Setup Overview: Getting Started
Whisper is an anonymous reporting tool designed to empower your school community to report any issue to the school. It’s an extra channel of real-time information that gives you eyes on the ground and heads up on issues as they develop.
Setting up Whisper is simple, this article describes how to setup Whisper so you can start receiving intelligence from you school community.
In this Article:
Whisper Concepts
Organisation
A shared SWGfL Account container. It represents your organisation and links accounts for people in your organisation together, enabling you to share the products and services you subscribe to.
Account
An individual user account within an organisation, you use this to login.
Admins
Users in your organisation who you have given access to the Whisper system via an SWGfL Account.
Users
Members of your school community who can submit reports via the Whisper system.
Forms
A form is used by users to submit reports. Forms are accessed through a form code (e.g. “SWG1”), this code is used in the URL used to access your form via the web, and as the prefix to SMS messages.
Typically, a school will have 1 form. MATs who wish to manage multiple school reports or inbox permissions centrally will typically have 1 form per school.
Forms can be customised with your school brand and text information.
Inboxes
An inbox receives reports. You can have multiple inboxes to receive different types of reports (e.g. safeguarding or health and safety).
Reports
Reports are submitted by users through a channel such as via your web form or via SMS using your form code. Users will choose which category of report they are submitting which will determine which inbox their report lands in, and which admins are notified.
Reports submitted via SMS will be delivered to the first inbox in the list attached to the form the report is submitted through.
Messages
After a report is submitted, Messages can be exchanged between admins and the user who submitted the report.
Permissions
There are two types of permission within the Whisper system, the first is Account Permissions and the second is Inbox Permissions.
Account Permissions can be set as one of two types: Organisation Admin and Organisation User. Organisation Admins can manage accounts, product configurations, and purchases. Organisation Users can only access products and personal configurations.
Only Organisation Admins can configure Whisper
Inboxes have permissions which can be set by Organisation Admins, this determines which Admins can see which inboxes (and thus reports) and enables them to receive notifications when Users post new reports or messages.
Anonymous
In the context of Whisper, anonymous means that Admins with Inbox Permissions will not have access to the email address, telephone number, IP address, location, or submission channel of any user who submits a report through the Whisper system.
Users may choose to give you their name or any other personal information or personal information of others within the context of their message but this is not technically required for the system to function.
Users may choose not to enter their email address when submitting a report – they can still read your response messages, but will not get email notifications. Any messages sent via SMS will reveal the senders telephone number to the system, but this is only available to the system for the purpose of sending responses.
Quick Start Guide
In order to use Whisper you will need to have an account with us. If you already have an account, you can access Whisper along with any other services we offer by clicking on your profile image and selecting Account.
After selecting, Account, you will be taken to the following screen, where you can select, ‘Access’ or ‘Try for Free’ if you are eligible for a free trial.
Upon clicking, you will be taken to a screen to confirm your service subscription. Select the relevant package from the drop down menu, agree to the terms of Service and click the button to continue. You will then be returned to your Account section and will notice that the text on the button now reads ‘Access’ and a subscription expiry date will be displayed alongside it.
Clicking ‘Access’ will take you to the Whisper Reporting Dashboard. From here select ‘Setup Wizard’ to get started.
Setup Wizard
The Setup Wizard will guide you through the setup process in 5 simple steps and whilst it is very user friendly, it may help you to understand some of the context in relation to steps 2 and 4. These steps of the wizard are key to setting up Whisper correctly.
Step 2 of 5
On this step you will create the form which end users of the service will complete to submit reports to your default Whisper inbox. You will be asked to create your form by adding a title, subheading and logo. As this is what the end users will see, be sure to use an appropriate title and subheading.
You will also notice there is a ‘Config’ tab on this screen. This defaults to recommended settings, however, these settings can be amended.
The Config tab consists of 2 fields:
- SMS Code
- Data Retention Policy
SMS Code
The SMS code is what end users of the service will need to enter in the message body when raising an issue via text message for the first time. This will be automatically generated for you, but you may wish to amend it to something more memorable, given its importance. If users fail to enter the correct SMS code when sending their initial text, the message will be lost. If you wish to change it you should do so now, as it is harder to communicate the change once the service has been promoted to your community.
Data Retention Policy
Simply select a timeframe in line with your data retention policy from the drop down list.
Step 4 of 5
This step involves creating an inbox within Whisper. When an end user submits a report via a form, it will be sent to the assigned inbox. In this step, we would recommend you enter 'Default' as the title field for your first inbox. Next, assign a form to the inbox and grant access to your team members who require it.
The Setup Wizard is only used once to create a form and connect a default inbox. Should you subsequently wish to make edits to your form or reconfigure your inbox set up, you can access these settings directly from the Whisper Reporting Dashboard.
Forms, Inboxes and Setup Wizard menu options, are only visible to 'Organisational Admins'
It is possible to create additional forms in certain circumstances, however, generally, one form is all that is required, as reporting flows can be managed by creating additional inboxes and assigning users accordingly. When additional inboxes are added to Whisper, a student/end user, can choose where to submit their report to, as an additional field will automatically be added to the reporting form, which reads, 'Send Somewhere Specific?'. This drop down field will reveal all the available inboxes, so it's important to use meaningful names when configuring them. The Organisational Admin can decide who should have access to a particular inbox and assign individuals accordingly.
Editing Your Form
Once you have created your fist form with the Setup Wizard, you can make edits to it by select the 'Forms' icon on the Whisper Reporting Dashboard. Here you can edit form details such as the title, subheading, logo and background colour.
The Content tab enables you to enter copy that will appear above the form when users first arrive, you can use this to communicate how reports will be handled, or you can leave it blank. The second box of content is displayed when the user has submitted a report, again this can be used to communicate how reports are handled, this content is required and there is a default message provided.
Managing Inboxes
Once you have created your fist inbox with the Setup Wizard, you can add additional inboxes or change settings by selecting the 'Inboxes' icon on the Whisper Reporting Dashboard.
Only people who have an SWGfL Account can be given permission to access Inboxes. You will need to add the relevant people through the User Manager before assigning Inbox Permissions.
Promoting the use of Whisper within your Community
Now that your form is working and you have setup who will receive reports, you can do the most important part – tell your community the service is available!
To help you we have built a Poster Generator. Generate posters with just one click and display them around your school. Simply select the 'Poster Generator' icon from the Whisper Reporting Dashboard and generate a customised poster with all the key information for end users to submit their reports. It will also be branded with the same logo and colour options you selected when you created your form.
You should also promote the service through your own channels such as via assemblies to your pupils, in newsletters to parents, by posting an article on your website, and through social media.
For more tips on how to promote your Whisper service to your community, read: