Chat
Channels, groups, direct messages and a discussion on every incident, task and function.
Chat is where your team talks. It's on for every venue, and everyone at the venue can use it. Open Chat in the sidebar, or the Chat tab on a phone.
What's in the list
Your conversations are grouped under four headings, newest first in each:
- Channels. Every venue has an Everyone channel, and each area has a channel of its own. You're in the channels for the areas you work in.
- Groups. Conversations someone started with a few people and a name.
- Direct. One-to-one messages.
- Threads. The discussion on an incident, task, function or checklist you've joined. See Discuss a record.
A conversation with something you haven't read shows in bold with a count beside it. The Chat row in the sidebar and the Chat tab on a phone show how many conversations have something unread.
The first time you open Chat, a card says Managers can export channel and group history. and Direct messages are not read by managers. Press Got it to put it away.
Start a conversation
Press New message. On the New message page, tick the people you want. Use Search people, or the chips along the top (On now, On today, On tomorrow, an area or a role), to narrow the list. Select all, followed by a number, ticks everyone the list is showing.
With one person ticked, press Message and their first name. With two or more, type a Group name and press Start group of followed by the number of people, you included.
Who you can message depends on your venue's chat setting. The list only shows people you can reach.
Send a message
Type in the box at the bottom and press Send, or press Enter. Shift and Enter starts a new line.
- Mention someone. Type
@and pick their name. - Add a photo. Press Add a photo. You can add more than one before you send.
- Add an emoji. Press Emoji.
To find an old message, type at least two letters into Search messages at the top of the list.
When someone is off shift
If a message would reach someone who isn't on shift, HospoTek asks before it sends. The note says who is off shift and when they next start, from the roster. You can choose:
- Send when they start holds the message until the first of them starts. You see Scheduled for and the time under it. Nobody else sees it until then.
- Send now sends it straight away. They get it in the app, but no push until they're on.
- Urgent sends it now and pushes it through. You give a Reason, then press Send as urgent. The message is marked Urgent and a line goes on the shift log.
- Cancel puts your words back in the box.
If nobody's next shift is on the roster, the note says No shift on the roster and Send when they start is greyed out.
In a channel, this only happens for someone you've mentioned. Channels don't push anyone else.
Urgent is for Duty Managers and above.
Reply, react, edit or remove
Tap a message, or hover over it with a mouse, to open its actions:
- React. Tap one of the five quick reactions, or More emoji for any other.
- Reply. Quotes the message above your reply. Press Cancel reply to drop it.
- Edit. Your own messages, for 15 minutes after you send them. An edited message says edited.
- Remove. Your own messages, for an hour after you send them. HospoTek asks Remove this message? first. The message shows as Message removed.
Supervisors and above can remove anyone's message in a channel or a group, at any time.
Under the newest message you sent that someone has read, you'll see Seen by and a number, or the person's name in a direct message. Tap it to see who.
Turn a message into work
Supervisors and above have two more actions on a message:
- Make a task opens a new task, with the message's first line as its title.
- Add to shift log puts the message on today's shift log. Pick a Section, check the Entry and press Add to the log.
A card in the conversation then shows where the message went, with View task or Open shift log.
In a channel, supervisors and above can also press Post as a notice beside the message box. It opens a notice for the channel's area, or for everyone in the Everyone channel, with your words already in it. See Notices.
Discuss a record
Incidents, tasks, functions and submitted checklists each have a Discussion row. It shows how many messages there are and who wrote last. Open it to read and write without leaving the page.
The people on the record, such as whoever reported an incident or is assigned a task, are added when the discussion starts. You join when you open it. The discussion then sits under Threads in Chat too.
Change how a conversation notifies you
Open a conversation and press Conversation settings. Under Notifications, choose:
- Every message
- Mentions only
- Nothing
Channels start on Mentions only. Groups, direct messages and threads start on Every message.
To go quiet for a while, press Mute for an hour or Mute until tomorrow (8 am). The panel then says Muted until and the time. Press Unmute to end it early. A muted conversation, or one set to Nothing, shows a bell with a line through it in the list.
The same panel lists the People in the conversation. On a thread it has a link back to the record, such as Open the incident.
Leave a group
In Conversation settings, press Leave group, then Leave. You can't rejoin a group yourself once you've left. Channels and direct messages have no Leave group.
Export a channel or group
Venue Managers only.
In Conversation settings for a channel or a group, press Export CSV. The file has the conversation's messages. A removed message is in it blank, with who removed it. Direct messages can't be exported from Chat.
Choose who staff can message
Venue Managers only.
Go to Settings › Chat. Under Staff can message, choose:
- Everyone
- Their department and shift leads
- Shift leads only
It saves as soon as you choose. Shift leads, meaning supervisors and above, can always message anyone, and anyone can message a shift lead.
Chat on a kiosk
A paired kiosk tablet has a Chat tab beside Now. It shows its area's channel, or Everyone if the area has no channel. It's read-only: nobody can post, react or open a direct message from the tablet. See Kiosk mode.