Notifications: Creating Notification Templates

Applicable Roles

• Administrators
• Teacher
• Admissions
• Academic Administrator
• Business Office
• Evaluation Administrator
• Recruiting Administrator
• Benefits Coordinator
• HR Admin
• HR Team

The ability to send notifications is available on all Staff, Human Resources and Recruiting grids where there are potential recipients. Along with the above roles, the following roles can also send (but not create) Notifications:

• Recruiting Coordinator
• Personal Profile Only 

Pre-Requisites

Notification Categories

Contents

Create Notification Details

Copy Heading Source

Body of Notification and Notification Markers

Create Sign Off and Signature

Save and Test

Next Step(s)

Create Notification Details

Notification Templates

A Notification Template determines the format and content of your notification by utilizing the Template Builder. This allows the creation of personalized form letters (emails) where customized information can be entered en-masse, or single letters can be created individually depending on need. 

Navigate to: Notifications / Templates

1. Click "New Notification Template"
2. Name the Template 
3. Enter the Description (this can be the same as the name)
4. Select the Notification Category from the drop-down (Note: The Category is very Important as its selection determines the source of the notification)

5. Enter a default Email Subject to be the same each time subject each time this notification will be sent

   

6.  Check the box: "Send to All Email Addresses" If the Notification is to go to both the employee's personal AND work email addresses
7. If the Notification is to go to the recipient's Personnel Folder after being sent, select the appropriate folder from the dropdown menu
8. Click "Insert"

Copy Heading Source

1. Open a different existing Template that already has your district header by clicking the magnifying glass

2. In the Details, click "Notification Builder

   

3. In the Template Builder pop-up, click "Source" in the toolbar

   

4. Copy the source code from the very beginning, starting with "<table" until you see "table>"

   

5. Copy the source code from the very beginning, starting with "<table" until you see "table>"
6. Click Cancel
7. Go back to your newly created notification template in the first section of this article
8. Click the magnifying glass and repeat steps, 1-3
9. Paste the source code you copied
10. Click the Source button to view the notification header
11. Click "Save" to continue to build the Body of the Notification

Note: If there is a dashed *red line with a red arrow after the header, click the arrow to separate from the header and begin the notification

Body of Notification and Notification Markers

Creating the body of the notification incorporates adding information that needs to appear in the notification, along with Notification Markers, which automatically import information like the date, or name of the recipient directly into the notification. 

Tip: Clicking the "Save" button periodically is recommended while working on your notification.  DO NOT CLICK OUTSIDE OF THE TEMPLATE BUILDER BOX BEFORE SAVING as you will lose all of your work. 

1. Click Notification Builder (If the template builder is already open, click "Notification Markers" to add a marker within the body of your notification)

   

2. Begin to enter the text of your notification under the heading
   1. To insert a Notification Marker: Click in the body of the template where the marker should be inserted

   2. Click Notification Markers

      

   3. Select the appropriate marker by clicking it, and it will appear under "Selected Marker" at the bottom of the pop-up window

      

   4. Click OK

3. The notification marker will appear within the notification with 3 dash marks before and after it:

   

Create Sign Off and Signature

If your notification is in letter format, you can add a district signature that is specific to a department. 

1. Click in the body of the template, the desired location for the signature
2. Click the table icon
3. 
4. In the Table Properties window, set the following so to properly size the signature table
   1. Enter 1 for the Row
   2. Enter 1 for the Columns
   3. Enter 200 for the Width
   4. Clear the Border Size 

   5. Click OK

      

5. Back in the template, put your cursor in the box you just created

6. Click Notification Markers to select the district signature

   

Tip: If you would like all the lines of your sign off to be closer together (or any lines in the notification to be closer together), highlight the lines with your cursor, then select "Normal (DIV)" from the Format drop-down

Save and Test

Once your notification is completed, click "Save". 

When you are ready to test your notification, go to the area of SchoolFront from which you will be sending the notification. For example, if the Notification Category begins with (Human Resource Employee), you can test this by:

Navigate to: Active Employees

1. Check the box for a demo employee (or yourself)

2. Click "Send Notification(s)"

   

3. In the Send Notifications pop-up window:
   1. Select the Notification Category for your new notification and
   2. Select your notification from the Notification Template dropdown menu

   3. Check the box to Add to Personnel Folder if you want the notification added there after sending

      

      

4. Check the box for "Employee" under Recipients
5. Click "PDF Preview" to view what the final notification will look like
6. Click "Create Notification" to send the Notification

Example of a PDF Preview:

Next Step(s)

Notifications: Generate and Send Notifications