Notifications

Notifications keep you up to date when something needs attention: an order waiting for review, a supplier reply, a price increase on an invoice, or a finished inventory count. The web app collects these behind the bell, while the phone app sends push messages for daily work.

What this is for

• See notifications and advisories in one place.
• Check unread items and mark them as read.
• Open the order, invoice, task, count, or conversation behind a notification.
• Dismiss a notification for yourself.
• Dismiss notifications for a location or company when you have permission.
• Understand which events send phone push messages.
• Know when Spensa sends email notifications.

Where to open it

On the web, click Notifications in the left sidebar of the company area. The bell shows how many unread notifications you have. The app may say "establishment" in some places - that is the same thing as a location.

Access and permissions

Every team member who signs in with an email address sees the bell. Staff members who sign in with a username do not have the web notification bell; they stay informed through push messages on the phone.

Hiding a notification for a whole location or company needs permission to manage notifications. Dismissing a notification only for yourself needs no special permission.

Notifications and advisories

The page has two tabs:

• Notifications - things that happened and may need action, such as reviews, replies, price changes, finished counts, or tasks.
• Advisories - friendly heads-ups that help you get the most out of Spensa and keep your data clean.

The number on the sidebar bell counts unread items on the Notifications tab only.

What appears under Notifications

• Review requested - an order needs your approval before it goes out. Takes you to the order.
• Supplier reply received - a supplier answered one of your order emails. Takes you to the conversation.
• Invoice needs review - an uploaded invoice needs a manual check before it is finished.
• Point of Sale report needs review - an uploaded sales report needs a check. Only appears if your company uses the point of sale features.
• Price increase(s) - products from a supplier got more expensive on an invoice. Expand the notification to see each product with its increase in percent, and click through to the invoice lines.
• Invoice discounts changed - a supplier's discounts on an invoice differ from before.
• Negative margin - a dish now costs you more than it earns. Takes you to its menu cost.
• Order Reminder - an order for a location is due by a certain time.
• Inventory count completed - someone finished a count. Takes you to the count.
• Menu import needs review - one of your menu files could not be imported automatically and needs a look.
• Task assigned and Task updated - someone gave you a task, or a task you follow changed.

What appears under Advisories

• Template has no items - an order template exists but has no items in it yet, so it cannot be used for ordering.

Read, filter, and dismiss

Unread notifications show a blue dot and a light-blue background. Clicking a notification marks it as read and takes you to the thing it is about. The list loads more items as you scroll down.

• Turn on the Unread switch to see only unread items. Spensa remembers this choice for you.
• Click Mark all as read to clear everything at once.
• Use Mark this type as read from a notification menu to clear every unread notification of the same kind.
• Use Dismiss for me to hide a notification only for yourself.

Managers may also see Dismiss for establishment or Dismiss for organization. Those options hide the notification for a location or for the whole company and require permission to manage notifications.

Push messages on your phone

The first time you open the phone app after signing in, your phone asks whether to allow notifications from Spensa. Say yes if you want push messages.

Most day-to-day events send a push message:

• Order review requests and order reminders.
• Finished inventory counts.
• Supplier replies.
• Task assignments and task updates.
• New Team announcements and chat messages. See Team.

Schedule-related messages also arrive as push messages on the phone: a published or updated schedule, a changed or cancelled shift, the decision on a time off request, and the decision on a shift claim. These do not appear under the bell on the web.

Some events stay on the web only and send no push: price increases, invoices and sales reports waiting for review, discount changes, negative margins, menu imports that need a look, and advisories.

Tapping a push message opens the app. For order reviews, tasks, and supplier replies it takes you straight to the right screen.

Turning push messages off

In the phone app, open the settings and find the Notifications section. It has one switch, called Order Review Notifications. Despite its name, this switch controls all push messages on that device: turning it off stops every push message there, not just order reviews. Turn it back on to receive push messages again.

The switch is per device, so your other phone or tablet keeps its own setting.

Emails

Order review requests are the one event that also sends an email. Every reviewer gets one, so a needed approval is not missed even when nobody is looking at the app. No other notification sends email.

How this connects to other parts of Spensa

• Orders - review requests come from orders that need approval before sending.
• Supplier conversations - supplier replies link into the conversation about the order.
• Order schedule - order reminders come from your ordering schedule.
• Order templates - the empty-template advisory points at a template that needs items.
• Invoices - invoice reviews, price increases, and discount changes come from invoice processing.
• POS - sales report reviews come from point of sale uploads.
• Menu costs - negative margin notices link to the dish's cost page.
• Inventory - finished counts link to the count itself.
• Tasks - task notifications link to the task board.
• Scheduling - schedule changes reach employees as push messages on the phone.
• Team - announcements and chats have their own unread badge and never appear under the bell.
• Mobile app - where to find the phone app settings.

Good to know

• The bell counts only unread items on the Notifications tab. Advisories do not add to the number.
• The Unread switch is remembered across visits, on any computer you sign in on.
• Whether an event is read or unread is personal. Your colleague's bell keeps its own count.
• Dismissing hides a notification. Depending on your choice it disappears for you, for a location, or for the whole company.
• There are no per-kind delivery settings. The phone switch is all or nothing for that device.
• Team announcements and chat messages do not show under the bell - the Team entry has its own badge.