Tip of the Month for: February 2015

Ability to Send Text Messages to Users and Customers

Answers 4.5 (released in September) added the ability to send text messages to users or customers in several different situations.

• Instant Messages to Answers users can be delivered as text messages.

• Customer Contacts can be set up to receive text notifications when back ordered items ship.

• Users can be set up to receive a text notification if the Daily O/P Register fails to finish successfully.

When enabling any of these texting features, please keep the following in mind:

• These feature use Email to SMS Text Messaging capability that is provided by most cell phone carriers.  During the update to Answers 4.5, cell phone carrier codes will be set up in the Codes File Maintenance.  The code is just an identifier of the various providers (any “code” can be used).  The description is the email address to use when sending text messages via email and can be found by checking the cell service providers website.  For example, to send an email to a person who has service with AT&T, you send the email to Cell-Phone-Number@att.txt.net.  In the Codes File Maintenance, AT&T will be set up with a description of att.txt.net.

• Text messages typically have a limit of 160 characters, and at the carrier’s discretion, may separate into multiple messages.  Answers will automatically separate longer messages (over the 160 character limit) into multiple messages to insure delivery of the entire message.

• The message will be delivered from a generic number.  Answers is not requiring you to sign up for a cell phone or SMS messaging plan, so the message is delivered from a generic number. 

• Text message rates for the recipient may apply.  Therefore you may want to verify your recipient has unlimited text messaging or agree to receive these messages via text for a fee as charged by their cell phone provider. 

• Recipients who receive these texts, and reply to them, will reply to your sending email address.   

Ø  The ability to send a customer notification that backordered items have shipped has been added.  Notifications can be sent via text or email.

•          Text and/or email notification options can be set in the Contacts window.  Each contact must have a cell phone number and cell phone carrier to receive a text message.  A checkbox selection sets the “default” for receiving text notifications from Order Entry.  A checkbox also sets the default selection for email notifications from Order Entry.

•       In Order Entry, a cell phone icon has been added beside the standard Contacts rolodex near the “Authorization” field.  If you select a contact from the list of standard contacts (using the Contacts Search icon), the text and email notification settings will default.  You can enter, and/or change the settings for any particular order using the cell phone icon.

•       When you release or invoice a B/O ticket, if the order was set for a notification, you will be prompted with the notification window, containing a default subject and message.  You can edit the subject and message as desired and then Send it.  If you choose not to send it, you can simplyCancel out.

Ø  Users can be sent text messages from the Instant Messaging.  To use this option, set the user’s cell phone number and cell phone provider in User Profiles Maintenance, under the "User Information" tab.  Once defined, the user name will show up in the Instant Messaging recipients list with “(Text)” beside their name.  This is to indicate that selecting this choice as a recipient will send the message to the user as a text.  Therefore, you can send the message to the in-house PC user (as always), but also to the “text” recipient.

Ø Specified users can be sent a text notification when the Daily O/P Invoice Registers fails.  To use this option, the user must first have their cell phone number and carrier defined in the User Profiles Maintenance.  Then, in the Batch Processing Data Entry program, under the Edit menu, an option is provided for Text Notifications.  Here you can select the user(s) to receive a notification if the Daily O/P Register fails. 

• This notification is sent by the Automatic End of Day Email Program, so you must insure this program is enabled in your Daily Tasks list in the Batch Processing Data Entry program.

• Keep in mind that this text notification will be sent when the end of day runs.  If your end of day is scheduled to run at 10:00 pm, when it finishes, if the registers failed to complete successfully, the text notification is sent then.  If the day end procedure is set to run at 2:00 a.m., and the registers fail to complete successfully, the notification is sent then.  This option is not designed to “wake” anyone up in the middle of the night, but to create the alert so that an appropriate person knows the registers failed to complete and the users are locked out of Answers until the situation is resolved.