as a default setting so that each class created has notifications enabled. To do this, edit to your Organization profile, open the Preferences tab and under Class Settings, check Enable Class Notifications.

Enable Notifications on a Class

Notifications related to classes must have Enable Notifications checked to have them sent.

To enable notifications on a class,

1. Edit the class and stay in the Basic Information section.

2. Select Show Advanced Settings in the top right above the section header.

3. Check the box for Enable Notifications.

4. Save.

You can also add this as a default setting so that each class created has notifications enabled. To do this,

1. Edit your Organization profile.

2. Open the Preferences tab.

3. Under Class Settings, check Enable Class Notifications.

4. Save.

Test an Instructor Notification

Testing a notification gives you the opportunity to verify that the notification sends when you want it to go out and does not send when you do not want it to go out. You can limit the impact by restricting the notification to only go out for one course.

For testing purposes, to limit the users a notification is sent to you may create a course specifically for this purpose and then specify the course in the notification plan.

To create the course with the minimum fields:

1. From Site Admin on the Courses tile, select Create Course.

2. On the Basic Information tab,

   1. Input a name for the course, Testing Automated Notifications.

   2. In the Program field select Training.

   3. On the Content Provider field, select your organization.

   4. Check the box to enable Available Instructor-Led.

3. On the Publishing Groups tab, add a publishing group under your organization.

Open your Notification Plan, if you have disabled the notification you will need to add the Enabled filter on the Find Notifications page and filter by Is not Enabled.

To set up testing, begin by preparing your notification.

1. Select Edit on the notification.

2. Open the Courses tab and select Specify courses.

3. Under the Individual courses heading, select Add course.

4. Search for and select a course named, Testing Automated Notifications, then select OK.

5. On the Basic Information tab, check the Enabled box.

6. Save.

Create a class.

1. Create a new class using the course set on your notification.

2. Verify any notification filters you have set are set in the class. For example, if the class must be Dedicated for the notification to send, then assign a company to the class.

3. Add an instructor for the class.

4. Save the class.

5. If testing removing an instructor, then remove the instructor and save.

Check for notifications.

1. Select the Details link in the top right corner of the page to return to the Class profile.

2. Select the Find Sent Notifications link to view all notifications sent for the class.

Enable your Notification

Once you have completed testing, you will want to enable your notification to put it in use.

1. Return to your Notification Plan to select Edit and open the Courses tab.

2. To make your notification available for all courses used in your organization, remove the Testing Automated Notifications course and select Applies to all courses.

3. To make your notification available for specific courses used in your organization, remove the Testing Automated Notifications course. Select Add Course and select all courses that need this notification, then select OK.

4. Save.

Additional Resources

Creating Notification Template for Instructor Assignment to Class
Creating Notification Template for when an Instructor is Removed from Class
Using Automated Notifications