Overview

Some actions on certain record types generate notifications. By default, notifications are sent to you only by email, but you can set up your notification preferences, including personal subscriptions and channels (devices) for receiving them.

Audience

UW Connect users, all users have to have at least two (2) devices created for Notification Preferences, and please do not use your office phone number as a device.

Content

This article contains the following sections:

• Preferences Interface
• Adding and Removing Channels (Devices)
• Setting Up Notification Preferences by Category
• Notes on Disabling Primary Email
• Notes for On Call Rotation Users 

Key Notes

• Though you can disable notifications, you still have responsibility for any work assigned to you, for addressing responding to relevant record updates, and for keeping records up to date.  It is highly recommended that you disable notifications only if you are in the habit of working your UW Connect records on a frequent basis. 
• Text is only available for on call notifications.

Notification Preferences Interface

All users can set notification preferences through the Notifications tab of the System Settings window.  To access, click on the the pull down next to your name in the upper right corner.

• Click on Profile
• Under related Links, click on Notification Preferences  (Scroll down to below the history section of your directory page)
• Email is already setup. Click on the blue  Primary Email link. (Make sure to click the Oncall check box)
• upper right corner, click on New Device
• Fill in the following blanks: Name - device name (cell phone, home number, message), type (voice, email, SMS+), Phone Number (area code)number,
• Click Oncall Method and Active
• Do not name two devices as the same name, even though they are different numbers
• Make sure you have two (2) notification preferences listed, in case cell service  or email is down
• Update
• Follow these instructions for each device added.  

 

The Notifications sections include the following; the latter two are discussed in greater detail below:

Allow notifications	Global switch for enabling or disabling all notifications.  As discussed above, it is HIGHLY recommended that you allow notifications, disabling only for the specific record types/events that do not warrant one.
Notification channels	List of your channels (devices) for receiving notifications. Use this section to add, modify, and remove channels.  By default, your primary email is your only notification channel.
Notifications by category	List of notification categories that identify and group related notifications. For example, you can have different preferences for change requests than change tasks.

 

Adding and Removing Notification Channels (Devices)

By default, your primary email is your only notification channel.  If you want to receive notifications by some other mechanism (e.g., phone or SMS+), you can add additional channels for this purpose and set the preferences for them individually.  This section explains how to set up/modify channels, and the next section includes information on how to pick which channels are used in which situations.

Add Channel	To add a device, click on Create Channel, fill out the fields on the resulting window.  Notes: Enter phone numbers in the format: <area-code><7-digit-number>. It is not necessary to enter a 1 before the number. If you want to receive on-call notifications on this device, make sure that the OnCall Method box is checked. Once you click on Save, you will be taken back to the main Notifications window.
Modify or Delete a Channel	Click the channel row or the right arrow (>) next to the appropriate channel to edit or delete it. Notes: There does not appear to be a meaningful difference between Delete and Delete Device.  Deleted devices will show up under Notification Channels section until you log out/back into UW Connect. DO NOT delete your primary email channel.
Activating/ Deactivating Channels	Enable or disable a channel by using its toggle switch. If you disable a channel, notifications are not delivered through that channel, but it still exists and can be reactivated at a later time.  Note: if you deactivate the Primary Email channel, you will have to go into each notification that you would like to receive, and choose a different channel; otherwise, you will not get any notifications.

Setting Up Notification Preferences 

You have flexibility in whether/how you are notified about updates, depending on the category of notifications (based on record type).  To do so, go to the Notifications by Category section.  Each category contains the subscribe-able notifications.  To view the notifications in a given category, click the category row or the right arrow (>) next to the appropriate category. You can then:

A Note on Disabling Your Primary Email

Setting up a new channel does nothing in and of itself.  If you want the new channel to be used, you will have to set it up for each relevant notification. In the below example, if the user has disabled primary email, and set up an alternate.

UW Connect, however, will not automatically use the alternate.  The user will need to go into the various record types and set the desired email, as outlined in the previous section.

It is therefore recommended that if you want UW Connect to use an alternate to your primary email that you 1) set up the new channel (as per the above section), 2) go into your most frequent record types and set the desired channel, and 3) keep your primary email active, which will still be used for whatever less frequent notifications that UW Connect may send out.

 

Notes for on Call Rotatation (ROTA) Members

• Ensure that you will be notified when your turn comes up in the rotation by making sure that your contact information in your notification preferences is up to date.
• If you want to receive notifications by phone, see Setting Up Notification Preferences for Additional Devices.
• If you do not set up your preferences and you are a member of an Oncall Rota group, a personal Oncall Rota record using your first contact phone number is created automatically, if needed. The default retry interval is 5 minutes per person.