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Component: Announcements

Distribution Date: March30, 2010

The purpose of the Announcements module is to promote effective communication and keep everyone informed on current issues related to the job market and WorkInTexas.com. TheAnnouncementstab is found in the System Administrationsection. Staff users with a Board role and the announcements permission can create Bulletins, News, and Subscriptions for the benefit of all users within their Board area.

There are four announcement types:

Bulletins: informs your customers about WorkInTexas.com functionality changes and labor exchange issues. For example: the bulletin that continues to remind job seekers to beware of bogus job postings.

News: provides a direct link to employment and job search related articles, blogs, online newsletters outside of WorkInTexas.com. Customers can simply click the hyperlinked News Title to be redirected to the news item.

Policy: provides information on TA Bulletins and WD Letters that relate to WorkInTexas.com or Employment Services in general. System Functionality Letters like this one will also display as Policy. Only state office staff can add policy announcements.

Subscriptions: provides the opportunity for customers to subscribe to periodical publications that reside outside WorkInTexas.com, such as online magazines, newsletters, newspapers, etc. This announcement type can also be used to create a subscription series within WorkInTexas.com such as ‘Improve Your Resume Blog’ or ‘Job Search Tips 101.’

Understanding how to use the two-step process to create a new announcement is the key to the successful release of information. In the first step,an announcement is created. In the second step, a release is created. The release contains the information that will display to customers.

Step One:

  • Add an announcement. Go to System Administration and click the Announcements tab.
  • Select Add Announcement from the left navigation menu.
  • Create a New Announcement by making choices for all required fields marked with a red asterisk.
  • Choosea Status (only active announcements with active releases display to customers).
  • Create a Name.
  • Choose an Announcement Type.
  • Write a Description. (This information describes the various subscription options on the Subscription Selection page, but otherwise does NOT display to your customers.)
  • Choose your target Audience. When News is your Announcement Type and Employer(or Employer and Staff)is your Audience, an additional field will display and allow you to narrow your audience by Employer Type and Industry, if desired. When News is your Announcement Type and Job Seeker (or Job Seeker and Staff) is your Audience, a different field will display and allow you to narrow your Audience by Special Client Group, if desired. Note: Employer Types and Industry and Special Client Groups are optional fields.
  • Note: Area defaults to your Board Area.
  • Save yourNew Announcement once all required fields are completed. At this point, you have selected your announcement type, audience, and distribution. Your customers will NOT see this information until you complete the second step of this process. In the second step, you create the release that is attached to the announcement created in Step One.

Step Two:

  • Go to the Announcements – Active page and locate the new announcement you created in Step One or choose an announcement that was created previously.
  • Click View Releases in the Action column. (Check to make sure you select the View Release link associated with the correct Announcement.)
  • SelectAdd Releasefrom the left navigation menu or click the Add Release link following the list of active announcements.
  • Create a New Release bycompleting all required fields marked with a red asterisk as well as the optional fields when appropriate.
  • Choose a Status. Only releases with an Active status display.
  • Choose the timeframe in which your release will display.
  • Add a Title. This title will display to customers.
  • Add an Email Message. This is an optional field for Subscriptions only. When the terms of the subscription are changed (i.e. Start and End dates, Status, etc.) an email is sent to all subscribers if they provided their email address and indicated they wanted to be notified of subscription updates.
  • Add a URL – a URL is required for News announcements, but is optional for Bulletins and Subscriptions. The is pre-populated so that you only have to type in the URL address that follows the two forward slashes.
  • Add Release. Release Text is required for Bulletins and Subscriptions. Add the information that you want to make available to your customers.

Notes replaces the Release Text field for News only. Notes is not a required field and will not be viewed by your customers.

  • Review your URL and Release Text to ensure everything is correct and Save. If your URL is more than 100 characters, use a URL shortening website to reduce the size. When adding a URL to an announcement, be sure to remove the so that it is not repeated as this could cause a malfunction in the link redirect process.
  • Go to your Home page and check the view of your New Announcement from the point of view of your customer to make sure it’s displaying the way you intended.

Put a workforce center in focus to verify your announcement from staff view.

Put an employer in focus to verify your announcement from the employer’s view. If you published a News announcement and narrowed your audience, then locate an employer account that fits your audience parameters in order to verify the display of your News announcement.

Put a job seeker in focus to verify your announcement from the job seeker’s view. If you published a News announcement and narrowed your audience, then locate a job seeker account that fits your audience selections in order to verify the display of your News announcement.

  • Remember: announcements only display to users with an active account in WorkInTexas.com.

Announcements in WorkInTexas.com function like a system of folders. The announcements are the folders, and the releases are the documents you put into the folder. Ideally, all documents placed in one folder are related by topic or audience type. Folders (announcements) are not viewed by users on their Home page. Documents (releases) are available for viewing on the user’s Home page. In order to make information available to your customers, you MUST complete the two-step process, i.e. create the “announcement” and add a “release” to that announcement.

The Announcements module in WorkInTexas.com was created to enhance overall communication between staff, employers, and job seekers. And, to that end, staff are encouraged to use bulletins, news, and subscriptions more often, especially News since it’s our most recent addition.

Effective Date: March 30, 2010