Using Reminders in Tour deForce

Purpose

 

The purpose of this technical bulletin is to provide an overview of Tour de Force Reminders, and how those Reminders can be used in relation to Tour de Force records and items.  While not specifically designed to, Reminders are designed to be a replace to Outlook Appointments and Tasks.  This technical bulletin provides an overview of the functions of Reminders and how these Reminders can relate to Tour de Force Appointments and Tasks.

 

This technical bulletin contains the following sections:

 

1. Overview of Tour de Force Reminders
2. Creating a New Reminder
3. Appointment and Task Reminders
4. Checking and Viewing Reminders
5. System Tray Pop-up Notification
6. Best Practices and Things to Watch Out For

 

Note: Read the documentation completely before using the Tour de Force Reminders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Overview of Tour de Force Reminders

A new feature has been added that can replace, or remove the need for, Outlook Appointments and Tasks.  Companies can now choose whether to disable or enable Outlook Appointments and Tasks for either the entire company or specific users.  

 

However, Reminders can be used in conjunction with Outlook Tasks and Appointments and does not require the user to disable either one.  As the name implies, the Reminder system is used to remind a user about a record or item in Tour de Force.  For example, if a user adds a new Contact, or changes Contact information on an existing Contact record, that user can then send a Reminder to another Tour de Force user notifying them of the change.

 

There are several uses for the Reminder system, and the Reminder system can even be used in conjunction with Tour de Force Tasks and Appointments.  Section C – Appointment and Task Reminders, covers the use of Tour de Force Tasks and Appointments in more depth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Creating a New Reminder

There are several different ways a Reminder can be created for a record or item in Tour de Force.  This section outlines one of the ways to create a Reminder for record in Tour de Force, but note that there are different areas of the product that Reminders can be created from.  If a record or item has an Actions menu then a Reminder can be created for that record or item.  Reminders can even be created for Tasks and Appointments, which is outlined in Section C – Appointment and Task Reminders.

 

Use the following procedures to create a new Reminder for a Tour de Force record or item:

 

1. Right-click an item or record to access the Quick Events menu.

 

 

2. In the Quick Events menu, select Actions. In the Actions menu, select Send Reminder.

 

The Reminder screen displays.

 

 

3. In the Reminder Subject field, type in the subject of the Reminder.  The Reminder Subject is the text that appears in the pop-up that displays above the System Tray.

 

 

4. In the TDF User field, select the users that need to have the Reminder sent to.  Multiple users can be selected, however, the users must be a registered Tour de Force users to receive the notification.

 

 

5. In the Reminder Date field, select the date and time the Reminder needs to be sent out.

 

 

The sender of the Reminder also has some control over how the pop-up displays on the recipients computer.

 

• Mark as Read – If this field is checked then pop-up notification that displays is not going to display as the message has already been marked as being acknowledged.

 

• Pin Notification – If this field is checked then the pop-up notification is going to automatically be pinned above the user’s System Tray.  The user can then unpin the notification.

 

6. In the Reminder Text field, type in any relevant information that needs to be shared in relation to the Reminder, or the record.

 

 

7. Click the Send button to send out the Reminder to the selected Tour de Force users.

 

3. Appointment and Task Reminders

New features were added in version 6.0 of Tour de Force that allow users to disable or enable the use of Outlook items, such as Appointments and Tasks.  For example, if the option to not use Outlook Tasks by default, means that when a user creates a Task from a record or item in Tour de Force, a Tour de Force Task gets created and not an Outlook Task.  Users can then send a Reminder from this Task that works similarly to the way Outlook reminders function.

 

This section outlines the creation of Reminders from a Tour de Force Task, but there are some differences between the features of an Outlook Task versus a Tour de Force Task. Please refer to Technical Bulletin 6907 – TDF Appointments and Tasks versus Outlook Appointments and Tasks, for information about these features and the pros and cons of disabling Outlook items.

 

Use the following procedures to create a new Reminder from a Tour de Force Task:

 

1. Create a new Task item in Tour de Force.

 

2. Fill out the necessary information for the Task.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Before assigning the Task to a user, click the Send Reminder button.

 

 

4. Fill out necessary information for the Reminder and send the Reminder.

 

5. After the Reminder has been sent, the Task should then be assigned to the user by clicking the Assign Task button.

 

 

 

 

6. Select the user that needs to have the Task assigned to them, generally the same person that the Reminder was sent to, and then click the OK button.  The Task form then closes and the user now has a new Task, and is sent a Reminder about that Task.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Checking and Viewing Reminders

After a Reminder has been sent out, the recipients of the Reminder are going to receive a notification pop-up above their System Tray.  The Reminder system checks for new notifications every few minutes and a once a Reminder is received the user is notified.  However, the user can manually check for new Reminders without waiting for the process to run.

 

If the user knows that they are going to be receiving a Reminder soon, or they would like to review the Reminders that they have waiting for them to review, they can click the Check Reminders button.  This button is located on the Tour de Force toolbar in the Manager’s Console.

 

 

Clicking the Check Reminders button manually runs the process to check the Reminders on that user’s computer and displays any new Reminders in a pop-up notification above the System Tray.  

 

 

 

 

The new Reminder also gets added to the Reminders grid, which is accessed by clicking the Reminders button on the Tour de Force toolbar in the Manager’s Console.

 

 

The Reminders grid displays all of the Reminders that have been sent to that user.  From here the user has a few options available to them in regards to the Reminder.  If the Reminder has already been acknowledged and the user no longer needs to have the Reminder in the grid, the user can delete the Reminder from the grid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The user also has the ability to open the Reminder and edit the Reminder to make any changes to the Reminder.  For example, if the user needs to add an additional note, they can open the Reminder and make an edit to the existing Reminder without having to create a new one.

 

Clicking the Bell icon, in the Reminder Id field opens the Reminder window.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. System Tray Pop-up Notification

When the Reminder process runs, or after the user clicks the Check Reminders button, a System Tray notification displays.

 

 

When a pop-up notification displays the user has a few options available to them to acknowledge, dismiss, or snooze the Reminder.  

 

There are five options available to users when acknowledging a Reminder:

 

• Open the record or item related to the Reminder.

 

 

• Snooze the Reminder.

 

 

The Snooze timer is configured in the User Preferences.

 

 

 

 

• Delete the Reminder.

 

 

Deleteing the Reminder removes the Reminder from the Reminders grid and deletes the Reminder permenantly.  This does not work the same as dismissing the Reminder.

 

• Pin the Reminder.

 

 

• Dismiss the Reminder.

 

 

Dismissing the Reminder does not delete the Reminder from the Reminders grid.  A dismissed Reminder is going to pop-up again after a short amount of time, and in most cases Reminders should not be dismissed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New preferences have been added in relation to the System Tray notification, which grants the user some control over the pop-up notification.  In the User Preferences windows, a new section called Reminder Options has been added to the General tab.  

 

 

This section contains two options:

 

• Display Reminder Popup Notifications – If this field is enabled then the System Tray notification is going to display for every Reminder that has been sent to that user.  In most cases this field should be checked, however for certain users having this field disabled may be necessary.  If the user reports that their screen shakes, or they notice other issues when a pop-up displays, then leave this field disabled.

 

• Reminder Popup Interval – This field allows users to set the snooze timer for Reminders.  This also sets the interval for how often a dismissed Reminder displays, and when the user is notified of a new Reminder.  This field is set to 5 minutes by default.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Best Practices and Things to Watch Out For

Reminders do not sync to Microsoft Outlook, and are not currently available through Tour de Force Mobile

 

As of the writing of this technical bulletin, the Reminders system does not currently work through Tour de Force Mobile.  Consequently this means that the user is not going to receive the notification of the Reminder, and users are not going to receive any Reminders through their mobile devices.

 

Standalone Reminders do not sync to any calendars

 

The date selected for the Reminder does not get synced to any calendar; Tour de Force or Outlook.  However, if a Reminder is sent from a Tour de Force Task, that Task does sync to the Tour de Force calendar located in the Tasks grid.