Heed the warnings

You’ve probably noticed that when you log into CiviCRM you'll sometimes get messages like this:

This System Status pop-up will appear now and then on the CiviCRM home page.

Or you'll see something like this in the footer of any CiviCRM back-end page:

Anything other than “System Status: OK” is worth looking into.

Who's monitoring those messages?

(Hint: if you don't know who it is, it's probably you.)

• Do these messages make you or your users freak out? Then you might want to know what's worth freaking out about and what isn't.

• Are you ignoring error-level messages — the red ones? You probably shouldn't do that.

What does all this mean?

First of all, you’ll want to look at the full set of System Status messages, which you can do by clicking on the “View details and manage alerts” link in the System Status pop-up, or on the “System Status” link in the page footer.

Some of these messages will seem self-explanatory. Others will be more mysterious.

If you're not sure what to make of one or more of them, you've got some options:

• Copy and paste the message text into Google. You'll probably find somebody online explaining what it is.

• Ask your CiviCRM expert to look into it. Maybe you can ignore it, but maybe it needs attention.

• Feel free to email me anytime, and I'll try and help you figure it out.

Here's the thing:

CiviCRM is trying to tell you something.

It doesn't know your risk tolerance. It's just trying to keep you informed.

It's up to you to make sure your system is well maintained.

Seriously, email me if you're not sure. I'll help you sort it out.

All the best,
A.