Every conversation in one inbox
The new Inbox lists every conversation with a parent, newest activity first. Filter by venue, by direct or group, by who it is assigned to, or show only what is unread.
Each row shows the children it is about, who is looking after it, when a member of staff last replied and when anything last happened, so the ones waiting for an answer stand out. Finished conversations can be archived to keep the list tidy, and they come back on their own when someone writes.
Reply from one place, as a team
Open a conversation and the details sit beside it: which children it is about, who it is assigned to and when staff last replied. The first person to reply takes it, and anyone with the right permission can hand it to a colleague.
You can see when a parent has read your message, react to a reply, and edit or delete your own message for 2 minutes after sending it. Placeholders for the parent's and child's names are filled in, so one message reads personally to each family.
If a parent's message sits unread by staff for 30 minutes during the working day, the person it is assigned to, or the venue manager if nobody has taken it, gets one email listing everything waiting. A direct conversation that goes 7 days without a reply is closed, and the parent can start a new one.
Parents read and reply in the app
A new message reaches the parent as a notification and an email, and opens straight onto the conversation in the parent app. They reply there, and can start a message of their own about their child.
The lists and conversations say plainly that messaging is not live chat, so nobody expects an answer in seconds.
A group for every room, every year
Send one message to a whole room and each family sees it in their own Groups list. The group for each room and year is set up for you on the first day of the year, and children who move room or leave drop out automatically.
Parents never see who else is in a group. If a family leaves, they can still read what was said up to the day they went, and last year's groups close at the end of the year, read only.
