Add Engagement / Event

From this option within the Engagement Tracker tool you can add a new engagement and record the details for the event.

Links to the sections in this guide for these steps are below:

• Add basic details
• Set teams and area
• Send or Skip public notification

Add basic details

For adding a new engagement, you can use: 'add community engagement / event':

You can then enter the basic details as below (you may see different options available to fill in here depending on the engagement type you have selected):

• The type should be the particular type of activity you are undertaking.
• The Title can then describe the engagement/event.
• The Date is when this will take place.
• Optionally, you can also add a website / link if appropriate.
• For some engagement types, you will also see additional details that you can add, such as location/information/duration (example type - with these options shown below):

For entering a location, if a location is needed, you can search for the location in the above search box and you should see auto completed options to select from as a dropdown here:

Selecting the address here will automatically populate the address details and place a pin on the map in the relevant location.

You can then drag the pin around the map and manually update the address information, if needed, to be as accurate as necessary.

Lastly, you can then choose to be notified by email of any responses from members that are invited to this engagement:

Setting the Team and Area

On the next page, you can allocate the engagement activity to the correct Neighbourhood Team and team members for reporting purposes.

• The list shown will include the Teams you are part of within the Alert system (except super users, who will see all Teams for your organisation).
• You can allocate an engagement to multiple Teams, if needed e.g. this takes place on a border
• After selecting a team, you can click on the dropdown list and select the team members who will attend / have attended the engagement (you should also select your own account here, as the admin adding the engagement, if you will also be attending this engagement yourself), as these are reported on separately.

• Under 'Add someone else to this engagement', you can search for other administrators and record them as having attended the engagement, in case someone needs to be added who is not a part of any of your teams

  

For the forces that have local area pages, or have the integration to their force's 'Single Online Home' site configured, you may also see the option to select which team pages your engagement will appear on. By default, it should appear on the the Policing team's page for the area you have selected for the engagement but you can set the engagement to appear on other pages as well, with the options pictured below.

Next you can allocate an appropriate area for the event, again for reporting purposes. If you have entered a location on the previous page, you will see, as below, that an area has been automatically selected based on this, which you may edit if this is not correct.

Otherwise, if you have not previously given a location, you will see the below search box to input your location, which will autocomplete for you and you can then choose from that list:

To confirm these details, you can then click 'set areas / teams for engagement'

Send or skip the public notification

FAQ

• You don't have to send a notification for your engagement
• A separate Alert message is not required to be sent for your engagement
• This notification will count towards your Alerts total
• This notification allows recipients to respond with if they will / want to attend, and you can view these details in the overview
• The notification will automatically include location details if you have added these to your engagement

Next (assuming you have added an engagement for a date in the future and you have selected an engagement type which has the option to send a message) you can select the area you wish to send a message to, you can then proceed with 'Next'.

If you don't wish to send a message for your engagement, you can click 'Don't Notify Public Now'.

If you proceed with sending a message, you can filter down your message's recipient list so that only members of particular groups are contacted. Or you can click 'Send message to all' if you just wish to send your message to your selected area.

When composing your message, depending on the type of engagement you have selected, you will see some content that is pre-filled for you here. Then you can customise this as needed, ensuring that the [placeholder] text is replaced with your relevant details. Some information here will also be mail merged {merged field}, from the member's details.

Make sure to keep the Engagement card mail merge option (pictured below) in your message as this will include the location information for your engagement, when sending, as well as the options for invitees to respond.

You can then choose to preview and send this message (or schedule that to send later), or create the event without an initial notification (this notification can also be sent later, if needed, from the overview page).

For sending the notification

You can view the preview in much the same way as a normal Alert, as this message in sent in exactly the same way as an Alert message. Therefore, if you do send a notification here, no additional Alert is needed to notify people, all of your actions are performed within this single process.

In this preview you will see the message set out with your content and the details of the engagement that you have added will automatically be included from the mail-merge, in addition to the options for the recipient to respond regarding that engagement, which you can view the responses for (as noted later in this guide).

You can then view the standard sending details, to confirm your message settings. 

This page will show how many recipients will receive your notification. You can then immediately send this message, or schedule that to send later (e.g. if you have added an engagement for a future date):

After sending the notification, you will receive a sending confirmation email, this will include an attached ics file which you can download to add this event automatically to your outlook calendar.

Automatic email notifications

When adding an engagement, sending out a notification, completing an engagement and signing-off an engagement, there are various automatic notifications which may be sent to the admin who adds the engagement, or members of the public who have been invited. These are summarised below:

 

Emails sent to Admin	Sending schedule
Completion Reminder - Add completion info	After engagement end, then every 48 hours
Sign-off Reminder - Engagements to sign off	When engagement completed, if sign-off required, then every 48 hours

To members	Sending schedule
Attendance email - Invite reminder	If a public notification has been sent for an engagement more than 3 days away, this will be sent halfway between the notification sent date and the engagement start, then weekly after that, until the start date.
Reminder to Attend - Upcoming engagement	Sent 1 day before engagement start, sent to those invitees who responded 'Will attend' or 'Interested'.
How was it - Did you Attend / feedback	Sent after engagement end, to invitees who responded with 'Will attend' or 'Interested'.
Cancellation - Engagement is cancelled	Upon cancellation, this is sent to all invitees who have not responded with 'Will not attend'.