Notifications

Notifications keep you up to date when something needs attention: an order waiting for review, a supplier reply, a due order, 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 all your notifications in one place.
• Check unread items and mark them as read.
• Open the order, report, 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 company 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.

What appears in Notifications

Notifications are things that happened and may need action, such as reviews, replies, finished counts, or tasks. The number on the sidebar bell counts your unread 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.
• Point of Sale report needs review - an uploaded sales report needs a check. Only appears if your company uses the point of sale features.
• Order Reminder - an order for a location is due by a certain time. On the web, click it to open that scheduled occurrence, see linked orders or its completion status, and start a current order. Older reminders retain their original date; use View current schedule to place a new order.
• Inventory count completed - someone finished a count. Takes you to the count.
• Task assigned and Task updated - someone gave you a task, a task you follow changed, or a task you created was completed.
• Checklist completed, Checklist not completed, and checklist answers that need review - for people informed about a checklist. Takes you to the checklist's results.
• Scheduling requests and updates - schedule publication or changes and time off requests relevant to you.

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.
• Checklists that open for you, and checklist notices for the people informed about them.
• New posts in News and team chat messages. See Communication.

Schedule-related messages also arrive as push messages on the phone: a published or updated schedule, a changed or cancelled shift, and the decision on a time off request. Scheduling also creates in-app notifications, including manager notices for new requests. Which ones you see depends on your role and whether you are the recipient.

Sales reports waiting for review stay on the web only and send no push. Invoices waiting for review are not notifications: the number next to Invoices in the sidebar shows how many are waiting.

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 More > Settings and find Notifications. 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. Supplier replies can also be forwarded to the location mailbox when forwarding is enabled; this is separate from notification delivery. Account verification, invitations, and password resets have their own emails.

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.
• POS - sales report reviews come from point of sale uploads.
• Inventory - finished counts link to the count itself.
• Tasks - task notifications open the task, and checklist notifications open the checklist.
• Scheduling - schedule changes reach employees as push messages on the phone.
• Communication - News and Chat have their own unread badges and never appear under the bell.
• Mobile app - where to find the phone app settings.

Good to know

• The bell counts only unread notifications.
• 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.
• Posts in News and team chat messages do not show under the bell - News and Chat have their own badges.