Connect 5 Training: May 2, 2012

Lisa Mercer is the wsfcs account rep

Ava Palmer:  NCWISE team: with Department of Technology

Connect 5: is a joint effort between Alert Now and Blackboard messaging service

https://www.blackboardconnect.com

Quick Start Guides:

• Sending a message
• Importing Multiple Contacts as a group 
• Creating and Managing Templates
• Behind the BB Training -- https://ssl.salesforce.com/home/home.jsp

·        Two emails will come from blackboard support with activation information

·        Every user has own user name and password and security

·        Alert Now will go away by the end of the week

·        With activation you will get a second email with quick start guides and follow up information

·        Client care center is open 24/7 (in Raleigh)
Contact Blackboard Connect Client Care:  (888) 599-2720  |  support@blackboardconnect.com
 ·        Account information is more secure

·        System allows for a detailed email delivery report

·        Emergency messages only by district officials at this point

·        Attendance still out of alert now for now

·        Facebook, twitter, etc not available for now, maybe features added later

·        Data still connected from NCWISE for Faculty, and is updated once per week

o       Employee information comes from HR—

§        if employees want to change the number that they get blackboardconnect messages, they can for example place a cell phone number under the home phone number field

§        Go to wsfcs website

§        Click on employees

§        Click on resources

§        Click on personnel

§        Then choose “employee self service”

§        Log in with active directory user name and pw

Custom groups

·        are easier to create now, and tied to NCWISE updates

o       This only works though if your information is tied to fields in NCWISE

o       But for custom email groups you still might have to upload the CSV file since only one field in NCWISE will populate parent email –First Mom’s email then Dad’s but not both!—will only pull from one or the other

o       When creating a custom group with mostly contacts from NCWISE, you can Create contact type of "other" to add a few additional contacts that are not tied to NCWISE

·        Pre-established groups will need to be recreated in Connect five

·        TO Edit a group, there is a little “pencil icon off to the right that allows you to edit

·        Current Alert Now groups are not tagged to a reference code, that’s why they have to be recreated in blackboardconnect

Recipient Search

·        Can search by phone, name, etc.

·        There is a drop down number for search results and show me the contact reference in NCWISE

·        Pencil will show where the number reference for example second  number

·        Message history tab shows all the calls that went out

·        Issue of long answering machine messages came up…

o       Brad Royal said you can hit # to end a long message on an answering machine.

o       Lisa Mercer will send out an FAQ for parents with suggestions for them having the best luck getting connect 5 now messages

·        Transportation issues: For example is it possible we could get groups by bus generated?

o        send AVA Palmer an email about the possibility of doing those groups

Message Center

• Looks more like traditional email with out box, drafts, etc. 
• Drafts, will save in the process of making a message unlike before in Alert Now where it would time out 
• You can force save it to drafts too 
• Outbox contains scheduled messages 
• Click on magnifying glass on the right to see details 
• You can also easily view detailed results to see who received the calls, etc 

Send Message

• There is a Short cut on the upper right side,
• Then choose outreach 
• Give it a title 
• Start typing the name of the group and it will populate that group, for example, "Faculty" 
• Or click on the "TO" button to search more groups 
• Or, you can "Select all" down below to see a list of all your contacts 
• You can also Search to see entire contact base, you can "select all" and then un-select the ones you don’t want it to go to 
• No auto translation is available because of the poor translations that occur with these.  Better to get a translator 
• You can also enter "Direct contacts" to put in manual phone calls 
• Everything to the right of the email is not working yet (twitter, Facebook, etc.) so just ignore those for now :)

Add audio

• During the process of creating a message you will click on "Add Audio"
• A box will pop up with instructions for adding the audio.
• it generates a special message ID that you will use when you call the 800 number to record your message
• That same box shows you your user ID
• There is a benefit for entering your "script" (it can transfer then to an email message)
• If setting up a message for someone else (like a parent)You can still do "dialing messages cards" 
   

• Click on the calendar to add selected calls to multiple dates 
• You can also "Add audio" for Spanish speakers, creates a new id for that record and you would record an additional recording in Spanish

• There are Iphone and android app--Search for "blackboard direct"
• You can set up the ability to to Direct call without having to use internet
  
  • Go to "your name" upper right corner 
  • Choose "account" then click on: 
    Click here to have your Dial-In Messaging Card emailed to you.
  • Set up a five digit pin so you can send out immediate calls from the phone call in. (pin can't start with zero) 
  • You can also set up to nine groups that could be available for immediate dialing messaging