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Data Guidelines

Here are some guidelines for data that resides in your PackMaster database.

Scouts & Adults

  • All names (scout, parent, and adult) must be unique. Use middle initials and suffixes if necessary to make sure all names are unique. Note: some versions of PackMaster do not export middle initials/suffixes for Adults - use middle initial and suffixes in the Scout record.
  • The UserID will be automatically generated as <first name><1st letter middle><last name><suffix>.
  • Do not use co-leaders for dens. Pick one as primary and one as assistant.
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TroopMaster and PackMaster

The TroopMaster and PackMaster Import features will save alot of typing time by pulling account, roster, and achievement data directly from your TM/PM database to populate your website automatically.

These features will

  • Create a website account for each scout, parent, and adult
  • Group scouts together into Patrols
  • Link scouts and parents in child/parent relationships
  • Assign leadership positions to both scouts and parents/adults
  • Create, update, and remove members upons subsequent imports
  • Associate achievement information with individual scouts
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Multiple Email Addresses & All Members option

The Email upgrades we released at the end of January are performing well and we are ready to release the next batch of updates.

The feedback from the last release was very positive. Within this feedback we received overwhelming requests for two email features. We decided to complete development of these features and release them prior to moving on to Automated Email Lists and EBlast features.

We are pleased to announce immediate availability of the following upgrades and new features.

Multiple Email Addresses

Unit members can now have multiple (up to 3) email addresses per member account !

By soar at 2008-02-19 05:27 | read more

Limitations

There are a few limitations to Email Lists that you should be aware of.

  • List Names need to be all lower case and should not include characters other than a-z.
  • List Names cannot be longer than 24 characters
  • Email messages to Email Lists cannot be larger than 6MB. It is better to put a file in the Files section of your website and send a link to it.
  • Email messages to Email Lists cannot contain more than 20 recipients, i.e. the TO or CC lines. The email system is designed to treat such emails as SPAM and reject them.


Authorized Senders

The meaning of the Authorized Senders list for each Email list is dependant upon the EMail List type.

Public

  • No Authorized Senders are required
  • No Global Senders are required
  • Anyone, including non unit members, can send email to this list type

Member

  • List Members are already authorized to send email, no need to add them to Authorized Senders
  • Global Senders are already authorized
  • Add any specific members that are not List Members or Global Senders

Restricted

  • List Members are not authorized to send email
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List Members

List Members are those unit members who will receive email sent to the Email List. You can add/remove List Members from an individual Email list from the Email List page.

If a unit member has multiple email addresses defined, email from the Email List will be sent to ALL of their email addresses.

You should add a unit member to appropriate Email Lists if they have an email address defined or not. If you add unit members without email addresses now to the proper Email Lists, when you add an email address for that member they will immediately start receiving email from that list. No need to update the Email List.

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Return Address Types

When creating Email Lists you can also control the display of whom the message is coming from and what happens when a unit member replies to an email message from an Email list.

The following Return Address Types are available for your use.

Sender

    This is the default

  • This is the standard behavior you will experience with the majority of email you receive
  • Email is shown coming from the original sender of the message

Email List

  • All mail is displayed as coming from the email address of the Email List
  • This protects the email address of the original sender

Other

  • With this option you can define the display of an email address where email comes from
  • This protects the email address of the original sender
  • Care should be taken to use a valid email address for this option
  • Email Alias and Email List addresses SHOULD NOT be used for this option

The exact details of how each option works is described in the following table.

Sender Email List Other
Who does email come from? Original Sender Email List Defined Address
Where does email go with Reply? Original Sender Email List Defined Address
Where does email go with Reply All? Original Sender

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List Types

When creating an Email List, you have options on which type of list you would like to create. The default is Member list type and will meet most of your needs.

The following List Types are available for your use.

Restricted

  • Anyone on the Member List will receive email, but they cannot send email to the list
  • A separate Authorized Senders list defines who can send to the list
  • Global Senders can also send email to the list

List Member

  • This is the default List Type
  • Anyone on the Members List will receive email AND can send email to the list
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Privacy and SPAM

Email Lists has been designed to protect privacy of the individuals and to protect against SPAM.

Privacy

When sending an email message to an Email List, the email addresses of those receiving the message are never displayed. There is also a setting to protect the email address of the individual sending the messages as well - see Return Address Types.

SPAM

SPAM is a huge issue on the Internet today. Email Lists are designed to protect against SPAM by only allow messages through that are authorized. So even if a SPAMMER finds the email address for an Email List and sends SPAM to your Email List - it will not be forwarded on to unit members.

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General Operation

Each Email List is a valid email address that can be used from anywhere on the Internet - the same way your own personal email address is used. The power of this approach comes from the fact that unit members only need to remember a single address to reach many people. Also, the people on the list may change over time but the email address remains the same.

The following is a sequence of events for how Email Lists are used

  1. A unit member opens their email client
  2. A new email message is opened
  3. They type the Email List address (i.e. leaders@pack123.com) into the To field of the new message
  4. They complete their message and click the send button
  5. The messages travels over the Internet to our servers
  6. We validate that the email address the message is sent from is authorized to send email to the list
    • If the email address is authorized, the message goes through
    • If the email address is not authorized but is a list member, they receive a non authorized return message
    • If the email address is not authorized and is not a list member, the message is discarded and no return email is sent. This is to protect against SPAM.
  7. Our servers apply the Email List settings to the email message - see Return Address Types
  8. Our servers forward the email message to each email address for List Members of the list
  9. Any undelivered or bounce messages are sent to the List Owner
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