Overview
The Messages feature allows employees to chat directly with the mobility teams who support their assignments. To enable the feature, please refer to 'Mobile Employee Experience Configuration'.
Messages for Employees
If Employee Experience Messaging is enabled (see 'Advanced Settings'), the messages icon
is shown on the MEE’s Home page. This icon displays the current number of conversations containing unread messages if any such conversations exist:
Click
to open the Messages screen. This is where employees can view messaging contacts, read their messages, and write new messages. The Messages screen:
Recent – Lists all contacts that have sent the employee messages, the most recent conversation shown at the top.
Contacts – Lists all current contacts the employee may message. This list is comprised of all the assignment contacts that have Messaging enabled for their user ID. Other employees are excluded from this list. Each contact has their main role identified. Their current messaging status is also indicated next to their picture. Note, if no picture has been uploaded for the contact, first and last name initials will be displayed.
A green dot indicates they are online.
A white dot indicates they are offline.
Main section – This is where conversation content is shown and new message are created. The receiver of the message is displayed at the top of this section along with more contact information as is available such as their role, country, and company.
Messages – Equus Platform
All internal users with roles that have access to messaging screens can participate in messaging. There are two main messaging screens, each with different information and entry points.
All My Messages
Open the All My Messages screen by clicking the [Messaging] button located on any Equus Platform screen in the top navigation bar. This button also displays the current number of conversations containing unread messages if any such conversations exist.
The All My Messages screen is where internal users can see received messages.
Messages are sorted by conversation, with the most recent conversation shown at the top
Each conversation has contact information shown such as contact picture, online status, and unread messages indicator
All conversations have an associated assignment (note, internal users must either be specified as a resource on the assignment, an assignment contact to participate in conversation with that Assignee or a company contact). When any conversation is selected, the main message window shows the conversation history and an Assignment Summary section. The Assignment Summary section lists important contextual information about the assignment with which the conversation is associated. The information provided in the Assignment Summary is hyperlinked in the following ways:
Messages About This Assignment: Opens the Messages About This Assignment page (described below)
Employee Name: The employee’s name. Opens the Employee Details
Company: The employee’s company. Opens the Company Details
Assignment To and From locations: The home and host locations for the employee’s assignment. Opens the Assignment Details
Assignment #: The unique identifier for the assignment. Opens the Assignment Details
Policy: The policy associated with the employee’s assignment. Opens the Policy Description Preview
Phase: The stage the assignment is in. Opens the Assignment Details
Messages About This Assignment
All messages are associated with an assignment. To start a new conversation:
Navigate to an assignment
Navigate to the General sub-menu,
Select the Messaging menu item.
This will open the Messages for [Employee Name]’s Assignment screen.
This screen shows a summary of assignment information (described in the “All My Messages” section), the main message window, the list of contacts available to message regarding this assignment and any previously received messages regarding this assignment. The contact list consists of the employee and all Equus Platform internal user types that are configured as a resource for the given assignment.
Along with the contact’s online status and picture (or initials if picture was not uploaded), the contact’s role for the assignment is shown under their name.
If a message is received while on any Equus Platform screen, an alert will display on the screen in the lower right-hand corner, displaying the sender of the message and a brief preview of the message contents. Clicking the alert opens the All My Messages screen with that conversation selected.
Things to Note
Visibility of contacts on the MEE is dependent on Portal contact configuration settings
Internal Users must also have the necessary rights to 'Screen Name: Messaging' enabled on their security role.
It is possible that a contact shown is a resource for the assignment however another contact supersedes the first in priority. This contact would not be visible from the employee’s messaging screen and will be listed with a role of Mobility on this screen.
To support multiple concurrent conversations, the browser tab title for both message screens and any other instances of this screen will always reflect the current conversation contact, and a number will be added to reflect any new messages that contact has sent you.
If a user/employee is not online when a message is sent to them, an email will be sent to the user notifying them of the new message. To reduce spam, new messages will not generate an email for the next 24 hours with one exception. If the user signs in to the Equus Platform, the email timer is reset and they will receive another email if they receive a new message.