parent communication management

[browolf]

1600 pupils and heads of year who use their own mailboxes for communications with parents, worked fine for years until 2 are off for a period and no one can access their emails.

 

There's nothing good in office anymore since shared mailboxes are now intended to be archives not working mailboxes and email groups are limited.

 

I have suggested rethinking the whole department as a helpdesk - I reckon this would work pretty well with the free version of freshdesk but I think this idea is a bit far out.

 

This seems like a situation that someone else would have made some software for. Iris parentmail sounds possible but also covers a lot of ground that is being done differently / unrelated to this problem, anyone use this or other solutions?

Edited November 22, 2023 by browolf

[psydii]

Shared mailboxes are still a thing? You don't have to create a full blown Team for the purpose. (indeed this scenario and many others like it are poorly served by the 365 unified group set up, even though having a Team attached would be a great idea)

 

Also delegated access to mailboxes are also a thing that can and, in the scenario where there is an absence and a deputy/2ic needs to step in, should be done.

[jthompson]

Ideally you need to be using a dedicated tool that integrates with your MIS so as to use 'correct' contact details of parents, logging of comms, etc. rather than sending/replying ad-hoc from individual staff mailboxes. Especially where bulk messaging is concerned.

 

For heads of year, it's sensible to assume that some degree of direct emailing with parents is going to be necessary. If a shared, generic mailbox for that year team is not being used for this, then delegated access to that staff member's mailbox would be needed to account for days when they're on leave.

[fiza]

We use Edulink to email parents. Edulink can do loads more too. https://www.overnetdata.com/edulink-one/.

[browolf]

Microsoft ruined shared mailboxes in new outlook but putting them inside "shared with me" and you can't add the inbox to favourites. 2 clicks to check if there's any new mail.

[jthompson]

In Gmail, delegated mailboxes are two clicks away also, but can sit there through the day as a separate tab.

[psydii]

In Outlook [on the web], delegated mailboxes are [also] two clicks away, but can sit there through the day as a separate tab.