Automatic reminders are triggered and sent based on reminder rules. You can create reminder rules for examination services, vaccinations, blood work, various diagnostics, routine injections, or other professional services. A reminder for the next due service is then automatically triggered by the rule conditions, and sent to the client according to the defined sending schedule.

It is important that reminder rules are specific enough to be relevant to the service, but not too specific so that the scenario never applies. Also make sure to define your reminder rules so that there are no overlapping or duplicate templates which may cause unnecessary confusion.

Create an Automatic Reminder

1. Add a new reminder rule and define the triggering settings.

1. Go to Settings > Items & Lists > Reminders > Automatic reminder creation rules section and select + Add.
2. Add a Name for the reminder rule.
3. Select the Reminder template you want to use for the reminder messages to clients.
4. For Trigger reminder creation in, select whether the reminder is created through consultations, counter sales, or both.
5. For Trigger reminder creation when, select whether the reminder is created when an item defined in rule conditions is added or when the consultation or counter sale invoice is finalised.
6. Select the Send method: email, SMS, post, or external. You can use the 'post' option as an internal reminder to contact the client in some other way, for example, by phone. If you use an integrated third-party service for sending reminders, select the 'external' option.
7. In Set reminder expiry/due date after, define how many days after the trigger the service is due.
8. In Send before, define how many days before the expiry date a reminder is sent to the client.
9. In Create reminder if, select if the reminder should be created only if all or if any of the defined conditions are met.
10. To activate the rule, select the Active checkbox. 

2. Define the reminder rule conditions.

You must define at least one condition for the rule. To add a new condition, select + Add and define the following options for each condition:

• • Condition that triggers the reminder: item, patient species, patient age in months, consultation diagnosis, or number of consultations for the patient.
  • Comparison operator: depends on the selected condition.
  • Value for the condition: for example, a vaccination item, or 'cat' as the patient species.

For example, 'Item' 'in' 'Procedure: Exam, annual' will send a reminder to a client when their pet is due for an annual exam. See more rule examples.

To remove a condition, select the the trash bin button at the end of the condition row.

3. Link other rules that this rule overrides.

To avoid sending duplicate reminders, you can link other reminder rules that are considered duplicates of this rule in the Overridden rules field. This reminder rule then overrides the other rules.

The Overridden by field shows if this rule is overridden by some other rule(s).

For example: A rabies vaccine can be valid for 1 year or 3 years, and a patient receives a vaccine that is valid for 3 years. If you use the same vaccination procedure item for both, the 3 year reminder rule should override the 1 year reminder rule and you would add the 1 year rule in the Overridden rules field for the 3 year rule. The 1 year reminder rule would then show the 3 year rule in the Overridden by field.

See also Vaccine Reminders.

4. Save the automatic reminder rule.

When finished, select Save.

The rule is added for the currently active department. To view all rules from all departments, select the empty option from the Department list at the top of the Items & lists - Reminders section.

To edit or delete automatic reminder rules, select the pen or trash bin button at the end of the rule row. 

See examples of reminder email and SMS messages that a client would receive.