Alfresco General Announcement System (Global and Sites)

What is a General Announcement?

Need to post an urgent message but don’t want to get buried in email? Get the word out — guaranteed.

A General Announcement is the most efficient way to get the word out to your staff. No scrolling through emails—this type of message is easy to send and visible to all users in the Alfresco system. When you need to make an announcement, this is the quickest and easiest solution.

Why are General Announcements So Important?

• Easy – the most straightforward way to send announcements to the team
• Quick – staff email gets backed up, but General Announcements are received front-and-center
• Powerful – General Announcements can be sent on a global level when necessary
• Targeted – use when Alfresco users are the audience so the message reaches the right people

General Announcements are not just site maintenance and IT related business. Here are three types of company-wide messages that are perfect for this addon:

The Benefits of General Announcements

Skytizens gives users the ability to send a fast and efficient announcement. Most staff members receive company-wide information via email. Email can be unpredictable—you risk getting buried in a full inbox or delayed by a staff member with a busy schedule. For certain types of messages, Skytizens General Announcements are the best solution.

A General Announcement within the Alfresco system is easy to send. The interface is kept clean and uncomplicated. General announcements appear immediately and are eye-catching to users. Important information can even be sent to your entire global staff with zero fuss.

Bottom line: General Announcements are the most convenient way to target users who actively work in the Alfresco system. The announcement is instantly visible to everyone who logs in–no inbox sifting required.

How Does It Work?

You can use General Announcements to broadcast to a target audience. This type of announcement doesn’t use a chat box or mail format, but posts a message to the top of the dashboard of every user.

Whoever writes the announcement can select who will receive it, how long it remains up, and control the priority level of the message. High priority announcements remain until the administrator indicates for it to be removed. Lower priority announcements can be closed after reading and retrieved later by the user.

• Global Announcements can be made by system administrators and will be received by all users on a single server.
• Site Announcements can be made by site managers to send information to a smaller crowd of users on their specific site.

Anyone who creates a General Announcement has the ability to edit, delete and reuse past announcements at their convenience.

Main Features

Create New Announcement – There are two types of General Announcements available in the Skytizens system. They differ by who sends them, who views them, and most importantly the reach of the message. Let’s look at how Global and Site Announcements function.

1. Global Announcement by Administrator
   • Title – Admin creates a unique title for the announcement.
   • Description – Admin writes the content of the message.
   • Start and End Time – Admin designates the length of time that the announcement will be displayed on their audience’s screen.
   • Site Selection – In the Admin Tools menu, the Administrator has the ability to restrict the reach of the announcement:
     • Global announcements will be received by all users in the system.
     • Site-Specific announcements will be viewed by all members and visitors of a single site within Alfresco. A site is an existing work group page that has been created and defined by the users.
     • Multiple Site announcements are possible when the Admin selects more than one site to display the announcement.
   • Priority – The Administrator sets the priority of each announcement, which defines how users can interact with it. Priority settings are explained below.
2. Site Announcement by Site Manager
   • Create announcement – In the Customize Site menu, the Site Manager can use the same format described above to send a precise announcement. The difference is that a Site Announcement is restricted to appear only on the site they are in charge of. The Administrator also has this ability to broadcast a focused announcement to one site, whereas a Site Manager does not have the reverse option to broadcast a global announcement to all users.
   • Site Selection – the Site Manager can only make announcements to more than one site if they are designated as the Manager of multiple sites. Otherwise, they are limited to announcements on a single site.

Edit Existing Announcement – Change or update announcement details.

1. Global – Details of previous announcements are displayed in Admin Tools. Global announcements can be edited only by Administrators.
2. Site – Details of previous announcements are displayed in Customize Site. Site announcements can be edited by the System Administrator, the Site Manager who created it, and by other designated Managers of that site.

Delete Announcement – Remove an announcement from the system.

1. Global – Details of expired announcements are displayed in Admin Tools. Global announcements can be deleted only by Admin.
2. Site – Details of expired announcements are displayed in Customize Site. Site announcements can be deleted by the System Administrator, the Site Manager who created it, and by other designated Managers of that site.

Assured High Visibility – Announcement location in the system for readability.

1. Global – The announcement is displayed at the top of the Home dashboard screen upon login to the system. This location directly below the main menu makes the announcement impossible to miss. Global announcements are “sticky” and remain visible in this location while the user navigates to other pages in the system.
2. Site – The announcement is displayed at the top of the Site dashboard screen. This announcement is visible to members of the site and visitors. If a Site Manager wishes to restrict their announcements to members only, they can make the site ‘Private’.
3. Multiple announcements can broadcast simultaneously. They will appear stacked at the top of the page with the most recent start time at the top.

Setting Announcement Priority – Announcements are and color-coded for users.

1. High Priority – Designated by a red field, these announcements remain visible until the creator removes them or the designated End Time passes.
2. Normal Priority – Designated by a blue field, these announcements can be closed by the user, however they will reappear for all new logins until the End Time passes.
3. Low Priority – Designated by a gray field, these announcements can also be closed, however they will reappear for all new sessions until the End Time has passed.

All Languages – General Announcements are not restricted by language. The content fields for the title and body of all General Announcements can be filled out in any language – whether typed or by copy/paste.

Conclusion

Need to post an urgent message but don’t want to get buried in email? Get the word out — guaranteed.

General Announcements are a versatile tool for sending fast and easy messages to your staff via the Alfresco system. Quickly digestible and impossible to miss, these announcements are the solution for reaching all your users at once, even on a company-wide scale.

This addon provides a powerful messaging capability that achieves a very specific but common goal. When email is too slow and you need to reach your team, it will be General Announcements to the rescue!