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Tutorial - Managing Automated Communication Plans & Viewing Communication History

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Matt Youngblood
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Building a Communication Plan
Trigger Categories
Tips for Automated Communication Plans
Example Communication Rules
Viewing Communication History

 

Building a Communication Plan

This video provides an overview of the rule engine and instructions for creating a communication plan.

 

Trigger Categories

The following categories are available when creating rules for communication plans (additional details are provided in the Building a Communication Plan video above).

ACTIVITY
Used to track completion of assignments within the main section of a course (that is, Course Builder Activities) and/or completion of live events based on the end date and time entered by the project administrator.

This category can detect whether the completion status is or is not:

  • Not Started

  • Incomplete (In Progress)

  • Completed

MODULE
Similar to the Activity trigger described above, this trigger is used for page splitters or course sections (for example, LAUNCH, LEARN, PRACTICE, MASTER, and others).

It can detect whether the completion status for all activities and events within a section is or is not:

  • Not Started

  • Incomplete (In Progress)

  • Completed

PARTICIPANT
Used to detect a learner’s activation status, course status, and certain date-based events related to the learner, such as:

  • First seen – The date the learner first accessed the course

  • Last seen – The date course access was most recently recorded

  • Last email – The date of the last email sent to the learner

  • Activated – The date the first project email was sent

  • Access expired – Applies only to courses with expiration dates

  • Status – Indicates whether the learner is or is not activated, or whether their course access is or is not expired

  • Completion – The learner’s course completion status

  • Source – How the participant was enrolled (for example, by an administrator, API, or other method)

  • Waitlist – Applicable when using the waitlist feature for self-registration or enrollment

  • Number of logins – The number of times the learner has logged in to Blanchard Exchange

This trigger is recommended when creating automated communications that depend on whether a learner’s status is Activated or not.

Example: If a communication rule does not check whether a learner has been activated, a newly enrolled participant in an existing project could receive a reminder email before the initial invitation email is sent. The invitation email is what triggers the learner’s activation status.

EVENT
Used to detect dates or calendar invitation responses (when calendar invitations are enabled for the project) based on any live events included in a course.

The available event triggers are:

  • Start date

  • End date

  • Event type

  • Calendar invitation response

DATE (only available in projects – not available in Course Builder)
Used to define a specific date and time that triggers a communication. This option includes two settings:

  • After – Continues to send the communication to new learners after the specified date and time have passed.

  • Is near – Triggers the communication only at the specified date and time.


Tips for Automated Communication Plans

The following tips can help when setting up and adjusting your communication plans:

NAME/LABEL: Number the name or label of each communication based on the order in which the communications are sent. If your plan includes 10 or more communications, add a zero in the front of the label (ex: "01", "02", etc.).

ACTIVATE vs. DEACTIVATE: Communications saved as activated within a course (that is, showing a Deactivate button) are automatically sent once the rule conditions are met.

If you want to include a communication with a course that is not intended to be sent automatically—such as one that uses the Date trigger to send on a specific date and time—save the communication as deactivated. Deactivated communications are included automatically in new projects and can be reviewed and activated at the appropriate time.

PARTICIPANT TRIGGER SET FOR ACTIVATIONS: Use this trigger in all communications if there is a possibility of late enrollments in the project. Additional details are available in the Building a Communication Plan video referenced above.

COMMUNICATION STATUS: Most communications display a status of Active or Deactivated when viewed within a project. You may also see a status of Stopped or Future if the current date falls outside the start and stop date range defined in step 5 of the communication rule.

  • Stopped indicates that the rule is no longer being evaluated unless the end date is extended to a future date.

  • Future indicates that the rule will not be evaluated until the configured start date is reached.

Example Communication Rules

We have included examples of rules applied to common communication types. You can use these examples as a starting point for your own communications and adjust them as needed.

INITIAL INVITATION
 

TRIGGER:
1) Participant → Status (is not) → Activated

How does the rule work? This rule sends invitations only to individuals who have not yet been invited or activated. Once the rule is activated, it automatically triggers an invitation for any new enrollments as soon as they are added to the project.

 

ASSIGNMENT REMINDER (based on detecting completion of all assignments in a section such as "LAUNCH")
 

TRIGGER:
1) Participant → Status (is) → Activated

2) Module → <select module/section name> → Status (is not) → Completed

3) Event → <select event> → Start Date (exactly) → <insert days> (away)

How does the rule work? This rule sends a reminder only to individuals who have not completed all assignments within a specific section of the course when the date is x number of days away from the live event. It does not send reminders to individuals who have been added to the project but have not yet been invited or activated.

 

EMAIL SENT AT THE END OF A LIVE EVENT (fieldwork instructions, MASTER email, etc...)
 

TRIGGER:
1) Participant → Status (is) → Activated

2) Activity → <select event> → Status (is) → Completed

Optional if assignments can be completed ahead of time*:

3) <select Activity or Module category> → <select activity name or module name> → Status (is not) → Completed

How does the rule work? This rule sends a reminder only to individuals who have not completed all assignments within a specific section of the course when the date is x number of days away from the live event. It does not send reminders to individuals who have been added to the project but have not yet been invited or activated.

 

 

Viewing Communication History

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Figure 1

Figure 1

To view the communication history for a project, select the Communications tab within the project (Figure 1-1), then select the Communication History sub-tab (Figure 1-2). The following columns are displayed:

  • Recipients – Displays the number of recipients who received the communication and includes a link to view the communications sent to each learner (Figure 1-3).

  • Channel – Indicates the delivery channel used for the communication (currently Email in all cases).

  • Triggered – Indicates whether the communication was sent Automatically (by an automated communication rule) or Manually (sent by an administrator).

  • When – Displays the date and time the communication was triggered.