Creating a New Notification

Created by Elishama Kadzirange, Modified on Fri, 23 Dec, 2022 at 9:03 AM by Elishama Kadzirange

Creating a New Notification

Near the top of the Notifications Management page, you will see an action bar with the New Notification button. Press this button to begin creating a new notification.

In the pop-up window, you will see three tabs: General Settings, Email and Notifications. Begin in the General Settings tab. The latter two tabs are inactive for now. In this tab, select a notification event from the Choose the Event dropdown menu. You can find a list of notification events detailed here.

Then, in the Code text box, enter an identifying code for this notification. This code can be composed of alphanumeric and special characters, and there are no restrictions on code length. While this field isn’t required, it’s recommended.

For example, if a message notification is scheduled, it will be sent out based on the domain the notification itself was created in (i.e. the domain where the administrator actually set up that notification). If it’s unscheduled or immediate, it will be based on the domain the notification was triggered in (i.e. where the administrator enrolled a user or where a user enrolled themselves).

Please make note of these distinctions as you create your notifications.

Composing an Email Notification

If you want to send an email notification, at the bottom of the General Settings tab, check the Email checkbox to activate the Email tab. Now, access that tab.

At the top of this tab, type in the name and valid email address from which this email notification will be sent using the corresponding from (name) and from (email) text boxes. Since the LMS sends emails on behalf of the address in the from (email) text box, in order for your audience to receive emails successfully we recommend publishing a Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record according to our guidelines for the domain associated with the address. An SPF record is a special type of Domain Name Service (DNS) record, which, when applied, authorises the LMS’ third party usage of this email domain.

Below, uses the Language dropdown menu to select the language in which you want to compose this email notification. Email notifications can be composed in multiple languages and are delivered to members of the audience based on individual language preferences. To compose multiple, language-specific versions of this email notification, after composing an email in the prior selected language, select a different language from the Language dropdown menu.

In the Subject text box, type the subject line of this notification. Use the Body text editor to create the body of message. You may notice that some notifications have pre-made templates that can be customised. Some formatting options are provided by the body tool bar. With the source code button, you can edit the body underlying HTML code.

Please Note that 4-byte Unicode characters are not supported by the platform when creating or editing a notification.

At the bottom of the tab, you will find a list of short codes that can be inserted into the Subject and the Body of the email. Each short code represents a datapoint tied to the notification’s event that is populated in the Subject and the Body with respect to each instance of the notification sent. These allow us to send dynamic-content notifications.

Please Note: Short codes referencing links will not actually create links in the notifications. Rather, they only copy the URL. You must add the HTML into the text body of the notification in order to turn the short code into a link. The domain in the short-code URL will refer to the domain in which the notification was created, not necessarily to the domain of the recipient user. Also note that the format of all the URLs included in the short codes has to include the URL path without HTML tags, with the following structure: http:/www.domanin.xxx/path_url_platform.

Now, if you want to compose another type of notification, refer to the corresponding instructions in this article. Otherwise, at the bottom of this tab, select Next.

Composing an In-Platform Notification

If you want to send an in-platform notification, at the bottom of the General Settings tab, check the Notifications checkbox to active the Notification Area tab. Now, access that tab.

At the top of this tab, use the Language dropdown menu to select the language in which you want to compose this notification. In-platform notifications can be composed in multiple languages and are delivered to members of the audience based on individual language preferences. To compose multiple, language-specific versions of this in-platform notification, after composing a notification in the prior selected language, select a different language from the Language dropdown menu.

Please Note that 4-byte Unicode characters are not supported by the platform when creating or editing a notification.

Now, if you want to compose another type of notification, refer to the corresponding instructions in this article. Otherwise, at the bottom of this tab, select Next.

Schedule Notification with Respect to the Event

Now, set when this notification will be sent to recipients:

At the time of the event. By setting the notification to be sent at the time of the event, the notification will be sent to the recipients immediately once the triggering action has been completed in the platform
Before the event. By setting the notification to be sent before the triggering event or action takes place (i.e. before a webinar session begins), the notification will be sent to recipients a certain amount of time before the event. Once you flag this option, select how many hours, days or weeks in advance the notification will be sent. If you’re setting the notification to be sent X number of days or weeks in advance, you can also set the exact hour that it will be sent (exact hour intervals only, not half hours).
After the event. By setting the notification to be sent after the triggering event or action is completed (i.e. after a learner has completed a course), the notification will be sent to recipients a certain amount of time after the event or action is completed. Once you flag this option, select how many hours, days or weeks afterwards the notification will be sent. If you’re setting the notification to be sent X number of days or weeks afterwards, you can also set the exact hour that it will be sent (exact hour intervals only, not half hours).

When finished, press Next.

Setting the Notification’s Audience (Org Chart Branches)

On this page, select the branches and groups that will receive this email. Begin by flagging the option to select All groups and branches or Select groups and branches. If you flag the latter option, select which branches or groups you wish to assign to the notification by flagging the check box next to the group or branch’s name. Then, press Next.

Setting the Notification’s Recipients (User Levels & Course Selection)

Now, select the target for this notification: Users, Instructors, Power users, or Admins. The target is who will receive the notification. For example, if you flag the audience as Power Users, you then need to select a Power User profile from the dropdown menu that appears below. You can select one target recipient per notification: if you need to send the same notification to Power Users and to Admins, you have to compose two notifications, one for each recipient type.

Press Next, then select which courses you want to assign to this notification, if any. Simply flag the option to select All courses or Select courses. If you flag the latter option, select which courses or learning plans you wish to assign to the notification by flagging the check box next to the course’s or learning plan’s name. Then, press Next for a final time.

Saving and Activating the Notification

Finally, press whether you want to Save and Activate the notification, or simply Save the notification and go back to the list. Alternatively, you can go back to edit the details that you previously configured, or you can cancel the notification.

Notifications for Managers

Admins and Power Users can send specific notifications to users who manage other users, so said managers are aware when their managed users complete a specific action in the LMS. This applies to the following notifications:

Assignment waiting to be reviewed since N hours
Learner completed a course
Learner has yet to complete a course
Learner submitted an assignment
User submitted a test and evaluation is needed
User waiting to be approved to a webinar session
User waiting to be approved to an ILT session
User waiting to be subscribed to course

For these notifications, you can flag the receiving audience as the manager when creating or editing the notification. To add a manager to a user profile, access the User Management page from the Admin Menu. Then, find the user in the list of users, and press the menu icon at the end of the user’s row. From the dropdown menu, select Edit. In the slide out panel, reach the Subordinates tab. In the Manager field, type in the username or email address of the manager that will manage this user. When finished, press Confirm.

Managing Existing Notifications

Once you’ve created your notifications, you can manage them using the list of notifications on the main Notifications page. Begin by finding the notification in the list. Then, you can press the item in the Scheduled column to edit the scheduling of the notification. Likewise, you can press the items in the Filter, Roles, or Associated Courses columns to edit the corresponding details of the notification.

At the end of the notification’s row, you will see three icons: a check mark, a pen and paper, and a red X. Flag the check mark, turning it from grey to green, to activate the notification in your LMS. You can press the pen and paper icon to edit the details of the notification. Finally, you can use the red X to delete the notification. You will be asked to confirm the termination of the notification before the system deletes it.

Power User Management of Notifications

If Power Users have permissions to manage notifications, the Power Users will see existing notifications that are assigned specifically to branches or courses that they manage.

If the notification is within the Power Users visibility set, then they can see the notification; if the notification has a wider set of courses or branches not in the Power Users visibility, then they won’t see the notification. Please keep this in mind when assigning profile permissions.

Digest Notifications

Digest notifications are notifications that group multiple notifications about the same type of event into one larger notification. For example, instead of receiving seven separate notifications about courses that are not yet completed by a learner, the user will receive one notification with a list of the courses that he or she has yet to complete.

Digest notifications are configured just like other notifications, with the only difference being that you configure frequency, rather than scheduling precisely when to send the notifications. They can be sent hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. The digest notifications are:

User enrolled in a course. Triggers when a user is enrolled into a number of courses. This notification is not sent if the conditions are not met (no new courses into which the user is enrolled). Can set the frequency of the notification or send it manually.

In the Advanced tab of the Advanced Settings area of the platform (Admin Menu, Advanced Settings item), you can flag the option to send an immediate notification digest for a massive enrolment action in your LMS. This could be for subscription plans or a general mass enrolment from within the platform

Course has expired. Triggers when a number of courses in which a user is enrolled are going to expire. This notification is not sent if the conditions are not met (no courses are expiring in the time period set). Remember that first the enrolment end date for your user is checked and then, if it is missing, the course end date is checked.

First, as an Admin, set when you want to send the notification: you can decide to send it every hour/day/week/month. In addition to setting the frequency in the notification configuration, you can set how many days you want the notification to scan.

For example, if you set a scan interval of five days and you don’t flag the Send only on exact interval option, the notification sends a list of enrolments/courses that will expire from the current date within the next five days.

If you set a scan interval of five days and you select the Send only on exact interval flag, the notification sends a list of enrolments/courses that will expire exactly on the fifth day (the current date + five days).

Please note that when you don’t set the scan interval in the notification configuration, the notification is sent based on the frequency configured (hourly, daily, weekly or monthly).

Learner has yet to complete a course. Triggers when a number of courses in which a user is enrolled have not yet been completed by the user. This notification is not sent if the conditions are not met (no course have yet to be completed). You can send this notification manually, or by setting the frequency.

Tips and Tricks for Notifications

Please keep the following tips and tricks in mind when creating and managing notifications:

If you are having trouble receiving email notifications in your inbox, you may need to configure your SPF server.
When using short codes involving links to specific courses or sessions, please note that these do not work in the same way as deep links, meaning that the user will receive an error if he or she clicks on the link but is not enrolled into the course.

SPF Records

To allow LEARN to send trusted emails on your behalf, LEARN recommends using a Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records. An SPF record is a special type of Domain Name Service (DNS) record, which when applied, authoriSes the usage of email addresses by a third party. Please see this article for further information.