Mass Messaging. Product Manual and User Guide

Transcription

1 Mass Messaging Product Manual and User Guide

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...3 APPLICATION SECURITY...4 SSL SECURITY... 4 AUTHORIZATION BYPASS SECURITY... 4 CROSS SITE SCRIPTING (XSS) SECURITY... 4 CROSS SITE REQUEST FORGERY (CSRF) SECURITY... 4 SQL INJECTION SECURITY... 4 DATA SECURITY...5 OS- - - LEVEL FIREWALL... 5 UNIQUE SFTP ACCOUNT... 5 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE...5 DATABASE INTEGRATION...6 SFTP ACCOUNT... 7 AUTOMATING THE PROCESS... 7 SAMPLE SCRIPTS... 7 SINGLE SIGN ON...8 SSO PROTOCOL... 8 SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY...9 CREATE INITIAL GROUP(S)... 9 ADDING USERS TO REGROUP DESIGNATE ADMINS IN REGROUP POSTING A MESSAGE METHOD #1 VIA WEB INTERFACE METHOD #2 VIA METHOD #3 CALL REGROUP USE CASES... 20

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Congratulations! You have just taken the first step toward great communication with members of your organization. Thank you for contacting Regroup as your Messaging provider of choice. We are extremely proud of our company s reputation, which dates back to the campus of Stanford University with the vision of solving the need that large organizations have for effective messaging across various mediums - we have since experienced tremendous growth and expansion into new markets. In the event of an emergency or other catastrophic event the most important issue at hand is the ease of use and confidence in your Emergency Notification System (ENS) to be able to deliver the message to all impacted parties. Regroup offers you a 100% Software as a Service (SaaS) platform with an extremely simple and intuitive interface. Regroup empowers you to reach out and notify small or large groups of people quickly, easily, and effectively. Whether you have access to a computer, an - or web-enabled smartphone, or simply a telephone Regroup makes communication possible in the event of almost any situation that may arise. The various means of connecting with your target audience include: Digital Signage SMS text messaging Alertus SMTP text messaging IPAWS Text-to-Speech (TTS) EAS Voice Broadcast calls Alert Beacons Embeds on your website Cable TV RSS Feeds PA Systems Social Media i.e. PBX networks Facebook, Twitter Custom Developments Regroup is Common Alerting Protocol Version 1.2 (CAP v1.2) compliant, which is an XMLbased data format for exchanging public warnings and emergencies between alerting technologies. Given the high level of XML coding used by Regroup, we are able to offer a wide variety of custom development items to our clients. Simply let us know what developments you require and a member of our implementation team will contact you regarding your request.

4 APPLICATION SECURITY Regroup places great importance on the security of our application and the data housed therein. We pass all network and website vulnerability tests. Regroup is protected with the following: SSL Security Authorization Bypass Security Cross Site Scripting (XSS) Security Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Security SQL Injection Security Regroup uses 256-bit SSL (https) encryption site-wide. The connection uses TLS 1.0 protocol encrypted via AES_256_CBC, with SHA1 for message authentication and DHE_RSA as the key exchange mechanism. These security measures prevent stolen credentials, session hijacking, and access to sensitive information. Regroup is secure from Authorization Bypass vulnerabilities. Authorization Bypass vulnerabilities allow attackers to gain unauthorized access to resources by circumventing access controls. This can be accomplished by disabling certain scripts, modifying parameters in a request, or finding links to secured areas that are protected by obfuscation. Regroup is secure from Cross Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities. XSS allows attackers to inject executable code into an unvalidated input that is then executed in a user s browser when the page is loaded. Through this, an attacker may gain complete control of a user s session, allowing him to alter page functionality to harvest data, phish for sensitive information, or steal user credentials and session information. Regroup is secure from Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities. CSRF vulnerabilities permit attackers to take advantage of a legitimate session established by a user to perform unauthorized actions on behalf of that user. Effectively anything the given user has permissions to do can be done without their knowledge by the attacker. These attacks can be very difficult to trace, as the activity appears to come from an authorized user. Regroup is secure from SQL injection vulnerabilities. SQL injection vulnerabilities happen when user input is either incorrectly filtered for string literal escape characters embedded in SQL statements or user input is not strongly typed and unexpectedly executed. SQL commands are thus injected from the web form into the database of an application (like queries) to change the database content or dump the database information to the attacker.

5 DATA SECURITY OS-Level Firewall Regroup ensures that we are using top OS-level Firewalls to ensure the security and privacy of user data. We feel that the security of our data is equally as important as the functionality of our application. Unique SFTP Account Regroup uses SFTP for the transmission of user data in order to secure information from the initial point of generation through input into the database. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE Group membership data ( details in data integration diagram) Data load process Mainframe.csv group membership Logon via custom Django front end for Regroup site Regroup Recipient client(s) RReeggrroouupp uusseerr Send via client Group Authentication person ID data

6 DATABASE INTEGRATION Regroup provides an easy to use solution to integrate with third-party databases such as Ellucian s Colleague, and Banner; Jenzabar, Peoplesoft, and more. Our system allows you to easily, and automatically, import user data to our system to be processed and uploaded into (or removed from) groups. Batch process(es) build datasets of STUDENT lists nightly Batch process(es) build datasets of EMPLOYEE lists nightly Administrative/ Outside areas GDS Read datasets and create dataset of all EID + group ID Group ID data Sort dataset Regroup SFTP Build CSV, retrieving name from and from Batch Jobgroup Dataset ID > Regroup Group ID table Mainframe Group IDs created by Regroup

7 SFTP Account For clients that opt for the Database Integration feature, we will create a unique SFTP account for your network. Using this framework admins can upload files extracted from their internal database and format the file per Regroup s requirements. Please see the below screenshot for an example of our required formatting, also, please review the relevant topic on our help site found here - Automating the Process Many of our existing clients opt to use automation process such as a Cron Job to run at regular intervals of their choosing. This allows the automatic extraction of a.csv file from your database, which is then converted into our preferred format shown above and uploaded to the Upload folder within your SFTP account. Sample Scripts Regroup has sample scripts for certain database providers. We are an official Datatel partner and provide sample scripts for the Colleague database. Our scripts work with many other SQL based databases, for more information please consult our help site here -

8 SINGLE SIGN-ON Shibboleth Example Browser Regroup website Regroup (SP) Single Sign On (IdP) IdP Attribute Authority Navigate to login page Redirected to SP Redirect to SP Redirected to IdP Redirect to IdP Authenticate Redirected to SP Redirect with Token to SP SP queries IdP for Account Details Return Account Details Redirect Browser to Regroup website Redirect with Token Obtain Account Details Return Results Access Granted Grant Access? SSO Protocol Regroup can integrate with your Single Sign-On system including LDAP, OpenLDAP, Active Directory(AD), ADFS 2.0, SAML, CAS, and Shibboleth. Regardless of the authentication protocol we require the following: 1) Whitelist Regroup IPs 2) Sample Entry from Client 3) Test User from Client 4) Single or multiple containers (i.e. staff, users)? 5) Does the method use a username or to authenticate

9 SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY Create Initial Group(s) In order to begin using the Regroup System a Network Admin will first need to create a group or multiple groups, depending on whether this is only for testing purposes or setting up the network in its entirety. Method for Group Creation: 1) Log in to your network with the credentials provided during the implementation call. 2) From the Homepage select Create a Group as shown below. 3) Once in the Create a Group tab enter the name of the group NOTE: It is not possible to change the name of a group at a later date due to the associated address (discussed further in Method #2 for Posting a Message Via ) 4) Select how messages will be handled in this group please find descriptions below. a. Open Discussion Group i. Set up as an open forum where any user can post or reply to messages to be sent to all members of the group. b. Announcement Only i. Group or Network admins are the only users able to post or reply to messages. c. Moderated i. Much like Open Discussion Groups any user can post or reply to messages, however, this type of group notifies admins that there is a message awaiting approval.

10 5) Select what type of group this will be please find descriptions below a. Public i. Group is viewable and searchable by all users, whom may join by clicking the Join link beside the group name. b. Private i. Group is viewable and searchable by all users, whom may request membership by clicking Request Membership. c. Secret i. Group is not viewable or searchable by users aside from members of the group and Network Admins, invite only. 6) Select what category this group belongs in. 7) Enter a description for the group a. Description will display on the group homepage per below 8) Select additional optional features for the group some of the more relevant options are outlined below a. Options i. One of the most important options on this screen is whether or not users are able to unsubscribe from this group. b. Subject Prefix i. Defaults to the Group Name and will display in subject of messages unless removed or customized c. Replies i. How replies to messages will be handled d. Message Footer i. Default footer has unsubscribe link ii. Also includes tracking cookies to populate -reporting statistics

11 Adding Users to Regroup Regroup has a number of ways to add users into the system. This topic will cover adding members through the website for the initial testing. Adding all members of the network can be done through the SFTP client as outlined on our help site at the following link - Method for Adding Users: 1) Navigate to the Group Homepage 2) Select Add/Invite Members on the left panel 3) From the Add/Invite members screen enter the first name, last name and of the users to be added. 4) Select Send a welcome message and login info to new members from the bottom of this page in order to allow users to sign in to the system.

12 Designating Admins in Regroup Regroup has differing levels of admin rights. Network Admins have full control over all settings within the network, including Admin Settings Tab and are able to post to any group within the network. Group Admins are able to make changes and post messages to groups they administer and can even be restricted from viewing the contact details for users in their group(s). Method for Designating Network Admins: 1) Navigate to Admin Settings Tab 2) Select Users Tab

13 3) Select Make Network Admin 4) Success message will appear and user is now a network admin Method #1 for Designating Group Admins Bulk Editing: 1) Follow steps 1 and 2 above to get to Users Tab 2) Select View/Edit Groups 3) Within the drop down user can quickly be made an admin of multiple groups 4) A green success message will be displayed

14 Method #2 for Designating Group Admins Group Specific Editing: 1) Navigate to the Group Homepage 2) Select Group Members from the left pane 3) Select Make Admin beside the user in question 4) A green success message will be displayed

15 Posting a Message Being a messaging service provider Regroup understands that the primary concern is the ability to get messages to the relevant parties no matter what situation may arise. Given our commitment to reaching your user base, Regroup offers three methods whereby messages can be sent to members of your network. Method #1 for Posting a Message Via Web Interface: 1) Log in to the network at your unique subdomain - with provided credentials. 2) Navigate to the Post a Message Tab

16 3) Regroup offers three different protocols for sending out messages a. Standard Messaging Interface i. Website 1. Messages are posted to the network and your website embed, if applicable ii. 1. Sends an to all users in the group(s) selected iii. Text Message (Standard see also Premium Text Message Below) 1. Sent via SMTP protocol which utilizes an address associated with the phone number and carrier (i.e. a. NB: This protocol requires carrier information in order to function correctly. In order to send a message directly to a number without the requirement for carrier information please see Premium Text Message Below. iv. Text to Speech 1. Initiates a call to all phone numbers associated with users in the group(s), within which a digitized voice recites the body of the message. v. Messages can be saved as a template and be assigned to only the creator, or all admins vi. Messages can be scheduled to be sent at a later date and time with a recurring frequency of Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly vii. Clicking Send Test to Myself will isolate the message just to the admin composing it. This is most often used to verify formatting when using HTML or other rich formats.

17 viii. Preview brings up another screen, which shows how the message will appear in an client as well as allowing the viewing of a preview for the text message. b. Voice Alert Messaging Interface i. Allows admins to initiate a call with a voice recording that will play for all phone numbers associated with users in the group(s) ii. Messages can be added via two methods 1. Option 1: Record a. Enter your phone number and a title for the sound file and then select Click to Call i. The number entered above will be called and a message can then be recorded to be sent out right away or at a later time 2. Option 2: Upload a. Select Choose File which will allow admins to upload a file stored locally in either.wav or.mp3 format

18 c. Premium Text Messaging Interface i. Premium text messaging is based off an SMPP protocol, which allows a direct-to-number gateway to be established. 1. This method does not require any carrier information 2. Maximum character limit is 160, versus 140 on standard messaging Method #2 for Posting a Message Via Personal client Regroup site User authorized? Y Sends message to list N Moderator approves or denies 1) When any new group is created a unique address is also populated. 2) To find this address, navigate to the group homepage and look underneath the group name as shown below.

19 Regroup Product Manual and User Guide 3) To select how s into this group are handled, navigate to the Edit Group Settings tab in the left pane 4) Navigate to options and select the checkbox to expand the options. 5) Near the bottom of this dropdown we can select how s into this group are handled as shown below. 6) Once the optional features are selected an admin can send an to the group address from their address registered with Regroup and the message will be sent out via all selected medium.

20 Method #3 for Posting a Message Call Regroup: Regroup offers a 24 hour-a-day 7 day-a-week emergency hotline in order to allow messages to be sent out, no matter what situation may arise. In the event of an emergency where sending a message via the web interface or are not viable options, simply call us at (775) GRO- UP10 ( ). USE CASES Trigger Initial upload of dataset of group members Manual Regroup, Dataset provider, Database Administrator, SFTP Agent 1. ERPS manually initiates list generation process 2. List generation process consolidates datasets from Dataset providers 3. Resulting dataset is SFTPed to Regroup 4. Regroup processes dataset Trigger Upload updated dataset of group members Regularly scheduled process Regroup, Dataset provider, SFTP agent 1. Dataset provider creates dataset via nightly process 2. List generation process consolidates datasets from Dataset providers 3. Resulting dataset is SFTPed to Regroup 4. Regroup processes dataset Trigger Generate dataset of group members Regularly scheduled process; manual when creating a brand new list Dataset provider Dataset provider creates dataset Nightly scheduled process; manual when creating a brand new list Create new permanent list in Regroup Trigger Authorized user chooses create new group in system Regroup, List owner 1. User opts to create new group 2. User fills out group information 3. Regroup creates and saves group

21 Trigger Create new one- - - off list User defines a new group Regroup, Authorized user 1. User opts to create new group 2. User fills out group information 3. Regroup creates group Trigger Send basic via client User sends an to a Regroup address Regroup, Sender 1. Sender creates and sends to Regroup address 2. Regroup distributes mail to group members If sender is not already authorized to send to group: 2a. List owner (moderator) is notified of 2b. List owner (moderator) approves/denies Trigger Define type for basic via client User sends an to a Regroup address Regroup, Sender When creating , sender includes type in Subject Line Trigger Send basic via Regroup website User sends an via Regroup group page Regroup, Group member 1. User logs into Regroup 2. User selects group to send to from home page 3. User selects post a new message 4. User composes message 5. User hits Send 6. Regroup sends to address list for group

22 Trigger Define type for basic via Regroup website Trigger User sends an via Regroup group page Regroup, Group member User selects from available types when creating message Send HTML (with plain text version) via client User sends an HTML- - - formatted to a group address Regroup, Sender 1. Sender creates and sends to Regroup address 2. Regroup distributes mail to group members in HTML and plain text If sender is not already authorized to send to group: 2a. List owner (moderator) is notified of 2b. List owner (moderator) approves/denies Trigger Define type for HTML (with plain text version) via client User sends an HTML- - - formatted to a group address Regroup, Sender When creating , sender includes type in Subject Line Trigger Send HTML (with plain text version) via Regroup website User sends an HTML- - - formatted via Regroup group page Regroup, Group Member 1. User logs into Regroup 2. User selects group to send to from home page 3. User selects post a new message 4. User composes message 5. User hits Send 6. Regroup sends to address list for group in HTML and plain text

23 Trigger Define type for HTML (with plain text version) via Regroup website User sends an HTML- - - formatted via Regroup group page Regroup, Group Member User selects from available types when creating message Not all options may be available for all users Trigger Send attachment via client User sends an with an attachment to a group address Regroup, Sender 1. Sender creates , attaches file, and sends to Regroup address 2. Regroup distributes mail to group members If sender is not already authorized to send to group: 2a. List owner (moderator) is notified of 2b. List owner (moderator) approves/denies Trigger Send attachment via Regroup website User sends an with an attachment via Regroup group page Regroup, Group Member 1. User logs in to Regroup 2. User fills out information on , with distribution list and type 3. User opts to attach file(s) to and is presented with upload options 4. User uploads file(s) to attach 5. User hits Send 6. Regroup sends to address list for group Review attachment Trigger recipient reviews an attachment sent to a group address Regroup, Recipient 1. Recipient receives with attachment 2. Recipient opens attachment

24 Trigger Opt- - - out of Informational messages User selects opt- - - out Regroup, Group member/recipient 1. User logs into System 2. User opts to update personal preferences 3. User selects Informational opt- - - out 4. Preference is saved on dataset providers files 5. Dataset provider refers to setting when creating Informational distribution lists Trigger Opt- - - out of Marketing messages User selects opt- - - out Regroup, Group member/recipient 1. User logs in 2. User opts to update personal preferences 3. User selects Marketing opt- - - out 4. Preference is saved on dataset providers files 5. Dataset provider refers to setting when creating Marketing distribution lists Trigger Trigger Authorize permanent sender List owner adds sender Regroup, List owner 1. List admin logs in to Regroup 2. List admin selects list to maintain 3. List admin adds sender to authorized permanent sender list Remove permanent sender List owner removes sender Regroup, List owner 1. List admin logs in to Regroup 2. List admin selects list to maintain 3. List admin removes sender from authorized permanent sender list

25 Approve message(s) for distribution Trigger Sender creates message and hits send Regroup, Admin, Sender 1. Regroup forwards the message awaiting moderation to list admin 2. List admin uses links in the message to approve 3. Regroup distributes to recipient list Admin moderates message via Regroup website: 2. Admin logs into Regroup 3. Admin is offered list of messages for approval 4. Admin reviews and approves message(s) 5. Regroup distributes (s) to recipient list OPTIONAL FEATURES Website Integration Regroup can be branded and customized to fit within an organization's own website and color scheme. For examples, please see enclosed screenshots on Database Integration Database integration enables an automated upload of contact data to our database so that your notification lists are always up to date. (This saves the manual work of uploading.csv files via the web interface by taking your contact records directly from your database and synching them regularly with Regroup). We have a secure ftp to which your database will post automatically-generated.csv files with contact information. This method of uploading users requires minimal setup to create a scheduled script to send the data to Regroup. Our system automatically recognizes any new files that you post to the ftp; so it can be set up to synch as often as wanted, for example weekly. Single Sign-On (e.g. LDAP) Regroup can integrate with your directory's username and password system. For example, at they've chosen to enable LDAP via Regroup so that constituents can log in with their OCCC username and password. Voice System Integration Regroup can integrate with disparate phone systems to have one, integrated means of sending voice messages across a diverse set of contacts and systems. Digital Signage, Siren and Desktop Alert Integration Regroup can also integrate with outdoor or indoor digital signage, sirens, and computer desktop alerts. We can also integrate with other public alert systems.

26 Geo Targeting and Map Mode For clients who require the ability to target contact lists ad-hoc by address, rather than by pregrouping them in this way, we can offer a Map Mode. This allows the sender to circle an area on the Map that will correlate with address data for contacts, and include contacts in that area as recipients of the message. support@regroup.com - (775)

27 Customer Service Platform Integration Regroup has implemented integrations with customer service platforms such as Parature. This enables customer support representatives to text message customers from within the service platform. An example of this integration is under Regroup s Parature Integration on YouTube. support@regroup.com - (775)

28 ADDITIONAL PRODUCT SCREENSHOTS Example of User Preferences page: and Telephone - (775)

29 Examples of Reporting: - (775)

30 - (775)

31 - (775)

32 Regroup can be accessed via web-enabled tables and phones: - (775)

33 Messages can also be shown through an External Client Webpage: - (775)

34 Contacts can be defaulted into the groups, or can join themselves via the relevant website: Thank you for using Regroup! Please contact us anytime for assistance. - (775)