Siebel Applications Administration Guide > Message Broadcasting >

Creating a Message Broadcast

When you create a message broadcast, all connected users whom you specify receive the message immediately on the date and time you specify for message activation. Mobile users, such as field representatives, receive the activated messages when they synchronize.

NOTE:  To send a message broadcast, you must have responsibilities that include access to the Message Broadcasts view.

Typically, a single severity level, as specified in the Severity field, designates the appearance of a message broadcast. Each severity level is associated with a different color. The severity level that you choose determines the color of the message broadcast and how it is delivered.

In addition to using the Severity field to determine the appearance of a message, you can also combine multiple severity levels to create a message broadcast with unique formatting. By adding special tags to the text of a message broadcast, you can change the color of different sections of the message. The following tags combine severity levels in a message:

• [N] for Normal
• [H] for High
• [U] for Urgent

For example, if your message has a severity of normal, but you want to highlight specific text, you can tag parts of the text with the code for High or Urgent. An example follows:

The trunk line from [H]Chicago, Illinois [N]is [U]DOWN!

The beginning of the message appears in the color for the severity of the message, Normal; the words Chicago, Illinois appear in the color for High; and the word DOWN! appears in the color for Urgent.

This task is a step in Process of Administering Message Broadcasting.

To create a message broadcast

1. Navigate to the Administration - Communications screen, then the Message Broadcasts view.
2. In the Message Broadcasts list, create a new record, and complete the necessary fields.

   Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Comments
   Severity	Select the severity level to indicate the importance and appearance of the message. If you select a severity of Urgent with Alert, the message appears in one of the following ways: If you use Siebel Open UI, the user sees a blinking Notification icon, and clicks this icon to view the message. If you do not use Siebel Open UI, the user sees an alert dialog box containing the message text in the middle of the screen. The user sees this same text in the message bar.
   Abstract	Type a brief description of the message. When users click the Notification icon to access broadcast messages, this text appears in the Notification Summary pane.
   Message	Type the text you want to include in the message broadcast. This field accepts up to 2,000 characters. This text appears in the message bar or the Notification Details pane. You can use severity levels within the message text.
   Recipient Position	Select the positions associated with the users to whom to send the broadcast message. You can use this field in combination with the Recipient Division field. An employee name appears in the Recipients dialog box if the employee has a defined position and is marked active for that position. If multiple employees occupy the same position, the message is sent to all of them, although you see only the active employee on the list. Employees with multiple positions see messages sent to any of their positions, regardless of the position associated with their login ID.
   Recipient Division	Select the divisions associated with the users to whom to send the broadcast message. You can use this field in combination with the Recipient Position field.
   All	Select the check box to broadcast the message to all users.
   Activation Date/Time	Select the date and time at which you want to start broadcasting the message. If the Activation field is blank, the message is broadcast immediately. However, broadcasts are controlled by the application message interval and login. NOTE:  The date and time are taken from the Siebel Server (not from the computer where the client browser runs). Make sure that the date and time are set correctly on the Siebel Server.
   Expiration Date/Time	Select the date and time at which you want to stop broadcasting the message. If the Expiration field is blank, the message is broadcast continually NOTE:  The date and time are taken from the Siebel Server (not from the computer where the client browser runs). Make sure that the date and time are set correctly on the Siebel Server.
   Broadcast	Select the check box to display the message in the message bar or the notification panes. Clear the check box to not display the message in the message bar or the notification panes.
   Briefing Bulletin	Select the check box to distribute the message as a bulletin on the My Briefing page. For more information, see Siebel Briefings Administration Guide.
   Allow Dismiss	Select the check box to allow users to dismiss (or delete) the message in the Notification Summary pane. When you select this check box, a Dismiss icon appears next to the message in the Notification Summary pane, and users click this icon to dismiss a message.