Lightyear has an internal function that enables users to work directly with those within their team via the instant messaging feed. Using this function means that you can mention and therefore notify another member of your team simply by using "@" followed by their name. This is commonly known as a mention or tagging a user. You can then send that user a message. They will receive an alert and be able to instantly review and reply to you in a matter of seconds.

You will also be glad to know that you can now send approval requests this way. Much like send bill task the receiver of the approval request will have 3 options to choose from within the notification feed. 

Below we will run through everything you need to know in order use this Instant Messenger feature. 

Firstly, your notifications feed is found to the top right of your screen, shown here -

Clicking this icon -   will open up your notification feed (shown below once icon is clicked).

You can see that I already have a message here. This was a "mention" from the notes section of Panel 2 in Lightyear. Below, we will see how to mention someone using the "@" symbol in the Notes.

Navigate to notes by clicking the activity of any bill in Panel 1.

In the "Add a note" window, you can write your message and then use "@" to select a user you want to mention. For example "@john". As you begin to type the users name, a drop down will appear for you to pick the relevant person you want to mention.

Once this person is selected, and you click submit, that user will then get a notification on their profile.

Click to reveal the notification feed;

The recipient of the mention and notification can reply directly from the message box by clicking the message and replying in the "quick reply" box

The reply to the message here will then copy across into the notes section within Lightyear and attach to this invoice (just like the usual notes do!).

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You can also send approvals via a task which will appear in the Notifications tab. Doing so means that the approver can approve the invoice from within any other screen in Lightyear and they wont have to navigate to My Tasks from their current work page.

Here's how to send an approval and how the approver actions that invoice from within the messaging feed. It all starts with a "Send Bill Task".

To do this, first select an invoice in Panel 1 from your workflow tabs. Then Click the grey approval task icon in Panel 1.

You will be shown the Send Bill Task Window. Select the internal Lightyear User you wish to message this task to. You can, if you wish, write a custom message to the user, then click send.

That bill task will be sent and the invoice will now show a pending task icon with the Approvers' initials in the circle.

The recipient will receive a notification on their notification icon.

Clicking the "@" symbol will reveal the notifications panel from the right side of your screen. Here you will see the approval request.

Notice here you have a small icon to the left, showing you what the mention is related to. Here, the icon shows a page with the letters CN for Credit not or on blue, a symbol for an invoice. The blue dots indicate the mention had yet to be read by you. 

Clicking on the mention. In this case an approval request, allows the recipient to reply with one of three buttons.

Once you have selected an option click the   icon and the task will disappear and show the sender your choice.

You can also add a note in the "quick reply" section if you wish before clicking the  icon and this message will go back along with the action you chose. 

For any further help on this, please open a chat with us.