Ad hoc communications creation overview
As the name suggests, an ad hoc communication can be generated on-the-fly from many different system touch points e.g. a contact or contact group summary screen, a repair request, an inspection, a works order, an invoice, a statement, a quote, a user account, etc. Once launched, the ad hoc communication wizard will include a list of possible communication definitions filtered according to the active touch point. For example, with a repair request open, launching the ad hoc communication wizard will reveal only those communication definitions that are specific to the repair request entity.
By way of example, the starting point for generating an ad hoc communication could be to locate a contact or contact group using the standard or advanced search facility. With the contact or contact group displayed, navigate to one of the related entities described above and choose Menu > Ad hoc communication. For a contact group, the proposed recipients will be selected based on the rules set within the communication definition e.g. head of group only, all responsible members, all members of the group, etc. Further proposed recipients can be added to the distribution cohort via a simple search engine. The final selection is controlled by activating a Receive tick box against each recipient.
Depending on the communication definition selected, the system will also take account of the communication preferences set for each contact i.e the method of communication that will be automatically proposed based on the contact's individual preference. So, for example, where a communication definition contains both letter and email templates, all contacts with a preference for email correspondence will be automatically allocated that method of communication. Where a contact's preference is not satisfied, the default template method will be allocated but displayed in red text, alerting the end user to the mismatch. Conversely, a contact with no communication preference is automatically allocated the default method, without an alert being triggered. The system provides the opportunity to override these automatic allocations, individually by contact.
For communication definitions that contain parameters, an additional step enables values to be entered for each, based on the data type e.g. Text, Integer, Date Time or Lookup. Progression through the wizard is permitted only once all mandatory parameters have been assigned a value.
On occasions, it is necessary for an end user with appropriate access privileges to apply minor alterations to an individual communication, just prior to distribution, without the need to configure a separate definition. An 'editable' attribute configured for the underlying communication definition therefore allows an end user to effectively 'unlock' the template during the ad hoc communication process, whether that is structured around a letter, an email or SMS, and apply any required changes. Once the finalised communication has been generated via the assigned queue, any subsequent retrieval of the correspondence will allow the end user to 'view original' or 'view issued' i.e. the customised variant dispatched to the target recipient.
The final step of the wizard is to accept or override the default queue, from where the communication job can be generated as a letter, email or text message.
Separate help articles have been produced for each key aspect of ad hoc communications creation, including: