Overview

The Communication Event menu in Paradigm is intended to send bulk communications to students or selected recipients with information regarding their study at your business or institution. The body of your email template can be personalised using some of the merge fields that we made available, and emails can contain attachments to provide a more detailed, personalised, and dynamic data to be included in the report/letter attachment. This knowledge article will guide you on how to send bulk communications to a bulk list of students/recipients with or without attachments.

Complexity: EXPERT

Communication Event Module Setup and Configuration

The communication event module uses the email delivery provider SendGrid to deliver emails on behalf of the users. To avoid being classified as SPAM, it is important that our SendGrid email server IP address (168.245.65.115) is white-listed to ensure that Paradigm is able to send emails on behalf of your existing company email server. It may also be necessary to configure a DKIM or SPF DNS record to ensure that Paradigm is permitted to send emails on behalf of a provider email domain.

For more details, please contact the Silverband Support Team.

Key Terms and Concepts

Email Templates

The letter templates are designed to be a cover letter (in email format) for attaching invoices, CANs, enrolment letters, etc to be emailed to the students and stored as proof of communication. Copies of both the letter and attachments are then saved to the student's record within the communication event section. These can then be interrogated for delivery, bouncing, and opening. The letter can be formatted within the provider section for ease of use and minimal updating when used.

Contained within each email sent with the communication module is a one-pixel tracker. This is one 1x1 pixel that is hidden within the body of the email that allows the email client to track the email. It can determine if the email has bounced, been delivered, has been opened and read and if any attachments have been clicked into. This can be particularly useful when students are questioning if an important email/communication was sent to them and if they received it.

Below is a list of required fields to build a bulk student report for Communication events. This report can be built in the report builder and saved for future use. The fields below are required for such a report (i.e. Bulk student report) but additional ones can be added.

Table 1: Email Template Form Fields

Field Name	Brief overview
Communication Request Sender	It will be sent from the email address that is recorded against the users profile. Provider record is linked with the student’s course enrolment. Make sure you load the student’s course enrolment first, then you will see Provider option in the drop-down.
Communication Request Recipient	Who the email is going to
Communication name / Email Subject	The subject name / line of the email
Communication Date	Date sent. This date is recorded within the communication event as the sent date.
Communication Type	For Communication Events this is normally set to Email
Communication Status	This will tell you the status of the communication event: Bounced - Receiving Server could not or would not accept the message. Cancelled - Communication Event Cancelled Closed - Email Opened - Recipient has opened the Message Entered - Failure Sending - In-Progress - Pending - Referred - Resolved - Sent - Unknown Party -
Course Enrolment	The Course of Study the student is enrolled in
Communication Template Message	This option will allow the user to select from pre-written email templates. These can be added to or updated once loaded into the HTML writer.
Communication Description / Email Body	This is where the template will be displayed once loaded. Alternatively this is where the user can write the body of the email to be sent.

Table 2: Merge Fields in Communication

Merge Fields Within Communication Templates	Brief Overview
{email_first_name}	Student / Receiver's first name
{email_last_name}	Student / Receiver's last name
{student_number}	Student’s number issued by provider
{email_subject}	The communication event/email subject
{email_from}	This is the email address of the sender
{email_from_first_name}	This is the first name of sender (blank if the sender is a provider)
{email_from_last_name}	This is the last name of sender (blank if the sender is a provider)
{url_read_tracker}	This is a 1 pixel image that, when added to an email, will upon opening of the email by the receiver will mark the email as open within the system

Workflow

Follow the instructions below in order from STEP 1 to STEP 2, and choose between STEP 3 or STEP 4 depending on your communication event (with or without attachment):

1. Create the Bulk List of Students as Recipients to the Communication Event

STEP 1 Create the Bulk List of Students as Recipients to the Communication Event

1. There are three ways to create the bulk list of students that you want to be the recipients of the communication event, you have the option to choose either of these three possible ways in creating your bulk list:

(1) Search Course screen (Student > Search Course)

You can search for students via this screen by Course Name, Enrolment Status, Institution, Funding Type, Start and End Date, Contact Mode and Hours, Order By, and Agent.

Refer to the instructions on this workflow How to ADD a List of Students to a Bulk List.

(2) Upload Bulk List screen (Student > Upload Bulk List)

Upload a list from a CSV Source File. You can use this option if you have an existing (valid with all the required fields matching to Paradigm) CSV file with a list of students that you want to send the communication event to.

Refer to the instructions on this workflow Student > Upload Bulk List.

(3) Report Builder screen (Report > Report Builder)

If you want to build a list of students to send your communication event using your existing saved report or generate a new report with your own criteria / conditions, then this is the best way for you to create the bulk list.

Refer to the instructions on this workflow Report Builder > Bulk Student Select.

2. After creating your bulk list, proceed to the STEP 2 Save a New Communication Event to Selected Recipients instructions below to save a new communication for the currently loaded (bulk list) students.

2. Save a New Communication Event to Selected Recipients

STEP 2 Save a New Communication Event to Selected Recipients

After creating the bulk list of students to whichever method you choose from the options above(STEP 1 ), you are now ready to save a new communication event to your selected recipients.

NOTE:

You should have a bulk list ready [following from the STEP 1 instructions above] before you can proceed to following the instructions below. In the sample screenshot below, the Search Course screen is being used to generate the students' bulk list – this should be the initial screen prior to sending bulk communications.

You can also remove student(s) at this stage (by clicking the REMOVE button on the right – against the student record to be removed) whom you don’t want to include in the bulk communications.

BE ADVISED:

Bulk actions are much harder to undo, please ensure only the required students are added to the bulk list.

1 Choose Student > Communication menus on the side or click the (hat)🎓icon on the top left hand corner then select the Communication(✉) menu. Go to the COMMUNICATION DETAILS section to setup/edit/update your email details.

Refer to the tables above under the Key Terms and Concepts for a description of the required fields below and the available merge fields you can utilise for your email body.

(1) Enter the Email/Communication Subject accordingly.

(2) Enter the Entry Date.

(3) Set the Communication Status to Sent.

(4) Select the communication template that you want to use.

To edit your Communication Templates, refer to the Search, Add and Edit Content (e.g. Email Templates) knowledge article.

(5) Edit your message body as necessary / as required.

(6) After filling out the required fields and the email body, make sure that the Communication Status field is set to Sent, and click the SAVE NEW COMMUNICATIONS FOR LOADED STUDENTS button.

7 After saving your communication/email body from the bulk list, proceed to the STEP 3 Send Bulk Communications WITH Attachments instructions below if you want your communication event to have attachments, else jump to STEP 4 Send Bulk Communications WITHOUT Attachments.

3. Send Bulk Communications WITH Attachments to the Bulk List of Students/Recipients

STEP 3 Send Bulk Communications WITH Attachments

NOTE: The instructions below assume that you have already followed the STEP 1 to STEP 2 instructions above.

STEP 1 Create the Bulk List of Students as Recipients to the Communication Event

STEP 2 Save a New Communication Event to Selected Recipients

1 After clicking the SAVE NEW COMMUNICATIONS FOR LOADED STUDENTS button, it will display all the students under the COMMUNICATION EVENT BULK LIST section with all details that you’ve filled out from STEP 2. Leave this screen for now.

2 Choose Reports > Letters menus on the side. Find the letter/report that you want to attach and click the GET REPORT button.

In the sample screenshot below, the COMMONWEALTH ASSISTANCE NOTICE report it selected.

2 Go to the letter/report parameters section, edit the necessary filters/fields, and click the CREATE REPORT FOR COMMUNICATION EVENTS button.

NOTE:

The system has set some default fields to be used as intended, e.g. Unit Enrolment Status, PDF as the default document type to be attached, etc. However, for some reports, you still have to set the fields correctly for it to run/be generated properly. An example would be for CANs, make sure that your Census Dates are set accordingly, see Edit Time Period C Add a Census Date Workflow. If you are sending other attachments ensure that the dates required for that type of attachments are correct e.g. Final Grades, Invoices, etc.

This will take some time to complete, while each report is generated individually. The progress bar provides an indication of the rate of progress.

3 After generating the report to each student/recipient, you have the option to open a sample file attachment against each student/recipient to check the content, e.g. for CAN notices – check for the correct period and are attached for the correct person for a few of the records.

4 Select all the students on the list by clicking on the checkbox header section. Remove the student from the list by removing the checkmark on the checkbox against the student or by clicking on the REMOVE button.

4 Click the EMAIL SELECTED RECIPIENTS WITH ATTCHMENTS button. The emails have now been sent. Check the statuses of the sent emails to check if any failed sending under the Status column. These will need to be either resent or posted.

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4. Send Bulk Communications WITHOUT Attachments to the Bulk List of Students/Recipients

STEP 4 Send Bulk Communications WITHOUT Attachments

NOTE: The instructions below assume that you have already followed the STEP 1 to STEP 2 instructions above.

STEP 1 Create the Bulk List of Students as Recipients to the Communication Event

STEP 2 Save a New Communication Event to Selected Recipients

1 After clicking the SAVE NEW COMMUNICATIONS FOR LOADED STUDENTS button, it will display all the students under the COMMUNICATION EVENT BULK LIST section with all details that you’ve filled out from STEP 2.

2 Select all the students on the list by clicking on the checkbox header section. Remove the student from the list by removing the checkmark on the checkbox against the student or by clicking on the REMOVE button.

3 Click the EMAIL SELECTED RECIPIENTS button. The emails have now been sent. Check the statuses of the sent emails to check if any failed sending under the Status column. These will need to be either resent or posted.