The notification systems: who gets what, and how
Summary
When someone says «I did not get the notification», the first step is to find out which one they mean. Cargoflow has six separate alert paths: they are set up on different screens, reach different people and fail for different reasons. Checking the wrong screen is the most common way to lose an afternoon.
This article is the map. Each system has its own article with the details; here you get what each one is, who receives it, where it is configured and in what order to check when something does not arrive. To see the same thing from the customer’s side (which emails they get, what they see in their portal and when), read What the customer sees, and when.
The full map
| System | Who receives it | How | Where it is set up | Paid separately? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Bell and live alerts | Your staff, by warehouse role | The bell at the top and the entry that appears without reloading | Admin › Configuration › Notifications & email (Operational alerts panel) | No |
| 2. Customer emails | The customer contacts you pick | Commercial › Clients › (client) › Notifications | No | |
| 3. SMS and WhatsApp | Drivers, visitors and hosts, on their phones | SMS or WhatsApp, depending on the phone prefix | Admin › SMS / WhatsApp | Yes: the external notifications module |
| 4. Visit alerts | The visit host and the reception staff | Email and bell | Admin › Visitor settings (and each host record) | Comes with the visits module |
| 5. Scheduled alerts | All active staff of the warehouse; failed background tasks go only to the super administrator | Bell | No screen: they run by themselves every day | No |
| 6. Internal invoice copy | Accounting and the roles or addresses you pick | Admin › Configuration › Notifications & email (Internal invoice copy panel) | No |
1. The bell and live alerts
These are the alerts for your team inside the system: a new advance ship notice or a new receipt came in, a new shipment came in (including those the customer requests from the portal), a captured receipt is waiting for review, or a receipt has been stuck in a status too long. They show up in the bell at the top and, if the person has the screen open, they arrive live without reloading.
They are set up per warehouse: which events alert, which roles (Worker, Supervisor, Admin), which channel and after how many minutes a receipt counts as overdue. The screen is covered in Warehouse notifications and email, and how the bell looks and works in The bell and live alerts.
2. Customer emails
They are set up on each customer’s record and go to the contacts you pick: receipt confirmed, shipment shipped, daily inventory, monthly KPI report and invoices (only when someone sends them by hand). Each contact can get everything or only some types, and the language is chosen per customer.
- Channels, checkboxes and recipients: Emails and reports to the customer.
- The two automatic reports in detail: The daily inventory and the monthly KPI report.
- Which contact type gets what as a fallback: Customer contacts and addresses.
These emails are free and do not depend on the messaging module.
3. SMS and WhatsApp
These are the only messages that cost per send, which is why they are a separate module. They go to the phone of the driver (dock assigned or changed, job completed, moves of their trailer in the yard, arrival confirmation), of visitors (invitation, reminder, arrival confirmation) and of hosts who have text messages turned on (their visitor arrived).
They are set up per warehouse under Admin › SMS / WhatsApp: master switch, which types are sent, usage caps and which country codes are allowed. See Set up SMS and WhatsApp; the driver’s whole journey is in The driver from arrival to departure.
4. Visit alerts to the host and reception
If the warehouse has the visits module, when a visitor arrives the system tells:
- The host, by email and in their bell, depending on what is turned on in their host record. If the warehouse asks for it, the host is also told when the visitor leaves, and when the visitor confirms or declines the invitation.
- Reception: the users of this warehouse with the roles picked under «Notify these roles» (Supervisor and Admin if nobody changed it), in their bell; and by email if «Also notify reception by email» is on, including the «Extra email addresses».
All of this is set up in the visitor settings, not on the warehouse notifications screen. See Visitor settings. Every send is written to the visit’s log, with the channel and whether it went out or failed.
5. Scheduled alerts
Some checks run on their own, with no settings screen:
| Check | When it runs | What it reports | To whom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lots nearing expiry | Daily, 4:00 | Lots with stock that already expired or expire within 30, 60 or 90 days | All active staff of the warehouse (needs the inventory module) |
| Late shipments | Daily, 5:00 | Shipments whose requested date has passed and that are still neither shipped nor cancelled | All active staff of the warehouse (needs the shipping module) |
| Overdue receipts | Every 15 minutes | Receipts stuck longer than allowed in a status | The roles in the alerts panel (this one does follow the settings) |
| Failed background tasks | Every 30 minutes | Emails or other processes that failed in the last hour | Only the super administrator |
6. The internal invoice copy
When someone emails an invoice to the customer, your accounting team can get a separate copy, with the subject «[Copy] Invoice …». The customer never sees those addresses. It is set up on the same screen as the alerts, in its own panel. See The internal copy of sent invoices.
Example: one day with every alert
The Principal warehouse serves Northern Trading Co. This is a Tuesday:
- 4:00 — The expiry check finds 3 lots expiring in 20 days. Ana López (supervisor) and Luis Pérez (worker) see the alert in their bell when they sign in.
- 7:00 — The daily inventory goes out to Northern Trading Co.’s two contacts (system 2).
- 9:10 — The customer sends an advance ship notice from the portal. The pending receipt is created and the bell of the ticked roles lights up live (system 1).
- 10:30 — The driver checks in at the kiosk; when dock 4 is assigned they get a WhatsApp because their phone starts with +52 (system 3).
- 11:05 — Luis finishes capturing the receipt; the «Receipt captured, awaiting review» alert goes only to supervisors and admins.
- 12:00 — A visitor arrives for Carlos Ruiz: Carlos gets an email and a bell entry; reception sees the arrival (system 4).
- 15:00 — The receipt is confirmed and the customer gets «Receipt confirmed» (system 2).
- 17:30 — Accounting sends the receipt’s invoice; the customer receives it and accounting receives its «[Copy]» (system 6).
Why an alert did not arrive
No system shows an on-screen error when it decides not to send something. That is on purpose: a warehouse that did not buy messaging would be flooded with errors. So check in order:
«My team does not get the alert in the bell»
- Is Notifications enabled on in the warehouse panel?
- Is that event type ticked?
- Does the person have, in this warehouse, one of the ticked roles? What counts is their role in this warehouse, not in another one.
- If it is «Receipt captured, awaiting review»: it only goes to supervisors and admins, even if Worker is ticked.
- Is the in-app channel ticked? If only the live channel is on, the entry appears while the screen is open and is not stored.
«The customer does not get the emails»
- Is the Email channel ticked on their Notifications tab?
- Are recipients picked, and do they accept that type of email?
- If there are no recipients, does the customer have a Billing contact with an email?
- Did they check their spam folder?
«The driver does not get the messages»
- Does the warehouse have the external notifications module?
- Is the master switch on in the messaging screen?
- Is that message type on?
- Is the phone’s country code in one of the two lists?
- Was the daily, monthly or per-phone cap reached?
- Check the log on the messaging screen: blocked messages show up there.
«The host did not know their visitor had arrived»
- Is the host active, with an email or a system user?
- Are email or bell alerts turned on in their record?
- Check the visit log: it says which channel was used and whether it failed.
«Accounting did not get the invoice copy»
- Is «Send an internal copy to accounting» on in the invoice’s warehouse?
- Does the person appear under «Recipients right now»?
- Did the invoice actually go to the customer? No customer send, no copy.
Best practices
- Before digging, ask who should have received the alert and how. That tells you which of the six systems it is.
- Set up each warehouse separately and review both screens (alerts and visits) when you open a new warehouse.
- After any change, trigger a test: a test receipt, the inventory «Send now» button or a test text message.
- Keep each person’s role right in every warehouse: almost all internal alerts are routed by that role.
Frequently asked questions
Can my team get the alerts by email?
Receipt and shipment alerts, not yet: they only reach the bell and the live feed. What your team does get by email today is visitor arrivals (to the host, and to reception if you turn on email in the visitor settings) and the internal copy of sent invoices.
Can the customer get alerts on WhatsApp?
No. The customer record has WhatsApp and SMS boxes, but they are not connected: customers only get emails. Text messages are for drivers, visitors and hosts.
Which one costs extra?
Only SMS and WhatsApp, which make up the external notifications module. The bell, customer emails, visit emails and the invoice copy are included. Which module enables what is in Modules, permissions and access.
Why does the system not tell me something was not sent?
Because «not sending» is almost always the settings doing their job: a type turned off, a customer with no contacts, a phone from a country that is not allowed. Where a trace is kept: the messaging log (SMS and WhatsApp), each visit’s log and each invoice’s email history.
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