Configuring for Attendance Reminders¶

Setup involves one administrative setting and configuring each Involvement whose leaders you want to receive attendance reminders.

Step 1: Add the Administrative Setting

To activate attendance reminders on your database, go to Administration > Setup > Settings > System > Administration and set the AttendanceReminder setting to True.

Step 2: Configure the Involvement

Make sure the Involvement has at least one leader whose record has either a

• Cell phone number, or

• Valid email address

The Involvement also will need a schedule or future meetings created.

The key setting for this feature is found on the Involvement’s Settings > Attendance tab. Check the box for Send an attendance link to leaders at the start of each meeting.

How the Reminders Are Sent¶

When the AttendanceReminder administrative setting exists and is set to True, every fifteen minutes the system will poll configured Involvements for upcoming meetings. If a schedule or meeting is found with a start time within the next fifteen minutes, messages will be sent to the leaders. As stated above, the default communication method is texting. If, however, a leader’s record does not have a cell phone number with SMS Opt-in flag set to true, an email will be sent.

The message will contain the name of the Involvement and a link to an attendance page for the upcoming meeting. The attendance page will be displayed in a web browser, but is suitable for desktop or mobile devices. It is very similar to the attendance page in the mobile app. Members of the Involvement are listed on the page with a checkbox to the left of their name. To record attendance, simply check the box by an attendee’s name. There are also tabs for Guests, with a button to add a Guest, and a tab for entering Headcount.

Attendance Reminder Email¶

For emailed attendance reminders, the subject and body are controlled by an email template named Attendance Reminder Email. The Title of the template will be the subject of the email. The body of the email is a mobile-responsive email. You can modify as desired, using the following replacement codes (whether in the Title or body):

• {first} - the leader’s first/preferred name

• {churchName}

• {meetingName} or {orgName} - the name of the Involvement

• {meetingTime} - the date and time of the meeting

• {attendanceUrl} - use this to create the link to the attendance page (for example, the sample Attendance Reminder Email that has been provided has a button with this code as the URL for the link

The template is restricted to the SystemEmailTemplates role.

Did Not Meet Feature¶

This feature allows leaders to indicate that the group did not meet for a scheduled meeting. To enable the feature, add the UseDidNotMeetOption setting with a value of True. This will add a Did Not Meet button to the attendance page leaders receive when they click on the link in the email reminder. It will also add a Did not meet check box to the Meeting page.

Certain reports, available on the blue Toolbar when on the Involvement Search page, will include a column for Did Not Meet. These reports are:

• Export Meetings/Attendance

• Meeting Day Stats

• Meetings

• Meetings/Attendance

• Meetings For Month

Troubleshooting¶

If your attendance reminders are not being sent, be sure to check that the following requirements are met.

• SMS Reminders

  • Correct credentials entered in Administrative Settings

  • One SMS Group configured for System SMS

  • Involvement Leader(s) with a valid cell phone number and opted in to receive SMS

• Email Reminders

  • Involvement Leader(s) have a valid, active email address that is not opted out from the AdminMail email address

  • Email Template named AttendanceReminderEmail or Attendance Reminder Email

• Involvement

  • At least one Schedule or future meeting

  • At least one Member with a Leader member type

  • Settings

    • Send an attendance link to leaders at the start of each meeting set to Yes

    • Status is set to Active

    • First Meeting Date is empty or prior to today’s date

    • Last Meeting Date is empty or after today’s date

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