Send Bulk Communications with Attachment
This page contains instructions on how to send bulk communications with attachments to a bulk list of Students
Overview
Paradigm provides a function to send bulk communications with an attachment to a bulk list of Students. Some of the most commonly required reports are the Commonwealth Assistance Notice (CAN), Academic Transcript, etc. These essential reports are built and formatted to be dynamically attached to a communication event when required and can be accessed via the Reports > Letters menu in Paradigm.
NOTE:
Contact our Support Team if you have a specific report that you wish to be available as an attachment to communication events.
Note that the Paradigm Communication Event with Attachment feature is designed to attach only the letters and reports that have been designed based on the specifications for your institution, and produced within Paradigm. The Communication Event feature is not designed to attach any other file that has been locally generated or produced outside the scope of Paradigm. See Paradigm Letters.
UPDATE [December 2022]:
You can now attach the same external files to your selected bulk communication events, refer to the Attach the Same Files to Multiple Communication Events for the workflow.
Workflow
Bulk Communications with External File Attachments
We have various ways to create a bulk list of students who you choose to be the recipients of the communication event. Choose one of the options for creating a bulk list of students from this page: Create a Bulk List of Students Workflows
When you have created the bulk list of students via any method from the options in Step 1, you will be ready to save a new communication event for your selected recipients.
In the sample screenshot below, the Search Course screen (Student > Search Course) has been used to generate the bulk list of students. You must have already generated a bulk list of students on the screen before you proceed any further toward sending a bulk communication.
You may choose to remove Student(s) from the bulk list at this stage (by clicking the REMOVE or Unlink button on the right – against the student record to be removed) for those students whom you wish to exclude from receiving the communication.
BE ADVISED:
Bulk actions are highly complex to undo. Please ensure that only the required students are included in the bulk list.
If you want to add CC or BCC recipients, refer to this workflow: Sending Communications using the CC and BCC Recipients
(1) Enter the Communication/Email Subject that will appear on each communication. Please note that if you're using a specific email template, the Email Subject will automatically adopt the template's name.
(2) Enter the Entry Date.
(3) Set the Communication Status to Sent.
(4) Select the communication template that you want to use, see Manage Email Templates
(5) Edit your message body as you choose.
(6) After completing 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.
After clicking the SAVE NEW COMMUNICATIONS FOR LOADED STUDENTS button, it will display all the students under the COMMUNICATION EVENT BULK LIST section with the details of the communication. This will serve as the final confirmation and verification screen for the final list of Students on your list.
Select all the students on the list by clicking on the checkbox in the header section. Remove the student from the list by removing the checkmark on the checkbox against the student or by clicking on the REMOVE or Unlink button.
Click the ATTACH FILE button
The ATTACH FILE TO BULK COMMUNICATION LIST section will appear below. Browse for the external file that you want to attach and click the ATTACH button. If you want to add more files, repeat the process by clicking the ATTACH FILE button again. Note that you are only allowed to attach three files including any Paradigm Reports/Letters.
After attaching the required files, you can now click the SEND TO RECIPIENTS button.
Bulk Communications with Paradigm Reports/Letters
NOTE:
Specific workflows on how to generate letter reports in Paradigm can be found here.
When creating a bulk list of students for whom you want to send the report, you need to determine which fields the report requires. It might need only the student_number or party_id, or it could require both the party_id and course_enrolment_id, or even the party_id, course_enrolment_id, and the scheduled_unit_id. Ensure your bulk list contains the necessary fields for the Letter Reports to be generated and attached successfully to the bulk communication event, see Generate a Bulk List of Student Records.
Follow the instructions from Steps 1-4 from the above workflow.
With the Communication Event Bulk List appearing similar to the screenshot above, where your bulk list has been finalised with each record either selected or removed, choose Reports > Letters menus on the side. Find the letter/report that you want to attach and click its corresponding GET REPORT button.
In the sample screenshot below, the COMMONWEALTH ASSISTANCE NOTICE report is selected.
When the new screen loads, go to the letter/report parameters section, edit the necessary filters/fields, and click the CREATE REPORT FOR COMMUNICATION EVENTS button.
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 them to be generated as you intend. An example would be for CANs, where you need to make sure that your Census Date records have been set accurately, see Edit the Census Period. If you are sending other attachments ensure that the dates required for that type of attachment are correct e.g. Final Grades, Invoices, etc.
The bulk process will take some time to complete while each report is being generated individually. The progress bar gives an indication of current the rate of progress through each item in the bulk list.
After generating the report for each student/recipient, you have the option to open a sample file attachment against each student/recipient so you can check the content, e.g. for CAN notices – check for the correct period, and if the attached letter is for the correct person for a few of the records.
Select all the students on the list by clicking on the checkbox in the header section. Remove a student from the list by removing the checkmark on the checkbox against the student or by clicking on the REMOVE / Unlink button.
Click the EMAIL SELECTED RECIPIENTS WITH ATTACHMENTS button. NOTE: Closing the browser or navigating away, while sending or progressing will cancel any remaining emails from being sent.
The process will now start sending the email to each selected recipient. The status of each email is displayed under the Status column. Check the status values of the sent emails. Any communications that failed to be delivered will need to be investigated and either resent or posted.
To check the email statuses, you can either go to Student > Communication: COMMUNICATION EVENT SEARCH section or via System > Email Events.
If you need to resend the bulk communication event refer to the Resend Bulk Communications Workflow.
Video Tutorial
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