Notifications: Creating Notification Templates

Applicable Roles

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

NOTE: 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

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. 

1. Navigate to Notifications / Templates and click the "New Notification Template" at the top left corner of the screen:

   

2. Enter the name of the new Notification in the "Name" field and enter the description (this can be the same as the name)
3. Select the Notification Category - VERY IMPORTANT - as this determines from where the notification can be sent

4. Enter a default Email Subject if you prefer it to be the same each time this notification will be sent:

   

5. If the Notification is to go to both the employee's personal AND work email addresses, click the box for "Send to All Email Addresses"

6. If the Notification is to go to the recipient's personnel folder after being sent, select the appropriate folder from the dropdown menu and click "Insert":

   

Copy Heading Source

1. Navigate away from the Notification you are creating and find a notification that already has the district header & click the magnifying glass for that notification.

2. In the lower half of the screen, click the "Notification Builder" button:

   

3. When the Template Builder pop-up window displays, click the "Source" button in the upper left corner:

   

4. Copy the source code from the very beginning, starting with "<table" until you see "table>" and then cancel out of the template builder for this notification as shown above. 
5. Go back to your newly created notification and click the magnifying glass and follow steps 1-3 above. 

6. Paste the source code you copied from the other notification:

   

7. Click the source button again. This will show the beginnings of your new notification with the header:

   

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. 

1. Click the Notification Builder link within your template:

   

2. If the template builder is already open, click "Notification Markers" to add a marker within the body of your notification:

   

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

   

4. 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 the table icon in the notification builder:

   

2. The table properties window will open. The table for the signature should be small, so it should have 1 row, 1 column, no border size and a width of 200, then click the green "OK" button:

   

3. Back in the template, put your cursor in the box you just created and click Notification Markers to select the district signature you'd like added: 

   

4. 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

Please Note:

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

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:

1. Go to Active Employees in the left navigation menu

2. Check the box for the demo employee or yourself to test and click "Send Notification(s)"

   

3. Select the Notification Category for your new notification and select your notification from the Notification Template dropdown menu:

   

4. Click the box to Add to Personnel Folder if you want the notification added there and check the box for "Employee" under Recipients

5. Click "PDF Preview" to view what the final notification will look like. If you are sending the Notification, click "Create Notification":

   

PDF Preview of Notification: