In conjunction with the message centre, you can create a signature and set an out of office. The signature will appear on any messages you send, and your out of office will show in brackets next to your name, as well as showing the out of office message to anyone when they are choosing you as a recipient. To set up these features go to settings.

Accessing the message centre

To access the message centre, go to utilities in the top menu bar and message centre.

Creating a new message

Click on new message in the top righthand corner of the message centre.

Within the new message you will be able to select any service you have access to. If you only have access to one service, this will be selected by default.

Once you have selected the service, the periods and message types appropriate for that service will be displayed in the lists. Select the period and message type that are relevant for your message, the current period will always be the default and marked with (current period.)

Your recipient will be set to default. You can select the drop down and choose a particular recipient if required.

If your message is of a sensitive nature, you can tick the private box. This will only be seen by the recipient you have chosen. Please do not tick this if your message is time critical. This message trail will be marked as private in the history and the message preview pane will also display private. You must have selected a named recipient, for the private tick box to show.

The subject field will be displayed in the message list to identify this message chain.

Message functionality

Within the message, you can set your text to bold, italic, or underline and set numbered or bullet points. You can also change the colour of your text by clicking on A.

The message has an automatic spellcheck function, any words that are misspelt will be underlined in red and you can right click to see alternative words

A signature is added by default, made up of your name, email address and any contact details you have entered in your settings. You have the ability to create a personal signature within your settings page.

When you are ready to send, click on create new message and your recipient will be notified there is a message for them. You will return to main message centre page.

Searching and filtering existing messages

Within the message centre you can find all previous messages sent. By default, all open messages are shown, using the dropdown you can filter these messages on a specific service or status. You can also use date ranges and search the message content.

Below the search filter is a message preview panel, you can view all messages or my messages. Within this panel you will see the details of the last message within the trail. Selecting my messages will filter to only show message chains which you have been involved in, either as the originator or as a replier.

To view the full message and history simply click on the message preview. The details and history will appear on the right of the page.

In the top panel you will see the message details, showing the message type and the current status.

In the bottom panel you will also see the message trail history, and the option to print.

Replying to messages and statuses

Highlight the message in the lefthand panel and on the righthand side you will see a reply box. The reply message will have all the same functionality as a new message does, with spellcheck and formatting. Your signature will be displayed as well.

The new status field by default will be set to with client, indicating that you expect the client to action or reply to your enquiry. If, you are simply updating the client and the action is still with you, select the dropdown option of with RSM.

The recipient will default to the last person who sent you a message, you can change this if required.

If the original message was marked as private, you will not be able to change the recipient in any messages within that trail. Should you wish to send the details to another user you will need to start a new message.

If there is further action required, click on send. This will keep the message trail open, and the client will be notified by email that they have a message to view.

If the client's query has been resolved and there are no further messages required, you can leave the reply box blank, and click close message. This will change the status of the message to closed and can be viewed by filtering on closed messages.

Reopening a closed message and sending

You may want to carry on a message trail that has been closed, using the search facility on the lefthand side, select the status of closed. Click on the message that you wish to reopen. The reply box will appear on the righthand side.

The recipient will default to the last person who sent you a message, you can change this if required.

Click send & reopen.

You will be asked if you wish to reopen this message, click ok. You will now see this message within your open status message searched.

Report View

To view the messages in a table format, click on the view report button at the top of the message centre.

The report can be filtered to a specific service or status, show only messages for a specific date range or message content with particular keywords. The service and subject columns are highlighted blue allowing you to click on these and be taken directly to the message. There is an option to export to excel as well.

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