Setting up Reminder Emails for Patrons and Instructors

To modify program records, you must be assigned permission 754 (Update program records). To modify section records, you must be assigned permission 764 (Update section records). See Permissions Used by Sierra for more information.

Program Registration can send reminder emails to patrons and instructors to alert them that a program is starting soon. You can set up reminder emails separately for each program by specifying how many days before the start of the first session the system should send reminder emails. Reminder emails are set in the program record, and this setting is used for all attached sections.

When setting up email reminders in Program Registration, keep the following in mind.

To set up patron reminder emails for a specific program, perform the following steps.

  1. Retrieve the program record associated with the section(s) for which you want to send a reminder email.
  2. In the TICKL DAYS field, enter the number of days before the first session of each section that you want the system to send reminder emails.

When the current date is the number of days before the first session as specified in the TICKL DAYS field, the system:

For example, if you specify the following:

The system sends a reminder email when the current date is 05-01-2008 (5 days before 05-06-2008), and displays the time and date sent, e.g., "05-01-2008 2:00 AM" in the TICKL SENT field of the section record.

The system also uses the TICKL DAYS field to send Section Starting Soon alert emails. If you enter a value in this field, the program operator will receive a reminder email before the start of the first session. For information on this feature, see Section Starting Soon Alert.

A reminder email sent to a patron resembles the following:

From: progadm@north.lib.edu [mailto:progadm@north.lib.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 10:39 AM
To: blanche@blanchewelsh.com
Subject: Library Program Reminder

Hello :)

This is to remind you that the program below will begin soon.
You are registered for 2 seats. Please contact the library if you are unable
to attend.

Program Name: Teen Movie Night
Start Date: July 04 2008 07:00:00PM
Location: Main Auditorium
Public Note: Come early for best seats
Public Note: King Kong
Cost Per Registrant: $0.00
Instructor: Joe Wilson

Name: Blanche Welsh
Registration Note 1: Blanche
Registration Note 2: Addie

Thank you!

The email sent to the instructor is the same as the one shown above, but does not include a patron name or registration notes.

One Patron Reminder Email Per Section

After the system sends patron reminder emails and displays the email date and time in the TICKL SENT field, the system does not send any more reminder emails to patrons and the instructor for that section.

If you want to send another reminder email for the same section (for example, if the date of the first session was changed and you want to send a new reminder), delete the date and time from the TICKL SENT field of the section record. The system sends another reminder email to the instructor and patrons.

You can delete the date and time from the TICKL SENT field as many times as necessary. Note, however, that another Section Starting Soon alert email will also be sent to the program operator each time patron reminder emails are sent.

See also:
Setting Up Staff Alerts
Advisory Emails Sent to the Operator