Messaging: General Guide

[Lauren]

This quick guide will take you through the key aspects of the Tapestry Messaging Feature.

You can find our detailed tutorials in the 'Messaging' section of our Tutorials Contents Page and contact us if you have any questions by emailing customer.service@eyfs.info. 

 

Who can use it?

Messages are sent between two individuals. 

• Staff can message relatives or other staff members.
• Relatives can only message staff members (not other relatives).

If you don't want to send or receive messages, you can turn it off for yourself from your 'Edit Preferences' page in the drop down from your username on the browser version of Tapestry.

 

 

Where can it be used?

You can use Messaging on the iOS app, Android app, Amazon Fire app, or on the browser. You do need to be connected to the internet though and if you're using the app, you need to be on the latest version so make sure you update!

 

What can it be used for?

This is a direct messaging tool. Some of the things Tapestry users have told us they'd like to use this for are:

• A way for parents to send staff a quick notification about something e.g. they're running late for a pick up/drop off. 
• A way for staff to send a quick note to a specific parent e.g. around a found item of clothing and directions on when to collect it.
• Conversations around something posted on Tapestry.
• Requests for in person conversations.
• Requests from parents for an additional session.
• A way for staff to share information or requests with each other.
   

What else should I know?

1. Managers on the account can view all messages between users. 
2. You currently can't send messages to multiple users (group messages) or send attachments via Messaging. We do plan on adding both pieces of functionality in later Messaging releases. If you would like to be updated about either/both, please get in touch with us by emailing customer.service@eyfs.info. 
3. You can find our detailed tutorials in the 'Messaging' section of our Tutorials Contents Page [link with anchor].

 

What do I need to think about/do before turning it on for my school/setting? 

• Policies: you should share any existing policies you have around direct messages with the people you will enable Messaging for. If you don't have any yet, or they haven't been thought about in a while, it might be worth revisiting them or creating some new ones around the appropriate use of Messaging e.g. when messages should be sent/replied to, what parents can expect in terms of speed of replies, and if there topics that you request parents contact a specific person about/via phone.
• Who you'd like to be contactable: Are there staff members on your account who shouldn’t be contacted via Messaging e.g. because they don't login frequently and so are likely to miss messages? If so, you'll want to make sure it's disabled for them. It they are a full staff/pin only staff member, Messaging can be disabled for them individually via User Permissions. If they are a Manager, they will need to turn it off for themselves in their Edit Preferences screen. In this case we advise you turn on Messaging, but hidden to relatives, wait for all managers to have set their preferences correctly, then turn it on for relatives.
• Announcing the feature: Before you turn Messaging on, it's a good idea to tell the staff and relatives on your Tapestry account that you're going to do so, if there is a system you would like them to stop using instead, and what you'd like them to use Messaging for. We've created a Template of info for staff and a Template of info for relatives to help you get started with that.  
• To give yourself chance to explore it, you might want to consider only allowing staff to use it to begin with. You can do that by setting the Messaging User Permissions for Relatives to Disabled. 

 

If there any additions you'd like to see to this feature or if you have any feedback or questions generally, please contact customer.service@eyfs.info.