Set Up Headcount to Send Non-Emergency Messages

A step-by-step guide on how to setup Headcount to send non-emergency messages.

 

Table of Contents

Overview

Method 1 - Send Message by Site & Structure

• Setup
• Usage

Method 2 - Send Message by Message Group

• Setup
• Usage

 

Overview

Headcount has been built specifically for saving lives in emergency situations, however, some of our clever clients have figured out a way to use Headcount to send non-emergency messages.

 

For example:

• Sending a mass notification to everyone at a specific site to warn them about weather or road construction conditions that may impact, delay, or prevent employees from commuting to the site
  
  
• Work stoppages for any reason
  
  
• Planning someone’s surprise birthday party (not really!)
  
  

This document describes how clients have done this in one of two ways with Headcount’s current, emergency-focused, functionality. 

 

Method 1 - Send Message by Site & Structure

This method is the simplest and allows you to send messages to people as they are organized by Site and Structure (building), much like you would for a real emergency. 

Setup

1. Create a new Emergency Template for non-emergency purposes
   1. This will help you identify emergency and non-emergency reports and simplify the message sending process
      
      
   2. Go to Admin > Templates
   3. Click the New Template button
   4. Set the Type to something like “Non-Emergency Message”
   5. Set the Menu Order to 99 so it is at the bottom of your list
   6. Click OK
      
      
   7. Click the Edit pencil (on right) for the Start message template
   8. Set the Message text to be something similar to:
      1. “[Headcount] non-emergency message”
      2. And replace “Headcount” with your company name/abbreviation
   9. Click OK
      
      
   10. Click the Edit pencil (on right) for the End message template
   11. Set the Message text to be something similar to:
       1. “Thanks”
       2. We don’t have to actually send this message, but we need something in there to pass our message validation on this screen
   12. Click OK
       
       
   13. Click the Save button bottom right of your screen

 

Usage

1. Go to the Emergencies > Dashboard screen
2. Click the Setup New Emergency button
3. Select the Message Template we just created
   1. Eg: “Non-Emergency Message” at the bottom of the list
4. Select the Structure/Building of the people you want to receive the message
   1. You can select multiple structures or multiple sites if you want
5. In the Message text area, delete the part that says “Non-emergency message” and type the message you want to send.
6. The next step will actually send out the message so be sure you have everything setup the way you want before proceeding
7. Click the Start Emergency button
   1. This will send your message out to everyone over SMS and email within just a few seconds
8. Headcount will load a screen to account for people, you don’t have do take any action
9. Go to the Messages tab (top right) 
10. If you want to see responses to your message, you can watch them come in here in real-time
11. If you don’t care about responses to your message or you are finished looking at responses, click the blue Send All Clear button AND READ THE NEXT INSTRUCTION CAREFULLY BEFORE clicking anything else
12. If you do NOT want to send the final “Thanks” message, UNCHECK the “Send message to everyone in emergency” checkbox
13. If you do want to send a second message to the same group, you can keep the “Send message to everyone in emergency” checkbox checked and customize your message text as needed
14. Click End Emergency
    1. This will end the emergency in the Headcount system and send/not-send the all clear message, depending on if you checked or unchecked the “Send message to everyone in emergency” checkbox
       
       
15. You will see this in your list of reports with an Emergency Type of “Non-Emergency Message”

 

Method 2 - Send Message by Message Group

This method requires a little more setup, but will enable you to send messages to people in your Headcount Message Groups that you’ve already defined, much like you would during a real emergency.

 

This method also removes the current need to send an alert to people based on location to start the emergency to get access to the Group Messaging functionality.

 

Setup

1. Create a new Site and Structure called “No One Assigned” in your import spreadsheet and import it
   1. Note: be sure to never assign anyone to that Structure!
      
      
2. Create a new Emergency Template for “Non-Emergency Messages” as described in Method 1 Setup above 

Usage

1. Go to the Emergencies > Dashboard screen
2. Click the Setup New Emergency button
3. Select the Message Template we just created
   1. Eg: “Non-Emergency Message” at the bottom of the list
4. Select the new Structure/Building called “No One Assigned”
   1. Since no one is assigned to that structure, no one will receive the alert message
5. The message text of the alert message does not matter, since no one will receive it, but you can type “no one should get this” or something to that effect.
6. Headcount will load a screen to account for people that will be empty, since no one is assigned to this Structure
7. Go to the Messages tab (top right) 
8. Click the blue Send Group Message button
9. Click the Groups button to bring up your custom Message Groups
10. Select one or multiple groups, compose your message, and click Send to send your message to those recipients
    1. This works the same way as sending group messages within an emergency
11. If you want to see responses to your message, you can watch them come in here in real-time
12. If you don’t care about responses to your message or you are finished looking at responses, click the blue Send All Clear button
13. UNCHECK the “Send message to everyone in emergency” checkbox
14. Click End Emergency
    1. This will end the emergency in the Headcount system and automatically generate the report
       
       
15. You will see this in your list of reports with an Emergency Type of “Non-Emergency Message”

 

 

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