🏠Setting up your Organization

Congratulations, Administrator! You now have an account with ALO. We are excited to work with you. Now what?

Settings

You can configure your Settings in the left hand menu.

Configure your settings here

Channels

We recommend that you first begin by creating channels. This feature is similar to radio frequencies; you can use them to categorize messages and tasks into categories based on function or audience. Use Channels to categorize topics of communication (such as: housekeeping tasks, food and beverage tasks, security issues), and use Groups to manage users.

Here are some examples:

Example channels

To add channels, please complete the following steps:

1. In the left side menu, navigate to Settings > Channels.

2. Press New Channel

3. Type in the desired name of your channel into the first box. you can toggle the "Text to Speech", "Video Transcription", or "Staff Reporting" features on and off if you wish.

   Text to Speech: All text messages in the channel will be outputted as spoken word. Video Transcription: All videos will be automatically transcribed. Staff Reporting: When enabled, all Video, PTT, SMS/VM will auto-create Actions and append all subsequent Video, PTT, SMS/VM as Comments until the Task Status is something other than To Do.

4. Press "Create Channel".

5. If you wish to add more channels, repeat Steps 1 - 3.

Groups

Adding staff individually to channels is a supported feature within ALO, but we recommend using Groups to more easily manage whom should be included in each channel. Use Groups to manage user permissions and which users belong in which channel, and use Channels to categorize topics of communication.

Example user groups

To create groups, please complete the following steps:

1. In the left side menu, navigate to Settings > Groups.

2. Press the + icon at the top next to the heading "Groups"

3. In the text box labelled Group Name, type in the desired name of the group you wish to create.

4. In the selection box labelled Group Role, choose the level of privilege you would like this group to have. Please refer to the article entitled "User Roles" if you would like to learn about access levels for each selection.

5. In the selection box labelled Group Members, you can add your staff if they are already users of the app. You can leave this blank for now if no staff has been added yet.

6. In the selection box labelled Group Channels, add the channels that are relevant to this staff group. For example, staff included in a group called "Maintenance" may wish to be included in channels "Food & Beverage", "Restrooms", and "Back of House".

7. Press Create to save your new group. You can customize the remaining options, but for now this is fine.

8. If you wish to create more groups, repeat Steps 1 - 8.

Users

Now you should be ready to add users. You can add users and groups in any order you please, but creating Channels, then Groups, then Users is the recommended flow for new accounts to simplify your experience.

To add your staff to the platform, please complete the following steps:

1. In the left side menu, navigate to Settings > Users.

2. Press the + icon at the top next to the heading "<name of your organization> Users"

3. Select Add User.

4. Enter in the First Name, Last Name, and Mobile Phone of your staff member.

5. In the Group selection box, choose one of the groups that you created in the previous step. As you set the role for the group in the previous step, the next selection box labelled Role should be automatically populated. Please note that each user can only belong to one group.

6. Press Invite to <name of your organization>. The staff members whose contact information you have entered will receive a text message from ALO inviting them to create an account.

7. If you wish to invite more users, repeat Steps 1-7.

Home

Setting up your Home will greatly improve your ALO experience. This will be the first page that staff encounter upon opening the application and will allow them to quickly view reference documents or create tasks.

Below is an example of how your organization's ALO Home may appear:

An example Home Screen

Common Questions can help you staff more quickly respond to customer messages.

To set up "Common Questions", complete the following steps:

1. In the left side menu, navigate to Records > FAQ.

2. Press the + icon at the top next to the heading "<name of your organization> FAQ".

3. In the text box labelled Question, enter your frequently-asked question.

4. In the text box labelled Answer, enter your answer.

5. [Optional] Enter any keywords related to your frequently asked question in the text box labelled Keywords. This will help with the search function later on. For example, for an FAQ "Where are the restrooms?" you may want to add in keywords "bathroom, water closet, washroom".

6. When you are done hit Save Changes. Navigate to Home and view your new Common Questions selection.

An example Action form

Action forms can standardize the way ALO users record task information. You can edit the buttons that each group of your team member sees on Home, based on level of access.

To set up Actions:

1. In the left side menu, navigate to Settings > Types.

2. Press the + icon at the top next to the heading "Types".

3. In the text box labelled Type, enter the name of the Action report form that you wish to create.

4. Open the form creator labelled "Action or Period Report Form".

5. Select the box "Action Form"

6. In the selection box labelled Channel, choose the channel where you want this type of form submission to appear.

7. When you want to add a new field, click the "+ Add Field" button. Create the fields you want to appear in the form.

8. When you are done, press Save.

9. In the left side menu, navigate to Settings > Groups.

10. Select the pencil icon next to the group whose Home you would like to edit.

11. Scroll down to the section marked Available Types and toggle the forms that you want that group to see when they navigate to Home.
12. When you are done, press Save.

13. The form should now appear on Home. Navigate to Home and click on your new Action report form.

Locations

And lastly, add locations to your ALO account to organize and tag tasks and messages. This will also be a great way to help staff quickly locate issues and improve communication within the ALO app. Please contact ALO if you would like assistance bulk-adding Locations.

1. In the left side menu, navigate to Settings > Locations.

2. In the text box labelled Name, type in a short, unique identifier to help easily determine your where your location is on a map or floor plan. For example, room number "D104a".

3. In the text box labelled Description, type in a unique identifier that will help staff quickly location this location. For example, "3rd floor West Men's Restroom"

4. You may leave Type blank for now if you have not set this up yet.

5. When you are done, press Save Changes.

Congratulations! You are all set up and ready to send messages, create tasks, or reply to customer requests.