How do I customize the eCenter (and WebCATS) e-mail messages?
All the e-mail messages that are automatically generated by eCenter can be customized by you, meaning that you can change the default e-mail template that is used by the system-generated e-mail messages. In fact, you can also customize the templates for the e-mail messages generated by WebCATS. For example, you can change the template text that is used by WebCATS when you send your client their bid match search criteria. Or, you can change the template text that is used by WebCATS when you send your client with the follow-up counseling session.
OutreachSystems has provided you with some out-of-the-box e-mail templates that can be changed to reflect your centers’ specific information. Furthermore, on a message by message basis you can choose to enable or disable a particular message from automatically being generated or not. If you uncheck the "Enabled" box, then the e-mail message will never be triggered by the system.
There are two ways to customize the e-mail message templates: at the top network level and at the center level. If your program consists of a single center, then you will want to follow the steps outlined under the heading: "WebCATS System Administrator Edits" rather than edit the eCenter configuration on the Center record.
WebCATS System Administrator Edits
There are two menu selections that are available for editing e-mail message templates at the administrator level. In the left hand margin of WebCATS you can choose to edit either the e-mail messages generated by WebCATS under the "WebCATS Configuration" menu selection; or you can choose to edit the e-mail messages generated by eCenter under the "eCenter Configuration" menu selection.
All the e-mail messages generated by the respective systems will be categorized in the right hand screen, and you will need to determine which message you want to edit. When you click to expand one of the top level areas you will be presented with all the possible e-mail messages that fall under that category. Each e-mail message can then be edited by clicking on the Edit button.
System administrators are editing the default settings for their entire WebCATS database. Each individual center can further customize the templates as discussed below. Whether you are editing at the WebCATS administrator level or at the Center level, in both cases you will want to review the Variable Fields heading below for more details on how to edit the templates using variables.
WebCATS Center Edits
As noted earlier, WebCATS Administrators can edit the default e-mail messages program-wide, but each individual center within your program can overwrite these edits with their own e-mail template text that will be used when the e-mail message is generated by your center's activity. In order to edit the e-mail message templates for your individual center, you will need permissions to edit the center record. If you don't have the necessary permissions to edit the center record then you should contact either your Center's directory or the WebCATS System Administrator.
Note: OutreachSystems cannot alter your permissions. You must contact your administrator for changes to your WebCATS permissions.
Assuming that you have the necessary permissions to edit your center's record, then you should go to the center record by choosing View/Centers from the left hand menu and click on your center's name. On the center record you will see the same "eCenter E-mail Messages" section as shown above. You can expand the areas and edit the e-mail messages that need to be updated.
Using Variable Fields
When sending e-mail messages you often want to include specific pieces of information that relate to the content and purpose of the message. But these pieces of information may differ from one client to another. A simple example is each person's name. When you send an email to all your clients, it is more friendly to say: "Dear Bob" or "Dear Mary" rather than address all clients generically with "Dear Client". In order for eCenter and WebCATS to fill in the correct client's name in each email message it is important to take advantage of the built-in variables.
The tight integration between eCenter and WebCATS allows you to use variables that are automatically expanded with the correct information as soon as the e-mail message is sent. Variable fields are easily spotted with their bright yellow highlights.
When you go to edit an e-mail message and you want to add a new variable all you have to do is right-mouse click in the edit window and a list of available variables fields will be presented. You can scroll through the list and by simply clicking on one of the variables you will automatically add it to your text box:
When a client receives your e-mail message, the correct information will automatically be displayed for them, based upon the information found in the WebCATS database.
If you decide to add a new variable field in an e-mail message, then the new field will be inserted in the location where you mouse curser was at the time that you invoked the variable list. All e-mail message can include variables but it is important to select the correct variable for the correct e-mail message. For example, you cannot include any conference details in a password retrieval message because neither eCenter nor WebCATS will know which conference details to include in this case. There is no correlation between a password retrieval and a conference event. WebCATS will be smart enough to know what variable fields are appropriate for which e-mail message and only present you with the applicable fields.
Note: You should not remove the brackets around the variables or change their name. In order to use the variables correctly you must maintain their strict formatting.
As you can see, also the "From" and "To" fields will use variables and it is important to select the right variable to make sure your message is addressed correctly.
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