Mass Messaging Lite allows managers or Schedulers to broadcast unfilled shifts details to multiple employees simultaneously and employees respond back.
Based on the employees’ notification set up on their Personnel profile, the messages are sent out using text messaging or phone calls.
Only employees who are setup to receive messages will be will receive the broadcast. Before launching this feature make sure the Notification section for employees has been configured.
Schedulers can use the dashboard see employee responses and schedule accordingly.
From the Welcome menu:
▪Select the Schedules menu.
▪Select the Mass Messaging Lite menu.
The Mass Messaging Lite dashboard is designed with two panels. the left side is for creating and managing the broadcasts.
The right side shows the employees' responses and the time it was received along with their employee profile information.
Create a Message
▪Click on the Plus icon.
The Detail window will appear. This is where the scheduler creates the message to be sent out.
All fields in this window are mandatory to create a message.
The date field will default to the current system date.
Header
Enter the information that will identify the broadcast.
Content
The Content field is the actual message that will be sent to the employees. Be sure to include the Start/End time, shift date and any incentives related to the shift.
Employee(s)
Click on the three dot button to open the Employee Panel. Select the employees you would like to send the message to by clicking on the check box beside their name. When done selecting, click on Apply.
The number of employees selected will be displayed. If you are using the Employee Panel to select specific employees the department and class options will be disabled.
To clear the Employee(s) option, click on the red X.
Department and Class
In Both the Department and Class fields, use the drop-down list to select which department(s) and class(es) will receive the broadcast.
•Click on the drop-down arrow.
•Select the department(s) and class(es) from the list. At least one selection in each, however, multiple selections can be made.
Start Messaging date / Time
Defaults to the system date, however, the date can be set to run to the future.
The broadcast will be shown on the dashboard on the creation date.
To check when a message has been sent or is scheduled to be sent check the Sent as field of the broadcast on the dashboard.
▪Click on the calendar in the Date window and select the future date.
You may also set the time for the broadcast to run.
▪Click on the time to highlight the field.
▪Enter the time.
When you have populated all fields on the Detail window, click Apply. The Content field is what will be displayed in the text and said in the phone call.
The Mass Messaging Lite dashboard shows the broadcast and the employees who will be receiving the message.
Only employees that have their notification section set to allow text or calls will appear.
Employee Responses
Text Message
Once the broadcast is sent out the employees who have the notification setup can start responding back. If an employee does not respond back, the Response section will remain blank.
Employees who are setup to receive text messages will receive a text with the Content that was entered in the Detail as the message.
The employee enters their response and selects send.
The employee's text response and time sent will be shown beside the employee's name in the Response side of the dashboard.
Phone Call
Employees who are setup to receive phone calls will be called and hear the Content as a message.
The message gives a choice of pressing 1 to indicate they are interested or press 2 to decline.
The 1 response translate to Yes and the 2 response translate to No. Both will be displayed in the Response column.
Voice mail
Should the call go to voice mail the system will show that an answering machine was reached.
The employee will not be able to send a response after listening to the voice mail. If they still wish to respond they must call the manager/scheduler.
Managing the Dashboard
Toolbar
In the example above only broadcasts created on or within this range will display. We will see broadcasts created on April 15 to April 17.
Use the From /To date range to select which dates to display on the dashboard.
▪Click on the calendars in either window.
▪On the calendar provided select the new date.
Refresh
click the green Refresh arrow icon to update the Response side of the dashboard.
Delete Broadcasts
To remove or stop a broadcast from sending it must be deleted.
▪Click on the broadcast to highlight it.
▪Click the red X to Delete.
The system will pop-up a warning message. Clicking on Yes will remove the broadcast.
Header
Use this field to identify / reference a broadcast.
Content
The Content field is what the employees will see on the text message and hear on the phone call.
Sent at
This column is a combination of the Start Messaging date and the time fields populated when the broadcast was created.
Response Panel
The employees’ responses will be displayed in the Response column. This will show who is interested or not interested in the shift.
Keep in mind that phone responses are either 2 for not Interested or 1 indicating Interested.
The Response Time column provides the time the response was received by the system.
You may view the employee's information using the horizontal scroll bar and move the screen to the left.
Sorting columns
All columns can be sorted alphabetically in ascending or descending order.
▪Clicked on the column header.
▪Click on the arrow to sort the column.