# Staff Milestone Notifications

Source: https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/notifications/staff-milestone-notifications

> Receive email or in-app alerts for upcoming staff milestones based on each team member's start date.

Astalty Premium - This feature is part of the Astalty Premium plan. See What Premium includes.

## Overview

Create a [Staff Milestone Notification](https://app.astalty.com.au/notifications/staff-milestones) to remind selected people when a team member reaches a set point in their employment or an annual anniversary. Astalty calculates each milestone from the **Employment Start Date** on the team member's profile and can send the reminder by email, within Astalty, or both.

Staff Milestones is in the **Team** group on the Notifications page. Only Admins can manage these notifications. This can't be changed per user.

> **Prerequisites**
>
> Before enabling Notifications, make sure each staff member has an **Employment Start Date** on their profile. Users without one are never included. See [Updating Employment Start and End Date](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/users/updating-users#updating-employment-start-and-end-date).

## Create a Staff Milestone Notification

On the Staff Milestone Notifications page, click **Create Notification**. A new notification starts at 7 days after the start date, with **Within Astalty** and **Email** both ticked.

![The Staff Milestone Notifications page with no notifications yet, and the Create Notification button highlighted at the top right.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/stnotcrea.png)

![The Create Staff Milestone Notification drawer with Reference Date set to Start Date, Period 7 and Period unit days after their start date, above the Notification email section and its Email Preview.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/stnotconfig.png)

### Selecting the Reference Date

Choose the **Reference Date**:

| Reference Date       | Sends                                                                                                                                  |
| -------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Start Date**       | Once, a set number of days, weeks or months after the staff member's employment start date. Useful for probation or 3-month check-ins. |
| **Anniversary Date** | Every year, on or a set time before the anniversary of their employment start date.                                                    |

![The Create Staff Milestone Notification drawer with the Reference Date drop-down open and highlighted, offering Start Date and Anniversary Date.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/refperiod.png)

### Selecting the Notification Period

The timing options depend on the Reference Date.

If you have selected **Start Date** as the reference you will have the following selections:

- **days after their start date**
- **weeks after their start date**
- **months after their start date**

![The Create Staff Milestone Notification drawer with Reference Date set to Start Date and the Period unit drop-down open, listing days, weeks and months after their start date.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/start-date-period.png)

If you have selected **Anniversary Date** as the reference you will have the following selections:

- **on the day**
- **days before their anniversary**
- **weeks before their anniversary**
- **months before their anniversary**

![The Create Staff Milestone Notification drawer with Reference Date set to Anniversary Date and the Period unit drop-down open, listing on the day, and days, weeks and months before their anniversary.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/anni-period-unit.png)

Once you have selected the period unit, enter the **Period** (1 to 365). The field is disabled for **on the day**.

Astalty checks once a day, at about 9:30am Brisbane time. Deactivated users are skipped. For month-based timing, a start date on a day the target month doesn't have (such as the 31st) is matched on that month's last day.

### Notification Email Content

Add up to 1,000 characters of optional content. The **Email Preview** shows where your content appears below Astalty's standard message.

For a milestone due today, the email and in-app notification use **Staff Milestone** followed by the team member's name. An advance anniversary reminder uses **Upcoming Employment Milestone** instead. The standard message gives the milestone date and the tenure the team member reaches on that date. A notification sent on their employment start date says that it is their first day. The email includes your optional content and a **View User** button, while the in-app notification links to the team member's profile.

![The highlighted Notification email section of the Create Staff Milestone Notification drawer, with an Email Preview headed Upcoming Anniversary, an empty editor for your own content, and the standard sign-off from Astalty.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/notififcation-for-milestones.png)

### Notification Recipients

Select at least one recipient: one or more [User Groups](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/settings/users-settings/user-groups), or individual **Users**. Every group is offered, including **Support Worker** and **All Users**.

![The Notification recipients section of the Create Staff Milestone Notification drawer, with the User Groups drop-down open and highlighted, listing groups such as admin, manager, NSW Team, QLD Team and team member.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/milestone-user-guroups.png)

### Notification Type

Choose how the notification is sent: **Email**, **Within Astalty**, or both. At least one is required.

![The Create Staff Milestone Notification drawer with Notification methods highlighted and both Within Astalty and Email ticked, below a User selected under Notification recipients.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/notiofication-methods.png)

## Editing a Staff Milestone Notification

The list shows each notification's timing under **When**, its **Delivery** methods and its **Recipients**. Click a row, or click the 3 dots to the right of the entry and select **Edit**, to open the notification. The same menu has **Clone**, to start a new notification from this one, and **Delete**.

![The Staff Milestone Notifications list with one notification set to 7 days before the staff member's anniversary, with Astalty and Email methods and one User recipient. Markers show the three dot menu, 1, and its Edit option, 2.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/edit.png)