SMS/Email within VETtrak

VETtrak has the ability to communicate with Clients via both SMS and Email. Once you have configured these options, you can then freely communicate via these channels using both template based communication or free written messages.

To configure SMS within VETtrak, you may need to review your SMS Preferences in the Global Preferences area of VETtrak.

To configure Email within VETtrak, you may need to review your Email Preferences in the Global Preferences area of VETtrak.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• SMS Within VETtrak
• Sending an SMS
• Emails within VETtrak
• Sending Emails

SMS Within VETtrak

The SMS feature in VETtrak allows you to:

• Send messages to individuals or groups of people from various managers within VETtrak.
• Set up message templates with merge fields to make it easy to send personalised messages to multiple people at once.
• Schedule messages to send at a later time.
• Retrieve delivery receipts showing you whether your messages have been successfully delivered.
• Receive replies and have them recorded in VETtrak.
• Send messages requesting confirmation for occurrence enrolments or classes, and have VETtrak automatically confirm or decline the enrolment or class attendance according to their reply.
• Allow recipients to opt out of marketing messages by sending a simple reply, and have this preference automatically recorded in VETtrak.

VETtrak allows you to send an SMS to the following:

• A single Client:
  • Right-click on the Personal node in the Client Manager, or
  • Right-click on the client's name under the Enrolments node in the Programme Manager.
  • Right-click on the person's name under the Employees node in the Employer Manager.
  • Click on the icon next to the mobile number on the Client Details panel in the Client Manager.
• Clients in a Group:
  • Right-click on the group in the Groups Manager.
• Clients enrolled in an Occurrence:
  • Right-click on the Enrolments node in the Programme Manager.
    
    
    Note: Messages will only be sent to clients with active and completed enrolments.
• A Staff Member associated with an occurrence:
  • Right-click on the staff member's name under the Details node for the occurrence in the Programme Manager.
• All Staff Members linked to an occurrence:
  • Right-click on the Linked staff node in the Programme Manager.
• Employees in an employer enrolment.
  • Right-click on the employer enrolment in the Programme Manager.
• An Employer's Contacts):
  • Right-click on a contact's name under the Contacts node in the Employer Manager, or
  • Right-click on the Contacts node to send to all the employer's contacts.
  • Click on the icon next to the mobile number on the Employer Details panel in the Employer Manager. This will send the message to the employer's primary contact person.
  • Right-click on an employer enrolment in the Programme Manager to send to the contact person for that enrolment.
• An Organisation's Employee(s):
  • Right-click on an employee's name under the Employees node in the Employer Manager, or
  • Right-click on the Employees node to send to all the employees.
    
    

Sending an SMS

Once you have selected your recipient for a message, you can either send a manually created SMS, or a template SMS. A client cannot receive an SMS if a mobile number has not been entered within the client's Personal Information Wizard.

Manual SMS creation will offer you a wizard like the following:

1. Enter a Sender name or return number. Only enter a number here if you want to accept replies to a specific phone number, and don't need those replies recorded in VETtrak
2. SMS Balance shows your current SMS credit. You can replenish SMS Credit in the VETtrak Support Centre.
3. SMS cost indicates how many SMS credits this text message will utilise.
4. Schedule messages if you wish for the message to be delayed and sent at a later time.
   
   
   NOTES:

   1. VETtrak does not need to be running at the time that messages are scheduled to be sent.
   2. Credit for scheduled messages is deducted from your account at the time that you schedule the message, not the time it is sent. This will be credited back to your account if you cancel the message before it is sent.
   3. Scheduled messages that have not yet been sent will be indicated by a clock icon under the client's Sent SMS node.
   4. You can cancel a scheduled message by deleting it under the client's Sent SMS node.
5. Accept replies will allow the recipient to send a reply to the message. These can then be retrieved via the Retrieve SMS replies and delivery receipts wizard.
6. Simple SMS / SMS Template will toggle the wizard between manual SMS entry and selecting an SMS Merge Template.
7. Recipients will display the current recipients, as well as allow you to browse to select additional recipients.
8. Message text allows you to type in the desired message to be sent, and to review it before sending.
   
   
   NOTE: Messages of more than 160 characters will be charged as multiple messages. Check the SMS Cost field to see how many messages you are about to be charged for.
9. Send Messages will send the entered Message text.
10. Exclude non-marketing clients. If the message you are sending is a marketing message, rather than information about existing training arrangements, tick this box to exclude any clients who have indicated that they do not wish to receive marketing material. This is important to ensure that you comply with privacy legislation. 

 
Template SMS creation will offer you a wizard like the following:

The wizard is very similar to the Simple SMS wizard, however it now makes use of the Context field on the right hand side, to then allow a Template to be selected. The Context does not allow selection, instead it is derived from what selection was made to prompt the SMS wizard to appear - for example, right clicking on a Client Enrolment and selecting SMS Client will then define the context as Enrolment.

Within the Template heading, you can select a template that has been created in the configuration manager of VETtrak, under the Merge Template heading for SMS.

To view the Template Message, expand the Message option within the wizard:

If you wish to manipulate the template before being sent, you can type into this field to add, amend or remove text prior to sending.

Emails within VETtrak

You can send emails from within VETtrak to:

• A single client.
  • To do this, Right-click Personal in the Client Manager,
    OR
  • Click the icon beside the email address in the Client Details section of the Client Manager,
    OR
  • Right-click the client's name under Enrolments in the Programme Manager,
    OR
  • Right-click the person's name under Employees in the Employer Manager.
• The clients in a group.
  • To do this, Right-click on the group in the Groups Manager.
• The clients enrolled in an occurrence.
  • To do this, Right-click on Enrolments in the Programme Manager.
• A single employer.
  • To do this, Right-click on Details in the Employer Manager.
• All active employers.
  • To do this, Right-click on Active Employers in the Employer Manager.
• All inactive employers.
  • To do this, Right-click on Inactive Employers in the Employer Manager.
• An employer's contact person.
  • To do this, Right-click on the contact's name under Contacts in the Employer Manager,
    OR
  • Click on the icon beside the email address in the Employer Details section of the Employer Manager, which will send to the primary contact.
    OR
  • Right-click Contacts in the Employer Manager to send to all contacts,
    OR
  • Right-click an employer enrolment in the Programme Manager to send to the contact person for that enrolment.
• The employees in an employer enrolment.
  • To do this, Right-click on the employer enrolment in the Programme Manager.
• A staff member associated with an occurrence.
  • To do this, Right-click on the staff member's name under Details for the occurrence in the Programme Manager.
• All staff members linked to an occurrence.
  • To do this, Right-click on Linked staff in the Programme Manager.

Sending Emails

Once you have selected your recipient for a message, you can either send a manually created Email, or a template Email. A client cannot receive an Email if a valid email address has not been entered within the client's Personal Information Wizard.

1. Select the staff member the email is to be from.
2. The Your Email Address (from) email address will be automatically filled in here according to which staff member is selected.
   
   Note: If a default email address has been specified under File > Global preferences > Email preferences, it will default to that address if no staff member is selected.
3. If you want the From field to display a name as well as the email address, click on the link for instructions on how to do this.
4. If you click the  buttons, the Reply To address will be automatically copied into the CC address and/or BCC address field, ensuring that the sender also receives a copy of the message.
5. The Reply to address field can be used to specify an email address to reply to. This can also be set to a default under File > Global preferences > Email preferences.
6. The email addresses of the client(s) / employer(s) you have selected will appear on the left hand side already ticked. You can untick the box of any you wish to exclude.
7. The Recipient types area lists types of related recipients that you can send the email to. Ticking or unticking these will add or remove related recipients of that type to/from the recipient list. The list of recipient types will vary depending on the type of record you're sending the email for.
8. The Recipient types send option sets the message type the recipient will receive.
9. If the email you are sending is a marketing message, rather than information about existing training arrangements, tick the Exclude non-marketing clients/employers box to exclude any clients who have indicated that they do not wish to receive marketing material. This is important to ensure that you comply with privacy legislation.
10. The  buttons can be used to select a client, employer or employer contact to add to the email list, or to add an email address for someone who is not listed in the VETtrak database.
11. The status column will change to green or red after you send the email, depending on whether it was sent successfully or not (see below).
12. Enter additional addresses of anyone else you want to CC or BCC the email to.
13. Enter the subject of your email and type the email message as normal.
14. You can add formatting to the email if you wish. Click the tabs above the email body for more formatting options.
15. Click thebutton in the File Attachments section to add one or more attachments, or click on an already attached file to view it. You can also attach files by dragging and dropping them into the email editor.
16. Click Send Email.
17. The Status column will turn green if the email was sent correctly, or red if sending failed. If sending fails, the wizard will remain open with only the failed recipient(s) ticked, to give you an opportunity to correct any errors and resend the email.
    
    
    A failed email will only be indicated if sending fails immediately, such as with an email address that has an invalid format. If the email is at first accepted by the server and then fails after subsequent attempts to send, no error will be generated in VETtrak. In this case you should receive a failure notification in your regular email inbox.

Emailing from a Template will offer you a wizard like the following:

The wizard is very similar to the manual Email wizard, however it now makes use of the Template field on the right hand side, to then allow a specific Merge Template to be selected.

The Context is displayed next to Template in brackets, and is derived from what option was used to prompt the Email Wizard to appear. For example, right clicking on a Client Enrolment and selecting Email Client will display the context as Enrolment.

The options in the Template menu are also dependent on what option was used to prompt the Email Wizard to appear; for example, right clicking on a Client Enrolment and selecting Email Client will allow the use of any Enrolment and Client templates that have been created.

Within the Template heading, you can select any relevant template that has been created in the configuration manager of VETtrak, under the Merge Template heading for Email.

To view the Template Message, press the Next button within the wizard:

This wizard will display all pending recipients on the left hand side of the panel. You can press a persons name to view the Template email with all relevant information merged into it. You can also tick/untick the Use option next to a persons name to prevent a message being sent to them.

Press Send Emails to process all pending emails.