Notifications
How in-app alerts and email notifications work, and what you can control
Notifications keep you informed about things that need your attention -- without having to check every page yourself. TurfWise has two notification systems: the notification bell in the top bar (for in-app alerts) and email notifications that you configure in Settings.
Notification bell in the top bar showing unread count
This article refers to a live TurfWise screen. Media is omitted here so the written steps stay current across releases.
What this page does
The Notifications settings page lets you control which email alerts you receive. Right now, the only configurable email notification is Training Certification Alerts -- a weekly summary of staff certifications that are about to expire.
The in-app notification bell works automatically. You don't need to configure it -- it shows relevant alerts as they happen.
When you would use this
- You want to turn training certification email alerts on or off
- You're getting emails you don't want (or not getting ones you expected)
- You want to understand what the bell icon in the header does
- You need to clear old notifications from your bell dropdown
The two notification systems
The notification bell (in-app)
You'll see a bell icon in the top-right corner of every page. When something needs your attention, a red badge appears showing how many unread notifications you have.
Click the bell to open a dropdown showing your recent notifications. Each one has a title, a short message, and a timestamp. Clicking a notification marks it as read and takes you to the relevant page (for example, clicking an attendance alert takes you to the attendance page).
You can also:
- Mark all as read -- clears the unread badge without deleting anything
- Delete individual notifications -- removes them from your list
- Clear all -- removes everything
The bell checks for new notifications every 60 seconds and whenever you open the dropdown.
What triggers in-app notifications?
Currently, in-app notifications cover leave requests, sick reports, and attendance alerts (missed clock-ins, overdue clock-outs, unusually long shifts). These are generated automatically based on system events -- you don't need to configure them.
Email notifications
Email notifications are configured on the Notifications settings page. Currently, only one type is available:
Training Certification Alerts -- a weekly email sent every Monday at 7am. It lists staff certifications expiring within 30 days, sorted by urgency:
- Critical (red): expiring within 14 days
- Warning (amber): expiring in 14-30 days
This helps managers stay ahead of compliance deadlines without having to manually check expiry dates.
How to configure email notifications
Open Notifications settings
Go to Settings, then click the Notifications card. Or go directly to /settings/notifications.
Find the Training Certification Alerts toggle
Under the Active Notifications section, you'll see a card for Training Certification Alerts. It shows the delivery channel (email) and the schedule (every Monday at 7am).
Toggle it on or off
Use the switch on the right side of the card to enable or disable these alerts. The change saves immediately -- you'll see a brief saving indicator.
Don't disable training alerts unless someone else has them on
If you're the only manager receiving these alerts, turning them off means nobody will be warned about expiring certifications. Make sure at least one responsible person has them enabled.
What about SMS and push notifications?
You'll notice cards for SMS Alerts and Push Notifications on the settings page, both marked as Coming Soon. These are planned features and are not yet available. Don't worry about them for now.
Similarly, you'll see a Planned Alert Categories section listing future notification types:
- Staff Alerts
- Weather Warnings
- Machinery Maintenance
- Inventory Low Stock
These are on the roadmap but not yet functional. The toggles next to them are disabled.
Common problems and fixes
I'm not receiving the Monday training email
Check three things:
- Make sure the toggle is switched on in your notification settings
- Check your spam or junk folder -- email filters sometimes catch automated messages
- Confirm you have certifications with expiry dates recorded against staff in TurfWise. If no certifications are due to expire within 30 days, the email won't send because there's nothing to report
The bell icon shows a count but no notifications appear
Try refreshing the page. If the count persists after refresh, the notifications may have loaded from a previous session. Click the bell and use Clear all to reset.
I cleared all notifications but the badge came back
New notifications arrive automatically. If new events happen (like a leave request or attendance alert), the badge will reappear. This is normal.
I don't see the notification bell at all
The bell appears in the top navigation bar on every page. If you can't see it, your screen may be too narrow -- try scrolling the top bar or switching to landscape on a tablet.
Good habits that prevent issues later
- Keep training certification alerts on if you're a manager or head greenkeeper. Missing a certification expiry can cause compliance problems that are harder to fix after the fact.
- Clear your in-app notifications regularly. A long list of old alerts makes it harder to spot the ones that matter now.
- Check the bell when you first log in each morning. It takes five seconds and can flag things that happened overnight, like a sick report or a missed clock-in.
Where this fits in TurfWise
Notifications connect to several other parts of TurfWise:
- Training certification alerts pull expiry data from staff qualification records (managed under People > Training Compliance)
- In-app attendance alerts come from the attendance and clock-in system
- Leave and sickness alerts come from absence management
If notification data looks wrong, the issue is usually in the source data (a missing certification expiry date, an incorrect clock-in time) rather than in the notification settings themselves.
Where to find it
- Notification bell: always visible in the top-right corner of every page
- Notification settings: Settings > Notifications, or go directly to
/settings/notifications