Why a Journal for a Person doesn't Necessarily Go to that Person

When you send email, you typically start with the person that you want to send the message to. Then you enter the subject and the content of the message. However, when you add a journal entry in Chronicle, the sequence is different: you indicate what the journal is about first. You later indicate who it is to. This sometimes causes users to be confused; they think they're choosing the person to send the journal to when they really are really choosing who the message is about.

When you think in terms of most jobs, the sequence in Chronicle makes sense: You have a problem with the BAGGINS job and you then decide who you need to let know about it. And when you choose the BAGGINS job as the subject of the journal, you might want Mr. Baggins to receive the material, but you might not want him to see it at all; the fact that it is about his job doesn't mean that he should get the message.

Chronicle works the same way when you add a journal entry after picking a person; the person you picked (on the People screen) is what the message is about, not the person the message is to. Depending on what you are writing about, again you might or might not want the person to receive the message. For example, suppose you are a manager and recommending that employee Sam Gamgee get a raise or promotion. The message is about Sam Gamgee, but you don't want him to get this message; you simply want the message associated with his file. If you actually want the person to receive the message, you must also choose the person on the screen where you are indicating the recipients.