Working with Incident Communications

Incident-specific messages enable agency staff maintain correspondence regarding the progress of incidents.

Agency users can send emails, notifications, and texts associated with a specific incident on the Communication Details page. Agency staff can also use the Communication Details page to view a record of the messages associated with an incident.

You can configure the Business Rules Framework to trigger the generation of a communication to the designated users. For more details, see Business Rules Framework Overview and Setting Up Business Rules.

Sending Incident Communications

1. Click Incidents on the Agency Springboard.

   Select an incident on the Incidents page.

   Click Communications in the navigation bar.

2. On the Communication Details page, click Add.

3. On the Ad Hoc Message page, enter values for the following fields:

   Page Elements	Definition
   Channel Type	Specify what type of ad hoc message you want to send. Values are: Email: Generates an email that is sent to users. Emails and Notifications: Generates both an email and a notification with the same message. Notification: Generates a notification that appears when users click the notification icon in the application. Text: Generates a short message service (SMS) text message that is sent to users. Note: The fields that are available to define on this page vary depending on the channel type that you select.
   Visibility	Select which type of user can see this message. Values are: Applicant and Contacts Agency staff only Applicant
   Display Format	Select the format of the message. Values are: HTML Text Note: This field does not appear for the Text channel type.
   Select, Field, Select an attribute and Insert	These fields enable you to insert variable attributes into your message. You select the field and the attribute that you want to insert in that field, and click Insert to enter a variable for that attribute. For example, if you select the Body field and the Status attribute, and click Insert, the ${Status} variable is inserted into the Message Body field of the message. When you send this message, the status of the incident associated with the message is included in the body text.
   Create Web Form	Click to access the Web Form modal page where you create a questionnaire that you can insert into your message.
   Insert Web Form	Click to insert the web form questions into the body of your message along with a link that the recipient can use to access and respond to the questionnaire.
   To	Click the Insert button to view a drop-down menu from which you can search for and select recipients. The display shows the options and the count of values available, which are determined by the transaction you are working with and the channel type you selected in the Message Attributes section. For example, when you select a value here for the email channel type, the email ID is inserted into the field. You can delete the ID using the X icon, but you cannot edit it. Enter the email address, user ID, or phone number of the person or organization to whom you want to send the message. Note: Enter email addresses for emails, user IDs for notifications, and phone numbers for texts.
   Cc and Bcc	Enter or click + and select the email addresses of the people or organizations that you want to receive a copy or blind copy of the message. Note: These fields appear only for the Email and Emails and Notifications channel types.
   From	Enter the email address, user ID, or phone number of the person or organization who is sending the generated message. Enter or click + and select the email address, user ID, or phone number of the person or organization who is sending the generated message. For text messages, select the phone number of the person or organization who is sending the generated text message from the drop-down list. The available numbers come from a third-party messaging service. Note: Enter email addresses for the Email and Emails and Notifications channel types, user IDs for the Alert, Emails and Notifications, and Notification channel types, and phone numbers for the Text channel type.
   Subject	Enter a brief description of the purpose and content of the message or click + to select attributes to include. Note: This field does not appear for the Text channel type.
   Message Body	Enter or click + to select attributes for the main body text of the message. For the Text channel type and emails and notifications with the Text display format, you can enter only plain, unformatted text. For the HTML display format, you can enter rich text, links, and images.

4. Click Send.

Communicating Using a Web Form

You can create and send emails or notifications that contain an online form with questions for the applicant or other agency staff. The correspondence contains a link that the recipient can use to access and respond to the questionnaire.

Here’s how to create a web form:

1. On the Communication Details page, click Add.

2. Enter values for the channel type, such as email or notification, visibility to send to the applicant or agency staff, and the To, From, and Subject fields.

3. Click Create Web Form.

4. For each row of the web form, enter the Question Text along with the Answer Type that you expect from the recipient for that question. You can select from these answer types:

   Answer Type	Description
   Attachment	Enables the recipient to attach one file per question. After the recipient uploads the file and submits the form, attachments are available in the web form response and on the Attachments page for the application.
   Date	Enables the recipient to answer the question using a calendar to indicate the date.
   Text	Enables the recipient to enter text in response to a question.
   Number	Enables the recipient to enter a numeric value of up to 13 digits and three decimal places.

5. Click OK to save your web form questionnaire and return to the Ad Hoc Message page. The Create Web Form button displays the number of questions included on the web form in parentheses.

6. Click Insert Web Form to insert the web form questions into the body of your message.

7. Click Send.

After you receive the communication, you click the link in the message to open the online web form and answer the questions or upload a file. After you submit the form, the response appears on the Communication Details page and attachments are also listed on the Attachments page.

Viewing Incident Communications

The Communication Details page displays a list of all messages that are associated with the incident, including emails, notifications, texts, and web form responses.

1. Click Incidents on the Agency Springboard.

   Select an application on the Incidents page.

   Click Communications in the navigation bar.

   You can view the message reference ID, date and time the message was sent, message subject, channel type, and status, such as Sent.

2. For each row on the Communication Details page you can:

   • Click the Actions icon to resend or forward the message.

     Select the Resend action to access the message in the Message Details modal page in display-only mode. Click Resend to send the message another time to the same list of recipients.

     Select the Forward action to access the message in the Message Details modal page. Enter new recipient email addresses, update the message if necessary, and click Forward to send the updated message to the new recipients.

   • Click the View More Details button to view detailed information about the message.