Letters, the schedule, and one yahrtzeit added from start to finish.
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CMS can wish your members a happy Jewish birthday, and remind families before a yahrtzeit, all on its own. We'll set up the letters, turn the emails on, and add a yahrtzeit. Every email starts with a letter. In Settings, Communications, Letters, choose the type, Birthday. The letter marked Default is the one CMS sends, so each type, Birthday and Yahrtzeit, needs a Default letter. Open it to see the message. The highlighted fields fill in for each person: their first name, their Hebrew birthday, and the date it falls on this year. Insert field adds more. The yahrtzeit letter works the same way. It fills in who passed away, how they were related, and the Hebrew date of the yahrtzeit, along with the English date it falls on this year. Next, under Automation, open Birthday emails. Check Send birthday emails, then choose how many days before the birthday to send it, and what time of day it goes out. You can send to all members, or only to one category. And nobody gets the same year's birthday email twice. Yahrtzeit emails have the same settings. Here, they go out two days ahead. When the day falls on Shabbos or Yom Tov, the email goes out the day before. Now the people. Michael Rosen's birthday is on file, with its Hebrew date, and so is his email, where the birthday email goes. His late parents are listed under Deceased, and his father's yahrtzeit is already set up. For his mother, click the candle to set up her yahrtzeit. Enter the date of passing, and CMS fills in the Hebrew date for you. If she passed after sunset, check Passed after sunset, and the Hebrew date moves to the next day. Then add the relatives. Search for the person, choose how they're related, and check Notify, so they get the yahrtzeit email each year. Save, and the next yahrtzeit shows right on the family. On the dashboard, Upcoming Yahrtzeits lists what's coming up. Click a row to see who will be notified. Michael gets his father's yahrtzeit email two days ahead. Upcoming Birthdays does the same for birthdays. You can also send one yourself. Just click the envelope. The email opens with everything filled in: Michael's name, his Hebrew birthday, and the date it falls on. It comes from the letter, and you can change anything you like for this one email. Then click Send. If you use the Outbox, it waits there first, so it can be checked before it goes out. Every email that goes out is saved in the family's Sent Items, like the yahrtzeit reminder CMS sent Michael on its own, two days ahead. You can see when it went out, and whether it was opened. Set your letters once, turn them on under Automation, and CMS greets every member on their birthday and reminds every family of a yahrtzeit, right on time.