Bulk Communication Groups

This page guides you through the steps of creating a Bulk Communication Group

These are the topics on this page

Introduction

Bulk communication groups module consist of the list of recipients. There are two types of bulk communication group and these are Static and Dynamic. The creation of a static bulk communication group allows you to assign either a list of clients or employees manually, whereas in a dynamic communication group you can create dynamic rules to add members into the group.

The Bulk Communication Group list page is accessed by selecting the Administration > 15. Bulk Communications Group sub menu.

Additional information

For additional information on linking bulk communication groups to the news communities refer to the topic News Feed Maintenance.

Navigating the Bulk Communication Group page

Save: Selecting this link will create the Bulk Communication record or save changes made to it.
Close: Selecting this link will exit the user back to the Bulk Communications Group list.
Preview Recipients: This link will only be visible if the list type value specified against the bulk communication group is dynamic. Selecting this link will open the Recipients page, and return a listing of either client or employee records that match the communication criteria.
Name: This field is used to identify a brief description for the Bulk Communication group.
Communication Type: This is a drop down field that is used to identify whether the Bulk Communication group will be used for email or SMS communications. Select the applicable value from the drop down list.
List Type: This is a drop down field this is used to identify whether the Bulk Communication group will be static and send to predefined set of recipients that have been specified or dynamic and send to recipients that match a predefined criteria.
Recipient Type: This is a drop down list that will identify whether the recipients of the communications are employees or clients.
Recipients: This area of the Bulk Communications Group page will list either the clients or employees that will be in receipt of the communications where the list type is static or the rule criteria that will determine the records that will receipt the communication. Selecting the PREVIEW RECIPIENTS button will present the Recipients page with a listing of the matching records.

Creating a Bulk Communication Group

To create a bulk communication group observe the following steps:

Select the Administration> 15.Bulk Communication Groups sub menu to open the Bulk Communication Group List page.
Click the New Button within the ribbon bar to open the New 15. Bulk Communication Groups record page.
Within the name field input a description that will identify the bulk communication group.
Within the communication type field select the required type value from the drop down list that will determine the medium of communication.
Within the List type field select from the drop down list the method that will be used to determine how the recipients are matched to the Bulk Communication.
Within the Recipient Type field select from the drop down list where your employees or participants will be the recipient of the bulk communications.
Click the save button to create the record

Please note that once the bulk communication record has been created the List type and Recipient Type fields can not be edited.
Update the Recipient tab

The Recipients tab will become visible for data entry. Specification of the recipients will be determined by the selected list type.

Set the Recipients Manually
Applicable to both Clients and Employees.
Select the icon to to open a drop down list to the far left side of the page (refer below).
Within the drop down field either input in free text or select from the drop down list the applicable recipient record. The record selected will list into the recipient data grid.
Repeat the process to add additional recipients.

Set the Recipients Dynamically
Applicable to both Clients and Employees.
Select the Add Rule to make visible a parameter field.
From the drop down field select the applicable client or user table field that will be used as the parameter for determining the recipients for the bulk communication. Upon selection of the field two additional fields will be listed that relate the condition (4) and criteria attribute (5).
Within the condition field select the applicable condition from the drop list that will be used in the rule
Within the criteria field either specify the attribute that will be used in the rule. Depending upon the field selected the attribute may be either a date, code value or yes/no, numeric or character string.
Click the save button to update the record

Editing a Bulk Communication Group

To edit a Bulk Communication Group observe the following steps:

Select the Administration> 15.Bulk Communication Groups sub menu to open the Bulk Communication Group List page.
Within the search field specify value that will filter the communication records listed within the datagrid.
Highlight the communication record that is to be updated and EITHER double click the record or click the EDIT button to open the bulk communications group page.
Edits that can be applied include:

Updating the Name of the Bulk Communications Group
Adjusting the Bulk Communications Group type
Where the recipients have been assigned manually select the icon to assign additional recipients. Where the recipients have been assigned dynamically EITHER select the to set a new criteria or update the existing criteria by applying changes to the fields either listing the employee/client table field, the condition or criteria attribute.
Click the save button to update the record