Notifications

WebEOC Nexus supports sending notifications through various channels to help you connect with WebEOC Nexus users, other employees, and external contacts to plan for, respond to, and recover from disruptions and disasters.

Notifications can be sent one of three ways.

• Scheduled notifications can be sent directly from the Admin View, on the Notifications page, on the Schedule tab, as one-time or recurring notifications. See Scheduled Notifications.

• Notifications can be triggered by an action on a board. See Configure Board Notifications.

• Notifications can be sent using Ad Hoc Alerts in the User View. See About Ad Hoc Alerts.

All notifications, except Ad Hoc Alerts, are reviewed and managed through the Notifications Queue, accessible in the Admin View when you click the notifications icon on the main menu. Ad Hoc Alerts are reviewed and managed in the User View.

WebEOC Nexus standard Alerts bundles notification features and offers organizations an embedded solution to send critical information to WebEOC Nexus users and users who do not have access to WebEOC Nexus. This information is sent through the standard notification channels (email, mobile push, and the Inbox). These channels are available for use by all WebEOC Nexus clients.

Premium Channels Available with the Alerts Plug-in

The Alerts plug-in expands on these standard channels to provide administrators with premium channels, including text, voice, and webhooks. These additional channels allow you to notify and receive responses from employees, management, and response teams using a communication medium that is appropriate for the recipient.

The benefit of voice and text notifications is that the contact does not have to have WebEOC Nexus or their email service open to receive notifications. Contacts receive their notifications through their mobile device.

Webhooks, on the other hand, allow you to push notifications into a third-party communication solution (such as Microsoft Teams or Slack) in real-time. For example, a webhook notification can be triggered by an action on a WebEOC Nexus board to send a notification to a group or team in one of these other solutions.

The webhook is configured in WebEOC Nexus to identify the trigger action and determine the content of the notification. The webhook notification is also configured in the other solution to determine which group or groups receive it.

After you configure the premium channels in the Alerts plug-in, you can use and manage text, voice, and webhook notifications the same way you use notifications from standard channels.

Comparison of Notification Features

Essential notification features are available as standard functionality.

Ad Hoc Alerts are available through the Ad Hoc Alerts plug-in.

Additional channels and functionality are offered through the WebEOC Nexus Alerts plug-in.

Standard Notification Features

WebEOC Nexus includes these notification features.

Automated Board Notifications

Allows administrators to configure alerts to be sent automatically when conditions are met within a WebEOC Nexus board. This feature can be used to send alerts when new resource requests are assigned, shelters are opened, significant events are added, and so on. See Configure Board Notifications.

Additional Features

• Notification Wizard: Easy-to-use wizard to assist administrators in setting up board alerts.

• Conditional Alerting: Set up filters/conditions so that alerts are only sent if the conditions are met.

• Attachment Support: Set up alerts to send attachments of a board view, or an attachment stored within a record.

For information about all of these features see Configure Board Notifications.

• Notification Channels

  • Mobile: Alerts can be sent via the WebEOC Nexus Mobile app.

  • Email: Allows alerts to be sent through email.

  • Inbox: A dedicated Inbox with the WebEOC Nexus webapp and mobile app for users to access all of their alerts (from board notifications and Ad Hoc Alerts).

    Additional Features

    • Polling Response: Users can respond to polls sent through Ad Hoc Alerts from the Inbox message.

    • Board Notification Links: Users can open the board record that sent the notification, directly from their Inbox.

Ad Hoc Alerts Plug-in with Contacts Features

This plug-in is an alerting tool, accessed in the User View, that gives the user the flexibility to define their message, the audience/recipients they want to send the message to, and the channels with which the alert will be sent. See Ad Hoc Alerts in the User Help Center for information about configuring Ad Hoc Alerts.

Additional Features

• Drafts and Templates: Users can save messages as drafts and create templates for future use.

• Rich Text Messaging: The body of the alerts can be configured to use rich text controls, meaning users can include text formatting, hyperlinks, images, and attachments.

• Reporting Capabilities: Users can view and download reports to see who has been contacted and who has responded.

• Recipient Polling: Alerts can be configured to capture recipient responses by selecting from a predefined list of responses. Responses can be captured via email, voice, or text.

• Contacts: Used to extend the Ad Hoc Alerts plug-in, allowing administrators to import, store and update information about external contacts who need to be notified about critical situations, but do not need access to WebEOC Nexus. When installed, you can access Contacts in the User View, on the main menu, by clicking the contacts icon. See Configure Ad Hoc Alerts with Contacts for more information.

Alerts Plug-in Notification Features

If you purchase the Alerts plug-in, these additional enhanced notification features are available.

Notification Channels

• Text/SMS: Allows alerts to be sent by text message.

• Additional text message and voice call bundles are available for organizations that exceed their allotment.

• Voice: Allows alerts to be sent by voice call.

• Additional text message and voice call bundles are available for organizations that exceed their allotment.

• Webhooks (Teams/Slack): Allows alerts to be sent to a defined channel such as Microsoft Teams or Slack.

  This channel is only available for board notifications.

Scheduled Board Notifications

In addition to sending board notifications when a record is created or updated, the configuration wizard allows you to create scheduled board notifications. You can configure notifications to be sent on specific dates and times or on a recurring basis. For more information, see the Schedule Type section of Configure Board Notifications.