Announcement

Module: Administrations · URL: /administrations/announcement · Responsible role: General Affairs / Admin (general-affairs) · Also used by: Owner/Director (full); HR Staff / HR Manager publish the same messages from HR → Announcements; ordinary staff read announcements from HR and their notifications

Screenshot: Lisa Porter (Operations Officer), Nocthink Demo Institute demo data. As General Affairs she sees the Compose button. The announcement shown was sent by Diana Lewis (HR Officer).

Why I use this page

This is the Office view of everything the institute has told its staff: announcements, memos, meeting notices and policy updates. I use it to check what has already gone out before I draft a new notice (office closures, facilities work, travel rules), to find an old memo when someone asks "where was that written?", and to copy a link to a notice into a helpdesk reply or a letter.

What's on the screen

• Header — Announcements with a short description, and a Compose button for people who may post (administrations.update or hr.create).
• Toolbar — the Type filter (Announcement, Memo, Meeting, Policy), a sort control, and Search announcements… (searches the title).
• Table columns
  • Announcement — the title in bold (a pin icon marks pinned items), with a plain-text preview of the content underneath. Click the title to open it.
  • Type — pill with the message type.
  • From — the author.
  • Published — date sent (e.g. "Oct 25, 2026").
• Footer — row-selection count and paging. Pinned items are listed first, then newest first.

Opening an announcement shows a ← Announcements back link, the title with author and date, Copy link and Bookmark buttons, the type and Pinned pills, the formatted content, and an Attachments list (each file opens in a new tab).

How I …

Check what has been announced

1. Open Administrations → Announcement.
2. Filter Type to, say, Policy or Memo.
3. Type a keyword from the title in Search announcements….
4. Click the title to read the full text and open attachments.

Share an announcement with a colleague

1. Open the announcement.
2. Click Copy link (share icon) — the page address is copied to the clipboard.
3. Paste it into a message, a helpdesk reply or an email.

Publish a new announcement

1. Click Compose. The New announcement dialog opens with the same composer HR uses (see New announcement below).
2. Enter Title, choose Type (Announcement, Memo, Meeting, Policy), write the Content, and add Attachments if needed.
3. Click Send message. Every active employee receives an in-app notification ("New type from HR."), and the message appears here and in HR → Announcements.

Detail page, forms & dialogs

Announcement detail

Screenshot: Lisa Porter (Operations Officer), Nocthink Demo Institute demo data.

Clicking a title opens the announcement (/administrations/announcement/<id>). It is the same message HR sees: title, author and date, then the type tag, a Pinned tag when pinned, the formatted text and any Attachments. Copy link (share icon) copies the page address; Bookmark marks it for me while the page is open. Announcements cannot be edited once sent. This page and HR → Announcements show the same messages, so General Affairs and HR read one shared board. Attachments open in a new tab.

New announcement

Screenshot: Lisa Porter (Operations Officer), Nocthink Demo Institute demo data.

Compose opens New announcement: "Sent to every active employee as soon as you click Send message." It is the HR composer in a dialog: Title, Type (Announcement, Memo, Meeting, Policy), Content (rich text, required) and Attachments (Add documents). Send message publishes it here and in HR → Announcements and notifies everyone at once; Cancel discards the draft. Pick the Type carefully: staff filter the list by it, and the notification reads "New <type> from HR." An empty title or body is refused before anything is sent.

Access & permissions

• The menu needs administrations.update (lib/domain-routes.ts), so in the sidebar it appears only for Owner/Director and General Affairs. Ordinary staff do not see this menu; they read announcements in HR → Announcements and through notifications.
• The list itself is served by the HR communications API, which every staff member may read.
• Posting a message needs administrations.update (General Affairs) or hr.create (HR). Editing and deleting messages through the API need the same, or the matching HR permission; the UI has no edit or delete.

Caveats

• Bookmark only toggles the icon for the current visit; it is not saved anywhere.
• Sending a message notifies all active employees immediately — check the text first; there is no draft or schedule.
• Pinning cannot be set from the new-message form; pinned items come from data set elsewhere (the pin is display-only here).
• The preview line strips formatting; open the item to see headings, lists and links as written.
• Notifications link to the HR copy of the announcement (/hr/communication/...), not to this page.

Limitations

• No edit, pin or delete actions on this page; only Compose.
• No priority, validity period (valid from / until) or audience targeting in the UI, although the Administrations API has an announcement model with priority and validity dates — this page does not use it.
• No read receipts: I cannot see who has opened an announcement.
• No export, and search covers titles only.

Related menus

• HR → Announcements — where announcements are written and sent.
• SOP — formal procedures that a policy announcement may point to.
• Internal Guide — longer reference material for staff.
• Letter Number — register a number if a memo also goes out as an official letter.
• Dashboard — Administrations overview.