Platform access level: Org Admins. Channels are part of Organization settings, so creating, editing, and removing a channel is an Org Admin job. Managers choose which of those channels the team they are working in sends on.
A Channel is a named sender, with its own name and image, that you attach to a schedule so learners see that name when content arrives. Organizations often use them to group content by theme, so learners know which stream a lesson belongs to. On the Channels page you review the channels your organization already has, create new ones, and rename or remove the ones you no longer send under.
A Channel is different from a delivery method. The delivery method is how a lesson travels, and the channel is the name it travels under. Channels work on SMS, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Arist Messenger, and they do not apply to WhatsApp or Email, so a schedule sending only over those two never offers a channel. See Using Delivery Methods for the six delivery methods themselves.
1. Reviewing your organization's channels
Open Organization settings, then choose Channels in the sidebar.
The heading counts your channels, and the table lists each one with its NAME, its ASSIGNED NUMBER, and a # OF SCHEDULES count. Arist gives each channel its own sending number when you create it, and the schedule count is what decides whether you can remove the channel later. Select any column heading to sort by it, and use Search to check whether a channel already covers what you need before you add another.
2. Creating a channel
Each channel takes a name, an optional image, and nothing else.
Select Create new at the top right to open the create panel.
Type a Name between 2 and 30 characters. Arist checks the name as you type and catches a duplicate before you create the channel.
Add an Image if you want one. Use a square, transparent image up to 3 MB.
Select Create channel.
The channel name is what learners see, so call it something that makes sense to them. The image shows on Microsoft Teams and SMS enrollments.
You can make up to 8 channels. The Create new button stops appearing at that limit, so ask your Customer Success Manager if you need more.
3. Editing or removing a channel
Select a channel's name in the list, or choose Edit from the three-dot menu at the end of its row.
The Edit channel panel offers the same Name and Image as the create panel. Change or remove image swaps the picture learners see, and Save applies the change. A new name still has to be unique and between 2 and 30 characters. Renaming a channel also renames the Slack channels Arist created for it.
The Remove option appears on that same three-dot menu once a channel's # OF SCHEDULES count reaches zero. Check the count first, and rename instead whenever the wording is what you want to change.
4. Choosing which channels your team sends on
If your organization uses teams, each team chooses which of your channels it sends on. Open Team settings, then choose Channels.
Every channel your organization has created is listed with an IN USE count and an ENABLED toggle, and a team starts with all of them enabled.
Channels switched off: A channel a team has turned off drops out of the channel picker on that team's schedules and automations, and out of the channel filters on the Schedules and Analytics pages. Switch Include disabled channels on in a filter to see it again, greyed, so you can still filter on the content that used it.
Content already on a channel: A schedule that was set up on a channel keeps sending and stays editable after the team turns that channel off. What changes is what someone can pick next time.
A channel the team is sending on: The IN USE count covers the team's live schedules. A channel cannot be disabled while that count is above zero. Trash or complete those schedules first.
One team at a time: Org Admins and Managers set this for the team they are currently working in, and a Manager's changes reach that team only.
Creating, renaming, and removing a channel stays with the organization, so a Manager picks from your channels rather than adding to them. Managing Team Settings covers the rest of the Team settings pages.
5. Assigning a channel to a schedule
A channel is attached one schedule at a time, so the same content can go out under different names for different audiences. Once the schedule's Delivery methods field includes a method that supports channels, an optional Channel field appears under it, with the sub-label "Choose a specific sender for delivery channels that support it". The channel you pick applies to every enrollment on that schedule running over a method that supports channels. Scheduling and Delivering Courses walks through the rest of the schedule.
Important: You can have one active enrollment per channel. If you enroll a learner in a course on an already active channel, that course is queued to begin once the current one has ended.
6. Seeing how a channel reaches learners
Each delivery method shows a named Channel a little differently, and knowing what learners see helps you name channels well:
Delivery method | What learners see |
SMS | Content sends from a dedicated phone number assigned to that channel. With Use channel name and image as sender turned on, the sender ID becomes the channel name and learners get a contact card with its name and image. |
Microsoft Teams | Channel content appears in the My Channels section of the Teams app. |
Slack | Arist creates a Slack channel named after the channel in lowercase, with eight unique characters on the end, so "Arist Communications" appears as arist-communications-c96c42d3. |
Switch Use channel name and image as sender on from your organization's Delivery methods page, covered in Configuring Delivery Methods in Settings.
Note: Nudges are always sent through the Arist app in Slack. They never arrive through a Slack channel.
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Note: Need help at any point? Reach out to your Arist Customer Success contact, or email [email protected].