Managing an Organization Account (admins only)
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      Creating Alerts to Reduce Unnecessary Requests

      How do I create an alert?

      Note: Only admins can create alerts

      You can set up alerts to display information to requesters based on particular words and phrases in their requests. This can help route requesters to the information they’re looking for before they make requests, saving time for everyone. For example you can set up an alert for the phrase “birth certificate” which will direct requesters to the agency responsible for birth certificates.

      This document covers everything you need to know about creating and managing alerts. Click on any of the links to jump to that section:

       

       

      How to create an alert

      You can set an alert to be triggered by one or more words and phrases. The alert will trigger for partial matches as well. For instance, "deed" would trigger an alert if the words "deed", "deeds", and "deeded" are in the request, as well as on the word "indeed."

       

      Steps for creating an alert

      1. Sign in to your account
      2. Click the ADMIN link in the header
      3. Click the Alerts link in the sub-header Screen Shot 2021-09-16 at 10.56.19 AM
      4. Click the Create Alert button
      5. Enter the words and/or phrases in the Keywords box that you would like to trigger the alert, separated by a pipe: | (usually found on the same key as \)
        • Example: to trigger an alert for the words “birth,” “death,” and “certificate”, enter ‘birth|death|certificate’
      6. Enter text of the alert. This text will display below the request description if the associated keyword is detected
      7. Click the SAVE button

       

       

       

      How to update an alert

      Steps for updating an alert

      1. Sign in to your account
      2. Click the ADMIN link in the header
      3. Click the Alerts link in the sub-header
      4. Click the Edit icon () next to the alert you want to edit
      5. Make any edits to the Keywords or Alert text boxes
      6. Click the SAVE button

       

       

       

      How to deactivate an alert

      Steps for deactivate an alert

      1. Sign in to your account
      2. Click the ADMIN link in the header
      3. Click the Alerts link in the sub-header
      4. Click the Deactivate button () next to the alert you want to deactivate

      Things to know:

      • To show deactivated alerts, click the toggle right below the search field
      • Deactivated alerts cannot be edited. If you need to edit a deactivated alert (for example to free up the name), first reactivate the alert, then deactivate it again when you are done editing

       

       

      How to track alert views

      NextRequest tracks every time that an alert is triggered by a requester. You can use these numbers to measure the effectiveness of your alerts and make updates as necessary.

       

      Steps for tracking alert views

      1. Sign in to your account
      2. Click the ADMIN link in the header
      3. Click the Alerts link in the sub-header
      4. Locate the alert you want to track. The Views column will show the number of times the alert was viewed.
        • Click on the Views column header to filter the list by number of views

       

      How to create categories for your alerts

      If your portal has a large amount of alerts, categories will help you organize them into customizable groups. When you click on the Alerts subheader, you'll now see two tabs - one for the alerts and one for categories.

      Steps for adding a category:

      1. Log into the portal
      2. Click the Admin tab
      3. Click the sub-header for Alerts
      4. Click the Categories tab
      5. Click Create Category on the right
      6. Enter your category's name and (optional) description
      7. Select any pre-existing alerts that you'd like to put into this category
      8. Click SAVE

       

      How to edit a category

      You can edit categories by clicking the pencil icon in line with the category.

      Steps for editing a category:

      1. Sign in to your account
      2. Click the ADMIN link in the header
      3. Click Alerts in the sub-header
      4. Click the categories tab
      5. Click the Edit icon () next to the alert category you want to edit
      6. Make any edits to the Name and text of the category
      7. Click the SAVE button

       

      How to delete a category

      Unlike alerts and other features in the admin panel, categories can be deleted instead of deactivated.

      Steps to delete a category:

      1. Sign in to your account
      2. Click the ADMIN link in the header
      3. Click Alerts in the sub-header
      4. Click the Categories tab
      5. Click the trash can icon next to the edit icon
      6. Click the deactivate button next to the alert you want to deactivate
      7. Click OK