Communications FAQs

What is the email address the Foundry messages come from?

All automated Foundry messages come from the automated-messages@foundry.net. It is crucial this domain and email address is on your organization’s allowlist to ensure learners receive platform invitations and reminders. Browse the Server And Domain Allowlist  for more information.

When are invitations sent out after I create my assignment?

Foundry works on UTC (Universal Coordinated Time). If an assignment is created past 8:00 pm EST, it would start running immediately, as it would be considered “tomorrow” already in UTC (12:00 am UTC). So if you created your assignment at 8:30 pm EST on 7/14 to start on 7/15, the invites would potentially go out immediately depending on the assignment queue.

12:00 am UTC = 8:00 pm EST
12:00 am UTC = 7:00 pm CST
12:00 am UTC = 5:00 pm PST
*Need to adjust for Daylight Savings Time.

Why do invitations and reminders have an unsubscribe option?

Including an unsubscribe option ensures that our emails make it to a learner’s inbox. It signals to email service providers that we are a “good” email and prevents recipients from marking Foundry emails as spam, blocking emails from us for good.

We have tested delivering emails both ways (with and without unsubscribe options) and the unsubscribe option significantly improves delivery.

We also recently made improvements to the unsubscribe functionality. Now, when a learner unsubscribes from a Reminder email, they will still get future Invitation emails. See the Email Activity report for more information.

*Please note: If learners click on the Unsubscribe option before they are done with the course, they will not receive reminders to complete the course, specific due dates or any other notifications. Please encourage learners to wait until after they are complete with the course and don't anticipate taking any other course to click Unsubscribe. You can do this by adding a sentence to let learners know not to click unsubscribe when you send out the course invitation if you so choose. 

Can I turn off all Foundry emails to learners?

Yes, administrators have the option to turn off assignment invitations and reminders. Both of these options are turned on by default and can be set when you create an assignment

We do not recommend turning off assignment invitations for first-time users if you do not have the SSO Integration. Otherwise, learners will need to use the “Forgot Password” option.

For invitation emails on Quick Assignments, administrators can edit this option up until the Start Date (status = scheduled).

For invitation emails on Automated Assignments, administrators can edit this field up until the Automation Stop or Closed Dates (status = scheduled or started). If an Automated Assignment is in progress and the “Do not send invitations” checkbox is selected, then no new invitations moving forward will be sent unless they were already queued. The setting will apply to all new learners picked up in the Automated Assignment.

Can I turn off Foundry emails to specific learners?

While we do not recommend disabling Foundry communications en masse, it is possible to do so on an individual basis for certain scenarios for Higher Education Students, Higher Education Faculty/Staff, and Workplace Training learners.

On the user record, there are now two options that allows administrators to prevent invitations and/or reminders from being sent to that individual user.

This is a separate functionality from being unsubscribed from Foundry emails. If a user clicks unsubscribe in an email, then these email suppression settings will have no impact. Administrators will still need to submit a support ticket to resubscribe a user. See the above for more information on unsubscribing.