Email Configuration with Sportsman Desktop Application

 

Sportsman clients heavily rely on email to communicate with their patrons about registrations, upcoming events, sending receipts and QR entry codes, cancelation notifications and more.   Sportsman and Sportsman Web integrate with your own email server and services.  Email receipts and confirmations that are sent from ActivityReg to your patrons do use Peak Software email delivery services.   Our goals with this guide are below:

1.   To ensure that the patrons emails you send via SportsMan are delivered in a timely manner

2.   That the email addresses you are sending from are not marked as SPAM senders by email service providers

3.   To ensure that your patrons have confidence that they are receiving legitimate emails from your center

4.   To simplify the email configuration settings and reduce potential configuration conflicts that could be set by SportsMan users or IT staff.

 

To most effectively meet these objectives, we require that all centers configure Sportsman to use their own email domain to send emails. This means that you will need to maintain Sportsman System Configurations and Site Configuration settings to include your domain and primary recreation center email address using SMTP protocol.  We also suggest that this domain be “open” so that users at various Sportsman workstations and Sportsman Web can configure their own person emails using the Workstation Configuration override that is available in Sportsman.  If you do not have your own email server there is an option -  Sportsman can be configured to work with MS Outlook applications running on the same desktops or servers that have Sportsman application running using MAPI configurations.

 

Details on configuring your server at the system level and workstation level are below.  Gmail, Outlook and other popular domains can also be used.   Email settings may be complex depending on your service and needs, please contact Sportsman Technical Consultant at support@peakinfo.com or call us at (801) 572-3570 ext.2 if you need assistance at any time.

 

Other Resources:

Using Email with Sportsman Web  

Using SMTP with a Yahoo Account

Using SMTP with a Gmail Account

 

This document will cover:

ü Email Configurations for ActivityReg

ü Overview: Sportsman Email Integration Configuration Levels

o  System Level

o  Workstation Level

ü Configuring System Level Settings

o  SMTP

o  MAPI

ü Configuring Workstation Level Settings

o  SMTP

o  MAPI

 

Email Configuration for ActivityReg Patron Registration Websites

Patrons are sent confirmation emails from the Peakinfo.com domain after they register online through ActivityReg.com as well as password reset emails for online login accounts.  Configuration depend on whether you have a locally (self-hosted) data base or using our Cloud data base services. Emails are sent from noreply@peakinfo.com and there is an automated response if a patron does replies to it. 

 

In addition, the recreation department email address is included in the body of the confirmation notice.  To set the recreation center email address included navigate to File>Administration>Site Configuration and select the ‘Internet’ tab.  If you are a Sportsman customer with a local database that is unable to use your email with ActivityReg please call us.

 

 

Overview: Sportsman Email Integration Configuration Levels

There are two different locations in SportsMan to configure email settings - at the System (universal) level and at the Workstation level (individual computer using Sportsman or that serves as the Sportsman local database server).

 

System Level

System settings are universal and will affect all Sportsman applications.  The system wide email options for Sportsman can be accessed by going to File > Administration > System Configuration and selecting the Connection [F3] tab.

 

There are 2 options for System settings:

·       SMTP: Optimally you would configure your email server via SMTP with a default email address such as a general email box.  Workstations used by multiple users and don’t have Microsoft Outlook installed such as concession stands or front desk kiosks would be relying on the system settings.   Workstation configurations can be set up to override System settings where applicable. The instructions for establishing SMTP vary depending on the email server Software used by your organization.***Note*** that some SMTP servers require the user to login using their credentials assigned to their email address.  In this case the System settings will not work and each user must override the system setting via Workstation Configuration.

 

·       MAPI: This option will allow you to connect directly to an email application account on that specific machine such as Outlook. This is a great option for those who would like emails from Sportsman to come directly from their own Outlook email account. Keep in mind this is not a great option for shared computers unless it is configured with Outlook with a  shared email box.

 

On the System Configuration screen you will also see a HTTPS To Peak option -  this option is ONLY for emergencies where you are having email server issues and need to send something. It is only to be used after consultation with Peak Software technical staff.  If you use this option please revert to SMTP on your own server within 24 hours. 

 

Workstation Level

 

At the individual computer workstation running Sportsman, local settings can override system settings.  This will require going to each physical workstation to make that change. On workstations with Microsoft Outlook or another email client could have the workstation settings configured to override the system settings and to use MAPI. The workstation settings can be accessed by going to File > Workstation Configuration and selecting the Printers / Email [F5] tab.

 

There are 2 options for Workstation settings:

·       SMTP – This option can be used to assign a specific email address for sending emails from this workstation however only one email address per workstation can be accessed.  If you have SMTP Site Configuration and are using an “Open” domain you do not need to use Override System Settings. If you have SMTP Site Configuration and are using a “Closed” domain you MUST use the Override System Settings for each workstation or you will be unable to email from that station. Only one email address can be configured for each workstation and each workstation must use a different email.  This is the recommended setting if you using email services other than Outlook such as Gmail.  Note: if a workstation is shared among several SportsMan users (such as the front desk) then a general email should be configured.

 

·       MAPI – This option will allow you to connect directly to an email application account on that specific machine such as Outlook. This is a great option for those who would like emails from Sportsman to come directly from there Outlook email account. Keep in mind this is not a great option for shared computers.

 

On the Workstation Configuration screen you will also see a HTTP to Peak Software option – as of 8/30/2019 this will no longer be an option to configure unless it is on the workstation running the portal application that is used to communicate with Activityreg and is selected in consultation with one of our Technical Consultants.

 

Configuring System Level Settings

System Configurations must be established in Sportsman and must be associated with one email address. 

 

SMTP

Use this system option to configure your organization’s email server and system. This option may require that a configuration change be made on the mail server to allow relay of email messages from within your network.  Some reasons why it may not be the best option would be that your IT provider is not willing to allow emails to be relayed for security reasons. Some emails servers may not allow relay of emails from an application like SportsMan.

There are 2 steps:

1.   Configure System settings

Navigate to File > Administration > System Configuration and select the ‘Connection [F3]’ tab.

Enter the following information and then click [OK] to save your settings.

·       Email Server:  SMTP address for your email server.

·       Email Account:  email account for your email server. This is often your center’s main email address but may be a specific email address set up by your IT group. NOTE: Check with your email administrator with any questions regarding these requirements. Email Password: password for the email account entered.    If you are using a web-based email service such as Gmail, Google Business, Yahoo!, or AOL there are links to instructions above.  We are continuing to research the viability of using Hotmail, Outlook.com and Live.com email accounts with Sportsman.

 

 

2.   Configure Site Configuration Email

You will need to update your internet site configuration email to reflect the SMTP email server you are using. To do this go to File > Administration > Site Configuration and select the ‘Internet’ tab. Make sure the email in the email field matches the SMTP address for your email server. Click [OK] to save your settings.

 

 

MAPI 

If you have Microsoft Outlook or another email client installed on all your computers MAPI is likely the best option as Sportsman will use that client to send emails. This is a great option because the emails have a better chance of reaching the intended recipients and you will also have a history of emails sent. Navigate to File > Administration > System Configuration and select the ‘Connection [F3]’ tab.

·       Check the box next to Override System Settings

·       Select MAPI next to Email Provider

·       Click [OK] to save your settings

 

 

On the System Configuration screen you will also see a HTTPS To Peak option -  this option is ONLY for emergencies where you are having email server issues and need to send something. It is only to be used after consultation with Peak Software technical staff.  If you use this option please revert to SMTP on your own server within 24 hours.

 

Configuring Workstation Level Settings

Workstations will default to System Configuration settings unless overridden for each workstation.

 

SMTP

·       Open Network – no workstation override is needed.

·       Closed networks – A Workstation level override must be established, and must be a different email address than the system configuration and must be consistent with User profile email address of all users logging into Sportsman to use that workstation.  If override is not configured then no email can be sent from Sportsman from that workstation.   Navigate to File>Workstation Configuration and select the ‘Printer/Email’ tab.   Select the Override System Settings checkbox and the SMTP radio button.  (Secure SSMTP is recommended.)   Then complete the Email Server, Port, Account and Password fields.  Click [OK] to save your settings.

 

 

MAPI

If you have Microsoft Outlook or another email client installed on your computer MAPI is likely the best option as Sportsman will use that client to send emails. This is a great option because the emails have a better chance of reaching the intended recipients and you will also have a history of emails sent.  You only need to set MAPI at the Workstation level if you have SMTP at the System Level. 

 

Go to File > Workstation Configuration and select the Printers / Email [F5] tab. Check the box next to Override System Settings and select MAPI next to Email Provider.  Click [OK] to save your settings.

 

On the Workstation Configuration screen you will also see a HTTPS To Peak option -  this option is ONLY for emergencies where you are having email server issues and need to send something. It is only to be used after consultation with Peak Software technical staff.  If you use this option please revert to SMTP on your own server within 24 hours

 

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