AlertTraveler® Settings in Terra Dotta
AlertTraveler® is an add-on subscription service from Terra Dotta. It features an app for iOS and Android devices and utilizes GPS and the itineraries that are already stored in your Terra Dotta software. AlertTraveler® provides travelers with country and city intelligence, safety and security alerts, and an instant check-in option. Administrators have access to AlertTraveler® through a plug-in to their Terra Dotta software. They have the ability to view alerts, view and act on impacted travelers, and issue check-in requests. Administrators also have access to country and city intelligence.
Note: This article covers only AlertTraveler settings within the Terra Dotta Software site. You can view all AlertTraveler® related articles and videos AlertTraveler®: Overview.
AlertTraveler®> Settings
The settings for AlertTraveler® can be found and configured in AlertTraveler® > Settings. This page details settings available in the three tabs of Notifications, Eligibility, and Admin.
Notifications Tab
The following settings are found under the Notifications tab.
Admin Email and SMS Notifications - Once enabled, this setting allows you to configure notifications to be delivered to specified administrators. The following emails and SMS messages will be delivered to selected administrators. New administrators are added using the "Add New User" field at the top of the page. Please note that a user must be in the permission group entitled "AlertTraveler" in order to appear in the search field. Existing administrators are displayed with their contact information and SMS/email settings in the table. Existing primary travel administrators will be denoted with an asterisk.
The notification preferences for an admin can be edited individually by clicking the edit pencil. This opens the "Notification Preferences" page for that admin, allowing you to set notifications unique to this person.
If a user is designated as a Primary Travel Officer here, they will not be able to establish location or program group notification preferences; they will receive alerts for all groups and locations. One person in your office must be designated as a Primary Travel Officer to ensure no alerts are missed inadvertently. Alert levels and categories can be established for email and SMS notifications independently. Please note that Primary Travel Officers cannot opt out of receiving help request notifications.
High-level administrators are also able to lock another admin's notification preferences by designated them as a "locked" admin. When an admin is locked, they are unable to edit their own notification preferences and instead must have their preferences edited by a high-level admin. This is as opposed to a "standard" admin who is able to edit their own preferences freely. This can be done to ensure that risk officers and group leaders don't inadvertently disable important notifications.
Email and SMS Threshold Settings - These settings allow administrators to override travelers’ preferences, as set in the app, regarding what level of alerts generate email notifications to the traveler. This only affects alerts for subscriptions that are based on GPS or a Terra Dotta itinerary and not subscriptions that travelers opt into. For example, if a traveler sets the app so that they only want critical alert notifications by email for an itinerary-based subscription, and the admin sets the email threshold to “>=Warning,” that traveler will receive all warning- and critical-level alerts as well. You can also select specific categories of alert to include. These settings affect only email and SMS preferences and do not affect the user's preferences for push notifications.
Subscription Settings - This setting allows an administrator to set the default subscription preference for new travelers. The preferences for existing subscriptions will not be changed, however the default for all new subscriptions will be set to the following:
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- Severities:
- Critical
- Warning
- Categories:
- Security
- Health
- Entry/Exit
- Communications/Technology
- Legal
- Environment
- Institution Alert
- Severities:
Eligibility Tab
The following settings are found under the Eligibility tab: AlertTraveler® Program Eligibility - This setting is only for Study Abroad clients, it is not part of Travel Registry functionality. Once enabled, this setting allows an admin to select programs and program groups that should be excluded from AlertTraveler®. If a program is excluded, registrants/applicants to that program will not be eligible to access an AlertTraveler® password. Programs can be excluded by clicking the box to the left of the program name. To exclude an entire program group, click the box to the left of the group name. Programs must be active in order to appear on this list. Scholarship, Program Enrollment and Incident Report program types do not work with AlertTraveler®. If this setting is disabled all programs will be AlertTraveler® eligible.
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- Note: Newly created programs will only be excluded if the program group is excluded. If individual programs within a group are excluded but the program group is not, newly created programs added to that group will be eligible for AlertTraveler®. Choosing to exclude a program will not affect any travelers who have already registered AlertTraveler® for that program. This will only affect new registrations/applications for the excluded programs. Registrants/applicants to non-excluded programs will receive access to the AlertTraveler® registration panel when their application has a Committed (or an alias) status.
- Note: The best practice is to use a custom program group within only one program type. Using a program group for multiple program types (such as using an "Independent Travelers" program group for programs within both Outgoing and Risk Management program types) can prevent the eligibility from properly being assigned.
- Note: It may take up to 30 minutes after the traveler becomes eligible for the registration panel to become visible.
Scheduled Eligibility - This option allows you to set travelers' eligibility to a number of days before their first future itinerary. This will delay your travelers from becoming eligible licensed travelers and fully registering for AlertTraveler® until they are within that number of days of their itinerary start date. The default is 60 days, so 60 days before a trip would be the first time that a traveler will have access to the registration widget on their application, if left at the default. The alerts for locations with impacted travelers can be limited based on the severity-level of the alert by choosing a threshold level from the drop-down menu labeled “Select the severity threshold to notify admin when travelers are impacted by an alert.” Notifications for check-ins asking for help are not affected by this setting.
Tracking Control - This setting stops the AlertTraveler® mobile app from updating the traveler’s GPS location after the itinerary ends. You can determine the duration before and after the itinerary dates that GPS details are updated in AlertTraveler® (the default is 1 day). The traveler will be sent an email upon returning home notifying him/her that GPS location will no longer be updated in the AlertTraveler® system.
When an itinerary and Tracking Control ends, and there is no future trip registered, the traveler will receive a "Welcome Home" email:
Admin Tab
The following settings are found in the Admin tab:
App Activation Material - This setting is only for Study Abroad clients. If enabled, this setting will add a new required material titled "AlertTraveler® Travel Registration Material" to AT-eligible applications that have reached the post-decision phase. The traveler can only complete this material by activating the traveler activating the AlertTraveler® app. This will force travelers to register their app before being able to complete their application. Upon registering their app, the material will be checked off automatically. However, the administrator can mark it off as having been completed if necessary (for example, if the traveler activated prior to the material being enabled and deployed).
Once enabled, the default message about the material is made available to edit. Please note that this message, which shows within the material when viewed by the applicant/traveler, is the same for all program types.
Traveler perspective after opening the material:
Note: If the traveler accesses this material via their mobile phone, they will have the option to sign in to AlertTraveler® directly through this material rather than being sent an activation email.
If a traveler has already activated their AlertTraveler® app through a different program, they'll have an "Already Activated" option which, will send a notification to their app, confirming their registration and then allowing them to proceed.
This material itself can be found and renamed in Process > Materials. No other configuration changes can be made on this page.
Since this exists as a material, if you want to check travelers for a specific program term year are all activated and ready, you can do an applicant search then a progress audit, just as you would to check the completion of other materials.
Reply to Email - An admin can use this field to set an email address that will be included in check-in request emails so that, if a traveler replies to the email, the response will go to the the designated address.
Institution Emergency Contact - An Institution Emergency Contact phone number can be enabled and configured in this section. If enabled, you can enter the contact phone number in the field to the right then include the country code in the left field. A WYSIWYG editor is also provided that will allow you to add addition numbers and information you want to appear alongside the main emergency number. This information will be displayed on all "Contacts" screens of the AlertTraveler® app.
Email Customization - The Email Customization section is a global setting that allows you to add a header and/or a footer to all AlertTraveler system-generated emails. Use the WYSIWYG editors to create and configure. Clicking on "Send me an Email Preview" sends a sample email to the logged in admin. (See also: AlertTraveler® Notifications: Examples of Header and Footer Email Customization.)
Risk Rating Preference - This setting allows you to choose which risk rating information is displayed to your travelers. U.S. Department of State Travel Advisory Levels or your chosen intelligence provider (Security Exchange or Riskline) risk ratings are displayed in the in-app Country/City Intelligence view based on your choice. Note: Other than this rating value, all Country/City Intelligence is from your chosen intelligence provider regardless of this setting.
Help Request Button - An admin can enable the AlertTraveler® app's "Help Request" button using this setting. The Help Request button will appear in the traveler's navigation menu of the AlertTraveler® App and can be used to initiate an immediate, proactive request for help independent of an alert or check-in request initiated by an admin. Traveler has the option to place a phone call to your institutional emergency contact number or send a message through the app. Once a request is initiated, the traveler can message back and forth with an admin. They will also have the option to review current and past Help Requests messages. Admin notifications of Help Request messages are based on your Admin Notification settings (configured in AlertTraveler® admin portal).
By default, all admins will be notified of any Help Requests received. To designate admins to receive notifications, search for the admin users in the "Select Admin to Notify" space. Once at least one admin is added to this list, only those who have been added will receive the initial Help Request notification.
Assistance Reminders - The Assistance Reminders setting allows you to designate an escalation administrator who will be notified if an assistance request does not receive a response from another administrator within a designated period of time.
Unit Administrators - This setting allows you to provide AlertTraveler access to a certain subset of your faculty and staff. More information can be found in the AlertTraveler®: Unit Admin article.
Proximity Configuration - This setting allows you to notify travelers that they may be impacted by an alert due to their proximity of an ongoing issue. More information can be found in the AlertTraveler®: Proximity article.
Detailed Itineraries - This setting is only for Study Abroad clients. If enabled, travelers are able to provide transportation and lodging details for program-based itineraries as well as create side trips with detailed transportation and lodging information. (Important Note: Enabling "Detailed Itineraries" will allow for travelers participating in any program, including programs that have been excluded from AlertTraveler®, to enter itinerary information that would become visible in Travel Registry systems.)
Additional Resources
Here are other resources that may interest you:
AlertTraveler®: Administrator How-tos
AlertTraveler®: Table of Contents