Messaging settings: SMS, WhatsApp, email, automatic notifications and quiet hours

Account → Messaging is the control room for everything the school sends. It is one long page with several sections, each with its own save button. Set it up once.

What gets sent

ShuleOS can send messages by itself when something happens. This table lists each automatic notification, with a tick box for Bell, SMS and Email:

Tick how each one should reach people, and click Save notification settings. SMS and email work only once they are set up below. The bell is free.

What each notification says

Under What each notification says, choose a notification from the list to see its wording for SMS, email (subject and text) and the portal bell (title and text). Change the words to suit your school. Words in braces, such as {student}, are filled in for each person, and the list of the words you can use is shown. A live preview shows how it will look. Click Save wording. Use standard wording puts the original back.

Quiet hours

To avoid texting parents at night, switch on Hold SMS during quiet hours and set From and Until (for example 20:00 until 06:00). SMS created during that time wait and go out when quiet hours end. Email and the bell are not held. This applies to every SMS the school sends, including automatic ones, but in Send Message a message can be marked urgent to go at once. Times are in local time. Click Save quiet hours.

Class teachers

Class teachers can message the parents of their own class from the teacher portal. Choose what they may do:

• Teachers may send SMS: off by default, because SMS costs the school money. Email and the bell are always allowed.
• Teachers may write their own message: switch it off to let teachers send only the templates you approved.
• SMS per teacher each day: a daily limit for each teacher.

Click Save teacher rules.

SMS

To send text messages, the school needs an account with an SMS provider.

1. Switch on Send SMS for this school.
2. Enter the Sender ID: the name parents see the message come from, as registered with your SMS provider.
3. Enter the API key from your provider. It is stored encrypted and never shown again.
4. Click Save SMS settings.
5. Type a phone number in Send a test SMS to and click Send test SMS to check it works. Remove deletes the SMS settings.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp messages are sent from your school's own WhatsApp Business number, through your own Meta business account. WhatsApp only lets a school start a conversation with a message template that WhatsApp has approved, so there is a little setup in your Meta account first:

1. In your Meta business account, open WhatsApp Manager and note the Phone number ID of your WhatsApp business number.
2. Create a message template whose text has one variable, for example School notice: {{1}}, in the language you want (for example English or Swahili). Wait for WhatsApp to approve it.
3. Create a permanent access token for your business account.

Then in ShuleOS:

1. Switch on Send WhatsApp messages for this school.
2. Enter the Phone number ID, the Access token (stored encrypted and never shown again), the Message template name (lowercase letters, numbers and underscores) and the Template language code, such as en or sw.
3. Click Save WhatsApp settings.
4. Type your own phone number in Send a test WhatsApp message to and click Send test WhatsApp message. Remove deletes the settings and the saved token.

Whatever you send goes into the template's one variable as a single line, so line breaks are turned into spaces. A short, plain message works best.

WhatsApp can be chosen when you send a message and when you send report cards to parents. It is not used for the automatic notifications in the list above, which stay on the bell, SMS and email. WhatsApp can charge your Meta account for each conversation: check Meta's current prices.

Email

1. Switch on Send email for this school.
2. Enter the From name and From email address, and, if replies should go elsewhere, a Reply-to address.
3. Enter the Mail server (for example smtp.yourschool.co.tz), the Port (465, 587 or 2525) and the Security, then the Mail login and Mail password. The password is stored encrypted and never shown again. For Gmail, use an app password.
4. Click Save email settings, then send yourself a test with Send a test email to.
5. Email signature: text added at the bottom of every email. Click Save signature.

Language of automatic messages

Under the email settings, choose English or Kiswahili and click Save language. It changes the standard wording of the messages ShuleOS sends by itself: report card released, marks needed, absent, parent login details, fee reminder, homework, school events, report card links sent to parents, and sign-in codes by SMS or email. Wording you have edited yourself stays as you wrote it, and a message you type in the Message Center is sent exactly as typed. The screens stay in English.

Safe mode

A Safe mode is on banner means this copy of ShuleOS records messages but does not send them, so tests can never reach real parents. Live sending is used in production. A test in safe mode says "Safe mode: test not sent".

If something goes wrong