Creating a new alert
- Click Add New at the top left of the page.
- Once the Alert Configuration page opens, edit Alert Name and Description fields with relevant information. When entering a name ensure it is specific to what you are creating, as this will make it easier to search for and maintain in the future. This will not be sent in the alert.
Alerts Configuration
Alert Type and Frequency
This section holds the details of what alert you want to set up and how frequently it should be sent. Each option is outlined below:
a) Group – selects the category of the alert, whether it relates to rosters, leave, timesheets etc.
b) Function – selects the specific type of alert or trigger with options based on your group selection.
c) Execute every – determines how often the alert should be processed and messages sent. This option should be used for alerts you want to send more than once a day to send out timely messages. For example execute every 10 minutes to remind employees to clock in if they haven't done so after their roster start time. Using this option prevents you from using execute at.
d) Execute at – specifies what time of day the alert should be processed and messages sent. This option should be used if you want the alert to be processed daily or less. Using this option prevents you from using execute every.
e) Allow resend after – specifies how long the alert should wait before sending a message that is identical to the last one. This is used as a reminder for the original alert. If there is new information to be sent a new message will always be sent but to avoid nuisance messages if there is nothing new a repeat message will only be sent after this time. The range offset for your alert should always be considered when determining this setting.
For example an alert may run every hour to give managers timely notification of new leave requests. Once an employee has requested leave an alert is sent to the manager but if Allow Resend After is set to less than an hour the manager will receive the same message each time the alert is processed (every hour). By setting Allow Send After to 2 days the manager will not receive another alert unless someone else requests leave or until 2 days have passed from the time the first message was sent (assuming the leave request has not been actioned).
f) Resend no more than – determines a maximum number of times the alert should be processed after which no new messages will be sent and it is effectively disabled. This should always be set to 0 unless you only want the alert to run a limited number of times.
g) Execute on – specifies which day(s) to run the alert on. This works in conjunction with the Execute every or Execute On.
h) Send by – specifies how the alert is sent.
Alert Query Period
The Execution Offset and Range Offset specify what period to look at, from the current date, for the relevant information. Only one of these can be selected.
Each option is outlined below:
a) Execution Offset – Specifies a period forwards or backwards to find data from the current date. Negative numbers can be specified using the -symbol. EG -1. This query will only run for the specific day that you are running the alert on. This is a great alert if you want to wish employees a happy birthday on their birthday. This would be set to 0 (zero) to run each day.
b) Range Offset – Specifies a particular period forwards and/or backwards from the current date. Negative numbers can be specified using the -symbol. EG -1. This option would be used to run a query on a date range, ie find out all the timesheets unauthorised for the last two weeks. If you had used the Execution Offset, and put in -14, this would find any timesheet exactly 14 days ago that were unauthorised.
Depending on the type of alert that is being configured, there will be extra settings that will work in conjunction with Execution Offset and the Range Offset.
For example: When setting up an alert for finding leave requests there will be an option specifying Date Option with the selections being Leave Date and Action Date.
In this instance, when using Leave Date the Execution or Range offset will look for leave requests that have a leave date within the period set, whereas using Action Date will look for leave requests that were requested within the period set.
Additional Settings
Depending on the alert you are setting up there will be extra settings that will appear underneath the Resend options. If any assistance is required with any of these settings please contact the Humanforce Customer Support Team. Examples are below.
a) When creating Availability alerts there will be options such as the status of the leave, the specific Shift type(s), Date options and Sort Options
b) When creating Roster alerts there will be options for the different roster status.
c) When creating certain Timesheet alerts there will be options for the different timesheet status.
Templates
The templates section is used to set up the message to be sent out. There are two templates that can be set up, one for the individual staff member (Message template per person), and another for the send group (Message template for group).
To create a template:
- Click the HTML button under either Message template per person or Message template for group
- A new window appear and you will need to enter the subject and message you want the employee to receive. The different sections of the screen are outlined below:
a) Subject – Subject of the email being sent
b) Format Options – Formatting tools to add styling to the body.
c) Placeholders – Tags that can be added to the body to include employee specific information such as name or dates
d) Body – The message is entered here. This is a free type field.
Template Formatting & Placeholders
When formatting the body there will be all the normal options such as bold, italic, text positioning, text size, etc. There will also be the ability to add in tables that will enable you to get the information in a list format.
To insert a table:
- Click the Table icon
- Select the number of rows and columns you require. If you are generating a table to display a list of results, you will only need two rows, one for the header and one for the data.
- Enter the header names and insert the any applicable placeholders in the cells
For more detail on creating tables within an email alert refer to this article.
Placeholders
Placeholders in templates are used to insert employee specific data into the message that is being sent. This enables the employee and/or manager to see the exact information for the alert, for example, the date and type of leave request. There are different placeholders for different areas of TimeTarget which will need to be selected accordingly. The placeholders will always relate to the employees the alert is running on, not the employees in the Send Group.
To insert a placeholder:
- Select the area
- Select the place holder
- Click Insert Placeholder
For examples of some templates that you can set up please refer to our Humanforce – Alert Types guide on our support website. If any further assistance is required, please contact our Customer Success Team.
You can watch a short video on how to use the alerts HTLM email editor here.
Employee Selection
The Employee Selection has two areas, Filtering and Recipients. The Filtering list is used to select the employees you want to run the alert for. The Recipients list is where you add the Send-Group that has been created, which is the group that receives the alert for an employee from the Filtering list. For detail on how to set up send-groups refer to this article
To select employees for the Filtering list:
- Click Select Filters
- Once a new window appears, use the three tabs Locations / Departments / Roles, Access Level / Employee Type and Pay Company / Profile to filter the list of employees in the Employees Tab. You will be able to use the Ctrl + Left Click function to select multiple options in all of these tabs. There is no restriction on how many options you select.
Note:
There is the ability to select the employees manually within the Employees tab, however, when employees are selected here the list will be static and any new employees that need to be a part of this group will need to be manually added. If only the filters in the previous three tabs are used, the list of employees will be dynamic, meaning if any other employee matches the filtering criteria they will be added automatically to this Send-Group. You will be able to tell if the list is dynamic if the Select All button is highlighted Orange.
- After the relevant filters have been selected, review the employees list in the Employees Tab and click Done.
Red Arrow: You will be able to tell if the list is dynamic if the Select All button is highlighted Orange.
To select a Send-Group
- Click Select Group next to the Recipients header.
- Select the Group you want to add by left clicking on it. You can also use the Ctrl + Left Click to select multiple groups. Then Click Done
Activating the Alert
Once all details have been edited on the alerts page. Click the Save Button at the very bottom of the page. This will activate the alert straight away.
If there are any errors with your setup, there will be a message that will appear at the top of the screen after clicking Save advising of what needs to be amended.
Once all is correct and saved you will then need to click the Return button of the page to go back to the Alerts Summary Page