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Message Center

The Message Center is an online application that allows students and administrators to communicate in a secure environment. The Message Center is available through the YES suite of applications.

To view a pdf version of this user guide, including screenshots of YES, click here: Message Center.

Viewing an Individual Student’s Message Center

Search for an Individual Student
  1. Log in to YES (Your Enrollment Services).
  2. Read the Confidentiality Statement and click Accept.
  3. Search for a student by entering “Last name, First name” in the Quick search box, or click on Advanced to search by major, minor, school, etc.
  4. From the search results, click on the Message Center icon in the student’s list of applications. (You may need to click on the icon to view all Applications, or check the Expand Display Results box to see all applications for all students in the search results.)
  5. You will be directed to the Message Center.
Navigating the Inbox
  1. The administrator view of a student’s message center has two tabs: Inbox and Notes. The default view is the inbox. (Information about the Notes feature is below.)
  2. Bold font indicates that the student has not yet read the message.
  3. Messages in the inbox are sortable by sender (From), Subject, and Date. Click on the arrow icons to sort. In addition, you have the option to Show/Hide messages that the student has chosen to mark as Archived; Show/Hide Bulk messages; view messages by their status as Read, Unread, or Both; and view all messages or only those that were sent within the last 30 days. Click on any message to read it. 
Navigating Notes
  1. From the student’s Message Center, click Notes.
  2. Notes are sortable by Created By, Subject, Type, and Date. Click on the arrow icons to sort.
  3. Click on any note to read it.

Sending a Message to an Individual Student

Whereas email is not a secure means of sending FERPA-protected information, the YES Message Center allows administrators to send messages to students in a secure environment. Students will receive an email notifying them that they have a message waiting for them in the Message Center, but they must log in to YES using their VUnet ID and e-password in order to view the message.

  1. From the student’s Message Center, click Compose Message.
  2. Enter the message subject in the subject box and type your message in the message box.
  3. Click Send to send the message. (Clicking Clear will clear out what you have typed so that you can start the message over; Close will cancel the message altogether.)
  4. A success message will appear. 
  5. The message will now appear in the inbox view. Bold font means that the student has not yet read the message.
Adding a CC recipient

The “Add CC” option allows you to copy other administrative users of the YES Message Center. Only users who have access to the application can be selected.

  1. Click Add CC.
  2. Begin typing in the search box. The search will return options based on any portion of the user’s name.
  3. Select the CC recipient.
  4. Repeat as necessary.
  5. CC recipients will appear in a row above the Subject heading.
Marking a Message as Private

Messages marked as private are available only to the sender and the recipient. The Private Message functionality is not available if a message has a CC recipient. To mark a message as Private, select the Private Message checkbox.

Adding an Attachment to a Message

To add an attachment, click Browse to find the file you wish to include with the message. Once selected, the name of the file will appear next to the Browse button.

Adding a Note for an Individual Student

The Notes function allows administrators to track interactions with students outside of the message functionality. Students do not have access to Notes in their Message Center. However, all Notes are part of a student’s educational record and are protected and accessible to the student under the provisions of FERPA.

  1. From the student’s Notes tab, click Add Note.
  2. Select a category for the note.
  3. Type the subject and body of the note.
  4. Click Save to save to the student’s notes.
Marking a Note as Private

Notes marked as private are available only to the person adding the note. To mark a note as Private, select the Private Note checkbox.

Adding an Attachment to a Note

To add an attachment, click Browse to find the file you wish to include with the message. Once selected, the name of the file will appear next to the Browse button. 

Sending a Message or Adding a Note to a Group of Students

In addition to sending messages to individual students, the YES Message Center allows users to send the same message or add the same note to multiple students at the same time.

Search for a Group of Students

There are two options for searching for a group of students. If you have a batch of student ID numbers, utilize the Batch search option. Otherwise, use the Advanced search.

Batch Search
  1. From the Student Search page, click on Batch.
  2. Enter (or copy/paste) the EmplIDs into the text box.
  3. Click Search.
Advanced Search
  1. From the Student Search page, click on Advanced.
  2. Search using any of the criteria listed. To send a message to all of your advisees, for example, select the Advisees Only box.
Utilize Action View to Send the Message or Add the Note
  1. From the search results, select Action from the View drop-down menu.
  2. From Action View, select individual students . . .
    . . . or select Select This Page + Select All Pages to select all students in the search results.
  3. Once the selection is chosen, click Compose Message to send a message or Compose Note to add a note.
  4. A pop-up box will appear. Note the number of recipients—make sure it is as expected.
  5. Enter the subject and body of the message . . .
    . . . or select the category and enter the subject and body of the note.
  6. Click Send to send the message to or Save to save the note for the selected students.
  7. A success message will appear.
Adding a CC recipient to a Batch Message

The Add CC option allows you to copy other administrative users of the YES Message Center. Only users who have access to the application can be selected.

  1. Click Add CC.
  2. Begin typing in the search box. The search will return options based on any portion of the user’s name.
  3. Select the CC recipient.
  4. Repeat as necessary.
  5. CC recipients will appear in a row above the Subject heading.
Marking a Batch Message as “Bulk”

The batch message functionality allows users to mark certain messages as “Bulk.” Bulk messages can be filtered out of the inbox view. Generally, announcements and the like that go out to a large group of students are considered bulk messages.

To mark a message as Bulk, select the Bulk Message checkbox.

Adding an Attachment to a Batch Message or Note

To add an attachment, click Browse to find the file you wish to include with the message. Once selected, the name of the file will appear next to the Browse button. Note: You must send a message through Student Search to add an attachment.

Viewing Your Message Center

Students will have the ability to respond to messages that they receive through the YES Message Center. Replies to messages that you send as an administrator will appear in your Message Center.

  1. From the Applications drop-down menu, select Message Center under Application Access.
  2. The administrator’s Message Center has three tabs: Inbox, Sent Messages, and Saved Notes. The default view is to the inbox.
  3. Bold font indicates that the message has not been read.
  4. Messages in the inbox are sortable by sender (From), Subject, and Date. Click on the arrow icons to sort. In addition, you have the option to Show/Hide messages that the student has chosen to mark as Archived; Show/Hide Bulk messages; view messages by their status as Read, Unread, or Both; and view all messages or only those that were sent within the last 30 days.
  5. Click on any message to read it. 
  6. The Sent Messages tab shows a list of all messages you have sent, sortable by recipient, subject, and date. The Saved Notes tab shows a list of all notes you have saved, sortable by recipient, subject, note type, and date.
Adding a Message Center Signature

Signature functionality is available through the Message Center as it is for e-mail.

  1. From your message center, click on the Tools icon and select Set Signature.
  2. Type your signature in the box and click Save.
  3. The signature auto-populates when a message is composed. 

Group Messaging

If desired, the YES Message Center can accommodate group accounts (e.g., for all members of a school’s Office of Academic Services). Please send requests to create/edit YMC groups to urorecords@vanderbilt.edu.

Composing a Group Message
  1. From the student’s Message Center, click Compose Message.
  2. To select a group sender, click the writing icon next to your name in the From field.
  3. Select the group sender from the drop-down menu.
  4. Compose a message as above and click Send.
  5. The message will appear in the student’s inbox with the group as the sender.
  6. The student will be able to reply as usual. Replies will be sent to the group inbox.
Accessing the Group Inbox

All users in a specific group will be able to access the group inbox from their own Message Centers.

  1. Access your Message Center from the Applications drop-down menu.
  2. To open the group inbox, click the writing icon next to your name at the top of the page.
  3. Select the appropriate inbox from the drop-down menu.

Questions

Please contact the YES Help Line at yes@vanderbilt.edu or 615-343-4306 if you have questions or need additional assistance.