Overview
Notification Rules are the engine that delivers proactive messaging in Mobaro. Each Rule defines when something should trigger a notification, who should receive it, and how the notification is formatted. Rules cover scheduled work that's about to start, results from completed Checklists, summary digests, work forecasts, and daily operations reports.
Why this matters: Notification Rules are the difference between a system Users have to remember to check and a system that proactively reaches them. A small library of well-targeted Rules covers most operational communication needs — daily summaries to Park Directors, availability pushes to frontline operators, downtime alerts to Maintenance Leads — without bombarding Users with noise they don't need.
Required access: To create or manage Notification Rules, you must be a Super User or hold a Role with the Organization: Administrate permission.
The five Notification Rule types
Mobaro offers five Rule types, each suited to a different communication need. Picking the right type is the first decision when building a Rule.
Rule type | What it sends | Best fit for |
Availability Notification | A push notification to assignees when a scheduled Checklist becomes available | Letting frontline staff know a slot is now open for completion |
Result Report | An email digest of completed Checklist Results | Sharing inspection outcomes, deviations, or compliance status with leadership or audit |
Summary Report | A periodic summary of operational activity | Daily or weekly snapshots for managers who need the big picture, not every result |
Work Forecast Report | A look-ahead at upcoming scheduled work | Preparing teams and shift leads for what's coming up so resources are staged |
Operations Report | A daily PDF summarizing operational performance — park-level totals (operating hours, downtime) and per-Location detail (uptime, guests carried, dispatches, hourly performance), delivered early the next morning | Park Directors and ride leads who want a "yesterday recap" delivered automatically without hunting through Dashboards |
Heads up: Operations Report is an opt-in feature and is not enabled by default. To activate it, a Super User or account owner must contact your Customer Success Manager or [email protected]. Until activation, the option will not appear when creating a new Rule. See Activating the operations report for the full setup walkthrough.
Best practice: Start by listing the recurring questions your teams ask — "what should I be doing right now," "did the morning inspections pass," "what's coming up tomorrow," "did anything go wrong overnight" — and pick the Rule type that answers each. One question, one Rule.
Create a Notification Rule
Every Rule type follows the same general creation flow. The differences come in the configuration step, where each Rule type asks for the specific inputs it needs.
Navigate to Notification Rules
From the Mobaro Backend, navigate to Notification Rules in the sidebar.
Open the Create dialog
Click the + Create button in the top right.
Choose a Rule type
Select one of the five Rule types from the dialog: Availability Notification, Result Report, Summary Report, Work Forecast Report, or Operations Report.
Note: Once a Rule is created, its type is fixed. To switch from one Rule type to another, create a new Rule and delete the old one rather than trying to convert.
Name and describe the Rule
Name — give the Rule a clear, scannable name. See Naming conventions below for guidance.
Description (optional) — note the Rule's purpose so future admins understand the intent.
Configure the Rule
Configuration depends on the Rule type. The general pattern is: choose what the Rule watches (Schedules, Checklists, or Locations), choose who receives the notification (Users or User Groups), and choose when it fires (immediate, scheduled, or on a recurring cadence). For a full walkthrough of each type, see the type-specific articles linked below.
Save the Rule
Click Save. The Rule activates immediately and starts sending notifications according to its configuration.
Targeting the right recipients
Recipients can be individual Users or User Groups. Mixing both is fine and common.
Best practice: Default to User Groups as recipients rather than individual Users. When team membership changes — a hire, a transfer, a departure — the Group's membership updates automatically and every Rule targeting that Group reflects the change. Adding individual Users to a Rule means hand-editing the Rule whenever the team shifts.
Watch out: Individual recipients on a Notification Rule who are later disabled or deleted are not automatically removed. Audit recipients periodically to make sure no notifications are being sent to inactive accounts. See How to deactivate a User.
Individual notification preferences
A Rule controls who is eligible to receive a notification. The User's own settings control whether they actually get it, and on which channels. Each User can:
Turn on or off push and email notifications globally for their account.
Personalize their settings to override the Organization default.
Manage notifications independently from the backend or the mobile app.
See also: Administrate notification settings covers the Organization-wide defaults and the User-level personalization flow in detail.
Naming conventions
A consistent naming pattern makes the Rules list scannable as it grows. A pattern that scales:
[Type] – [Audience] – [Scope]
Examples:
Availability – Ride Operators – Daily AM InspectionsSummary – Park Directors – End of DayResult – Compliance Team – Failed InspectionsForecast – Maintenance Leads – Tomorrow's PMsOperations – Park Directors – Daily Recap
Best practice: Encode the Rule type in the name even though it's also stored as a field. This way the name alone tells the next admin what the Rule does, without opening it.
Edit or delete a Rule
To update a Rule, navigate to Notification Rules, search for and select the Rule, then make changes in the editor. Click Save to apply. Updates take effect on the next Rule evaluation.
To delete a Rule, open the Rule and click the Delete action.
Critical: Deletion cannot be undone. Notifications stop firing immediately, but already-sent notifications are not recalled. If you only need to pause a Rule temporarily, consider removing its recipients instead so the Rule remains in place for later reactivation.
Anti-patterns to avoid
Watch out for these configurations, which create notification fatigue and reduce the value of every Rule in the system:
One mega-Rule that sends everything to everyone — recipients tune out within a week. Split into focused Rules per audience.
Individual Users as recipients instead of User Groups — creates a maintenance burden every time team membership changes.
Duplicate Rules covering overlapping content — a User in both audiences gets two notifications for the same event. Audit periodically.
Rules with no clear owner — when no one knows why a Rule exists, no one updates it as the business changes. Use the description field to record intent.
See also
How to set up Availability Notifications — type-specific walkthrough for scheduled-Checklist push notifications.
How to set up a Result Report — type-specific walkthrough for completed-Checklist email digests.
How to set up Summary Reports — type-specific walkthrough for periodic operational summaries.
How to set up a Work Forecast Report — type-specific walkthrough for upcoming-work look-aheads.
Activating the operations report — type-specific walkthrough for the daily operational PDF; requires Mobaro activation before the Rule type appears.
Administrate notification settings — for Organization-wide and individual notification preferences.
Organizational and personal notification settings — overview of the two layers of notification control.
Frequently asked questions
Q: What's the difference between a Notification Rule and a User's individual notification settings?
A: A Rule decides which Users are eligible to receive a notification. The User's individual settings decide whether and how they actually get it (push, email, both, or off). Both have to align for the notification to land.
Q: Can a Rule send to email and push at the same time?
A: It depends on the Rule type. Availability Notifications are push-only. Result, Summary, Work Forecast, and Operations Reports are email-based. Cross-channel routing is governed by the User's individual settings.
Q: Why don't I see Operations Report when I try to create a new Rule?
A: Operations Report is an opt-in feature that requires activation by Mobaro before it appears in the Rule type picker. A Super User or account owner can request activation by contacting your Customer Success Manager or [email protected]. Once enabled, the option appears the next time you open the Create dialog.
Q: Why isn't a User receiving a notification I expect them to?
A: Check in this order: (1) is the User a recipient on the Rule, either directly or via a User Group; (2) does the User have the relevant notification type enabled in their personal settings; (3) for Availability Notifications, do they have access to the Schedule's Location; (4) is the User active and not disabled.
Q: How quickly do Availability Notifications fire after a slot opens?
A: Delivery is generally immediate but can be subject to delivery delay. Mobaro does not recommend relying solely on Availability Notifications for very short-lived Schedules — those shorter than one hour may not deliver in time to be useful.
Q: Can I test a Rule without sending real notifications?
A: Mobaro does not have a built-in dry-run mode for Notification Rules. To test, set up the Rule with yourself as the only recipient first, verify the output, then expand the recipient list.
Q: How are User Group recipients evaluated — at Rule creation time or each time the Rule fires?
A: Each time the Rule fires. If a User Group's membership changes between Rule firings, the new membership is what determines who receives the notification — there is no snapshot.
Q: Can I pause a Rule without deleting it?
A: Yes, you can pause Rules to avoid having them fire notifications. You can unpause these at any time.