PPS Messages, Contact Notes, and Personal Actions are activities you can use internally to contact other system users, set tasks, and keep records of anything you may find useful.
Section 1 - PPS Messages
a. Navigate to Activities > Send a Message to create a new PPS Message
b. In the "To" dropdown select a single or multiple user of PPS to send the message to. Entries enclosed in brackets indicate a User Group and selecting {Any User} will make the message accessible to All Users.
Extra Information: User Groups are set up per user via Tools > Set Up Practitioners and System Users and can be used to assign activities to multiple people at one time.
b. You can then include a subject for the message which will be present in any Activities Lists and also in the client log if you choose to associate the message to a client.
c. Enter the body of your message in the Message field. If this message should be associated to a client then select them below using the search function or click the icon to choose your currently selected client. If you choose a client then their name will be listed as part of the message in Activities Lists and the message will appear in their client log.
d. Click Send once done.
Tip: If you want to be alerted when messages or other activities come in then you can activate these in your Check for Messages settings.
e. If Check for Messages is enabled then the recipient will receive a pop up to let them know they have a new message. From here they can view and reply if necessary.
Messages can also be viewed in the Activities List and Process Activities screen.
Section 2 - Contact Notes and Personal Actions
a. In the Activities menu at the top of the screen you'll find options to create Personal Actions and Client Contact Notes. Both of these options have the same functionality so it's up to you to determine how they can be utilised in order to best suit your needs.
b. In the first example above Ronnie Andrews has created a Personal Action and marked himself as being responsible for completing it. Because of this it will appear in his Activities List and Process Activities screen. He's set the Due Date as one week in the future so it will not appear as ready to process until that date after the set time of 12:15. It can be viewed under "Future" activities in the Activities List before this time however.
This particular activity does not relate to a client so "None" is selected but if it were it could also be associated to a treatment episode. The Activity Category is set to admin. You can add these categories via Tools > Look Up Tables > Activity Categories.
A subject and some notes have been recorded. The subject will be visible in the Activities List and Process Activities screens.
c. In the second example Alex has created a Client Contact Note but assigned it to Jane Smith to complete as the nature of the note relates to her. A client, category and subject have been added.
d. At the bottom of these screens the person responsible for the activity can complete it. Click Outcome to autofill the outcome, date, and user fields. You can do this when creating the activity or leave it blank to be completed at a later date or by a different user. If assigning the activity to another user it's important you don't complete it so that they receive notifications of it.
If assigning to another user ensure "Auto-Notify" is ticked if you want them to receive an alert if it is Now Due. This will only happen if they have Check for Messages enabled. Leave this unticked to forgo any notifications. When the user receives the activity they can tick "Notified" to stop any further alerts relating to this activity.
You can also include these activities on the Task List (Activities > Task List) or Diary Print (Appointments Diary > Print)