How To Configure First & Second Requirements Notices

Recently, a user confronted me with this business need… “You can specify the timing for first and second reminders on Confirmations, but there is only one frequency for requirements notices.  I would like to have first and second notifications for Requirements Notices too.”

By utilizing Student Exceptions, along with Team and/or Job Exceptions this can be done in VTA.  Student, Team and Job Exception settings in the Mailer Setup tab of the site record in VTA Utilities are used to send notices to remind students of required courses that are either coming due or are past due.  The frequency setting used in these Exceptions controls how far the VTA Mailer will look into the future for courses that are coming due and how often a student will receive a requirements notice for any one course.

When you configure Exceptions in the Mailer setup, think of it as setting up an exception report.  The type of exception you configure determines whether the Student, Job or Team exception report will be used.  The frequency you select determines the end date of the report.

The table below summarizes each available frequency and describes the impact it has on the exception notices sent by VTA Mailer.

By setting Student Exceptions to use the Monthly frequency and both Job and Team Exceptions to use the Weekly frequency.  The system will send the first notification of a course coming due 30 days prior to the due date based upon the Monthly frequency in the Student Exception settings.  Then, a second notification for job and team requirements will be sent 7 days prior to the due date based upon the Weekly frequency in the Job and Team Exceptions.

These settings will also cause students to continue to receive reminder notices of requirements exceptions every 7 days for job and team requirements and once every 30 days until the requirement is satisfied.  NOTE:  Individual requirements will be sent ONLY every 30 days because they are only included on the Student Exceptions notices.

The example above assumes that requirements have been assigned using both teams and jobs.  However, if requirements have been assigned using only teams or only jobs, then you would use only Team or Job Exceptions in conjunction with Student Exceptions.

Duncan Welder IV

Director of Client Services RISC, Inc

Mr. Welder holds a Master’s of Education from Texas A&M University in Educational Technology and has more than 25 years experience in implementation of Learning Management Systems, both domestically and abroad. Mr. Welder has been recognized for his application of Learning Management Systems to manage regulatory-compliance in industries ranging from petrochemicals to finance and has provided presentations to professional organizations including the Gulf Coast Process Technology Alliance, the Northwest Process Technology Alliance and the American Society of Training and Development.
Mr. Welder’s career is founded in traditional instructional design and computer-based training development. He is a certified Development Dimensions International facilitator, a Kirkpatrick Certified Evaluator and facilitator of the Ohio State University curriculum development program. In addition to working in industry, Mr. Welder has held adjunct faculty positions at Bowling Green State University, Ohio and the College of the Mainland, Texas. Mr. Welder has been published in both Training Magazine as well as US Business Review.