Purpose Statement

The Notifications section within Events and Activities Setup enables administrators to configure comprehensive notification systems for event management, participant communication, and activity tracking. This functionality ensures appropriate personnel receive timely notifications about event assignments, changes, reminders, and daily activity summaries to support effective departmental coordination and communication.

Background Information

The notification system serves as a critical communication backbone for the Events and Activities module, ensuring that relevant personnel stay informed about event assignments, modifications, and upcoming activities. Administrators can customize notification triggers, recipients, and timing to match departmental communication needs and operational workflows.

The system supports various notification types including participant notifications, creator alerts, future event restrictions, daily digest summaries, and automated event reminders. These features help departments maintain awareness of scheduled activities while preventing unnecessary notifications for historical or backdated events that might disrupt normal operations.

Required Permissions

Based on the system permissions structure, users need the following permissions to configure notification settings:

Required for Notifications Setup Access:

• Events > General > Events Setup

Required for User Selection:

• Events > General > View All User Data (to access user lists for daily digest configuration)

Note: These are administrative functions typically restricted to system administrators or designated personnel with appropriate authority levels for departmental communication management.

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Step-by-Step Guide

Accessing Notifications Setup

1. Navigate to Notifications Configuration
   • Go to Events and Activities module → Setup
   • Select the "Notification" section to access all notification configuration options
     

Configuring Participant Notifications

1. Enable Assigned User Notifications
   • Enable "Send a notification to assigned users" option to automatically notify users assigned to events or activities as participants
   • This ensures all event participants receive immediate notification of their assignments upon creation.
     

Configuring Event Creator Notifications

1. Enable Creator Notification System
   • Select the "Enable notification for event creator" option to send notifications to event creators when changes occur to their events. This ensures event organizers stay informed about modifications to events they've created
     

Managing Future Events Notification Restrictions

1. Configure Future Events Only Setting
   • Enable "Send only future events" option to limit notifications to future events only. This prevents notifications for past events that are edited or created
     

Important: This setting prevents notifications for backdated events and is essential for departments that use the Events and Activities module to document events that have already happened

Setting Up Daily Digest Notifications

1. Configure Daily Digest Recipients
   • Locate the daily digest section within notification settings and select specific users who will receive the daily digest of events and activities based on supervisory roles, administrative needs, or operational oversight requirements.
     
2. Select Modules for Daily Digest
   • Choose which modules will be compiled into the daily digest
   • Options include:
     • Single Module: Select only Events and Activities
     • Multiple Modules: Choose specific modules relevant to recipients
     • Select All: Include all available modules in the daily digest
       

Configuring Event Reminder Notifications

1. Enable Event Reminder System
   • Activate "Event Reminder" notification option to send automated reminders to assigned employees
     
   • Reminders are automatically sent to all employees assigned to qualifying events. 
     
2. Set Reminder Timing Parameters
   
   • Choose the number of hours before the event that reminders will be sent
3. Select Event Types for Reminders
   • Choose which specific event types will trigger reminder notifications
     

Best Practices

Do's

• Configure notifications to match your department's communication needs and operational patterns
• Use the future events only restriction when documenting historical events to prevent unnecessary notifications
• Select daily digest recipients based on supervisory roles and operational oversight needs
• Set event reminder timing that provides adequate preparation time for participants
• Test notification settings before full implementation to ensure proper delivery and relevance
• Regularly review and adjust notification settings based on user feedback and departmental changes

Don'ts

• Don't enable all notification types without considering the communication impact on personnel
• Don't forget to restrict notifications to future events if creating backdated activities
• Don't select too many recipients for daily digest to avoid information overload
• Don't set reminder timing too close to events, preventing adequate preparation time
• Don't include irrelevant modules in daily digest that don't provide value to recipients
• Don't neglect to test notification delivery and timing before full departmental implementation

Tips & Recommendations

• Start with conservative notification settings and expand based on departmental feedback
• Consider shift schedules when setting reminder timing for optimal effectiveness
• Coordinate with IT personnel to ensure notification delivery methods are properly configured
• Document notification settings and recipients for administrative reference and updates
• Train personnel on notification expectations and how to manage notification preferences
• Regularly audit notification effectiveness and adjust settings based on operational needs
• Consider seasonal or operational period adjustments to notification settings

Troubleshooting & FAQs

Q: I enabled notifications but users aren't receiving them. What should I check?
A: Verify that users have proper notification preferences configured in their individual profiles and that email/communication settings are correctly set up. Also confirm that the users have appropriate permissions to receive notifications for the modules and events you've configured.

Q: We're getting too many notifications from daily digest. How can we reduce them?
A: Review the modules selected for daily digest and consider reducing the scope to only the most essential modules. Also evaluate the recipient list to ensure only personnel who need comprehensive daily summaries are included. You can also work with recipients to adjust their individual notification preferences.

Q: Event reminders aren't being sent even though I've configured them. What's wrong?
A: Check that the events triggering reminders match the event types you've selected in the reminder configuration. Also verify that participants are properly assigned to events and that the reminder timing hasn't already passed. Ensure the notification system has proper permissions to access event and participant data.

Q: Can I set different reminder times for different types of events?
A: The current system allows configuration of reminder timing and event type selection, but typically uses the same time parameters for all selected event types. For more complex reminder scheduling, you may need to work with your system administrator about advanced configuration options.

Q: Why am I getting notifications for past events even though I enabled "send only future events"?
A: The "send only future events" setting may need time to take effect, or there might be events with future dates that were created in the past. Also check that the setting is properly saved and that any cached system processes have updated to reflect the new configuration.

Q: How do I know which users should receive daily digest notifications?
A: Consider supervisory personnel, administrative staff, department chiefs, training officers, and other roles that need comprehensive oversight of daily activities. Start with key leadership positions and expand based on feedback and operational needs. Avoid including personnel who don't need daily comprehensive summaries to prevent information overload.

Related Articles

1. Events & Activities Setup: General
   
2. Events & Activities Setup: Daily Log
   
3. Events & Activities Setup: Programs
   
4. Events & Activities Setup: Event Types
   
5. Events & Activities Setup: Event Checklist
   
6. Events & Activities Setup: Templates