Bulk letters

Occasionally, it is necessary to send letters to a group of alarm users.  Maybe you want to notify a group of a class, or that you are forgiving the alarms that occurred on a certain day(don't hold your breath on that one happening in my area : ). The Process Bulk Letters function found in the File menu (see below) is probably the easiest way to do this in CryWolf®.  I must confess that I used this technique for months to send single letters also.  Of course, you can successfully send one letter this way, but this technique is better suited to sending letters to multiple accounts with just a few clicks of the mouse.

The Bulk Letters window has three tabs: General Search, Based on Outstanding Amounts, and Letter Received.  Today, we will focus on the "Letter Received" tab because it is the one that I have used the most.  On this tab, it is possible to search for all accounts that have recieved a certain letter (red arrow).  If the date range (green circle) can be narrowed, the matching accounts will be reduced making it easier to find the accounts needed.  Don't overlook the Options pull down menu (pink arrow) that lets you further narrow the field by Any Date, Date Sent, Action Date, etc.

Once the selections have been made, simply click the Search button (red arrow below) and any accounts that meet the criteria will appear in the Matched box (blue circle).  In the example, I searched for accounts who received the letter titled "Inspection Required" within the selected date range. After clicking the Search button, one account appears in the Matched box (because I set it up that way--I can't let you see real accounts don't you know). Please note that the names of the letters that appear in the example will not necessarily be the letters in your system since CryWolf® allows each jurisdiction to create their own letters.

To move the accounts to which you want to send a letter, simply double click on them or click once on them and use the selection buttons in the center of the screen (green circle below). The single carat moves one account at a time, the double carat moves all of the accounts.  If you add the wrong account the lower carats will send them back to the matched box. Once the accoutns have been selected, use the Letters to Send pull down menu (red arrow below) to choose the correct letter. I have chosen the letter "Revoked reg-no inspection" to be sent to the selected accounts (red arrow). Note that the charge associated with this letter as set up in the Letters section of Maintenance appears in the Charge box (blue arrow) and can be modified as needed.

To send the letter, simply click the Ok button (pink arrow). The letters will appear in the Outstanding Correspondence menu shown below.

This has been just a brief overview of this tab.  Be sure to examine the other features available to assist in your search. The other tabs of the Bulk Letters screen will be discussed in future editions.  Tune in next Thursday for a discussion of how to send just one letter to a particular account.