This chapter describes how to automatically send messages to customers when they register and how to customize the messages in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM).
When your customers register for an account, whether over the Internet or through a customer service representative (CSR), you can configure your system to automatically send them messages during and after registration. Introductory messages might include:
Information about your plans.
The customer's connection settings, such as a new server address and mail server address.
A list of phone numbers for dialup connections.
There are two ways you can send messages to your customers during online registration. You can use both methods:
You can display a message in a Web page during Web registration. This message typically confirms the plan that the customer has selected.
The default introductory message is located in BRM_Home/sys/cm/intro/default.intro. BRM_Home is the directory in which you installed the BRM software.
You can send email after a customer has registered.
The default email welcome message is located in BRM_Home/sys/cm/welcome/default.welcome.
If you want your customers to receive a welcome email message after they register, you need to enable the message. You also need to configure the Email Data Manager (DM) that sends the message. See "Sending Email to Customers Automatically".
You must enable the welcome email message so that your customers can receive it after they register.
To enable the welcome message:
Open the Connection Manager (CM) configuration file (BRM_Home/sys/cm/pin.conf).
Change the value of the new_account_welcome_msg entry to 1.
Save and close the file.
The new value becomes effective immediately and applies to the next account created. The CM does not need to be restarted
Use any text editor to modify the text of the welcome email message. The default message is located in BRM_Home/sys/cm/welcome/default.welcome.
If the welcome message is enabled, but the Email DM is not running, you will see an error in the CM log file. If you do not run the Email Data Manager, disable the welcome message.
To disable the welcome message, do one of the following:
Change the value of the new_account_welcome_msg entry in the CM configuration file (BRM_Home/sys/cm/pin.conf) to 0 (default).
Rename the default message file.
Remove write permission on the default message file.
No email is sent and no error is reported.
You can use variables to insert information based on customer input. For example, to display the plan that the customer selected, you use the ${price_plan} variable in the introductory message:
You have selected the ${price_plan} plan
If the customer selects the Basic plan, the message says ”You have selected the Basic plan.”
Table 5-1 shows the default variables:
Table 5-1 Variables in Welcome Messages
| Use This Variable | To Insert This Text | Example |
|---|---|---|
|
${price_plan} |
Plan name |
Basic |
|
${plan_description} |
Plan description |
Monthly Internet access |
|
${promo_code} |
Promotional code |
Internet1 |
You can define more variables by customizing the PCM_OP_CUST_POL_GET_INTRO_MSG policy opcode.
The subject line for the welcome email message is by default ”Welcome to the Internet.” To change this, edit the PCM_OP_CUST_POL_POST_COMMIT policy opcode.
The sender address is the email address that your customer sees as the sender address.
To change the welcome message sender address:
Open the CM configuration file (BRM_Home/sys/cm/pin.conf).
(Optional) Change the sender entry. This entry changes the part of the email address that precedes the at sign (@); for example:
sender@your_domain.com
The default is postmaster.
Change the domain entry. This entry changes the part of the email address that follows the at sign (@), for example:
sender@your_domain.com
Save and close the file.
You do not need to restart the CM to enable this entry.
If you move the welcome message file from the default location, you must specify the new location.
To specify a new welcome message location:
Open the CM configuration file (BRM_Home/sys/cm/pin.conf).
Change the value of the welcome_dir entry.
Save and close the file.
The new value becomes effective immediately and applies to the next account created. The CM does not need to be restarted.
The introductory message is an HTML file that you can display during Web-based registration, usually to confirm the customer's plan choice. The introductory message is not implemented by default. To display an introductory message, you must customize your automatic account creation method to call the PCM_OP_CUST_POL_GET_INTRO_MSG policy opcode. See "Specifying an Introductory Message".
Use any text editor to edit the introductory message. You can add text and HTML tags. The default introductory message is located in BRM_Home/sys/cm/intro/default.intro.
You can use variables to insert information based on the customer's input. For example, to display the plan that the customer selected, you use the ${price_plan} variable in the introductory message:
You have selected the ${price_plan} plan
If the customer selects the Basic plan, the message says ”You have selected the Basic plan.”
Table 5-2 shows the default variables:
Table 5-2 Variables Used in Introductory Messages
| Use This Variable | To Insert This Text | Example |
|---|---|---|
|
${price_plan} |
Plan name |
Basic |
|
${plan_description} |
Plan description |
Monthly Internet access |
|
${promo_code} |
Promotional code |
Internet1 |
You can define more variables by customizing the PCM_OP_CUST_POL_GET_INTRO_MSG policy opcode.
If you move the introductory message file from the default location, you must specify the new location.
To specify a new introductory message location:
Open the CM configuration file (BRM_Home/sys/cm/pin.conf).
Change the value of the intro_dir entry.
Save and close the file.
The new value becomes effective immediately and applies to the next account created. You do not need to restart the CM to enable this entry.
For more information on introductory messages, see "Sending Registration Information to Customers".
You can customize how to choose a message and how to send it:
To choose the message, use the PCM_OP_CUST_POL_GET_INTRO_MSG policy opcode.
To send the message, use the PCM_OP_CUST_POL_POST_COMMIT policy opcode. See "Adding Custom Account Creation Steps after the Account Is Committed".
The PCM_OP_CUST_POL_GET_INTRO_MSG policy opcode uses the type of account and plan to determine which message to send, so you can specify how to send each type of message.
The PCM_OP_CUST_POL_GET_INTRO_MSG policy opcode reads the message from the file specified in the CM pin.conf file intro_dir entry. See "Changing the Introductory Message Location".
The PCM_OP_CUST_POL_GET_INTRO_MSG policy opcode returns the introductory message as an uninterpreted buffer of data. This allows the introductory message to include HTML, graphics, and other complex information.
Within each introductory message, a parameter substitution system allows the message to contain values that are specific to this customer, such as the name of the plan they have chosen for purchase. For example, the following allows you to substitute a plan and a promotional code name:
You are requesting to purchase the ${price_plan} plan via the ${promo_code} promo code.
The substitution is handled by the following code in the PCM_OP_CUST_POL_GET_INTRO_MSG policy opcode:
/*************************************************************
* Price Plan Name
*************************************************************/
if (strcasecmp( macro, "price_plan")==0) {
valp = NULL;
valp = (char *)PIN_FLIST_FLD_GET( in_flistp,
PIN_FLD_AAC_PACKAGE, 0, ebufp);
if(valp) fm_cust_pol_buf_cat( bufp, valp, ebufp);
}
/*************************************************************
* Promo code
*************************************************************/
else if (strcasecmp( macro, "promo_code")==0) {
valp = NULL;
valp = (char *)PIN_FLIST_FLD_GET( in_flistp,
PIN_FLD_AAC_PROMO_CODE, 0, ebufp);
if(valp) fm_cust_pol_buf_cat( bufp, valp, ebufp);
}
The PCM_OP_CUST_POL_POST_COMMIT policy opcode uses the Email DM PCM_OP_DELIVERY_MAIL_SENDMSGS opcode to send the message. PCM_OP_DELIVERY_MAIL_SENDMSGS in turn calls the Email DM PCM_OP_CREATE_OBJ opcode. See "Email Data Manager Opcodes" in BRM Developer's Reference.
You can create multiple introductory and welcome messages to display to specific groups of customers; for example, you might want different messages for each language.
Which message is displayed is based on a value entered during registration.
Note:
This value is stored in the PIN_FLD_AAC_SOURCE field in the account object.For example, you could identify which message to send by using the IP address that the user logged in to. In that case, an introductory message file name might be:
156.151.1.11.1700.intro
In this example:
156.151.1.11 is the IP address
1700 is the port number
intro is the suffix