This guide will assist you in understanding how the ARC module handles emails and notifications for architectural project requests made by homeowners and the committees/admins that approve them.
The Daily Digest feature in Smartwebs is designed to consolidate ARC Email notifications into a single daily summary, rather than sending notifications individually as they occur.
- This can help reduce the number of emails you receive and allow you to review all notifications at a time that's convenient for you. See below for a more detailed explanation of the feature.
ARC Communication Summary:
The ARC module is an electronic notification and tracking system for owners to request projects for their home.
All formal communications to homeowners are done via email. Emails to homeowners are tied to various statuses.
When the status is chosen, a template of the letter will appear for review before Saving/Sending to notify the homeowner and any board/committee members who vote on said project.
- Status examples: can be a project marked as Approved / Denied / Withdrawn / etc.
Committee members will typically cast votes and add notes to a project, while the ARC Administrator is tasked with changing the project status officially. Who the admin is varies per association/management.
- This official project status is what generates the letter that is sent to the homeowner via email.
Project Email Workflow:
Here we will go over the typical process of an ARC Project and what emails will be sent out at each stage
Project Creation
- Projects can be created either through the Office Site or by homeowners via Online Submit Form
- If a homeowner submits a request, they will typically get a confirmation email that the project has been received, and will be looked over in due time.
Committee Vote
- After a project has been created, it will typically be moved to the review tab for committee members to vote on
- At this stage, a homeowner will receive an email that the committee has received the project request, and give a timeline for when the project will be voted on
- Approvers and Committee Admins will typically receive email notifications in this stage when votes are cast and notes are added to the project.
Project Vote Status
- When the Committee has voted the ARC Admin will set the project status, and the homeowner will be emailed
- The Contents of the email vary by what status the Admin has set, and if more information is needed this process can start again by the committee re-voting and another decision made.
Managing Emails:
Adjustments on who receives emails for the arc module can be done at a user, association, and management level.
- User Level: Each user can decide to turn their email settings off for arc, or decide if they want to use Daily Digest
- Association Level: The association can decide to turn off email communication for the whole module if they are utilizing the module purely as a tracking feature, and do not wish to notify any users of any project changes
- Management Level: allow user roles can be adjusted to give or take away role rights that allows users to receive emails for the ARC module, and who will receive management-type emails (Typically Global Admins and Admin roles)
Daily Digest
The daily digest setting allows a user to select the time of day they want to receive all ARC communications.
Instead of receiving emails as updates are made to projects, the user can receive one email that gives them a summary of everything that has happened in the 24 hours before the last Daily Digest email was sent.
- Users can select the exact time of day the Daily Digest is sent to them, and it helps reduce the number of communications they will receive if the association processes ARC projects frequently.
Example
In the example shown below, this test user receives one arc summary email at 9 am Central time and will show them all arc project updates that happened since the previous day at the same time.
FAQ
Who gets email notifications of online projects being uploaded?
- The first contact is any user that is marked as Primary Contact, and has the user type "Management"
- If there is no Primary Contact with a management role type, then it will go to any Primary Contact user
- If no Primary Contact is set for an association, then the user that was first added to that association will be alerted for ARC projects. We recommend setting a Primary Contact for every association.
How can a user avoid all emails for an association?
- Emails and expiration notices can be turned off for a user for a specific association. This is done in the User/Association area.
Who gets an email when a homeowner's email fails?
- If a homeowner does not have an email on file or their email fails, the Primary Contact will receive it
Why does the system show an email was sent to approvers in the forum but they have not received it?
- More than likely the user is utilizing the daily digest feature, so they may not get the email yet even if the system says an email has been sent in the forum section of an ARC project.
- The user should check their settings to see when they should be receiving emails
NOTE: If emails have been turned off at the association level, no emails will ever be sent for any arc project, not even to management users.