Reallocate to other staff member

This page provides a number of communication functions:
– Reallocate a question to another reference staff member and send them an email to advise them of the reallocation, or reallocate to the unallocated questions pool.  Click here here for more information about the Reallocate function.
– Email this answer to anyone to send the question text, answer text, and any attachments to the current question to email addresses that you specify. Click here here for more information about the Email this answer to anyone communication screen.
– Call for assistance to send an email to selected staff member(s) requesting assistance in relation to this question.  Click here  here for more information about the Call for assistance screen.
– Allocated staff member communication to send an email to the staff member allocated the question. Click here here for more information about the Allocated staff member communication screen.

The reallocation function also provides a handy indication of which other staff members are currently logged into RefTracker.

Using this screen

Question summary:
At the top of the screen a short summary of this question is provided so that you can be sure you are working on the right question. According to the function you are using it will show some or all of the following information about the question that the function will operate on:
– the Question, and any attachment/s submitted with the question, together with a “Manage question attachments” link that allows more client attachments to be added, or existing ones to be removed
– a summary of any Item information in relation to this question (as defined for this request form),
– the Answer if one has previously been provided, and
– the Assigned staff member.

Reclassification:
Request type: the ability to change the Request type associated with this question so that it appears in the correct pool.
Staff location: the ability to change the Staff location associated with this question so that it appears in the correct pool.

Reallocation:
Reason for reallocation: The text you insert here will be provided to the staff member to whom you are reallocating this question, so here is where you include any instructions to the staff member, as well as your reason for referring e.g. “Can you handle this please. The client is coming in at 3pm tomorrow and I will not be available at that time.”
The email to the staff member to whom you have reallocated the question automatically includes your name, so there is no need for you to add it to your instructions.
Note that this is a QuickText enabled field so text could be automatically inserted into it by QuickText, or if you double click in this field there could be standard QuickText available for insertion from a subwindow by simply double clicking on the most appropriate text.
Reallocate to: Choose the staff member to whom you wish to reallocate the problem by checking the button next to their name, or choose to reallocate to the pool, by checking the box labelled “Reallocate to pool”, above the list of staff members.
For each staff member the following information is provided in order to assist you with choosing who to reallocate the question to:
Name: A symbol (usually a head and shoulders) will appear at the end of a staff member’s name if they are currently singed in to RefTracker. You may get a faster response by selecting a staff member currently logged into RefTracker, but all staff reallocated a question using this screen will be promptly notified via an email.
Avail: A symbol is used to indicate whether this staff member is currently accepting new questions, or not. Usually the symbol will be a page with a pen if the staff member is accepting questions (Available), and a page with a cross in a red dot, if the staff member is not available (Unavailable) to accept new questions. Although you can reallocate a question to a person who is currently unavailable, you should consider whether they will be able to respond within the objective response time, before proceeding with the reallocation – a warning that you can override is displayed as a reminder that this should be considered.
Q#: This is the number of ongoing questions currently allocated to this staff member, and may serve as an indication of how busy they are.  Supervisors and Administrators can click this number to see details of those questions – a big help in establishing just how busy each staff member is before allocating them more work.
Specialties: This indicates areas of interest of this staff member outside of the normal day to day activity of this library.
Preferred request type: This indicates any request type of particular interest to this staff member.

Email notification to: If you are reallocating a question currently allocated to someone other than yourself or the unallocated pool, the system will offer you the option of sending an email to the currently allocated staff member to advise them that they no longer need to work on this question. Un-check the box if you do not want an email sent. You may not wish to send an advisory email to the allocated person if, for instance, the person is unexpectedly away for a period.

When you are happy with the information that you have provided about this reallocation/reclassification, click on the Save/Send button. The database will be updated to reflect the newly allocated person, the newly allocated librarian will be sent an email asking them to address this question, and the previously allocated person will be sent an email telling that they no longer need to work on this question (if you have chosen to have this email sent).

Email this answer to anyone:

Use this function to send the question text, answer text, and any attachments to the current question to the email address(es) that you specify. Optionally you can add a message that adds further information or explains the relevance of what is being sent.
Enter the email address(es) that you want the information sent to, any message that you want to add (note that this message field is QuickText enabled), then click on Send a email to send your message as an email (the format of the email is controlled by a template provided by your system administrator). The standard template does not automatically provide any information that identifies you (the staff member sending the information).

Allocated staff member communication:

Use this function to send an email to the staff member currently allocated this question.
Enter your message to them in the “Instructions to staff field” – note that this field is QuickText enabled, then click on Send a email to send your message as an email that automatically includes your name and contact information.