Membership Renewal Reminders
Membership reminders are created in CiviCRM. (Administer > Communications > Schedule Reminders) You can create separate reminders to run three times, or you can create one reminder that has two repeats.
They are automatically scheduled when they are due, and sent when robot guy pokes the system. The system automatically tracks if the reminder has been sent, so they are only sent once.
When a member renews, the system resets itself for the new expiry date. If they renew on the first reminder, the other two will not be sent.
When the system is first launched, an initial set of reminders needs to be sent out manually. There will be a mail list created for this. The mail list will only be accurate at the time of launch.
Pre-launch test site does not have the reminder system activated. The robot-guy is still in the box and doesn't have his batteries in yet, so he isn't kicking the reminder system to run. On launch, all of the reminders are checked, and any that are due or past-due are sent.
Pre-launch test site has two of the reminders disabled. These can be enabled at any time, before or after launch.