Mobile Application Configuration

To send a notification to someone using the Intrado Revolution Mobile Application, they must first be a contact in Revolution.

You can manually create, invite, or import contacts into Revolution. See Contacts for information about managing your contacts.

Invite Contacts to use the Mobile app

Send all contacts that will use the mobile app a mobile invitation. This invitation is sent in an email with links to the Apple App and Google Play stores, along with an invitation code they use to log in to the app, which registers the mobile device with Revolution. See Contact Invitations. The Mobile Device Workflow section in the Contact Invitations topic describes the process users will go through after receiving their invitation.

If you have Revolution users who want to receive notifications as receiving accounts, you will need to add them as contacts using any of the manual, import, or invitation methods.

To set up Revolution Users to use the Sending Account functionality, you must provide them with their AccountID to use with their standard login and password credentials. They can review Installing the Mobile App for links to download the application. You can find the AccountID in Global Settings > Licensing

• If you do not add an image, the app will show the Revolution icon.

• Audio recordings will play once the contact opens the alert. They will not play in the background if the user closes the app. (This is a limitation of the devices).

• Live broadcast (one-way) notifications are recorded and the audio is forwarded to contacts assigned to the notification when Mobile is selected as a Contact Method.

• Text to Speech audio is recorded and both text and audio are sent.

• Sent Notification do not track if the device receives the notification, instead it tracks that the notification was received by the mobile module.

Even though Trigger and Assistance buttons are used by Sending Accounts and Receiving Accounts, respectively, they are both created in the same way. This process outlines the interface for creating both button types.

1. Go to Configuration > Mobile.
2. Select New > New Mobile Trigger or New Mobile Assistance.
3. For Name, enter a value that helps your users identify which trigger is being assigned to a notification. This is also the name that appears on the trigger in the Mobile app.

4. For multi-site organizations, do one of the following:

   • If you're an All Sites Admin – To assign this trigger to a specific site, disable Available in All Sites and select a Site from the drop-down list. Alternatively, you can leave it Available to All Sites.
   • If you're a Site Admin – This trigger is automatically assigned to your default site. Each Site Admin will need to create their own triggers.
5. (Optional) For Icon, use the drop-down to select an icon that will appear on the trigger in the Mobile app.
6. (Optional) For Security Code, enter numerical string to be required by the mobile user before they can trigger a notification. The string can be between 1 and 10 digits.

7. (Optional) Define whether you want your mobile app users to be able to create notification content as part of the notification.

   Tip: Keep in mind that if you are using this trigger for an emergency situation where time is critical, you may not want contacts to have to compose the message before sending the notification. In this case, you would not enable these features. Also keep in mind that you can have coordinates and location data included with the notification message to help identify where the contact is who triggered the notification.

• Allow User to Add Text – Users can write content on the fly in the Mobile app.

  When you create notifications based on these triggers, you will need to add variables to the Message Details section of any related notification, so the entered content is pulled into the notification before it's sent to recipients.

  You can also include static text along with the activator variables. For example, you could include "Important" at the beginning of the title and reference the principal who authorized school closure after the body content.

  

• Allow User to Add Images – Users can attach any image available on their phone.

  For example, if this were a notification for maintenance, the user could take a picture of a spill that needs to be cleaned up or something that's broken and attach that to the notification.

• Allow User to Add Audio – Users can record an announcement and send it from the Mobile app.

  Important: When allowing users to send audio from the Mobile app, the Mobile trigger must be assigned to a notification type of Stored Audio or Recorded. If assigned to any other notification type, the audio from the Mobile app will not play when the notification is sent. Users with the Editor User Role can create new notifications. Make sure to tell them which triggers allow audio so they can create the appropriate notification. Alternatively, you might decide that you only want admins to assign Mobile triggers to notifications.

• Allow User to Add their Location – Users can send their location based on GPS location or selecting their street address.



8. Select Save.

Settings

The Mobile Notifier has been updated to include a new configuration called Push Notification Timeout, which controls the duration for which push notifications are active. This timeout specifies how long the Mobile Notifier will wait for its request to our cloud Push Service when sending mobile push notifications.

• Valid values are from 10 to 300 seconds.

• The default value is 30 seconds.

•  Boundary rules:
  • Not assigning a boundary — If you do not assign a geofence boundary, all contacts assigned to the notification receive the notification regardless of their geographic location.
  • Inside Boundary — When you select an area and set the Boundary to Inside, a contact will receive the notification only if they are inside the boundary area.
  • Outside Boundary — When you select an area and set the Boundary to Outside, a contact will receive the notification only if they are outside the boundary area.
  • Multiple Areas with Inside Boundaries — When you select multiple areas and each sets Boundary to Inside, then contacts inside any of the areas receive the notification.
  • Multiple Areas with Outside Boundaries — When you select multiple areas and each sets Boundary to Outside, you will exclude contacts in all the boundary areas.

• Location services must be enabled — Geofencing requires contacts to have location services enabled on their phone and for Mobile app.

  For example, iPhone allows users to enable location services in general, but then disable it for individual apps. If location services are not enabled, geofencing registers the contact as unknown and sends the notification anyway.

• Network and GPS connections — Several environmental factors come into play when updating geofence location in the Mobile app:

  • whether there's Internet connection and how good that connection is
  • whether Wi-Fi is on. We recommend telling your contacts to always use Wi-Fi when using the Mobile app.
  • proximity to a cell tower
  • if GPS is already being used, the Mobile app can use that data making geofence updates much quicker

All contacts can send notifications that have an Assistance trigger assigned to it. These triggers display as a button at the bottom of the app when contacts are logged into the Intrado Revolution Mobile Application app Receiving Account. When you create an Assistance trigger, you decide whether you want contacts to be able to enter content on the fly in the Mobile app or always send static content entered in the notification, the same as for trigger buttons available to Revolution users.

See an example

For example, I'm an admin at a school. I've created a notification called SOS - Assistance Required. All employees at my school have been entered as contacts in Revolution and assigned to the SOS - Assistance Required notification. I've created an Assistance trigger called SOS - Assistance Required. All employees at my school have Intrado Revolution Mobile Application app downloaded to their cellphones. Any employee at the school can send the SOS - Assistance Required notification from their cellphone, which alerts the school security office.