Alerts on the landing page

When you log into Plait you will, after a few seconds, be presented with an alerts list.  Each element in the list is a short description of the thing that needs the user's attention (which will always contain a link to a page in the system where the alert can be cleared) and a snooze button.

Some alert types will have multiple links to pages in the system where the alert can be acted upon:

In this example, the main link takes the user to the form for the care event in question, whereas the second link (in a darker blue) takes the user to the Plan, where the booking could also be allocated.


The alerts refresh automatically every few minutes, and every time the user visits the home page (by clicking the logo).  As alert conditions are addressed, the alerts will disappear from the list until the list is empty (as if!).  Because it takes a few seconds (depending on system load and other variables) to generate the alerts, it is generally better to follow the links by right-clicking and opening in a new Tab.


Different users will have different job roles and different areas of focus and responsibility within a business.  A person who has responsibility for recruitment will want to know about new applicants (if the system is being used for recruitment) or references that need chasing, whereas another worker will have no interest in these alert types. Users can determine which alert types they see, and in which order, buy visiting their Options page (in the user menu at the right-hand end of the navigation bar).

The options page can also be reached by navigating to www.plaitapp.org/options.


The bulk of the options page is a list of alert types, each with a checkbox to suppress the alert altogether.  Several also have inputs to fine-tune the date ranges that apply to the alerts.  But the main use case for the page is to set the order of the alerts that are presented in the alerts list.  Simply grab one of the alert types and move it to where in the list you want that sort of alert to appear.



Even when a user has optimally configured their alert set-up in the options page there will be occasions when they need to temporarily modify their priorities, and this can be achieved by using the Snooze control.  Clicking on the Snooze control will hide an alert until the following morning (at 8 am).  Clicking on the arrow will open the dropdown menu:

The options that appear in the Snooze dropdown depend on several factors including time of day, day of the week and whether the user is an Admin.  The "Never show me these" option is the same as suppressing the alert type in the options form.


Alert Types

The complete (as at the time of writing - April 2023) list of alert types, in default order of priority, is as follows:

  1. Late event arrival Raised when a care worker has not logged in at an event the defined (default 30) number of minutes after their expected arrival.  The best way to deal with this is to encourage them to log in/out using the system themselves, but you do have the option of doing it for them from the office.  These alerts will be removed after a number of hours defined in the Hours To Look Back For Alerts field on the Scheduling tab of the organisation. 
  2.  Late event departure Raised when a care worker has not logged out of an event the defined (default 30) number of minutes after their expected departure.  The best way to deal with this is to encourage them to log in/out using the system themselves, but you do have the option of doing it for them from the office.  These alerts will be removed after a number of hours defined in the Hours To Look Back For Alerts field on the Scheduling tab of the organisation. 
  3.  Event log pending review A care worker has submitted a Daily Visit Log and checked the box to bring it to the attention of the office.  There is a link to the specific log entry, and another of the main /logReview grid, where all logs can be efficiently reviewed.
  4. Qualifications due to expire. A qualification is going to expire in the next specified (default 30) number of days.
  5. Incompatible customers A booking is approaching with multiple customers at least two of whom are now known not to get on.
  6. Incompatible care workers A booking is approaching where a care worker is now known not to get on with either the customer or another care worker on the booking.
  7. Unmatched med sessions - urgent A medication session is coming up imminently (user-defined but by default in the next 6 hours) that has neither a matched booking, an no third party has been assigned responsibility for it.  As far as the system can tell a customer is going to go without their meds.  Either assign the responsibility or manual match the session with a booking.
  8. Unallocated events - urgent  An event is coming soon (user-defined but by default within 24 hours) that needs a care worker allocating to it.
  9. Unmatched task sessions A task session is coming outside the imminent window that has neither a matched booking, an no third party has been assigned responsibility for it.  As far as the system can tell a customer is going to go without their tasks being done.  Either assign the responsibility or manual match the session with a booking.
  10. Unscheduled Client Reviews A client needs a review within the specified (default 14) number of days and it has not yet been set up.
  11. Unscheduled Care Worker Reviews A care worker needs a supervision / review within the specified (default 14) number of days and it has not yet been set up.
  12. Unscheduled Observation A care worker needs an observation within the specified (default 14) number of days and it has not yet been set up.
  13. Missed Client Reviews A client review has not been written up within the specified (default 14) number of days after it was due to take place.
  14. Missed Care Worker Reviews A care worker supervision / review has not been written up within the specified (default 14) number of days after it was due to take place.
  15. Missed Observation A care worker observation has not been written up within the specified (default 14) number of days after it was due to take place.
  16. Care worker unaware of event? A care worker has an imminent (within a period defined by the user, but by default 30 minutes) booking coming up, and they don't appear to know about it (depending on the organisation setup this may mean they have not seen the detail or seen it in the listing on the mobile app).
  17. Interview next steps An interview date / time has passed and the applicant has neither been Accepted nor Rejected
  18. New applicant A new applicant has been entered on the system
  19. Reference to be verified A reference has been completed.  It needs to be verified and reviewed
  20. Reference to be chased A reference was requested a while ago and no response has been received - it needs to be chased (by sending it again from the context menu).
  21. Work reference to be generated An applicant has given contact details for an employee reference, but it has not yet been done.
  22. Character reference to be generated An applicant has given contact details for a character reference, but it has not yet been done.
  23. Reference to be sent A reference has been generated, but not yet requested of the referee.
  24. Unallocated recurring bookings Arecurring booking is unallocated.
  25. Unmatched med sessions A medication session is coming outside the imminent window that has neither a matched booking, an no third party has been assigned responsibility for it.  As far as the system can tell a customer is going to go without their meds.  Either assign the responsibility or manual match the session with a booking.
  26. Unmatched task sessions A task session is coming outside the imminent window that has neither a matched booking, an no third party has been assigned responsibility for it.  As far as the system can tell a customer is going to go without their tasks being done.  Either assign the responsibility or manual match the session with a booking.
  27. Unallocated events An event is coming up outside the urgent period (user-defined but by default within 24 hours) that needs a care worker allocating to it.
  28.  Messages that have not got through after 24 hours The system sent an email and it appears not to have been sent within 24 hours.  Very likely to be a problem with the SendGrid setup - in particular the webhooks.  See https://reallycare.freshdesk.com/en/support/solutions/articles/19000105098-send-emails
  29. Medication alerts Either a medication has been missed or a monitored PRN medication has been administered.
  30. Task alerts A task has been missed
  31. 'Flexi' task alerts A 'flexi' task has been missed
  32. Unresolved check-in clashes The system gives top priority to updates from the point of care system therefore it is possible (but very rare) for a care worker to check themselves into two clashing events. This requires the care worker to not have updated their system recently and a back office user to have made a last minute update to the event. In this case a second event is created which needs to be manually tidied up. 

Out of Hours Alerts
Alert types 1 and 8 (for now at least - this will eventually be configurable) can be sent by email to a system users nominated as the Out Of Hours Contact on the Organisation Setup Tab.

The way the system first generates the emails is to look for events that match the (hard coded) criteria, and put them in an email, one line for each event.  That event is then logged as having had an email alert raised, and no further emails will be generated for that event until the logs are cleared out - which happens every 24 hours at 06:45 GMT.  This method gives the Out of Hours Contact sufficient time to tidy up the events that are raising the alerts without being "spammed" with the same error every few minutes.  However, it does cause a couple of behaviours which can confuse:

  1. If the events are not tidied up, then just after 06:45 GMT every day the Out of Hours Contact will get an increasingly large email.
  2. If two organisations on the same branch of the organisation hierarchy both have an Out Of Hours Contract set up then only one of them will get an alarm - and it is not possible to predict which.  You should therefore ensure that this situation never arises - for instance by only setting up Out of Hours Contact on a leaf node


Alert not raised for an event?

Ensure the client does not have alarms suppressed ticked on their Personal tab.