Introduction

Notifications are an excellent way of giving users external reminders to open the app. While intrinsic motivation to use the app is always preferred, in the early days of usage, external motivation is usually required to build the habit of usage. One scalable form of doing so is by using notifications.

Mobile push notifications overview

The following section primarily deals with setting up of mobile push notifications (specifically on Android, for now).

Mobile notifications - Overall Process Workflow

1. As a user, I install the application and launch it.
2. The device registers with Sunbird servers to receive notifications from the latter. Any permissions needed to enable this are requested from the user.
3. The device requests to listen on particular topics, to receive broadcast notifications.
4. Whenever the Sunbird instance wishes to broadcast notifications to a topic, all devices subscribed to it are informed.
5. Whenever the Sunbird instance wishes to send notifications to a target set of devices, only those devices will be informed.
6. In the cases above, my notifications are maintained in a notifications drawer that I can access at any time from the app.
7. I also can see a notification banner for every new notification that I'm receiving from the Sunbird service.
8. From time to time, renewal of device registration with Sunbird servers to receive notifications should be done.

Introduction

Notifications are an excellent way of giving users external reminders to open the app. While intrinsic motivation to use the app is always preferred, in the early days of usage, external motivation is usually required to build the habit of usage. One scalable form of doing so is by using notifications.

JTBD

• Jobs To Be Done: As a user, I'd like learn/teach better, which is why I installed the Sunbird app in the first place. However, I would like some help to ensure I continue to use it.
• User Personas: Teacher, Student, Ram, Shyam
• System or Environment: Mostly at home.

Mobile push notifications overview

The following section primarily deals with setting up of mobile push notifications (specifically on Android, for now).

Mobile notifications - Overall Process Workflow

1. As a user, I install the application and launch it.
2. The device registers with Sunbird servers to receive notifications from the latter. Any permissions needed to enable this are requested from the user.
3. The device requests to listen on particular topics, to receive broadcast notifications.
4. Whenever the Sunbird instance wishes to broadcast notifications to a topic, all devices subscribed to it are informed.
5. Whenever the Sunbird instance wishes to send notifications to a target set of devices, only those devices will be informed.
6. In the cases above, my notifications are maintained in a notifications drawer that I can access at any time from the app.
7. I also can see a notification banner for every new notification that I'm receiving from the Sunbird service.
8. From time to time, renewal of device registration with Sunbird servers to receive notifications should be done.

Mobile notifications - As a Sunbird admin, I require to have the latest information to send notifications to the mobile device

When the user launches the app on the mobile device, we need to send any updates to the server in order to send push notifications reliably.

Main Scenario

User launches the mobile app, and updated notification token (if any) is shared with server.

Alternate Scenario 1 - User doesn't launch the mobile app, and the token expires but the local notification system is still active

When the local notification system is activated, the device checks if the token has expired, and if so sends the update to the server.

Exception Scenarios

Wireframes

N/A

For Future Release

Bunching of notifications into a single summary notification to be displayed within the Android notifications drawer.

JIRA Ticket ID

Mobile notifications - As a Sunbird admin, I should be able to broadcast a notification to users

As a Sunbird admin, there might be important information that needs to be broadcast to all users (e.g. Sunbird instance will be down next week between 9-11 AM). I should be able to inform all users about it.

Main Scenario

Sunbird admin sends the broadcast notification to all users.

Exception Scenarios

Wireframes

For Future Release

N/A

JIRA Ticket ID

Mobile notifications - As a Sunbird admin, I should be able to target notifications to a set of users (v1)

As a Sunbird admin, there might be important information that needs to be broadcast to a subset of users (e.g. Specific tenant users can now access Courses from dd-mmm). Only these users should be informed.

Main Scenario

Sunbird admin sends the broadcast notification to all users.

Exception Scenarios

Wireframes

https://projects.invisionapp.com/share/4JTS64MHXBY#/screens/383165425

For Future Release

Automatic setting up of push notifications to target devices (E.g. sending notifications on day after install / one week after install)

JIRA Ticket ID

Mobile notifications - As a Sunbird admin, I should be able to target notifications to

a

set of users (v2)

As a Sunbird admin, there might be important information that needs to be broadcast to all a subset of users (e.g. Sunbird instance will be down next week between 9-11 AM). I should be able to inform all users about it.

Main Scenario

Sunbird admin sends the broadcast notification to all users.

Admin uploads parameters for the notification in various supported languages:

1. Title
2. Body
3. Icon (optional)
4. Banner image (optional)
5. Action link (optional)
   1. Update app - Play Store link
   2. Course registered/started - Course ID
   3. Try content - Content ID
   4. Book updated - Book ID
   5. FAQ updated - FAQ page(+section ID)
   6. Survey request - Google Form link (EXTERNAL URL)
   7. Informational video - YouTube link (EXTERNAL URL)

All devices subscribed to that topic should receive the notification, in their app language.

Exception Scenarios

Wireframes

For Future Release

N/A

JIRA Ticket ID

Mobile notifications - As a Sunbird admin, I should be able to target notifications to a set of users

As a Sunbird admin, there might be important information that needs to be broadcast to a subset of users (e.g. Specific tenant users can now access Courses from dd-mmm). Only these users should be informed.

Main Scenario

Sunbird admin sends the broadcast notification to all users.

Admin sees the various filters that can be applied.

Admin selects applicable filters, under the following categories:

1. Origin
   1. User account that uses this device
      1. Board
      2. Medium
      3. Class
      4. User-type
         1. Guest
            1. Teacher
            2. Student
         2. SignedIn
            1. Teacher
            2. Others
         3. State Signed In
   2. Geolocation
2. Dates
   1. First seen date (age of device)
   2. Last seen date

Exception Scenarios

Wireframes

For Future Release

Automatic setting up of push notifications to target devices (E.g. sending notifications on day after install / one week after install)

JIRA Ticket ID

Mobile notifications - As a user, I should receive a notification on my device

As a user, I would like to be notified when there's an important update from the Sunbird instance I use. I might also welcome the occasional nudges to try out new and exciting content, or information about new app versions that are available.

Main Scenario

User receives a notification from server.

(Optional) User notices new notification in mobile notifications drawer. This can include:

• Icon
• Text
• Banner image
• Action Bar (<Action>, DETAILS)

User taps on notification.

User taps on:

1. General notification body
2. Action bar (<Action> button)
3. Action bar (DETAILS button)

As per action:

1. User is taken to the notification panel inside app, and the corresponding notification is highlighted.
2. User is directly taken to the action (e.g. App on Play Store page, content details page, courses page, External URL etc.)

User sees the latest new notifications.

Whenever user closes the notification panel, all indications of new notifications are removed and they are marked as read.

Exception Scenarios

The user sees a permissions info popup mentioning why notifications are useful, and the general permissions flow comes into effect.

If user denies permission, the notification token is not updated on server side and the device can't be contacted. (This can also happen if user disables notifications from the Android app settings).

User sees the erroneous notification.

When they go online, they will see an updated notification in their notification panel - which shows the corrected notification (erroneous notification has been updated).

https://zpl.io/VqlB7Qm

For Future Release

N/A

JIRA Ticket ID

Localization Requirements

Telemetry Requirements

% of devices that have various issues:

1. Time out of notification send
2. Delivery token has expired
3. User has uninstalled app
4. Others

Specific tenant users can now access Courses from dd-mmm). Only these users should be informed.

Main Scenario

Sunbird admin sends the broadcast notification to all users.

Exception Scenarios

Wireframes

For Future Release

Automatic setting up of push notifications to target devices (E.g. sending notifications on day after install / one week after install)

JIRA Ticket ID

Mobile notifications - As a user, I should receive a notification on my device

As a user, I would like to be notified when there's an important update from the Sunbird instance I use. I might also welcome the occasional nudges to try out new and exciting content, or information about new app versions that are available.

Main Scenario

User receives a notification from server.

Exception Scenarios

https://zpl.io/VqlB7Qm

For Future Release

N/A

JIRA Ticket ID

Localization Requirements

Telemetry Requirements

Non-Functional Requirements

Impact on other Products/Solutions

Impact on Existing Users/Data 

Key Metrics