Sending SMS Text Messages to Cell Phones Using the Email Generator Plug-in Sending Text Messages from the DMS User Guide 1
WHY WOULD WE WANT TO SEND (SMS) TEXT MESSAGES TO CLIENT CELL PHONES? This capability was created for CPR agencies wishing to send SMS text message to client cell phones to remind of an upcoming appointment. Of course this can only happen on clients with an upcoming PE appointment and the client has a cell phone number and a cell phone provider selected. Some may use them to request the client to complete a survey form (at an outside URL) before and after a counseling session or class. WHAT IS AN SMS TEXT MESSAGE? An SMS is a small message format used on Mobile phones. It is commonly referred to as texting. Each of the mobile phone carriers provide an email gateway to send in the format of the user s 10 digit number, the @ symbol and then the carrier s domain (for example tmomil.net for T-Mobile). However, there are differences in how a carrier will handle an inbound text from the email gateway. If an email to text message is not properly formatted it may be disregarded altogether by the receiving gateway. Therefore it is best to have several test phone numbers from your common carriers that you can test out new Email>SMS letters before deploying them. You could use employee cell phones from different carriers during the testing phase to ensure your message is being received as intended. For example in the US, you'd want at least Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and TMobile. In Canada you'd want Rogers, Wind, and several of the other common carriers. BASIC BEST PRACTICES FOR E-MAILING SMS TEXT MESSAGES? 1. An SMS email address is the phone number and "@" symbol and the carrier suffix. a. EX: (206-555-1212 would be formatted as 2065551212@tmomail.net in the email TO: field) 2. An SMS email subject should not be longer than 16 characters. 3. An SMS email body should not be longer than 160 characters. Those characters should only be normal ASCII characters (0-9, A-Z, a-z and the symbols normally found on a keyboard). 4. An SMS should be formatted as Text not HTML. Emails sent to the SMS gateway that do not adhere to the above protocol, may not be delivered. Further, if the body text of an SMS message exceeds 160 characters several things could happen: 1. It may not be delivered. 2. It may be truncated at 160 characters (Verizon) 3. It may be converted to an MMS message (T Mobile / AT&T) which may or may not be received by the recipient. An MMS is a multimedia message. 4. It may be converted to an attachment the user must download separately. Sending Text Messages from the DMS User Guide 2
KNOWLEDGE BASE T-Mobile will not deliver any email sent to their SMS gateway that contains the phone number formatted as a phone number (for example, if the body contains (800) 555-1212 or 800-555-1212 it will be rejected). o Alternative formatting is to put the symbol # in front and do no formatting or use a period. Example: #800.555.1212 or #8005551212 or even #800-555-1212. T-Mobile will convert long lengths to MMS An MMS takes longer to deliver and has a higher failure rate of delivery. It is recommended to not send the SMS as HTML. In fact, if the message will be sent MMS, T- Mobile will send a text to the user that says there is no body. T-Mobile does appear to send through an SMS that is marked as HTML. SMS Text Messaging Available for DMS SOLUTIONS VERSION 4.6.0.24 or higher Your DMS database and PCs must be running DMS Solutions version 4.6.0.24 or higher to use the Email Generator plug-in for sending SMS text messages to client cell phones. Download EMAIL GENERATOR INSTALL.MSI plug-in from CPR Website Note: The Email Generator Plugin was originally created to allow agencies to send email broadcasts to clients with valid email addresses. Now it is has been expanded to send SMS Text Messages to cell phones. 1. Open an incident asking CPR to run the necessary scripts to make this plug-in function. 2. Only PCs that will be responsible for broadcasting these SMS text messages will need to download the plugin EMAIL GENERATOR INSTALL.MSI from the Downloads>DMS Professional Suite area. 3. You must activate this DMS plug-in for the security groups that should see this plugin. This is done in DMS Manager>Security Maintenance>Plugins Setup tab. 4. Once downloaded and activated in Manager, this red plugin icon will appear in Mass Communications. APPOINTMENT DETAILS and PERSONAL INFORMATION>Address Info tab enhanced to capture CELL PHONE PROVIDER The Appointment Details screen and Personal Information>Address Info tab have been enhanced with a Cell Phone Provider dropdown. If you wish to send SMS text messages, you must complete a cell phone number and choose a cell phone provider. If the client gives permission to send text messages to their cell phone, choosing the cell phone provider will act as their verbal authorization. Sending Text Messages from the DMS User Guide 3
ON DEMAND or STANDALONE JOBS Text messages may be processed by your staff on demand, or they may be processed as a standalone job on a pre-scheduled basis. Standalone Job The Email Generator plugin enables the user to setup an email to run as a standalone job on a scheduled basis. However, this email CANNOT send an attachment. The email can be setup in either HTML or plain text. This Email Generator application is accessed through Programs Files -> DMS -> Plugins -> Email Generator.exe. This opens the Email Generator logon window. Sending Text Messages from the DMS User Guide 4
Complete the fields in the Email Generator logon window and click OK. Email Generator Setup for Standalone Jobs The Email Generator Setup window contains the following items: Database Setup Email Setup Notification Document Setup Schedule Database Setup tab The Database Setup window enables the user to setup the database and to test the settings that are entered. Complete your SQL user name, SQL password, Host Name/ip address and Data Account name. Click the TEST button. If the test connection was successful, a pop-up message window indicates this with a message. Click OK to close this window. Sending Text Messages from the DMS User Guide 5
Email Setup tab This tab is used to setup the SMTP server and to test the settings keyed. Key the SMTP Server name, Reply email Address. By default, the Use default authentication checkbox is checked. If your staff log into DMS Solutions using the default authentication, leave the checkbox checked. If your staff log into DMS Solutions using a SQL user name and password, uncheck the box and enter the SQL User Name Login and Password. If you want the user's password to display in the Password field, uncheck the Show Password checkbox. Click the TEST button to send a test email to the reply address. Notification tab This tab is used to setup notification information and to create a log file related to the job that was run. The notification is sent to the specified email addresses and it is at a "high level". That is, the information provided are total numbers, not a detail of each person the email was sent to. The log file created gives the detail information at the client level. The information in the log specifies when the email was sent, the client ID that the email was sent to, the name of the letter, and whether the transmission was successful or not. If the transmission failed, a message is provided as to why it failed. The log filename and location is a default setting that is controlled by the application. Sending Text Messages from the DMS User Guide 6
Document Setup tab This tab is used to generate, add, edit or delete an email document or SMS text message that is to be sent to clients who have an email address, or cell phone/provider. At initial setup, you must define and create the HTML or plain text document(s). These are NOT Crystal Reports. CPR will help you create these text documents and create a stored procedure to select clients who should receive each letter. Note: HTML documents CAN contain URL links to other websites, while Plain Text documents cannot. Schedule tab This tab is used to set up an email job to automatically run on a specific date and time. Check the SCHEDULE AS A TASK box. Sending Text Messages from the DMS User Guide 7
Click the PROPERTIES button to receive the EMAIL GENERATOR screen with 3 more tabs. TASK tab-accept the default settings shown. Click the SET PASSWORD button to reset your SQL user password. Note: As your agency changes SQL passwords, the password stored in the Email Generator must also change; otherwise the process will continue to fail because it cannot log into the database successfully. SCHEDULE tab-to add a new email job or delete an email job that automatically runs on a specific date and time. Click the NEW button to name this scheduled task. Choose a Schedule Task, Start Time and Schedule Task Daily. Sending Text Messages from the DMS User Guide 8
Click the ADVANCED button to store additional scheduling options. Choose a Start Date. Leave the End Date unchecked. Check the Repeat task checkbox to activate the EVERY and UNTIL options. SETTINGS tab-accept the default settings shown. Sending Text Messages from the DMS User Guide 9
SMS TEXT MESSAGE CONTENT The SUBJECT must be no longer than 16 characters. The MESSAGE BODY must be no longer than 160 characters. Email message should be setup in either HTML or plain text (preferred). We can insert data from DMS like appointment day, date and time with a phone number to call to reschedule the appointment. The following message the client will receive as an SMS message, because the SUBJECT is less than 16 characters and the MESSAGE BODY is less than 160 characters. If the MESSAGE BODY exceeds 160 characters, it will be received as an MMS message not SMS. GENERATING SMS TEXT MESSAGES TO CELL PHONES Check the document type(s) you wish to process to cell phone text messages. Next click the GENERATE button. This will send the text message with any DMS data to be inserted to the client s cell phone number/cell phone provider. Once sent, a confirmation message (to the stored reply address) appears indicating how many messages were sent successfully and failed. Sending Text Messages from the DMS User Guide 10
Once sent, a confirmation message (to the stored reply address) appears indicating how many messages were sent successfully and failed. PERMANENT CLIENT NOTE FOR FAILED OR SUCCESSFUL MESSAGE A Permanent note is created that the text message was sent successfully or failed. Sending Text Messages from the DMS User Guide 11
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