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Communicating with SMS

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Sending an SMS through your platform

If you need to efficiently communicate with your staff, SMS could be a great solution!

Using SMS allows you to send text messages through the foundU platform with the click of a button.

This can be used to:

  • Communicate with your applicants throughout the onboarding process
  • Notify your employees of shift offers and job offers
  • Let your workforce know that payroll is complete 
  • Send a bulk custom message to all employees
  • And much more!

If SMS is something your business would like to use, you have the option to:

  • Use our in-house foundU SMS service with a pure pay-as-you-go model
  • Or, choose a 3rd party SMS provider and connect your chosen SMS provider credentials to the platform to activate it

In this article, we will cover:

  • Setting up an SMS service
  • Using SMS in your platform
  • SMS reporting

  If you're looking for other ways to communicate shift changes to your employees, please feel free to refer to our article on Push Notifications. 

Configuring SMS

Signing up for foundU SMS service

We have created a new SMS service to make communicating through your platform easy!

Our SMS service features a pay-as-you-go model, allowing you to only pay for what you use.

Send SMS messages through your platform for just $0.05 + GST, without having to bulk buy credits or top up credits giving you unlimited use!

The features of our SMS service include:

    • Unlimited use
    • No setup or switching fees
    • Purely pay as you go
    • No need to bulk buy credits
    • Switch over when you’re ready
    • Never worry about topping up or running out
    • Automatically synced to your foundU monthly invoice

If you are interested in signing up or switching to our foundU SMS service for your business then please use the link here to get started! 

Setting up a 3rd party SMS service

Another option for using SMS in your platform is by choosing a 3rd party provider. 

If you would like to use a 3rd party SMS provider you will need to:

  1. Choose a third-party SMS provider and
  2. Connect your chosen SMS provider credentials to the platform to activate it.

We have the following SMS providers that can easily connect with your foundU platform:

The SMS provider you select will depend on your usage and budget needs.

If you need to buy more SMS credits you'll need to do that with your chosen SMS provider.

To connect/update your chosen SMS provider:

  1. Navigate to the main menu > Platform Settings > Communication Settings.
  2. Select the SMS Configuration tab, and select Yes to Enable System SMS. This enables SMS in your foundU platform.
  3. Select your chosen SMS Provider and add your credentials.



      Hot tip: Hover over the ? to learn what credentials are required for your chosen SMS provider. 



      Please note: If you are entering your credentials and see an 'incorrect username or password' warning, please ensure that the credentials entered into the SMS Settings in foundU are the correct credentials from your SMS provider. Depending on your chosen provider these credentials may be different to the details that you use to log into your chosen SMS provider's account.

    For example, if using SMS broadcast, you can locate/create the credential details in your SMS broadcast API Settings. If you are a new customer you will be prompted to create a new API key or you will find your existing credentials here if forgotten.

    However, if you are unsure where to locate your credentials, please reach out to your chosen SMS provider for further assistance. 
  4. You can also customise the sender name in the 'Send SMS As' section. This is commonly set up as your business name.

      Please note: The sender's name can be no longer than 11 characters. 
  5. Select Save in the action bar at the bottom of the page.

  Hot tip: If you update your password with your SMS provider, don't forget to update it on the platform otherwise your messages will stop sending.

Once your SMS is set up you can also send a test SMS message.

  Hot tip: Should you disable SMS in your platform after adding valid SMS credentials, when turned back on at a later date the original credentials will automatically re-populate.

To send a test SMS message: 

  1. Navigate to the main menu > Platform Settings > Communication Settings.
  2. Select the SMS testing tab > Send a test SMS and enter a mobile number and select 'Send' to test an SMS. A once-off test SMS is then sent from the foundU platform.

If you would like to redirect all SMS notifications for testing purposes:

  1. Turn on the toggle 'Redirect all SMS messages for testing?'.
  2. You'll then see a section appear to enter the mobile number you'd like to redirect all messages to.
  3. Save in the action bar at the bottom of the page.

Checking your SMS balance (3rd party SMS services)

You will be able to track the number of SMS credits you have on your Dashboard.

  Please note: This excludes foundU SMS Service and Whispir.

The SMS balance is displayed as:

  1. In the quick menu select 'Home' to view the Dashboard.
  2. Your SMS Balance is displayed in the Insights section.

      Please note: If you have chosen to use Whispir as your provider, this will show as Disabled. When using the foundU SMS Service, it will show as Active but have a 0 balance. 
  3. The SMS Balance is shown in the number of SMS messages available to be sent. For example, 373 represents the quantity (number of SMS that can be sent before all the SMS credits are used).
  4. The number shown is the quantity of SMS that you can send (i.e. not the $ dollar value of the SMS provider balance).

Communicating with SMS

Create an SMS template 

SMS templates can be really helpful when your business may send SMS communication for the same purpose.

To create an SMS template:

  1. Navigate to the main menu > Communication > Custom Templates. Here you will see a list of all your existing Custom templates available for use.
  2. Select + New Template, and choose SMS (Only available for use if SMS is enabled on your platform).
  3. Name the template.
  4. Personalise the SMS by selecting from available tokens. These will auto-populate with the correct data from your platform before your communication sends. Token choices include: 
    • + First Name
    • + Last Name
    • + Manager's Name
    • + Employee ID
    • + Employment type
    • + Operation
  5. Use the box to write your content and use tokens throughout the content.
  6. Once you have reviewed the content you can Save Template.

Your new SMS template will now be available from the SMS drop-down when you send an SMS to your employees.

Watch along as we use an SMS template to send an SMS to 140 casuals, you'll also see this updated in the Comms section of the Employee Profile.

  For more detailed instructions on Creating Email or SMS Templates, please read our Creating Templates for Email or SMS article.

Send an SMS to all people working today *NEW

There will be times when you need to SMS to all employees who are working today with an urgent message! This action can be performed from your Dashboard via the 'People working today' card.

Similar to any features from the Dashboard, your permissions and search restrictions are respected here, so you can be assured that you will only communicate with employees you have access to!

This feature will be handy to send an SMS to:

    • All employees working today
    • A filtered group of employees (by roster or operation) who have a shift today 

Common use cases for this feature might be:

    • Send a quick SMS to all employees working on a roster to "Stay safe on flooded roads on the way to work".
    • An SMS reminder at the end of your shift to upload the qualification from today’s training course.
    • An urgent message to 'available' employees asking who can start 1 hour earlier today.

  If you'd like to use this feature to SMS your employees working today, please refer to our detailed section on Communicating from your Dashboard.

Send an SMS to an employee or multiple employees

You're able to send an SMS to an individual or a group of employees. This simple process is the same regardless of which SMS provider you use.

This excludes sending any attachments (e.g. png or pdf which is only available with email communication).

To send an SMS individually to employees:

  1. Navigate to People > Approved People and select the relevant employee to go to their profile. 

  2. From the overview page, you have 3 options to select:

    • Employee's mobile number - This will open in an external system, such as a softphone.
    • Send Icon - This will open the modal to send an SMS from your platform. 
    • Copy Icon - This will copy the employee's mobile number. 
  3. When sending an SMS from your platform, add the content of your SMS or select a template. Please see below for further details. 
  4. Select Send SMS to xx employee.
     

To send an SMS to an employee or employees:

  1. In the quick menu navigate to People > Approved People.
  2. Use the Show Filter and/or select people from the checkbox next to their names. 
  3. Select Bulk Actions > Send SMS to Selected.

  4. You can select an SMS template from your previously created templates or you can write a new SMS message.
  5. When sending an SMS to multiple employees, you can use tokens as placeholders, allowing you to write one message, and the employees will receive a personalised message in the name section (for example, using the first name token).

You can send an SMS reminder to a pending person from their employee profile.

Send an SMS to an Operation or multiple Operations

You can send an SMS to operations either singularly or in bulk. 

To send an SMS to an operation:

  1. In the quick menu navigate to Operations > Approved Operations or Pending Operations (depending on who you want to send the SMS to).
  2. Choose which operation to send the SMS to via one of the following options:
    • Tick the check box next to the specific operation or,
    • Use the Show Filter to find operations based on specific criteria such as Suburbs and Managers.
  3. Once your filter is applied, select Bulk Actions and select Send SMS to All Filtered/Selected.
  4. Select a pre-existing SMS template or type in your SMS content.
  5. Select Send. 

To send a bulk SMS to operations:

  1. In the quick menu navigate to Operations > Approved Operations or Pending Operations (depending on who you want to send the SMS to).
  2. Choose which operation to send the SMS to via one of the following options:
    • To send to all, go to the next step or,
    • Tick the check box next to specific operations
  3. Use the Show Filter to find operations based on specific criteria such as Suburbs and Managers.
  4. Once your filter is applied, select Bulk Actions and select Send SMS to All Filtered / Selected.
  5. Select a pre-existing SMS template or type in your SMS content.
  6. Select Send. 

You can view your SMS send history in Communication > Communication Log > Operation SMS Log.

SMS Reporting

SMS sent history

There are two places you can review the SMSs sent from your platform.

These areas are:

    • The Employee Profile
    • The Communication Log

  For more information on viewing your sent email and SMS communications, please refer to our helpful guide here!

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