Managing Account Settings

As an administrator, you will have greater access to the Account Settings for your school’s Messenger. To view this page, please click Tools.png Tools from the side menu, then click Account Settings.

From this page, you will see a few different settings tabs from at the top.

Account settings tabs

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Table of Contents

Sending

By default, the first tab you will see is Sending. Most of the settings on this tab are self-explanatory, but please see a short glossary below for reference.

 Number of messages sent before PIN is required

To prevent huge numbers of messages inadvertently going out to recipients, and as extra security, Messenger can set the number of messages (SMS + email + voice messages) that can be sent before a PIN code is required. By default, this number will be set to 1000.

Voice calling

Choose which contact numbers to use when sending voice messages to parents.

Voice call the first number only: this is the default option. Choosing this option means that voice messages will only be sent to the first number stored in your MIS, in the following order: Home, then Work in cases where a home number is not available.

Voice call all numbers: choosing this option will mean that voice messages will be sent to all numbers stored for parental records/contacts in the MIS.

SMS & Voice Routing

SMS priority over Voice: this is the default option. Selecting this option means that if you choose Voice and SMS as the message types when sending your message, Messenger will first send an SMS to all contacts with a mobile number stored in your MIS. After this, Messenger will send a voice message to any contacts that do not have a mobile number stored in your MIS.

Voice priority over SMS: this option does the opposite action to the above. This means that, where you choose Voice and SMS as the message types, Messenger will first send a voice message to all parental contacts that have a Home or Work number stored in your MIS. If there are contacts in your MIS that only have a Mobile number stored in your MIS, they will just be sent an SMS message.



Top Tip: For cost efficiency, SMS priority is the cheapest option. Alternatively, if you have a lot of parental contacts with limited access to a mobile device (e.g. for those living in more rural areas), you may prefer to choose Voice priority.

Send both will result in some parents receiving the same message twice –making it the most costly option. You may only wish to choose this routing option in case of emergencies to maximise message receipt.


Allow edit Templates during message compose?

Ticking this box will allow other users to edit Letter Templates at the time of message composition. If you leave this unticked, only users with admin access will be able to edit Letter templates (by clicking Tools.png Tools, then Libraries and then click Letter Templates). For more information on how to manage Saved Messages & Templates, please click here.

Letter templates (tools)
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When creating a new message, send to

Primary Parental Contact or Last chosen: increase your efficiency by choosing the default Send to contact every time you create a new message.

Student timetable layout/ Send warning email when sending reports

If you have signed up to Enhanced Messenger, you can control the timetable layout and choose whether to send a warning email to yourself when generating reports to be sent home.

Include translation warning link

This tick box has a short explanation provided underneath. Ticking this box will send the warning link to parents every time the school sends them a translated message.

Translation warning link


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Advanced message sending options

Also known as Advanced Routing, you can adjust your settings for how messages are sent out. While it is possible to for all users to adjust routing via Advanced Messaging, you may find this easier to manage if you control the sending options from your Account Settings for all messages sent by the school.

If you choose to send more than one message type to parents, adjusting your sending options will increase the efficiency of how the messages are sent out depending on your circumstances, e.g. cost saving, or urgency of message.

Default: this option will send message types in the order as prioritised in your other Account Settings (see Voice Calling and SMS & Voice Routing), as well as your Xpressions settings.

Least Cost: choosing this option will allow Messenger to send messages in the most cost efficient order. This means that parents will only receive one message (the cheapest type) depending on the contact information available for them. For example if a parent does not have Xpressions, but does have an email address & mobile number stored in your MIS, Messenger will only send that parent an email, thereby saving you the cost of an SMS.

Fastest: Messenger will only send one message to recipients, in the following order of Xpressions, SMS, Voice, Email (depending on the message types you have selected). For example, if you choose to send your message via Xpressions, SMS and Email, the message routing would be:

  • Any contacts with Xpressions will only receive a push notification of your message,
  • Any contacts with mobile numbers (but not Xpressions) will only receive an SMS,
  • Any contacts with just an email address (but not a mobile number) stored in your MIS will receive an email message from you.  

Custom Priority: You can select the order in which messages are sent depending on the contact information available for parents in your MIS.

 


Top Tip: You can also adjust your Xpressions settings via the tab at the top of your Account Settings page.  As a back-up, you can set Messenger to send an SMS to any parents that Messenger is unable to deliver an Xpression to. For more information about this tab, please click here.

Emergency & Voice Settings

Staff can broadcast a message to groups you have setup on this page without needing to be logged into Messenger. This can be useful in case of emergencies or when teachers are supervising trips away from the school premises.

All staff need is the following telephone number: 020 3322 4122 and the pin code that you (the school administrator) provide them with.

How to set this up

1) Please go to Tools.png Tools from the side menu, then click Account Settings. From the Sending tab, scroll down and click Emergency_&_Voice_Settings.png.

2) From this page, please click on the dropdown next to Pincode, then click New Pincode.

3) Generating a new code will also provide you with an empty list of options:

New pincode


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4) In the Permitted numbers field, please enter the landline or mobile numbers of any staff members that you will be providing this Pincode Ensure that each landline/mobile number is separated with a comma and a space:

 

Permitted numbers

5) The Menu Script field will be the automated greeting users hear or see when they call or text 020 3322 4122. Ensure that this is something relevant to your school.

6) Via the Menu Options, you can configure up to 9 different groups that will receive any message sent by staff using this particular Pincode that you have generated.

a. To add a group, click on the dropdown next to Menu Option 1, then click Call Group.

b. This will bring up a pop-up of all the groups Messenger has picked up from your MIS.

c. Please watch the below video on how you can select groups:



d. Once you have selected all the groups that can be contacted when this Pincode is used, please click Submit.png.

7) If you need to remove any of the Permitted numbers, simply delete them from this field and click Submit.png.

8) If this Pincode is no longer needed, simply click Delete-1.png from the bottom of the page.

For more information on how staff can send emergency voice and SMS messages, please click here.

MIS data information

At the bottom of the Sending tab, you will see information on additional settings that can be activated (if they aren’t already) by Groupcall to ensure that you are seeing all the data you need to from your MIS. If you wish to adjust any of the below list of settings, please get in touch.

Teachers Included in Class Groups: turned on by default, this token included teachers as recipients when sending a message to their class group,

Guest Students Included: any guest students will be included in the recipients list when their class is selected. This token is turned off by default.

Pre-Admissions Included: include any pre-admissions students in the list of contacts you can send messages to. This token is turned off by default.

Leavers Included: this allows you to send messages to leavers. The token is off by default. Turning it on will allow you to send messages to leavers for a default of 3 months.

Leavers persistence: after allowing leavers to be displayed in Messenger, this token specifies how long they are available for in Messenger. The default amount of time is 3 months, however you can choose any length of time. After the chosen time period, leavers will not be available.

List Attendance by Reg Group: this will list your attendance/absence groups by date, sessions and registration group. Then it will list by attendance code. The default is just to list by date and session only.

Please ensure that you read this information thoroughly and refer back to it if you think there are any data discrepancies.

Contacts

Click on this tab to manage contact information settings.

Can Edit Imported Contacts

Ticking this box will allow you to edit contact information in Messenger. Editing contact information in Messenger will not write back to your MIS.

Auto sync contacts

Ensure this remains ticked so that Messenger can update contact information from your MIS regularly.

If no primary contact, choose next available

If there is no primary contact for a student in your MIS, ticking this option will mean the next available contact (with whom correspondence is allowed) receives your message.

Show Registration in student names

Tick this box to display students’ registration groups next to their names when they are displayed throughout Messenger. This is useful when differentiating students that share the same name.

Hide Staff Contact Details

Tick this box to censor other staff members contact information (e.g. mobile numbers, email addresses, etc.) throughout Messenger.

Contact Attributes

Click this button to create customised tokens that you can add to new messages.


 


Top Tip: For more information on how users can create a strong password, click here.

 

1) Click Add_new_attribute.png:

a. Type the token name in the Contact Attribute Name field, e,g, Head of Year 7.

b. Type the name of the Head of Year 7 into the Default Value field, e.g. Miss Smith.

c. When you are ready, click Submit.png.

2) To delete tokens that you are no longer using, tick the box next to that attribute, under the Delete column, then click Submit.png.

Integration

  • This tab refers to integration information outside of Xporter. If you think you need to adjust the settings on this page, please contact the Support Team.
  • Click here to find out how you can integrate your Twitter with Messenger.

Security

Enforce password change

Ticking this box will require Messenger users to update their password every 30 days.

Password strength

Choosing Any means that users will be able to create any password with a minimum of eight characters.

However, you can ensure users create a strong password by selecting one of the other options: Medium, Strong, Very Strong. Picking any of these options will require all users to create passwords with increasing combinations of letters (upper and lower case), numbers, and other special characters (e.g. !@#$%^ etc.).

 


Top Tip: The stronger the password the better!

For more information on how users can create a strong password, click here.

Password Policy

When users create a new password for their account, they will not be able to choose a password they have previously used.

To increase security, you can change your password policy to: Password must be different to last 5 passwords.

School

Use this tab to update your school’s information. This is information parental contacts will see when you send out messages. This includes the school’s logo, address, phone number etc.

Copy Standard Message Library

Clicking on this button will ensure that any new or updated templates provided by Messenger are made available to you.

 


Top Tip: If you have personalised any of the default templates, they may be overwritten if you choose to click Copy Standard Message Library. As such, you may first wish to save such messages as a new message first.

Xpressions

If your school has signed up to Xpressions, you will see this tab. From here, you can choose to send a backup SMS to parents if the Xpression fails to deliver after a determined amount of time.

1) Simply tick Send backup SMS if Xpressions cannot be delivered.

2) Use the dropdown underneath to instruct Messenger when to send an SMS, should the Xpressions notification fail to deliver.

Send backup SMS

You can also tick Enable Incoming Xpressions to allow parents to send new messages to the school via Xpressions. These messages will appear as normal in your Incoming messages.

Xpressions Topics: if you have enabled incoming Xpressions, parents have to select from one of these topics when sending a new message via their Xpressions.

  • You can add new topics by hitting enter on your keyboard and typing out the additional topic on a new line.
  • Delete any topics you don’t wish parents to use.