Smart Mentions — User Guide

Collaboration Admin: owns mention policy, escalation rules, response expectations, and closure discipline.

Module Owner: prioritizes rollout by high-impact record types and monitors signal-vs-noise quality.

Team Member: posts clear requests, uses @ for ownership, uses # for dependencies, and closes loops in the same thread.

Manager / Reviewer: reviews overdue mentions, escalation quality, and unresolved thread patterns weekly.

Best practice: never use mentions as a substitute for access control, formal approvals, or full ticket governance.

1. Decide where Mention starts. Begin with high-impact records (projects, invoices, support cases, operations dependencies).
2. Validate references. Test @ people mentions and # record references in real team workflows.
3. Set response SLAs and escalation thresholds. Define expected response windows before go-live.
4. Standardize message format. Require owner + action + urgency + due date + expected outcome.
5. Define closure rules. Require closure updates in the same thread and define resolved vs pending states.
6. Test cross-team handoffs. Validate sales, finance, operations, projects, and support scenarios before full rollout.

1) Mention a teammate on a record

1. Open the target record or mention feed.
2. Add a post, note, or comment.
3. Type @ and select the owner.
4. Write a clear action request (include urgency and due date when relevant).
5. Save and follow up in the same thread until closure.

2) Reference a related business record

1. In the same discussion, type #.
2. Select the related record.
3. Insert the reference and keep discussion anchored to that dependency.

3) Reply and close the loop

1. Open the notification thread.
2. Review linked context and requested action.
3. Complete the work or investigate the blocker.
4. Reply with status and outcome.
5. Add an explicit closure comment.

4) Escalate blocked work

1. Identify blocker in the source record.
2. Mention the responsible owner.
3. Add affected dependency with # if needed.
4. Document deadline, required decision, and next action.
5. Keep escalation history in the same thread until resolved.

5) Run cross-team handoff

1. Add contextual handoff note in the source record.
2. Mention receiving owner/team.
3. Reference dependent records with #.
4. State action, urgency, and due date.
5. Keep all updates in the same thread.

6) Review open threads weekly

1. Review unresolved and overdue mentions.
2. Analyze response patterns by team/user.
3. Coach for clarity and closure discipline.
4. Update usage rules when repeat issues appear.

• Mention volume by user/team: tracks adoption and load distribution.
• Open vs resolved threads: measures closure discipline and backlog risk.
• Mentions by module/record type: shows where handoff design is strong or weak.
• Response-time review: supports SLA tuning, coaching, and escalation governance.
• Escalation hot spots: reveals recurring cross-team blockers and process defects.

Recommended rhythm: weekly review for overdue/unresolved threads; monthly review for adoption trends, response speed, and recurring escalation patterns.

Mentions are not appearing correctly.
Confirm syntax (@ for people, # for records), confirm the area supports mentions, and confirm the user/record exists in context.

Tagged users are not being notified.
Check user status (active), notification settings, and saved content validity.

Too many low-value mentions.
Set team usage standards and require owner + action + expected outcome in every mention.

Follow-ups are still missed.
Require urgency or due date markers, use escalation mentions for overdue items, and review response-time outliers regularly.

People are confusing @ and #.
Use @ for people ownership and # for record dependency references.

Teams confuse Mention with Support Desk.
Reinforce scope: Mention = contextual follow-up inside records; Support Desk = formal ticket lifecycle management.