Setting up the SMS platform

Creating a Twilio account

Before you begin the setup process your CRM account will need to have signed up for the SMS Platform. To sign up, please contact sales@centrexsoftware.com or call (630) 394-6260. (Note: If you are a Centrex client, please contact sales@centrexsoftware.com or (888) 622-5810 extension 1 to sign up).

Once you have signed up for the SMS Platform, you can begin the setup and configuration process.

NOTE
The SMS Platform is directly integrated with Twilio. If you do not have a Twilio account, you can Sign Up For Free.

1. First, you need to buy a Twilio Account.

   NOTE
   You will need to purchase a full Twilio Account. The "Free Trial" version includes a $15 credit and can be used for testing purposes, but it can only send messages to verified numbers. During the sign up process you'll be asked to verify an initial phone number. Additionally, any messages sent using the Trial will include a portion that says "Sent from your Twilio Trial Account -". You would not want to actually use this on live clients.

2. After verifying, create a project by giving it a name. Projects are a top level of objects in their system. Right now we support one set of Project API per company, so you could have one set of credentials per company within the account (this includes an option to activate credentials for all companies in the account).
   
   
3. On back to the Project dashboard,  click on Show API Credentials in the upper right-hand corner to set up the retrieve the SID and Auth Token.

   IMPORTANT
   When setting up the account you do not need to click "Get Started". This will take you to create a new phone number for SMS. It is not necessary to setup the first phone number this way. You can easily create the phone number from within the CRM and avoid doing anything further in the Twilio interface.

   
   

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Linking Twilio with Centrex

1. Locate the Account SID and Auth Token from your Twilio account on the Project Dashboard, and input these credentials into the SMS Settings page inside the Centrex CRM.
   

   NOTE
   You''ll want to use the Account SID and Auth Token from the project. The SID and Auth Token available for phone numbers will NOT work with the integration.

   
2. Log into the CRM.
3. From the Admin tab, click Settings > click SMS. 
4. Plug in the Account SID and Auth Token where indicated.
5. Select either of the following options in the Company menu:
   

   NOTE
   Entering credentials for an individual company will override the "All Companies" credentials.

   • Individual company; or
   • All Companies
     
6. Click Save Settings.

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Purchasing phone numbers

1. From the SMS tab, select Manage Numbers from the "My Campaigns" dropdown menu on the top left of the page.
2. To purchase a number, click Purchase a New Number. You can search by area code to find numbers in specific locations.
   

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Syncing numbers from Twilio

1. To Sync a phone number that you've already created in Twilio, click Sync Numbers.
   

   NOTE
   When clicking this button it should pull all active phone numbers from the attached Twilio account and set them as active.

   
   
2. Click Sync Numbers to sync the credentials from the current user's company.
   

   NOTE
   So if the account has credentials for All Companies in addition to credentials on the user's company; the system will only sync the numbers from the user's company, and not sync using the All Companies credentials.

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Editing phone numbers

When editing a phone number, you'll have the option to Activate or Deactivate phone numbers, give them a Friendly Name, as well as Assign Company/Users access to the numbers. You'll also see additional details about the phone number, such as the date it was purchased, or any SMS Campaigns that are using the phone number.

The Friendly Name allows you to name your Phone Numbers and will show up when selecting that phone number from other pages in the CRM interface.

When assigning Company/User access, you can choose to share with individual users, entire companies, or with everyone. In the following example video, we share it with everyone within the Centrex company.

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Setting SMS role permissions

The SMS platform includes several User Role permissions. Enabling or disabling these permissions will allow you to customize how your agents utilize the SMS Platform. Upon activating SMS you will need to go and edit user roles to provide access to the new features and module.

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Troubleshooting

Phone Number is not syncing with Centrex

1. Log into Twilio.com and go to the Console's Numbers page.
2. Click on the phone number you'd like to sync with Centrex.
3. Find the Messaging section and the A MESSAGE COMES IN option.
4. Select Webhook and paste in the URL: https://client.forthcrm.com/post/twilio.php
   
   

Error: Unable to create record: Permission to send an SMS has not been enabled for the region indicated by the 'To' number

1. Log into Twilio.com and go to the Programmable SMS page.
2. Click on Settings, then click Geo Permissions
3. Enable the checkbox that corresponds to the region you are trying to send SMS messages to.
   

Error: Unsupported Provider

• • • This message indicates there is a problem with the Twilio credentials. Either they are missing or invalid. The assigned company must have a valid, working Twilio account integrated for messages to work.

Error: Message could not be sent. Error: [HTTP 401] Unable to create record: Authenticate

• • • If an SMS is not sent for any reason, i.e., credentials are wrong, or there is a lack of funds, you get this error message. We cannot really differentiate what caused it. If we see that message, complete the following steps:
      1. 1. Check the AuthToken and SID.
         2. Check funds on the Twilio account.

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Additional Information

For further information, please see the following articles

• SMS: Sending and Receiving SMS Messages on the Client Dashboard
• Sending and Completing a Clixsign Request
• SMS: Campaigns
• SMS: Triggers
• SMS Report

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