Course Invites and Reminders (Admin Users)

You can set up and send out your own schedule of course invites and reminders.

The Learning Management System (LMS) is designed to streamline your training administration by sending course invitations and reminders automatically. 

When a new user is added to the system and the Automatic Reminders checkbox is ticked on the Manage Training screen, users will receive a course invitation email (that can be fully configured). The system can continue to send a further two reminder emails if users have not started the course. It can also send automatic training renewal reminders when your current users' course certificates are about to expire.

Setting up and Configuring Automatic Course Invites and Reminders

Step 1 - Initial Setup 

1. On the Dashboard, select the Manage Training tab.
   

1. If you have purchased several courses, choose the specific course from the Course drop-down box.
   
   
2. After selecting the course, find the Automatic Reminders checkbox and tick it. By default it is unticked.

It is recommended to enable the Automatic Reminders checkbox is ticked before adding users. Users will then receive an invitation to take the course approximately one hour after they are added to the system. Each time a user is added and if the Automatic Reminders checkbox is ticked, only the new users that are added will receive an invite reminder, along with the other reminders set up in the system.

Step 2 - How to Configure your Invite, Reminder and Training Renewal Emails

1. On the Manage Training tab, click on the Reminders button.
   
   
2. On the Training Reminders page, in the Reminder type drop-down box, you can amend the following:
   
   The Initial Course Invite email, select the New Training - Initial Invite (default option).
   
   Two Course Reminder Emails if users have not started training after the initial course invite email has been sent, select New Training - First Reminder/New Training - Second Reminder.
   
   Three Training Renewal Reminders when your users' course certificates are due to expire, select the Training Renewal - Initial Invite/Training Renewal - First Reminder/Training Renewal - Second Reminder.

If the Automatic Reminders checkbox is ticked, you may want to disable the training renewal reminders email to prevent individuals in your organisation from receiving reminder expiry notifications.

Even if Automatic Reminders is unticked and you have disabled training renewal reminders in the Reminders setting, all admins on the account will still receive notifications via email when their users' training is due to expire.

       

  For Each Email, You Can Amend:

• Schedule For: For the initial course invite, you can disable them completely or set them to send 1 hour after adding users. For the course reminder emails, you can disable completely or set a send time for a specific number of days/weeks after the initial course invite was sent. For course training renewal reminders (when courses are due to expiry), you can disable completely or set a send time for a specific number of days/weeks before the expiry date. Click the Save button.
  
  
• Email From: Decide whether the email should come from one of your organisation's administrators or from Smart Horizons. Click the Save button.
  
  
• Subject: Customise the subject line in the box. Click the Save button. There is a limit of 120 characters.
  
  
• Contents of the Email: In the Email Message box, tailor the email message which contains details for the user about the course, login credentials and how to start a course. Text in square brackets [text like this] will automatically fill in when each email is sent. We recommend you do not alter this text. Click the Save button. There is a limit of 4000 characters.
  
  
• Click the Test button and you will receive a test copy email in your email inbox.
  
  
• The Exit button takes you back to the Dashboard.
  

What Do I Do if I have Added Users and then want to Send out Automatic Reminders?

You can still use the system to send an invite and reminders, despite forgetting to tick the Automatic Reminders checkbox before you add your new users. The action can only be used once. 

1. When you remember, tick the Automated Reminders checkbox on the Manage Training screen.
   
   
2. Click on the checkbox in the first column (by First Name) for the user you want to receive an invite/reminder emails.
   
   
3. From the More Actions drop-down box, select Send an email course invite to the selected users. 
   
   
4.  Click the Go button.
   
   
5. Configured invites and reminder emails will be sent to the selected users.
   

How do I Know if Automatic Reminders have been Sent?

When a course invite or reminder is sent to a user, you will see coloured circles with the numbers 1, 2 and 3 in the user table on the Manage Training page. After the first invite is sent, a "1" in a grey circle will appear (this indicates that the first reminder has been sent out), followed by a "2" if a second automatic reminder is sent and so on. These circles will change colour according to which reminder is sent out, so for Training Renewal Reminders the circle will be red and for Refresher Renewal Reminders the circle will be yellow. Hover over the number in the table to get more information.

Now each time a user is added and if Automatic Reminders checkbox is ticked, only the new users added will automatically receive an invite along with subsequent reminders as set up in the system.

Refresher Reminders

Some organisations purchase credits for their users to retake their training more regularly or have bespoke training licences to enable them to do this. These courses are called Refresher courses.

To enable these refresher reminders, the Training Refresher Invite/Reminders option can be turned on. This is disabled as standard.

1. On the Manage Training tab, click on the Reminders button.
   
   
2. On the Training Reminders page, in the Reminder type drop-down box select Training Refresher - Initial Invite, you can also configure two further training refresher reminders.
   
   
3. Change the Schedule for drop-down box to 1 hour after enabling or 1 year after passing.
   
   
4. For each email, you can amend the email contents, subject line and email message.
   
   
5. Click Save if you have made any changes.
   
   
6. If you selected 1 year after passing, users will automatically receive a reminder email to retake the training one year after they last passed the course, if the training refreshers have been enabled.
   
   
7. If you selected 1 hour after enabling, you will need to manually select which users should be invited to retake the course. 
   
   
8. Tick the checkbox in the first column of the user table (by First Name) for the user you want to select.
   
   
9. From the More Actions drop-down box select Enable the selected users to take a course refresher.
   
   
10. Click the Go button. 
    
    
11. Now the Started On date in the list of users will turn yellow to indicate they have been enabled for refresher training and after an hour, the selected users will then receive an invite to retake the training.
    

If you make a mistake, you can use the same process from the More Actions drop-down box and choose Remove the course refresher for the selected users to stop the invite email being sent and then click Go.

When a course refresh invite/reminder is sent to a user a 1, 2 or 3 in a yellow circle will appear.  After the first invite is sent, a "1" in a yellow circle will appear (this indicates that the first reminder has been sent out), followed by a "2" if a second automatic reminder is sent and so on. Hover over the number icon to see more information.

Setting up and Configuring Manual Course Invites and Reminders

You can send manual invites and reminders to your users via the Email Users button if you decide to untick the Auto Reminders checkbox.

Step 1 - Initial Setup 

1. On the Dashboard, select the Manage Training tab.
   
   
2. On the Manage Training screen, find the Automatic Reminders checkbox and untick it. 
   

Step 2 - Select Users you Want to Send a Course Invite to:

1. On the Manage Training tab, ensure that the View drop-down box is set to View All Users.
   
   
2. In the list of users, select the users you would like to receive the course invite by ticking the relevant checkbox in the first column (by First Name). To send an email to everyone, click on the checkbox in the header of this first column.
   
   
3. Click the Email Users button. 
   
   

1. On the Email Users page you will see how many recipients will receive the email and you can also amend:
   
   
2. The Contents of the Email: In the Email Message box you can tailor the text message. Click the Save button to save your changes. DO NOT change any of the text in square brackets [text like this] as this is where the system fills in automatic information such as names.
   
   
3. Email From: Choose whether the email should come from one of your organisation's administrators or from Smart Horizons. Click the Save button.
   
   
4. Subject: Customise the subject line in the box. Click the Save button.
   
   
5. To test any of the emails, click the Test button and you will receive a test copy email in your inbox.
   
   
6. To send the email, click on the Email Users button.
   
   
7. You will get a confirmation that the email is being sent.
   

The manual approach can also be used to chase users who have not yet completed their training or to remind users to take training. 

As an admin, you can turn all notifications off in the Email Preferences tab, although this is not recommended.

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