Communications - Getting started

1What the hub does #

Communications keeps every e-mail, SMS and WhatsApp with your customers, suppliers, staff and anybody else in one place, both ways. It is the ERP's own mail program - folders on the left, the list in the middle, the message on the right - with a shared tray for what nobody has taken yet, a team's tools for working it together, and the machinery that sends to many people at once or by itself.

What a conversation is related to follows the modules your licence holds. With CRM, a sender is matched to an open lead or a contact, a conversation can be linked to a lead, contact or deal, or turned into a new lead. With Financial Accounting, Sales or Purchase, it can be about a party (a ledger) and a document (a voucher), and shows under that ledger's or voucher's Messages. Without either, conversations are simply yours, your tray's, or a manager's.

WhatsApp is a feature of the Communication Hub, bought on its own. Without it WhatsApp numbers, WhatsApp profiles and WhatsApp sending are not offered; e-mail and SMS do not need it.

2Where to find help #

• On every screen: the Help panel on the right - what the screen is for, how to work in it step by step, every field, the rules, the keys and every message it can show, with its cause and fix.
• The manual: at the foot of this page - Inbox & Outbox, Bulk Messages, Channel Setup, Automatic Messages, Mail Accounts, SMS/WhatsApp Profiles and the Notification Log - in the words their Help panels use.
• Search help in the header searches every screen's help (tick This screen only to stay on one); Ask answers a question in your own words from the same help.

3Where things are - the Communications menu #

Elsewhere:

4The Communications Dashboard - where things stand #

Communications > Communications Dashboard (under *Start here*) shows the module at a glance: messages sent today and this month by channel; what failed and why; what is still queued; conversations awaiting a reply or unread; and bulk sends in progress.

• Every tile has a button that opens the page or report behind the figure, and every list has one at its head - the dashboard is where you start, the page is where you act.
• A figure that wants attention reads red; one that is as it should be reads green; a plain figure is just a fact.
• The figures are for the report option you signed in with (All, Branch or Group), shown at the top as *For*, up to today.
• It counts your own messages; everyone's if you hold User Can View Others Outbox.
• Cancelled entries are never counted.
• The page is read when it opens and on Refresh (F3); it does not refresh by itself. Nothing is changed there.
• The right. The dashboard has a user preference of its own: *User Can View Communications Dashboard* in User Manager > Preferences. It starts unticked for everyone; an administrator ticks it for whoever should see it. Administrators always hold it.

5First-day setup (administrator) #

Do these once per company, in this order. Steps 1 and 2 are for whoever looks after the servers and databases.

1. Settings > Email Account: the accounts mail goes out through - a shared sales or accounts address, with its outgoing server. Gmail and Microsoft 365 need an app password.
2. Settings > SMS/WhatsApp Profiles: the SMS gateway account(s) you send through.
3. Communications > Channel Setup: a mailbox for each account whose incoming mail the hub should read, an SMS webhook for each gateway that reports back, and a WhatsApp number for each Meta business number - then Sync templates. Name a tray user group on each, or unmatched messages go to everybody.
4. Communications > Hub Settings: how often mailboxes are read, the reply clock, the sending pace, the hour of the daily events, and whether self-service answers by itself.
5. Tick the Communications menu rows for the people who use them.
6. For the payment link in reminders and self-service: CustomerPortal:PortalBaseUrl on the API server, and online payments switched on in the customer portal's settings.
7. For SMS and WhatsApp replies and reports, the API must be published on HTTPS and reachable from the internet at the addresses Channel Setup shows.

6Keys #

7Channel Setup - mailboxes, SMS and WhatsApp #

Three kinds of plumbing live here, each set up once and then left alone. Secrets - passwords, tokens, webhook secrets - are write-only: stored encrypted and never shown again; a blank box means "keep what is stored".

A mailbox

1. Make sure the account exists on Settings > Email Account - its outgoing server sends the replies.
2. Press Add mailbox and pick the Mail account. Give the Incoming (IMAP) server (imap.gmail.com, outlook.office365.com ...), Port / SSL ? (993 with SSL is usual), the Account (usually the address) and the Password - an app password for Gmail and Microsoft 365, with IMAP on.
3. Press Test the sign-in. It signs in and counts the folder - it reads nothing and changes nothing. "Signed in. INBOX holds ... message(s)." is the good answer.
4. Set the Folder (INBOX), Read mail from (blank = the last seven days; later reads take only what is new), the Tray - user group that sees unmatched mail, Only known senders ? (on for a busy general mailbox: mail from nobody known is not kept at all; replies to hub mail always are) and Offer as From ? (a From choice when composing, so replies come back here).
5. Save (F5).

• The mail server is only read: nothing is marked, moved or deleted there, and the hub's own sent copies are skipped.
• Two mailbox rows cannot read the same account.

An SMS webhook

1. Press Add webhook, give it a Name ("MSG91 replies") and a Secret of 12 characters or more.
2. Name the fields your gateway sends - Sender field and Message text field for replies; Message id field and Status field for delivery reports. Name both of the pair you use.
3. Pick the Tray - user group for replies from numbers nobody has, and Save (F5).
4. Copy the Address shown into your gateway's webhook settings, with the secret (as the header X-Webhook-Secret, or ?secret= on the address).

A WhatsApp number (Meta's WhatsApp Cloud API)

1. Press Add WhatsApp number: a Name ("Sales WhatsApp"), the Phone number ID and WhatsApp Business Account ID (from Meta's WhatsApp > API Setup - ids, not the phone number), the Phone number as people see it, a permanent Access token and the App secret. Leave Verify token blank and one is made for you.
2. Save (F5), then copy the Callback URL and verify token into Meta's WhatsApp > Configuration and subscribe to messages.
3. Press Sync templates. Only templates Meta has approved can be sent; they are made in Meta's WhatsApp Manager.

Reading the badges

• Working / Waiting - the mailbox has read successfully, or has not read yet. Failing - the last attempt failed; the reason is on the card.
• n failed / n waiting - webhook calls that could not be processed, and calls not yet read. Every call is stored first and retried five times; Retry failed puts the failed ones back in the queue.
• n approved - how many WhatsApp templates are approved.
• "Failing" and "n failed" are the two words worth checking weekly.

8The inbox - reading and answering #

1. Open Communications > Inbox & Outbox. It starts on Mine - conversations you own (with CRM, also those on your records). New messages arrive by themselves; nothing needs refreshing.
2. Use the folders - Mine, Tray - unassigned, Sent, All I may see - and narrow by Channel (E-mail, SMS, WhatsApp), Status and Unread. Search finds a person, address or subject on the server.
3. Click a conversation to read the thread. Reply, or write in the quick-reply box at the foot. It goes out from the same mailbox or gateway, so the answer comes back to the same place.
4. For something in the tray: Claim it - and, with CRM, Link to record or Make a lead.
5. Close a conversation that is finished; it reopens by itself if they write again.

What a row tells you

• The rows are in bands - Today, Yesterday, This week, Earlier this month, Older. Each shows the person (or their address), the time of the last message, the subject and first words ("You:" when you wrote last), the channel, and with CRM the Lead, Contact or Deal it is on.
• An untagged conversation in the tray is an invitation to claim it.
• Each message in the thread carries its status: Received, Sent (handed to the mail server or gateway), Delivered / Read (the gateway or Meta confirmed it - SMS needs delivery reports set up), Failed (with the reason).

What you can do with a conversation

How a message finds its conversation

• A reply to mail sent from the hub carries the hub's message id and lands on that conversation, whoever sent it.
• With CRM, anything else is matched by the sender's address or number - an open lead first, then a contact.
• With the books, a sender who is one of a party's contact persons (on the ledger's Address Book / Contacts) is related to that party by itself - but a party alone never takes a conversation out of the tray.
• Anything unmatched waits in the tray of the user group the mailbox, webhook or number names - or everyone's, when none is named.
• A mail server's bounce report is not a conversation: the message it refers to becomes Failed ("Bounced:" and the server's words), and the address is listed under Bulk Messages > Bounced addresses.

9Working as a team #

• Pending, snooze and tags change the conversation for everybody, so only its owner, a manager, or somebody who may edit its record does them.
• A mention does not let a colleague see a conversation they may not see - hand it over instead.
• Snoozed conversations are brought back by the API server's background worker.

10Putting a conversation on a record, a party or a document #

With CRM

• Link to record: pick Lead, Contact or Deal, type two or more characters of the name, number or address, Enter, and choose the hit. Every message of the conversation then shows on that record's Communication panel.
• Make a lead: creates a lead from the sender and links the conversation to it - the quickest way to turn a stranger's message into work.
• Without CRM these are not offered, and a conversation linked while CRM was licensed shows no record - nothing is lost; the links come back if CRM is licensed again.

With the books (Financial Accounting, Sales or Purchase)

• Relate to account: type part of the party's name, Enter, pick one. The conversation then shows in that ledger's Messages....
• Relate to document: the party's latest documents are listed; type part of the number to narrow them. It then shows in that voucher's Messages. A document brings its party with it when the conversation has none. Only documents whose module is licensed, that you may find or view, and inside your report option's branches are offered.
• The party and document chips show what the conversation is about; click the document to open it; × takes the relation off (the messages stay).
• A message keeps the party and document its conversation had when it was written, so a ledger's history stays true if the conversation is later related elsewhere.
• Relating never shows a conversation to anybody new: a ledger's or voucher's Messages list only what you could see in the inbox anyway.

Messages on a ledger and a voucher

Ledger Master > Messages... (a saved ledger in View mode) and the voucher's Messages button (a saved voucher, not while editing) list every conversation about that party or document you may see, newest first. New message (F3) writes to the party and relates the conversation to it (or to the document).

11Writing a new message #

1. Press New message (F3) in the inbox (or in a ledger's or voucher's Messages).
2. Pick the channel and the person - from the Address book, or just type the address. With CRM a typed address is matched to a lead or contact exactly as an incoming message would be.
3. E-mail: pick From (a hub mailbox, so the reply comes back here), a subject, the text; attach files From this computer or From Document Management.
4. SMS: pick the SMS profile - its gateway sends it.
5. WhatsApp: pick the number and an approved template, and fill its values. Only within 24 hours of the person's last WhatsApp message may you write freely and send files - Meta's rule.
6. Send. It is on the conversation at once - Sent, or Failed with the reason.

The address book

In the outbox, New message opens the common compose window instead: a plain mail through a mail account, kept in your outbox, with the same address book; attachments up to 25 MB together, a Document Management file needing your own Download right.

12The outbox - what the ERP sent #

OUTBOX, under the inbox folders, gathers two kinds of sending: database mail - the workflow's notification rules and older parts of the software, sent by the database server's Database Mail - and mail sent by the ERP through Settings > Email Account: vouchers, reports, alerts, Compose mail, SMS and WhatsApp. It opens on your own mail of the last 30 days.

1. Click Failed. Each message shows its reason on its last line.
2. Click one: it shows as it was sent, with a coloured bar saying what happened.
3. Press Resend (F4), correct the address or the wording if needed, and send. It goes out through a mail account - not Database Mail, which is usually why it failed - and moves to Resent.

• A resend is a new message recorded against the original; the original is never changed.
• Only database mail can be resent here, because its whole text is kept. Mail logged in the notification log is resent from Admin > Notification Log, which also answers "was it sent, to whom, and if not why not" for every module.
• Other people's messages carry customers' addresses and whatever they said, so the server checks the outbox right on every list, message and resend.

13Bulk messages #

One message to many people, each filled in with their own figures. A message has a kind, and the kind knows who it is for and what it can say. A kind is offered while one of its modules is licensed.

A run, step by step

1. Open New run and click the kind. It starts from the kind's saved template or its own wording; what you change is for this run only.
2. Set Who - only the filters that kind uses are shown: As of (reminders), From / To (payment advice, salary notices), Category, Ledger groups, Only these parties, Overdue at least / at most and Also falling due within (reminders), Employee groups, Payment voucher types, Amount at least, Skip bills with a cheque. A custom list never goes to every ledger at once.
3. Check The message: channel, From (a mail account or hub mailbox), subject and wording. Click a placeholder to copy it - {Name}, {ContactName}, {CompanyName}, {CompanyPhone}, {CompanyEmail}, {Today}, and the kind's own such as {TotalDue}, {Table}, {PayLink}. Attach the PDF statement adds the PDF (not for SMS). An SMS is 1000 characters at most; WhatsApp needs a number, an approved template and one value per {{n}}, separated by |.
4. Press Preview (F3). Everybody the filters find, with their amount and lines. Orange rows are left out, each with the reason - no address, opted out, sent too recently under a schedule's gap, already sent for that payment, or a bounced address. Click a row to read that person's message; View statement downloads the PDF.
5. Untick anybody who should not get it this time, press Send (F5) and confirm. The run is queued and the page moves to Runs.
6. Under Runs, click the run: every person with Sent, Failed (and why) or Left out; Conversation opens the message in Communications. Cancel the run stops what has not gone yet.

• Send sends what you previewed: Send is offered only after Preview, and only while the filters and the message are unchanged.
• A run keeps its own copy: wording and each person's figures are frozen when it is queued - editing a template later, or a bill paid meanwhile, changes nothing already waiting.
• Pace: messages go out a few every minute (setting 255, shared with the CRM's bulk sends), oldest run first. A run finds only the parties your report option lets you see.
• Every message is also written onto the person's conversation in Communications - related to the party and, for payment advice, the payment - and logged in the outbox under the kind's module.
• Runs counts People, Sent, Waiting, Failed and Left out, then Delivered and Read (from the SMS gateway's and WhatsApp's reports - e-mail reports neither), Replied, and Bounced.

Schedules and templates

• Templates: save a kind's wording under a name (unique within the kind); Use the kind's wording puts the original back; Inactive stops offering it - and stops a schedule that uses it, which says why.
• Schedules > Add schedule: a unique Name, Active, the Kind and a saved Template, the Days of the week and the time (At, the server's clock), the Least gap, days (nobody gets this kind again within that many days), the same Who filters, and - for reminders - Days from due (for example -3, 0, 7, 15, 30: a customer is reminded on the day one of its bills is exactly that many days past due), or for the period kinds the Period each run covers.
• A schedule runs from its next time on - never the moment it is saved - with the report option of whoever last saved it. Its card says when it last ran and what happened: "Nobody matched today", how many were left out, or why it could not run.

Opt-outs and bounced addresses

• Opt-outs: a party who receives no bulk messages - of every kind, or of one. Add opt-out to enter one; Replied STOP marks those who answered STOP. Honoured by runs already queued, for what has not gone yet.
• Bounced addresses (under the opt-outs): e-mail addresses a mail server refused for good, with its words. Red = still bad; grey = cleared in the last 30 days. Correct the address on the party's contact person, then Clear it; if it bounces again it comes back.

14Automatic messages #

Every message nobody writes by hand, as a rule: when (the event), which (the voucher types, statuses, days) and what goes.

What goes

• The voucher's own profile (voucher events only): e-mail, SMS / WhatsApp gateway, or API push, with the profile (blank = the voucher type's default) and How - Auto sends at once; Confirm shows it first; Edit then send lets the person change it; Pick profile asks which profile. The PDF goes as the profile says.
• A message of my own: e-mail (From, Subject, Message), SMS (profile, Message) or WhatsApp (number, approved template, values), with placeholders - sent by the server through the hub, onto the person's conversation. On a voucher event it can wait - minutes, hours or days, 30 days at most (a feedback request three days after an invoice). A background event always sends a message of your own, and carries no PDF.

1. Press Add rule and give it a name - "Invoice e-mailed on save".
2. Pick When, then the voucher types and Add / Modify (or the statuses, days, or gap the event uses).
3. Pick What goes. For a message of your own press Preview - on a voucher's internal number, or "who would get it today" for a background event. Nothing is sent; each person shows with their address, or why they would be skipped.
4. Save (F5). It works from now - nothing that happened before fires.
5. Open What went (or What it sent on a rule) to follow it.

• Once per event: a new voucher once, each change once, each cheque once, each birthday once a year - two servers or two tries never send it twice.
• Service messages: automatic messages are about the party's own dealings, so the bulk opt-out does not stop them; a bounced address is still left out.
• Telling colleagues about a workflow is the workflow's own notification rules; this tells the party.

15Self-service, STOP and do not contact #

With setting 289 on, a customer who texts or WhatsApps a keyword - from a number on its own contact persons - is answered from the books at once. Both the question and the answer stay on the conversation, marked Self-service.

• Answered only when the number is on the party's own contact persons (with Financial Accounting, Sales or Purchase licensed), only about that party and its own documents, and at most setting 290 times a day (10 to start with). From any other number the same word is an ordinary message - a stranger learns nothing.
• An answer does not stop the reply clock, so a person still sees the question.
• The invoice copy prints the voucher type's first visible print format; without one the customer is told a copy could not be printed.

STOP and START

• STOP by SMS, WhatsApp, or as the first line of an e-mail opts the party out of every bulk message from then on - and, with CRM, sets do-not-contact on that channel.
• START takes back only the bulk opt-out STOP made. CRM do-not-contact is cleared by somebody allowed to, on the record.

Do not contact (with CRM)

On a lead's or contact's Communication panel, Do not contact for e-mail, SMS or WhatsApp stops everything on that channel - not a reply, not a bulk message - until it is cleared. It is kept on the person (a deal's lead or contact), and a do-not-contact person cannot be picked in the address book.

16Who sees what #

• Licence: the Communication Hub opens every part. CRM adds records, matching and do-not-contact; Financial Accounting, Sales or Purchase add parties and documents; each bulk kind and each automatic event needs its own module.
• An outbox message sent by a module this company's licence no longer holds is left out of the list; administrators can still read it in Admin > Notification Log.

17Hub settings #

All on Communications > Hub Settings (administrators only).

On the API server: CustomerPortal:PortalBaseUrl gives the payment link its address.

18Communications reports #

All eight are under Communications and open in the standard report viewer, with drill-down to the conversation, the document, or the Message Register.

• A message the hub also logged is counted once, never twice.

19Moving from the desktop and from the CRM hub #

• The CRM's hub: the inbox and the channel set-up moved out of the CRM to their own Communications group (CRM > CRM Channels became Channel Setup; the CRM Inbox row was retired after its ticks were copied). The old routes still open the pages.
• The mail outbox that used to be separate is now the OUTBOX half of Inbox & Outbox.
• Settings 253-255 and 287-290 moved from CRM Settings to Hub Settings, keeping their values.

20If something does not work #

Each screen's Help panel lists every message it can show, with the cause and the fix.