Rostering Notifications

Owned by Victor Macko
Last updated: Aug 01, 2019
3 min read

By default, the system notifies your staff and volunteers via email when they've been rostered to an event, as well as sending them reminders closer to the event.

Generally the following notifications are sent;

  • At the time someone is rostered to an event
  • When rostering information changes (eg. the time someone is rostered to start or finish changes)
  • If someone is removed from the roster (eg. their status is set to 'Withdrawn', or they are taken off the roster entirely)

The system can also attempt to find available staff for your event and contact them to attend. More information on this is in the 'finding staff' page.

By changing the settings in the 'configuration' page, you can opt to have all notifications sent via SMS as well as email.

Reminders

  • A week prior to the event (via email)
    • If someone is marked as 'Tentative' in the roster, an SMS is also sent requesting they confirm their attendance at the event. Confirmation at the event can be done by logging into the system, and either confirming via the 'My To-do' list, or within the event details. Staff/Volunteers can also reply to the SMS to confirm their attendance at the event.
  • A day prior to the event (both via email & SMS)

Notification Settings

If required, some or all of these notifications can be turned off. These can be done in a number of ways;

  • For the entire event - by turning them off, or alternatively, by forcing the notifications to go out, even if volunteers have indicated they would prefer not to be notified. This is useful for particularly important events, or times when staff and volunteers need to be notified of shifts regardless. Any settings (apart from 'Use default') will override those of a volunteers preferences.
  • By the volunteers themselves, by updating their preferences and indicating they would prefer not to receive rostering notifications. This option requires volunteers to check the system themselves more often.
  • For an entire group/department - these are the default preferences for anyone part of a particular group. Any of the preferences set for particular individuals will be used in preference to the defaults set for a group.

Event notification settings can be changed by editing the event details, and clicking 'Change' in the 'General' tab. They can also be paused via the roster - this rosters can be updated as much as needed, and then a final roster change email will be sent when notifications are resumed (if any change have in-fact been made).

The following settings are available by editing the event details;

  • Roster Changes
    • Any changes which you make to events will be sent to the staff/volunteers who are attending the event. These changes are generally only those which would affect those who are attending the event, such as changes to the location/details/status (if it's cancelled/etc)/times/etc. If you select 'Yes', the changes will be sent regardless of any personal preferences your staff/volunteers might have chosen (eg. in occasions such as important events/training/shifts/meetings/etc). More details on the specific setting definitions can be found here.
  • Event Reminders
    • The system will remind your staff/volunteers about events they're assigned to. You can opt to turn off these reminders, have the system send them out regardless of what your staff/volunteers have selected in their own preferences (eg. for particularly important events/training/meetings/etc)
  • Send reminders & last-minute changes via SMS
    • Typically the system will send last minute changes to your staff/volunteers via SMS as well as via email. If this isn't applicable for some events, you can turn it off by selecting 'No'.
      Note: If you are rostered to an event and are making changes to your own roster details (eg. changing the time you are scheduled to start), you wont be sent an SMS (as you are making the changes to your own information).

  • Include in weekly email
    • This lets you choose if an event should be left out from the weekly email which is sent, or included.
    • Selecting 'Yes' will not only ensure it is sent along with other event details, it will also force the weekly email to be sent to anyone who would normally be able to view the event, regardless of if they have opted to receive the email or not. It is especially useful if you have an event you would like your staff/volunteers to be aware of, for instance particularly important meetings/training/shifts.

Last Minute Changes

Typically last minute changes (those done within 36 hours of an event) are sent via SMS to your staff as well as via email. This is done so they don't miss any emails, being quite close to the event.

This timeframe can be changed if required via the 'Configuration' page (via the 'Notifications' button at the bottom of the page)

Custom Notification Templates

You can customise the content of your rostering notifications from the 'Site Configuration' page. for more information, see this page