VSys One: Volunteer Management Software

Field name

Description

Letter template name

The description for this letter template.

Letter template group

Present only if one or more letter template groups are defined, this provides an additional grouping mechanism for letter templates.

Subject

The subject line which appears in the recipient's e-mail program, on the VSys Kiosk or in VSys Live.

Letter type

The category for this letter.

Status

Usable by what languages

Languages included in this letter or for which it's usable. For example, a letter written in English is fine for someone whose communication language is English, ASL or Signing Exact English.

Alternate-language versions for merges

See Alternate language variants for more information.

Data source

Letters can be associated with any of several types of data including: People, Mandates, Trainings, Certifications, Awards, Interviews, Account records, Assignments, Application forms, Credentials (name tags), Incoming messages, Letters and hours. For example, letters based on interviews can be used to send notices about interviews in the Interview manager and make it easy to include information about a single interview in the letter. Other data types work similarly in the appropriate places.

To be used for assignment reminders, a letter template's Data source must be Assignments. To be used for training reminders it must be set to Trainings.

Certification type

For letters with a data source of Certifications, this specifies the type of certification which is used when merging.

Preferred sending method(s)

Any - Send by first available method.
Mail - Send only as a printed message.
E-mail - Send only as e-mail.
Kiosk mail - Send to volunteer via the kiosk.
SMS/text message - Send by SMS/text. Note that SMS/text message is incompatible with any other method.
Web-sent mail - Used for VSys Web responses to incoming applications.

Keep merged letters how many days

This sets the retention period for newly-merged letters. Letters beyond their retention date can easily be deleted in bulk. Leave this value set to zero for unlimited retention.

Status of newly-merged letters

A letter merged from this template will be given the status you select here. Generally you'll choose "Pending".

Delay sending until

If Status of newly-merged letters is set to "Delayed", use this to set the date on which letters made from this template can be delivered by the VSys Kiosk or the various E-mail Robots.

Don't display after

Once this date has passed, messages based on this template will no longer show on the kiosk. You can use relative dates here.

Or after this many days

A number here tells VSys and the VSys Kiosk not to show this merged letter once a set number of days from the letter's creation (merging) have passed. This is usually simpler than setting up a relative date.

Track response ("RSVP") statuses...

If checked, allows the editing of the response status for letters merged with this template.

Only show once on the kiosk

If checked, once this message is shown to the volunteer via the VSys Kiosk, it won't be shown again.

When showing on the kiosk...

When viewed on the kiosk, this message will show on the screen for this many seconds before the user can close it.

Don't show this on the kiosk

Most letters sent to volunteers are visible on the kiosk for them to read - they may receive them in multiple formats (kiosk, e-mail, print). If box this is checked, letters generated from this template will be marked as ineligible for display on the kiosk. Use this when there is personal data in the letter which would be inappropriate to show in a public environment.

Attachments (E-mail only)

Attachments specified here are included with every e-mail sent.

E-mail sender name (E-mail only)

The name that the e-mail will appear to come from, for example, "Jane Smith".

Use current primary supervisor as sender if available (E-mail only)

If the letter's recipient has a primary supervisor, that supervisor's name and e-mail address will be used as the sender so the letter appears to come from that person.

E-mail "Reply-to" address (E-mail only)

The e-mail address that the letters will appear to come from, for example, "volunteers@yourorganization.org".

E-mail "Bounces-to" address (E-mail only)

Optional, includes this in the headers of outbound messages. Convention is that messages which cannot be delivered will be bounced to this address, if present, rather than the sender's e-mail address. Not all mail systems honor this convention; the bounce message may still go to the reply address.

E-mail cc:, bcc: (E-mail only)

Outgoing letters will be cc'd and bcc'd to the given recipients here, if present. All of the letters will be copied, not just a single one for their reference.

E-mail priority (E-mail only)

The priority which shows in the recipient's e-mail program. Note setting the priority to other than "Normal" may increase its likelihood of being marked as spam by some e-mail programs.

Automatically cc: current primary supervisor if available (E-mail only)

If the person has a primary supervisor, that person will receive a copy of this message. (A volunteer's primary supervisor is determined via the Primary supervisor relationship for the volunteer, not the Supervisor field of assignments or job associations.) Note if you send a message to many people with the same primary supervisor, that supervisor will receive a copy of each e-mail sent out, not just one volunteer's e-mail.

Maximum sent per hour...

See E-mail Robot Throttling.

Excluded attachment types

Attachments defined for locations and jobs which might otherwise be included with these letters will be suppressed if checked here.

Include iCalendar/ics files with e-mails

If this is checked, if the letter contains schedule information (assignments, interviews, trainings), and the letter is delivered by e-mail, VSys will include iCalendar files with the e-mail that can be imported into the recipient's calendaring/scheduling tools.

Sender (SMS only)

Default phone number to use when sending this message via SMS. (This is not the recipient's phone number, this is the phone number that the message will appear to come from when it's sent and must correspond with a phone number defined in your SMS/text messaging setup.)