Chat for school leaders: Manage your Chat feature in the module

This article walks through the Chat module in the Finalsite CMS, including how to view communication metrics in the Overview dashboard and how to manage chat rooms, direct messages, members, and settings from the Chats explorer.

To manage your Chat module, navigate to Mobile Apps in the module menu, and click on Chat in the left menu. 

Overview: View reporting and metrics

When first landing in the Chat module, you'll see the Overview tab opened by default. The reporting available in this area gives you a quick overview, ensuring secure access for district admins only, using role-based control to protect sensitive data.

• Modular design allows for easy addition of new metrics. It scales efficiently with growing data.
• Real-time updates and a manual refresh option keep the data current and actionable.

This dashboard is your gateway to understanding and optimizing chat activity across your district. Get ready to dive into the data and make impactful decisions with ease!

Adjust the filter to change the date range of your reporting to take a snapshot, viewing such metrics as total messages sent, reported and reviewed messages, user counts, chat room activity, and user bans/unbans. 

In the Overview area, adjust the date range filter to view the following data your date range:

Message delivery data

• Total number of messages sent.
• Reported messages, with a color chart displaying Reviewed, Automatically moderated, AI moderated, and Manually moderated messages. 
• Reviewed messages, also displaying on a color chart as Reviewed, Hidden, Blocked, and Unreported messages.

User and chat room data:

• Total active users (minus deactivated and deleted users)
• Total active chat rooms (minus deleted)
• Banned users and Unbanned users

Usage data:

• Number of chat rooms created (minus inactive and deleted rooms)
• Total messages sent
• Active users
• Flagged messages
• AI-moderated messages
• Manually moderated messages
• Direct conversations

Ideal sending timeframe

• Customizable filters: Easily view chat statistics for specific timeframes, including daily, weekly, monthly, and custom date ranges.
• Intuitive interface: The filtering function is designed to be user-friendly, providing accurate data for the selected period.

Graphical data

• Interactive charts and graphs: Visualize each metric with clear, interactive charts and graphs, making data analysis and trend identification straightforward.
• Quick assessments: Quickly assess chat usage patterns with visually appealing and easy-to-understand graphical representations.

Message moderation: Moderate the entire chat environment

To learn more about how message moderation works, check out the article, "Chat for school leaders: Moderate your chat feature."

Chats explorer: View and monitor communication

Click to open up Chats explorer in the menu bar.

Manage communication in Chat rooms

Select a chat room in the left navigation panel to view the selected communication in the larger middle panel. Choose to Show or Hide members in the right panel.

• Left Navigation:
  • Toggle between Chats and Messages, searching by Chat name or Message name to find what you're looking for. 
• Center / Main panel:
  • Select a chat room to display all of its communication, scroll to catch up. 
• Right panel  
  • + Create chat room: This button allows you to create a new chat room.

  • Want to close a chat room? Click Archive chat room or Archive selected chat rooms. Once opened, select which room or rooms you'd like to archive and to no longer see.

    Important Note

    Only manually created rooms can be archived. System rooms will be automatically archived at the end of the year. This action is permanent and cannot be undone.

  • Show/Hide members: View all members in the right-hand column or click button to collapse or close the right panel to have a wider message viewing panel.
  • Need to take action? In the Right hand members panel, hover over a certain member until you see a vertical 3-dot menu where you can: block, remove member from chat room, or delete users altogether. Navigate to the Message moderation tab to manage your moderation tasks. 
  • Need to add someone to a chat room? Click the Add members button.

Manage communication in Direct Messages

Select a direct message in the left navigation panel to view the selected communication in the main panel.

• Right panel (Show/Hide members) 
  • Want to remove a Direct message communication? Click Archive chat room. Once opened, select which room or rooms you'd like to archive and to no longer see.
  • Curious about who is in which communication instance and what their role is? View all members in the right-hand column.
  • Need to take action? In the Right hand members panel, hover over a certain member until you see a vertical 3-dot menu where you can: block, remove member from chat room, or delete users altogether. Navigate to the Message moderation tab to manage your moderation tasks. 
  • Report and complete moderation tasks within the conversation panel. 

View members within your selected communication

The right column displays the names and roles of all members in that selected communication. 

Members: Manage all users and roles

Once you have worked with our support or implementation team to add your people into the system, you can now manage them from the Members tab. To view membership, open the Chat feature by first opening up Mobile Apps from the module menu. Click on the Members tab to see a list of all members.        

Here are all of the different tasks you can do from the Members tab: 

• Filter by chat role and/or location to populate only that selection in the list.
• Add members manually to appear in the Members tab or Delete with the trash can icon.
• Adjust the Chat role level of that member.

Learn more about chat roles in the article, "Chat for school leaders: Assign chat roles, create rooms, and manage members."

Settings: Configure chat and message settings

As you continue to become familiar with the Chats platform, you may want to adjust some of the settings that define how chat rooms and direct messaging are structured and managed for your community. 

In the Settings tab you can: 

• Customize chat room behavior by setting display names, posting permissions, and participant visibility
• Control direct messaging between students, parents, and teachers based on role-specific permissions
• Manage attachments by allowing or restricting photo and file sharing in chats and messages
• Define participant roles to group users and assign moderation or posting access (role changes require support)
• Set visibility boundaries so users see contacts only within their school or across the district

Learn more in the article, "Chat for school leaders: Configure your chat environment settings." You can even find help with some example scenarios configuring who can initiate Direct Messages.