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Overview
The script reads the contents of the membership, volunteer and speech therapist Sharepoint lists and populates several Office 365 mail distribution groups. By using the Sharepoint lists as the master source of information, we can make sure that these distribution groups are updated as new members/staff/volunteer/trustees are added, leave or individual contact details change.
Where to Find It
Name of runbook: Speakeasy-DistributionListProvisioning
All Azure runbook scripts can be viewed via the following link: Azure RunBooks Home, then selecting the appropriate runbook name. The script is hosted in the cloud, using Microsoft Azure, because it is run on a scheduled basis. See the following document (advanced users only!!) regarding how the script was initially created in the Azure environment: Creating a PowerShell script in Azure
This script is scheduled to run using a schedule – having selected the relevant script, click the see the “Schedules” link on the left hand side of the view. The script generates a log file which can be checked for errors.
How it Works
Before populating each distribution list, the script removes all members from each list in turn. The script then creates and updates members of the following distribution lists:
- Speakeasy Volunteers – populated from those Active members of the Sharepoint list called “Speakeasy Contact List” where the member has a type of “Volunteer” and has an email address
- Speakeasy Volunteers – comms support. This list is populated from those volunteers who have the “Comms Support” option enabled in the Volunteer Staff Trustee Contacts App. The group is used when sending the weekly newsletter rather than the general “Speakeasy Volunteers” group as not all volunteers wish to receive the newsletter.
- Speakeasy Trustees – populated from those Active members of the Sharepoint list called “Speakeasy Contact List” where the member has a type of “Trustee” and has an email address
- Speakeasy Staff – populated from those Active members of the Sharepoint list called “Speakeasy Contact List” where the member has a type of “Staff” and has an email address
- Speakeasy Members – populated from those “Active” or “Active – email Only” members of the Sharepoint list called “Speakeasy Membership” where the member has an email address and has requested contact by email (the ongoing info – email option includes “PWA”)
- Speakeasy Carers – populated from those “Active” or “Active – email Only” members of the Sharepoint list called “Speakeasy Membership” where the member has (a) a primary contact email address and has requested contact by email (the ongoing info – email option includes “Carer”) or (b) a secondary contact email address and has requested contact by email (the ongoing info – email option includes “Additional Contact”)
- Speech Therapists – populated from those Active members of the Sharepoint list called “SLT Contacts”, where the member has an email address
- Speakeasy Guests – populated from guests who are registered with Speakeasy in the “Speakeasy Guests” SharePoint list and who have an email address recorded.
- Member groups – the Member Groups application supports the creation of collections of members (e.g. in focus groups). To facilitate contacting the members of a particular group, the PowerShell script creates one distribution list per group. Each group has a distribution list of the form “Member Group: {groupName}”, e.g. “Member Group: Marks Red Group”. Groups that are excluded are those which don’t have a fixed membership list, e.g. the “Ramsbottom CC” group. See the information in the following page: The Speakeasy Meetings and Groups App.
Note:: the digital certificate used to provide this PowerShell script with access to Exchange and Sharepoint has been configured with an expiry date of 11/04/2023, so will need renewing on or about that time. The certificate can be seen here:
Follow the relevant information in the document link to create and upload a new certificate with an updated expiry date: