Messages XR is the multi-channel communications upgrade from standard Messages, adding SMS, voice, push notifications, and translation. Setup involves confirming site requirements, receiving a dedicated phone number for SMS/voice, adding a preferred language field to Constituent Manager, and sending test messages to verify each channel works.
đź’ˇQuick answers
- What channels does Messages XR add beyond standard Messages email? SMS text messaging, voice calls, push notifications to the mobile app, and message translation into recipients' preferred languages.
- What is a dedicated phone number in Messages XR used for? It is the number your school's SMS and voice messages are sent from; Finalsite provisions a dedicated number specific to your organization as part of setup.
- Why should a Preferred Language field be added to Constituent Manager during setup? So that Messages XR can automatically send translated versions of messages to constituents based on their preferred language setting in their profile.
- How do you verify Messages XR is working correctly after setup? Send test messages on each channel (email, SMS, voice) to yourself or a test user before sending to your community; confirm delivery, formatting, and translation work as expected.
In this article
- Check site requirements
- Receive a dedicated phone number
- Add a preferred language field
- Send out test messages
Messages XR is an extension of the Messages module that has additional requirements and setup. The extent of setup required will depend on your current configuration and Messages package. Our team will work through all the setup requirements with you.
Check site requirements
- Constituent Manager roles: Messages XR features are only available for constituents, not Messages subscribers. Additionally, the email, phone number, and preferred language fields should all be populated in the user profile to take full advantage of all Messages XR features.
- Your website must be live. Sites that are still in deployment cannot send messages using Messages XR features.
- Groups created in Group Manager: Important Announcements can only be sent to existing constituents as defined by groups in Group Manager.
Additionally, a student information system (SIS) integration is highly encouraged, for best data management.
Receive a dedicated phone number
Our team will assign a dedicated phone number to you.
Important Note
It takes about 4-6 weeks for this number to be fully verified, which helps avoid the possibility of spam detection.
Add a preferred language field
The preferred language field will first need to be added to the included fields for the specific role. This is done in the Settings of Constituent Manager. It is recommended to keep the privacy settings of this field set to the default so that it only displays to admins. This keeps this field from displaying in directory information. For more help adding this field and checking its privacy settings, view Customize constituent profile data.
The preferred language default value will always be set to English. The choices in the dropdown include all languages available in Google Translate. The user's preferred language can be changed manually in Constituent Manager, with a datasheet upload, or through a data sync with your SIS, depending on your configuration. Please contact our support team if you need additional assistance configuring your SIS or uploading a datasheet.
Send out test messages
While there is no “Test Send” functionality with SMS and Voice messages, you may want to create a test group of users as you learn the process. You can create a message to send to your test group, then clone the message and send it to your constituents at the appropriate time.
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