Alerts is a standard feature in vWork and be set up by anyone with the 'Alerts' permission enabled in their user profile. Alerts can be in-app notifications for dispatchers, and emails and SMS messages to almost anyone.   

There are many different job activities that can trigger an alert to be sent to anyone interested in a job; this can be your dispatchers, customers, and other stakeholders. Alerts are a great way to notify key stakeholders about job progress; such as when a job is created, or completed, or a mobile worker is expected to arrive at a known location. You can even attach reports to email alerts to provide extra information about the job.

Note: SMS Alerts are an optional feature. You can find out more about SMS Alerts in the article: SMS or Text Alerts.

In this article

This article explains how to set up an alert in the Alerts Setup page.

Topics include:

• Plan the alert
• The alert setup process
• 1. Create the alert
• 2. Add the alert recipients and customize the alert content
  
  • • Select the dispatchers who will see in-app alert notifications
    • Specify who will receive the alert by email
    • Specify the email address that the recipient can reply to
    • Customize the email alert message and content
    • Attach a report to an email alert
    • Specify who will receive the alert by SMS message
    • The SMS Message

You can read this article from top to bottom for a step-by-step description of how to set up an alert. Alternatively, if you want to brush up on one or more parts of this process, click the topic link above to go directly to the information you need. 

Click this icon to return to this topic list.

If you need more help with alerts, please contact support@vworkapp.com. We’ll get in touch to talk through your requirements.

Plan the alert

Alerts are sent automatically when a specified activity in your vWork account triggers them. Their purpose is to tell stakeholders something important about a job. Before you set up an alert think about who you want to notify, what you want to tell them, why you want to tell them, and when you want to tell them. This information will make your alert really useful and simplify the process to create the alert.

Some things you might want to think about include:

• What event will trigger the alert? This will help you select the best alert type to use.
  
• What do you want the alert to achieve?
• Who will need the information that is in the alert (a customer, a worker, a dispatcher, a site manager, or another administrator)?
• Does the alert need to be sent as an in-app message in vWork, by email, and/or by SMS message?
• Is the alert required for specific groups, job types, workers, or customers - or does it apply to every job?
• Should the alert include a report?
  

When you have answers to these questions you are ready to set up your alert.

The alert setup process

When you set up an alert you complete two main tasks:

1. You create the alert by naming it, specifying the filters that apply to it, and selecting the type of alert it is (what event triggers it).
   
   
2. Next, you choose who is going to get the alert, how they are going to get it, and what it is going to tell them.
   

We will use the example of a 'Job Completed' alert to demonstrate this process.

1. Create the alert

You begin to create an alert by naming it, choosing the alert filters, and selecting what type of alert it is. This is done through the Alerts Setup page. It involves completing the top section of the page where you enter the alert parameters.

To create an alert:

1.  Go to Alerts > Setup.
   
   
2. Click   to open the page where you will enter the alert parameters.
   
   
   
   
3. Under the heading Create an Alert, click the Alert Name field and enter a unique and descriptive name for the alert.
   
   In our example, we are creating a Job Completed alert for mobile truck servicing. We have called our alert Truck service completed.
   
   
   
   
4. Next, scroll to the section called Select Your Filters. Here you specify the groups (if this is activated in your account), templates, customers, and workers that you want to filter the alert by.
   
   Note: you can choose multiple options in these fields. If you make no selections the alert applies to everything associated with that field. For example, if you don’t select a template the alert applies to all templates.
   
   In our example, we want the 'Job Completed' alert to only apply to:
   
   
   • Jobs that are associated with the 'Mobile Automotive Service' group - we select this group from the drop-down list in the Select a Group field.
     
     
   • Jobs that use the 'Mobile Truck Service' template. We select this template in Select a Template.
     
     
   • 'All customers' - we have not made a selection in Select a Customer to make sure the alert applies to all customers who have a Mobile Truck Service job completed for them.
     
     
   • 'All workers' - we have not made a selection in Select a Worker to make sure that jobs completed by any worker assigned to this group will trigger an alert.
     
     
     
     
5. Now scroll to the section called Select an Alert Type to choose the alert type. This is the event that will cause the alert to be sent. You can find out more about alert types in the article: What can trigger an alert?
   
   In our example, we want an alert sent when the job is completed - this happens when the last step for a job is completed in vWork. We select the Alert Type, Job Completed, from the Job Progress selection of alert types. This particular alert is sent after the final step is completed but with a delay that we specify in these alert settings.  We have specified that the alert is to be sent 2 minutes after the job is completed.
   
   

You have now completed the first task in the alert setup process and specified the basic alert parameters that define what the alert is. You can’t create the alert just yet. First, you must add an alert recipient. This process is explained in the next section.

💡Tip: If you want to create the alert now, just add your email address as the alert recipient to receive the alert notification. It is also helpful to test the alert on yourself. You can easily delete or change the alert recipient at a later date.

2. Add the alert recipients and customize the alert content

In this task, you specify who should get the alert, how they should get it, and what should be included in the alert.

Select the dispatchers who will see in-app alert notifications

If you have decided that your dispatchers need to see the alert you can choose to send them an in-app notification. When the alert is triggered the notification pops up in the top right-hand corner of the web app to alert the dispatcher to the specified event.

This is an example of a job completed alert as an in-app notification.

To set up an in-app alert notification for dispatchers:

1. Scroll to the section called: Which Dispatchers Should Receive In-App Notifications?
   
   
2. Click in the Notifications field and select every dispatcher that you want to receive in-app notifications for this alert.
   
   ❗Caution: If you choose not to select any dispatchers then no dispatchers will receive an in-app notification.
   

In this example, we have selected three dispatchers to receive an in-app notification for this Job Completed alert.

Specify who will receive the alert by email

You can send an alert by email to anyone who has an email address. This can include your dispatcher, a mobile worker, your customer’s site contact or billing contact, or any other stakeholder interested in this alert, both inside and external to your business. 

An optional feature in vWork also enables you to send email alerts to ad hoc email recipients. These recipients aren’t specified in the alert setup; instead, you add them to the job in the job editor. This feature is useful when you have people related to the job who need to be updated but their details are not stored in the standard customer details; often this is a site manager or other third party who arranges access to a site.

If you want to add the optional Ad Hoc Alert Recipient feature to your account or find out more about it, please email support@vworkapp.com.

You can learn more about the Ad Hoc Alert Recipient feature in the article: Ad Hoc Alert Recipients.

To specify who will receive the alert by email:

1. Scroll to the section called: Who Should We Notify By Email?
   
   
2. Click to insert a checkmark in the checkbox next to every stakeholder who you want to get the email alert. You can check as many as you need. You can also add multiple email addresses in the Custom Email Addresses field. Separate each email address with a space or comma.
   
   Note:  If you have the optional Ad Hoc Alert Recipient option added to your account and you select Ad Hoc Email address, you add a person’s email details directly to a job in the Ad Hoc Alert Recipients section in the Job Information tab.
   
   In our Job Creation alert example, we want to send the Job Creation alert by email to the Customer’s Billing Contact and an Ad Hoc Email Recipient whose details we will add to the job when we create it. We have checked the checkboxes for: Send to Customer’s Billing Contact and Ad Hoc Email Address.
   
   
   

Specify the email address that the alert recipient can reply to

Alert emails are sent from alerts@vworkapp.com. You can specify an address in the Reply-To section. This is the email address that is used when an email recipient replies to an email alert.  By default, the Repy-To email address is the email address of the person who sets up the alert, but you can change this to any valid email address. 

To change the default and specify the reply email address:

1. Scroll to the Reply-To heading and highlight the default email address in the Email Address Reply-To field.
   
   
2. Type over the default email address with your preferred email address.
   
   In our example, we kept the Reply-To default email address.
   
   
   

Customize the email alert message and content

You can use the default email options for the alert message and content, or customize this to better suit your needs.

You are able to modify the email subject, and the email message and then use tokens to customize these for each alert sent. You can also attach any vWork-generated report to the email as a PDF.

Tokens make it easy to show job and customer-specific information in each email alert. We provide a selection of tokens that you can add to the subject and message of the alert email. Tokens are represented in the email in curly brackets {{example}}. The name of the token used is shown within the set of brackets; eg., the customer’s name is represented by {{Customer Name}}. To find out more about Alert tokens please read the article: What are Alert tokens?

Customize the email Subject

We include a default subject line for every alert that includes customized information, represented by tokens, for each job and customer.

For the Job Completed alert, the default looks like this:

The subject line for this alert will show the vWork Job ID and the vWork account name (name of the business). You can customize this if you want.

 

To customize the email subject:

1. Under Customize the Alert Message click in the Subject field where you want to make the change. You can highlight an existing block of text to type over it or click where you want to add more information.
   
   
2. Type the text that you want in the subject line. If you want to add a token you can do this manually by typing two sets of curly brackets and including the token name in the brackets; eg. {{Worker Name}}.
   
   Note: the names of all tokens are shown in the grey box in the Message area just below the Subject.
   
   In our Job Creation alert example, we have added a token for the worker in front of the account name. To do this we clicked in the Subject field after the words completed by and typed {{Worker Name}}, to insert the worker’s name and a comma before our business name.
   
   
   

Customize the email message

We include a default message for every email alert. It includes tokens to customize the message for each job to show the customer and job information.

For the Job Completed alert the default email message looks like this:

You can customize the default message, very easily, with your own text and any token from the grey box.

 

To customize the email message:

1. Click in the Message field where you want to customize the message and select the text that you want to replace, or if you want to add more information, place your cursor where you want to add it.
   
   
2. Type the new message. To insert a token, place the cursor where you want the token and then click to select the token from the available tokens in the grey box above the message. Alternatively, you can manually enter the token by typing the token’s name between a double set of curly brackets; eg: {{Actual Start Time}}.
   
   In our Job Completed alert example, we want to show the actual job start time in the email message. We have added this as the first line in the email message.
   
   
   

Attach a report to an email alert

Sometimes the people who receive an alert want more detailed information about the job. You can easily provide this by attaching a vWork-generated report to an email alert.

Note: If you want to attach a custom report to the alert it is a good idea to set this up before you attempt to attach it to the alert.

 

To attach a report to an email alert:

1. Go to the heading Attach a report.
   
   
2. Select the report type from the drop-down list.
   
   In our Job Completed example, we want to send the job invoice with the Job Completed alert. We have selected 'Job Invoices' from the drop-down list.
   
   
   

Specify who will receive the alert by SMS message

If SMS alerts have been enabled on your account, you can send an alert by SMS to anyone who has a mobile number saved against their user or customer record. SMS recipients can include your dispatcher, a mobile worker, your customer’s site contact and billing contact, or any other stakeholder interested in this alert.

An optional feature in vWork also enables you to send SMS alerts to ad hoc recipients. These recipients aren’t specified in the alert setup; instead, you add them to the job in the job editor. This feature is useful when you have people related to the job who need to be updated but their details are not stored in the standard customer details; often this is a site manager or other 3rd party who arranges access to a site.

If you want to add the optional Ad Hoc Alert Recipient feature to your account or find out more about it, please email support@vworkapp.com.

You can learn more about the Ad Hoc Alert Recipient feature in the article: Ad Hoc Alert Recipients.

To specify who will receive the alert by SMS:

1. Scroll to the section called: Who Should We Notify By SMS?
   
   
2. Click to insert a checkmark in the checkbox next to every stakeholder who you want to get the SMS alert. You can tick as many as you need.
   You can also add multiple mobile telephone numbers in the Custom SMS Recipients field.
   Click to add a new line where you can enter the mobile phone number for the additional SMS recipient.
   
   Note: If you have the optional Ad Hoc Alert Recipient option added to your account and you select Ad Hoc SMS Recipient you can add a person’s mobile phone details to a job in the Ad Hoc Alert Recipients section in the Job Information tab.
   
   In our Job Creation alert example, we want to send the Job Creation alert by SMS to the Customer’s Site Contact. We have checked the checkbox for Send to Customer’s Site Contact.
   
   

The SMS Message

We have created a default SMS message for each alert type.

Here is what it looks like for the 'Job Completed' alert.

Please email support@vworkapp.com if you would like to customize the SMS alert text message.