Records
Night-Before Texts
Night-before texts tell each engineer where they're going tomorrow, and give them their clock-on link, without anyone in the office picking up a phone. Replies land on the Site clock page, so you can text back.
You need Site Clock switched on, and your account's own texting number. If texting isn't set up yet, the card says so and nothing goes out.
Who Gets a Text
Each evening, ORCA looks at tomorrow's calendar events. For every event that belongs to a job, each person assigned to it with the Operative role gets one text, from your account's number, to the mobile on their staff profile.
A few details:
- An event belongs to a job if it's linked to the job record, or has a job reference in its title.
- An event that runs over several days counts on each of them.
- Each person is texted once per event and day.
- Managers on the same event, without the Operative role, are not texted.
- It's text only. WhatsApp can't start a conversation without a pre-approved template, and a text has no such rule.
The text reads like this:
Tomorrow, Wed 21 Oct: J-1042 Harbour Works. Site: 1 Example Road, Anytown. On site 8:00. Clock on here: (their link)
The job is its reference and the client. The site is the job's own address, which is more reliable than an event's location, and the calendar event's location is used only if the job has no address. The time is the event's start time. For all-day events, there's a separate On site by time to use. When a text goes out on the day itself, it says "Today".
If someone has no link yet, one is made for them when the first text goes. If they have no mobile, they're picked up at the next run: ORCA tries every quarter of an hour for three hours after the send time, so adding a number at 18:20 still gets the text out. The same run picks up events added after the first one.
Switching It On
Open Site clock and find Night-before texts on the board. Click Show to open it.
- Tick Send each evening at and set the time. It's your account's local time, so 18:00 means 18:00 for you.
- Optionally set On site by, for all-day events.
- Click Save.
The card also shows tomorrow's list: each person, their job, their mobile, the text itself, and its state, such as Will be texted, Texted 18:02, No mobile on their profile, Needs a new link or Not sent with the reason. If nobody has the Operative role yet, it tells you, and you add the role under Settings > Users.
Send tomorrow's texts now sends everything that's ready straight away, after asking you to confirm, for when you'd rather not wait for the evening.
Texting One Person
You don't have to wait for the evening to reach someone. In the People list on the board, Text clock link (or Text link, Text a link) sends one person their clock-on link. If they're on a job in today's calendar, the text is today's job, with the link. If not, it's the link on its own. It can be sent as often as needed, and it works for anyone with a mobile on their profile, whatever their role. See Site Clock for the full People list.
Replies
Each text starts a thread. When someone answers, the reply lands in that thread within about ten seconds, under Replies on the board, and you can text back from your account's number. Threads show people you've texted in the last three days.
Delete a single message with Delete, or a whole thread with Delete thread. A deleted message also goes from Communications.
Related
- Site Clock : setting up the clock, the People list and the review queue
- The Engineer's Today Page : where tomorrow's jobs also show up
- Accounts & Users : adding a mobile and the Operative role
- Calendar : the events that decide who is texted