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Building Birthday Awards Automation (Legacy)

Updated

This is a Legacy article. If you are using the current Awardco 2.0 Interface, please search for the updated version to ensure accuracy.

As a platform administrator, setting up the birthday award automation is one of the easiest ways to take a recurring task off your plate. Whether you provide a monetary award for birthdays or simply send a celebratory email, the automation will take care of it for you. As part of the automation, you can schedule a manager notification to send on or before the employee birthday to ensure the employee's manager knows about the upcoming event.

Note: If you have employees wishing to not be recognized for their birthday, they will need to follow the instructions listed in the Opting Out of Birthday Recognitions article. Once an employee opts out of birthday recognitions, admins and managers will not be able to see the employee's birthdate in their account. This action is reversible if the employee so chooses. 
 

  1. Creating a Birthday Awards Recognition Program
  2. Accessing Birthday Awards Automation
  3. Default Settings
  4. Adding/Editing Rules
  5. Launching Birthday Awards Automation
  6. Upload CSV

 

Creating a Birthday Awards Recognition Program

Before you start, create a "placeholder" recognition program. This will ensure clean reporting that accurately reflects recognitions sent through birthday awards automation. To set up a Birthday recognition program:

  1. Click the Admin button at the top right of the homepage.
  2. Go to the Settings tab.
  3. Select Create Automated Program on the Recognition Program settings page.
  4. Enter the program name (e.g., Birthdays), program type (Birthday), and Award Network (the network of redemption options available for points earned through birthdays).
  5. Click Create Program.

That's it! You’re now ready to set up the birthday automation.

 

Accessing Birthday Awards Automation

To access Birthday Awards Automation settings:

  1. Select the Admin button at the top right of the homepage
  2. Click the Settings tab
  3. Click Birthday Awards on the left hand side of the page

 

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Default Settings

Before adding new rules, you must adjust the default settings. Start configuring default settings by clicking the Default Settings button. Follow the steps below to complete the configuration. Keep in mind that these settings will apply to all birthday award rules unless overridden by the CSV upload feature.
 

General

  1. From - Select the user from which the recognition will come (this user is usually a general recognition account) or check the “From Supervisor” option to have the recognition come from each award recipient’s direct supervisor.
  2. Note - Enter a message that will be displayed with the recognition in the recognition fee. Depending on the configuration of your attached email template, this note may be sent directly to the employee’s inbox. These notes are typically kept short but it is possible to include a lengthy message in this cell. This message has a 1000 character limit.
  3. Visibility - Make this recognition visible on the social feed or private using this dropdown menu. We recommend keeping recognitions public so all birthdays can be recognized by others on the social feed.
  4. Program Name - Designate the program that the award is being submitted under using this dropdown menu. Selecting a program is optional but allows you to stay consistent in your reporting and can help restrict the awards to certain award networks. To create an automated recognition program:
    1. Go to Recognition Program Settings
    2. Click Add Automated Program
    3. Name the program, select the program type and Award Network, and click Submit.
  5. Budget - Select a budget on the dropdown menu from which points will come.


Click Save.

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Notifications

  1. Send Notification Time - Select the time the birthday notification will be sent to the recipient. The timezone for each employee will be based on their associated country code in the user file; reference this spreadsheet to know the time zone associated with each country code. Click the check box if you’d like the notifications to be sent on Saturdays and Sundays. If this is checked off and the birth date falls on a weekend, the notification will be sent on the week day before the event.
  2. Send Based on - Send the award on the user’s birthday, the Monday before the birthday, or the first day of the birthday month.
  3. Send Employee Notification - Toggle on if you’d like a notification to be sent to the birthday award recipient. Then, designate which email template will be used to notify the recipient of the recognition by selecting an email template name from the dropdown menu. Verify the email template you wish to use in the Email Templates tab in Admin Settings.
  4. Send Manager Notification - Toggle on if you’d like a notification to be sent to the birthday award recipient’s manager. Then, designate which email template will be used to notify the recipient of the recognition by selecting an email template name from the dropdown menu. Verify the email template you wish to use in the Email Templates tab in Admin Settings. Next, set the date the manager will be notified on their direct report’s upcoming birthday with the Notification Timing field. Entering “0” will send the manager notification email on the day of the recipient’s birthday.


Click Save.
 

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Exclusions

Toggle the Exclusions settings On to make certain groups or people ineligible to receive birthday awards. Then, enter individuals or metadata values ineligible for birthday awards.


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Click Save.


Adding/Editing Rules

To add a birthday award rule, click the Add Rule button. Enter the amount to be awarded. If applicable, enter a metadata value in the Eligible Metadata field to determine who is eligible for the birthday award. Click Save.


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Your saved rule will appear on the Birthday Awards automation page. Click the pencil icon to edit the rule. Select the pages icon to copy the rule. Click the trash can icon to delete the rule.


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Launching Birthday Awards Automation

To launch the Birthday Awards automation, click the Launch Now button. If you’d like the launch to be scheduled in the future, click the Schedule Launch link and select a start date.


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Anytime you’d like to deactivate the Birthday Awards automation, click Show Advanced Settings on the Birthday Awards automation page and then select Deactivate Birthday Awards.


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Upload CSV

Birthday award automation can be configured using a CSV file. To do this, click Upload CSV and download the provided template. Reference this support article to assist you with filling out and uploading the file.

 

Configuring Birthday award automation with a CSV file is especially useful if you want settings in Default Settings to vary by each birthday recognition. For example, you can assign a different sender for different meta groups, customize messages, adjust visibility, set unique budgets, and more.


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If you have any questions, please contact Awardco Admin Support.

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