SMS Functionality¶

SMS Messages

It is possible to send the delivery notification for orders.
This can be done by sending an email to a website which is then converted to an SMS message.
The website is www.aql.com.

Once you have registered on this site, the connection settings have to be established in the 'Administration > Parameters > Connection Settings' tab:
You can enter the name of the company where an email will be received from in the 'Email From' field.

We also now hold the ‘@text.aql.com’ as part of the email address in the same form.
We have called the field ‘Email to SMS Address’.

The text for the email is taken from ‘Email Delivery Text’ in Administration > Company Details > SMS Texts:

SMS Delivery Text

We now hold text for ‘SMS Delivery Text’ in Administration > Company Details > SMS Texts’.
Previously the Delivery Email Text was used, but if the customer is flagged as ‘Email To SMS’, the new text field is used instead.

Please note that it works in the 'Order Enquiry' form - the 'Despatch Order' and 'Despatch Order Scan' buttons.

Only certain customers will want to receive SMS delivery confirmations, so we have created a new field in the Customer form called ‘Email to SMS’:

As about the ‘SMS Acknowledgment’ logic, please check the specification below:

Order Processing

There is now functionality for SMS Order Acknowledgements. There is a new field in the Company Details form Email Text section for ‘SMS Acknowledgement Text’.
There is also a new flag on the customer record called ‘SMS Acknowledgement’.
If ‘Display Checked’ is set to true, the SMS are generated when an order is flagged as ‘checked’ and sent to the mobile number on the customers record.
If an order is checked during the EDI import, then the SMS email is generated at this stage.
If ‘Display Checked’ = false, then the SMS acknowledgement message is sent when the order is saved (and if ‘SMS Acknowledgement’ = true in the customer record).

The Email to SMS is generated when the order is despatched.
Currently, this can only be done using the ‘Despatch’ button in the Order Amend Enquiry form, but this will be extended to all delivery functionality.

Create a sales order, then change status to ‘Despatched’ and you will get the follow message

Check an Outlook's records:

Email/SMS Fitting Text

There is now functionality to send an email or a text message to a customer to show that a fitting appointment has been made.
There is a new field for ‘Fitting Text’ in Company Details > Email Text, for entering the text.
This can be shared by both email and SMS functionality.
When you right-click on a fitting appointment in the diary, there is a new menu option choice called ‘Email/Text Customer’.
If this is selected, then an email and/or a text message will be sent to the customer.
It will only send an email if there is an email held against the order, and will only send an SMS/text message if there is a mobile number and the ‘Email to SMS’ parameter settings are switched on.

SMS Messages For Sales Leads

There is a new automated task for sending out text message alerts to customers for sales leads and appointments
It is possible to send these out the day before at a preset time. It is done via an automated task.
We hold a time for when the text messages is sent (the day before the appointment).
There is a field in Company Details > SMS Texts to hold the text message.