19. Manage Email Templates
- Graham Kennedy
Manage Email Templates
To adapt the various email templates that are sent directly from the portal to suit your requirements, use the Manage email templates task:
By default this task will open showing the Self Assessment Invite email template
Notes:
The display name for the Emails is: SkillsTX Notifications
The Email address is donotrely@skillstx.com
Spescific Email Templates have an Email Active switch below the Subject Heading. This feature provides the ability for those (Automatic Send) Emails to be made Inactive, thereby stopping the automatic sending of those emails.
The Templates with this ability are highlighted in the Email Templates Available table.
Making auto send Emails Inactive should be used with caution, and a deliberate action for specific reasons.
A warning regarding Emails delivered via SkillsTX.
We recommend keeping SkillsTX generated emails as simple and as basic as is necessary.
The SkillsTX Email sending functionality was NOT designed for complex Emails, including Images and Image links.
From (bitter) experience we have found that complex emails are likely to be rejected due to Spam and various client security mechanisms and have in the past caused our Email servers to be blacklisted. The fact that our system emails are from a donotreply@skillstx.com address, and that they often contain links, already make it a spam detection target.
On this page:
Email templates available
Email template | Description of usage |
|---|---|
Self Assessment invite Email | Used to send the initial assessment surveys invitation email |
Self Assessment invite for Self-Registrants | Used to send the initial assessment surveys invitation email to people who use the Self Register feature. |
Self-Registrants Registration Notification | Email notification to selected Administrators when some self-registers. Requires Receive Registration Notification to be selected for the Admin. |
User setup without self-assessment | Used when a User has Skip survey = Yes instead of the self-assessment invitation. Contains a Planner account password reset link. |
Self Assessment invite Email Reminder | Used to send Reminder assessment surveys invitation email. The frequency and number of these automatically sent will depend on the workspace settings |
Self Assessment Reminder for Self-Registrants | Used to send Reminder assessment surveys invitation email to people who use the Self Register feature. The frequency and number of these automatically sent will depend on the workspace settings |
Self Assessment invite Email Final Reminder | Used to send the Final Reminder assessment surveys invitation email. When this is automatically sent will depend on the workspace settings |
Self Assessment Final Reminder for Self-Registrants | Used to send the Final Reminder assessment surveys invitation email to people who use the Self Register feature. When this is automatically sent will depend on the workspace settings |
Self Assessed Notification | The Email that is automatically sent by the system when a person has completed their Self Assessment, accompanied with their draft Profile Report. Has Email Active switch |
Approval Request | The Email that is automatically sent by the system when a person requests a Approval for the skills profile. The recipient of this email will depend on the workspace settings for approvals |
Activity Statement Notification | This is a special periodic Email generated by the system to provide Leaders with an update on activity. This Email Template is split into 2 separate sections.
Has Email Active switch |
Low Activity Notification | This Notification Email, unless it has been suppressed, is automatically sent by the system to an individual if they have not invoked their Planner session in the last 60days |
Skill Evidence has Expired Notification | This Notification Email, unless it has been suppressed, is automatically sent by the system to an individual if they have any evidence with an expiry date set, and which has expired in the last 60 days |
Action Plan Target Date Missed Notification | This Notification Email, unless it has been suppressed, is automatically sent by the system to an individual if they have any Actions in their Action Plan with a Target Date set, and which has missed the Target Date in the last 30 days. (i.e. They have not set the Action to completed) |
Approved Profile Notification | This Notification Email, is automatically sent by the system to an individual when their Profile is approved by the appropriate Team Leader or Line Manager. The email includes the Approvers comments Has Email Active switch |
Postponed Profile Approval Notification - Missing Evidence | Notification Email to an individual when their Profile Approval has been Postponed by a Team Leader, Line Manager or Mentor when they have selected Missing Evidence. It includes the Comment provided by the approver by default. Has Email Active switch |
Postponed Profile Approval Notification - Revise Skills | Notification Email to an individual when their Profile Approval has been Postponed by a Team Leader, Line Manager or Mentor when they have selected Revise Skills. It includes the Comment provided by the approver by default. Has Email Active switch |
Updated Action Plan Notification | This Notification Email, can optionally be sent by the system to an individual when their Action Plan has been updated by the appropriate Line Manager. The Line Manager has an option to invoke the sending of the email after making an update to the individuals Action Plan |
Endorsed Profile Notification | This Notification Email, is sent by the system to an individual when their Endorsed Profile has been Approved by the nominated Endorser Has Email Active switch |
SFIA Badges issued Notification Only available if the SFIA Certification option has been made available to your organization | This Notification Email, is sent by the system to an individual when their Evidence Skill has been certified and a badge issued. |
Mentee Request Accept Email | Notification Email sent to the Mentee after the Mentor has accepted their Mentor Request. |
Mentee Request Deny Email | Notification Email sent to the Mentee after the Mentor has denied their Mentor Request. |
Mentor Request Email | Notification Email sent to a potential Mentor when a Mentee has requested that they be their Mentor. |
Making changes to an email template
Select the template you wish to change from the Templates drop-down:
You can choose to change the subject line to your own requirements:
You can choose to edit the email body either in standard editor mode or HTML format
You can now adapt (edit) the email so suit you own organizational requirements
Once you have completed editing you have the option to:
Save the changes
Reset and remove the changes to allow you to restart editing
Note: should you try and change Templates in the middle of editing another one you will need to reply to a prompt similar to the following:
There are some special substitution fields that you will find included in the email. Some are links that need to be included and some we recommend you include. These are more obvious when shown in HTML mode. Refer the table on the Right for descriptions
The WYSIWYG style text editor used by our platform is unable to translate some of the more complex full HTML provided by other editors. If you have included complex HTML via our HTML editor, our editor may detect that, and will then open that template automatically using the HTML editor, depending on the complexity of the HTML.
However, should you then decide to try and switch to the standard text editor tab, (possibly to try and view the email in WYSIWYG format), you may find the whole screen will go blank, and no longer an option to switch back to the HTML tab.
Do not panic! 😨 To revert back to the HTML editor, you will need to refresh your screen, which will then revert it back to the HTML tab automatically. Or you can log out and back in again.
However when developing Emails please take into account our Warning regarding Emails delivered via SkillsTX.
Special substitution fields used in emails
Fields Name | HTML usage/format examples | Description & usage |
|---|---|---|
Name | $Name$ | Substitutes the persons Preferred Name, or Name if Preferred Name is not being used. For most emails it is used for addressing the person to whom the email has been sent. For the Approval Request email it will substitute the name of the person who has requested the approval. |
$Email$ | Substitutes the persons email address For the Approval Request email it will substitute the Email of the person who has requested the approval. | |
First Name | $FirstName$ | Substitutes the persons first name For the Approval Request email it will substitute the First Name of the person who has requested the approval. |
Last Name | $LastName$ | Substitutes the persons last name (Surname) For the Approval Request email it will substitute the Last Name of the person who has requested the approval. |
Other Not currently active | $Other$ | Substitutes the content persons Other field. (The field is used differently by different organizations) For the Approval Request email it will substitute the Other field contents of the person who has requested the approval. |
LoginUrl | <a href="$LoginUrl$" target="_self">HERE</a> | Substitutes the Planner Login link for the person to whom the email has been sent. Will be a person configured as a Team Leader or Line Manager for profile approvals Must be included in the Approval Request email template |
ManageProfileUrl | <a href="$ManageProfileUrl$" target="_self">Profile for Approval</a> | Substitutes the Planner Profile link for a person who has requested a Profile approval Must be included in the Approval Request email template |
CompanyName | $CompanyName$ | Substitutes the name of the organization/Company that owns the workspace. Often used as part of an email signature |
SurveyPortalLink | <a href="$SurveyPortalLink$" target="_self">Start Assessment</a> | Substitutes the unique link to the persons assessment surveys. Must be included in all assessment invitation and reminder email templates, although the display name (“Start Assessment” can be changed (see below) |
TutorialLink | <a href="$TutorialLink$" target="_blank">here</a> | Substitutes a link to a web page with guidance specific to the persons current situation for the initial Assessment survey We recommend this is provided for all initial assessment invitation emails |
PrivacyPolicyLink | <a href="$PrivacyPolicyLink$" target="_blank">Click here to view</a> | Substitutes with a link to the current SkillsTX privacy policy on our website |
VideoTutorialLink | <a href="$VideoTutorialLink$" target="_blank">Instruction Video</a> | Substitutes with a link to the SkillsTX web page that links to the current Self Assessment tutorial video, to help prepare participants on what to expect. We recommend this is provided for all assessment invitation Reminders emails |
PostponedComment | $PostponedComment$ | Comments provided when a Profile approval has been postponed |
ManagerName | $ManagerName$ | The name of a Team Leader, Line Manager or Mentor that has provided Postponement comments. |
RequesterComments | $RequesterComments$ | Comments provided when a Profile approval has been requested. |
ApprovalComment | $ApprovalComment$ | Comments provided when a Profile has been Approved. |
Note:
The display text (i.e. the link text that will actually be displayed in the emails) for the substitution links shown above are able to be changed to suit your own requirements.
Example: The display text for the SurveyPortalLink shown above is set to Start Assessment. If you wish to change it to something more descriptive such as Click here to begin your assessment then you can change the HTML as follows:
<a href="$SurveyPortalLink$" target="_self">Click here to begin your assessment</a>