Page Comparison

Capabilities and Use Cases

The following user stories are supported:

• System users accustomed to SMS messaging can choose to receive their system notifications via text, rather than email

• Persons with multiple accounts in the system, such as a Practitioner and a Provider account, can use the same phone number for both accounts but only receive notifications for one account via SMS

• Administrators can see delivery status information, so that they can tell whether a given message was sent via SMS and if it was successfully queued for delivery

• Recipients of a text message can opt-out from further messages directly via SMS reply containing the word “STOP”, without needing to log into the system.

• During testing, SMS messaging can be suppressed or funneled to a specific phone number so that “real” texts are not sent out.

Configuration

Create a Twilio account

Go to http://www.twilio.com and create an account, and purchase a phone number.

LearningBuilder supports “normal” ten-digit numbers (called long codes), Toll-Free SMS numbers, and 5-digit “short codes” designed specifically for application-to-person SMS usage.

Each phone number type has a different cost structure and maximum throughput.

Configure the SMS Gateway in AppConfig

Obtain the AccountSid and AuthToken from the Twilio site, and then configure the following AppConfig settings:

Setting

Value

SmsGatewayType

Twilio

SmsGatewayAuthentication

{ "AccountSid": "<sid>", "AuthToken": "<token>" }

SmsGatewaySettings

{ "FromNumber": "<number_in_E164_format>" }

Send a test SMS message

Before fully enabling SMS features in LearningBuilder, send a test message by going to /SysAdmin/SmsNotificationsTestHarness and sending a test message. This allows you to verify that the configuration is correct.

Enable SMS features

When satisfied with the configuration, set the EnableSmsNotifications setting to “true” to enable the feature flag. This will allow you to identify which Notifications should be SMS-enabled.

Enabling SMS for a Notification

Once the feature toggle is enabled in the SysAdmin area, you can “SMS-enable” a Notification in the Admin → Automations → Templates area.

Once When a SMS-enabled , when a Notification is sent to a recipient that has a SMS-enabled phone number, that recipient will receive a text message containing the subject line and a link to view the full message in the Communications History of the My Account area.

SMS Override Number

If you are testing and do not want to send test messages to real users, but you do want to generate real messages for testing purposes, then enable SMS Overrides. When this feature is enabled, all outgoing SMS messages will be re-routed to a specific phone number.

Setting

Value

EnableSmsOverrideNumber

true

SmsOverrideNumber

The desired number, in E164 format

Disabling SMS messages during testing

If you are testing and do not want to generate any text messages, then enable SMS Test Mode. This does a few things:

1. It suppresses real SMS messages from being sent

2. It allows you to use Twilio Magic Numbers in the “from” and “to” phone numbers to simulate various events, such as a failed delivery or a blocked number

Setting

Value

EnableSmsTestMode

true

TestSmsGatewayAuthentication

{ "AccountSid": "<test_sid>", "AuthToken": "<test_token>" }

TestSmsGatewaySettings

Enabling a phone number for SMS notifications

Once the feature toggle is enabled in the SysAdmin area, individual phone numbers can “opt-in” to notifications from the My Account and Account Profile screens.

Technically speaking, the opt-in actually happens when a user sends the word “START” to the number used for sending notifications. However, through the UI the user can request an “invitation” message which they can then reply to, simplifying the process.

The opt-in process satisfies all regulatory compliance requirements by identifying the purpose of the notifications, the expected frequency, the fact that data rates may apply, and how to opt-out in the future.

Configuring the “opt-in” messaging

There are two Content Blocks that can be customized to control the messaging.