Notifications and alerts

PoultryDesk can tell you when something needs your attention - a mortality spike, an overdue invoice, or a missing daily entry - on the channel you prefer, at a volume you can live with. The goal is to be useful, not noisy.

Everything lives under Settings then Notifications, which is split into six tabs: Overview, Alert rules, Recipient groups, Templates, Channels, and Activity.

Alert rules

An alert rule decides what you get told about. A manager or owner sets rules under Settings then Notifications then Alert rules. Each rule has:

• A source event - what to watch for, such as a mortality spike, an overdue invoice, or a missing daily record.
• A recipient group - who is told.
• A message template - what the notification says.
• A severity - how urgent the alert is.
• A cooldown - the least time between repeats, so one situation does not fire over and over.

You can turn each rule on or off, adjust its cooldown, and download the full rule list as a CSV.

Recipient groups

A recipient group is the "who" of a rule. Under Settings then Notifications then Recipient groups you can build two kinds of group:

• Role-backed - everyone who holds a given role receives the alert, so the group stays correct as people join or leave.
• Static - a fixed list of named members.

Groups you no longer need can be archived and later restored.

Templates

The message a rule sends comes from a template. Under Settings then Notifications then Templates you can edit the subject and body of each template, or reset a template back to its seeded default. Every template is tied to one channel, and a live preview shows how the finished message will read.

Where notifications arrive

A notification can reach you on more than one channel:

• In-app - the bell in the header shows a count; open it to see recent notifications, and tap one to jump to what it is about. In-app alerts always arrive immediately, even during quiet hours.
• Email - the rendered message to your inbox.
• SMS - a short version to your phone.
• Web push - a pop-up from the installed app that opens the relevant screen when tapped.

Your personal preferences

The Overview tab is where each person tunes their own experience for this organization:

• Channels - turn each channel on, mute it, or switch it to a daily digest that batches that channel's alerts into one scheduled message instead of sending each one immediately.
• Quiet hours - a start and end time, shown in your organization's timezone, during which email, SMS, and push are held back. In-app alerts still arrive.
• Per-rule overrides - change the channel choice for one specific rule without affecting the rest.
• Web push devices - register the current device so push notifications can reach it, and send a test to confirm it works.

Preferences are per person and per organization, so the same rule can reach different people in different ways.

Channels for the whole organization

Some channels are turned on or off for the entire organization, not per person. Under Settings then Notifications then Channels an owner or manager can:

• Enable SMS - SMS is off by default and metered. The tab shows how much of your SMS budget is used, so you can decide whether to keep it on.
• Suppress specific recipients - add a member to the SMS suppression list to skip them before any SMS is sent. Email and in-app notifications are not affected. You can download the suppression list as a CSV.
• Enable email - email is on by default.

Activity

The Activity tab is a delivery history: which alert fired, when, on which channel, to which recipient, and at what severity. You can filter by channel and by source event, page through older entries, and export the history as a CSV.

Connecting another system with webhooks

Notifications can also be delivered to another system through a webhook, so your own software can react to an alert. Webhook endpoints are technical infrastructure - HTTPS addresses and signing secrets - so PoultryDesk support provisions and manages them for your organization on request rather than exposing endpoint setup in the app. Contact support if you want a rule to notify an external system.

Keeping the bell tidy

In-app notifications can be marked read, snoozed for a few hours, or dismissed. Dismissing clears it from the bell but keeps it in your list, so nothing is lost.

See also

• Health and withdrawals
• Invoices and payments
• Members and roles