SMS: Configuring the SMS process in a Campaign flowchart

Engage database

Required. Select the flexible Engage database associated with the contact list. All shared Engage databases are listed. You must select the flexible database that is used for the SMS channel.

If you are using Email, SMS, and Push channels in the integration, use a separate database for each channel.

Selected input cells

Required. Select the segments who will receive the SMS text message. The input cells that you see depend on which process boxes (such as Select or Segment) are connected to the SMS process. For example, if two Select processes are providing input to the SMS process, two input cells are listed. Typically, you select all of the input cells. All of the IDs from the selected cells are then available to create the contact list.

Select all

Quickly select all of the listed input cells (the segments that are connected as input to the SMS process).

Clear all

Quickly clear the list of selections.

Use single contact list

Select Use single contact list to use the same contact list every time the process runs. Then select an Engage contact list. All contacts in the list will be included.

Check Clear contact list before updating if you want to remove all contacts from the list before reusing the list for a new run.

Use the following controls to indicate how to update the contact list upon each subsequent run:

• Always add new contacts: Do not update matching contacts. If the Campaign data includes contacts that are not in the list, add them to the list.
• Update matching contacts; skip contacts that are not found: Update an existing contact with data from Campaign. Do not add any new contacts to the list.
• Update matching contacts; add contacts that are not found: Update an existing contact with data from Campaign. If a contact is not in the list, add it.

When you do a test or production run of the process box, a contact list is created or updated. All contacts in the list will be included.

Create new contact list for every run

Select Create new contact list for every run if you want to create a new contact list every time the process runs. All contacts in the list will be included.

Specify a Name for the contact list.

Select either Add suffix or Add prefix to indicate whether to include the timestamp at the start or end of the filename. A timestamp for the process run is always added to ensure that the list name is unique.

Optionally, include the Campaign ID and/or the SMS Cell name as part of the filename.

SMS template

Required. Select an Engage SMS template. All shared templates are listed. The template determines the content of the SMS text message. If you do not make any changes in this dialog box, then all content comes directly from the template. Any changes that you make here override the content from the template. Changes are not saved to the template, but are used in the SMS text message that is sent for the current run of this process box.

SMS name

Required. The SMS name identifies the mailing in Engage and Campaign. The name that you specify is used instead of the SMS Name that is specified in the Engage template. Use a name that indicates the purpose of the message and its flowchart, so you can easily identify it later. Use static text only (no variables). Recipients never see this name.

The SMS name is used for response tracking. When the flowchart runs, a timestamp for the process run is added to the name. This ensures that the name is unique for every run of the process. This unique name is included in every event generated by Engage, so it is used to correlate responses.

Send SMS to all contacts immediately

• If you check Send SMS to all contacts immediately, the message is sent to all recipients when you do a production run in Campaign. (Note that a test run in Campaign never does a send, regardless of whether this option is selected.)
• Leave this option unchecked if you prefer to use IBM Engage to send the messages. When this option is not checked, a production run in Campaign uploads the contact list to Engage but does not send out the SMS messages. You can then initiate/schedule the send from Engage.

Candidate fields

This list shows all of the available fields from all of the processes that are providing input to the SMS process. These are the IBM Campaign fields that contain data such as contact names and addresses, demographics, purchase history, or other information stored in Campaign databases or flat files.

Fields to export to Engage

The fields in this list provide data to create or update the Engage contact list. The values for the mapped fields come from Campaign databases or flat files.

For example, if you map the Campaign field FirstName to the Engage field CustomerFirstName, the values are pulled from the Campaign FirstName field. When the contact list is uploaded to Engage, the value of the Campaign FirstName field will be used to update the CustomerFirstName field in the Engage database. Engage will then use the newly updated CustomerFirstName field when populating the SMS template.

When you map Campaign Candidate fields to Fields to export to Engage, be sure that the mapped fields use the same Field Type (data type), such as Text, Date, Time, etc. If the data types do not match, errors occur when the system tries to import the values in the Candidate fields into the mapped Engage database fields.

Ensure that the order of fields in the list matches the order of the fields in the Engage contact list. Use the arrow icons to move a selected field up or down in the list. For example, move First Name before Last Name. Note: The order of the fields in this list determines the order of the fields in the commas-separated values (CSV) file that is created to form the contact list.

If a field for a specific record lacks a value, that field is left empty in the contact list. In other words, that field is not populated in the comma-separated values (CSV) field that is used to create the contact list.

Profile

It can be helpful to see the actual values that are stored in a database field in Campaign. To do so, select a Candidate field and click Profile. Wait until profiling is complete to ensure that you see all of the values. For example, profile a field called Surname to see a list of names that are stored in that field.

Derived fields

Optionally, click the Derived fields button to create a new variable for querying, segmenting, sorting, calculating, or providing output to a table. Derived fields are variables that do not exist in a data source and are created from one or more existing fields, even across different data sources.

Process name

Assign a descriptive name. The process name is used as the box label on the flowchart. It is also used in various dialogs and reports to identify the process. Customers never see this name.

Note

Provide information to help you or others understand the purpose or result of this process. The content of this field appears when you rest your cursor over the process box in a flowchart. Customers never see this note.