SMS Out-of-Office Routing

SMS Out of Office routing enables associates to access Tulip Clienteling app for messaging when they are not in the store but still want to reply to clients from their personal device.

Tulip Clienteling uses proxy numbers to relay customer messages between an associates number and their forwarding number on their personal-use devices.

When customers send messages to associates who are away from the store, Tulip Clienteling sends the messages through proxy numbers which in turn relay the messages to the forwarding numbers of those associates. This ensures the phone number privacy of the customer (because the associate does not see the originating number of the text message) and makes it easy for the associate to reply to messages using their standard text messaging app just by replying to messages as they normally would.

How messaging through proxy numbers work

Tulip Clienteling creates a mapping between the app and the proxy numbers to enable communication between the customers and the forwarding numbers of the associates.

A pool of proxy numbers is shared by all customers. The numbers are recycled and reused in different proxy sessions.

To create a session, we look for available proxy numbers in the same region as the customer’s phone number.

Admin-Console Configuration

  • To make Out of Office configuration available in the mobile app, you need to update Associate Details View tab. The menu item type id io.tulip.associates.outOfOffice is available to support this configuration.
  • Clienteling configuration variable sms_message_forwarding_enabled is available with two possible values:
    • true - message forwarding is enabled
    • false - message forwarding is disabled
      (If Out of Office is selected, an error message will popup indicating that it cannot be configured.)
  • You can also configure the options for when to send messages. In Clienteling, look for Configure Associate Out of Office Options.

Note: Out of Office Message Forwarding works only when sms_from_number_type = "associate". If it’s set to "store" it will not allow configuration and display an error when selected.

In-App Configuration

ConfigurationDescription
Enabled/DisabledEnable or disable message forwarding.
Forwarding NumberThe phone number to forward sms message to.
Note: requires the +1 area code specifier.
Forward all MessageAll incoming messages are forwarded to the forwarding number.
Forward when Logged-OutForward messages only when an associate is logged out of iPad.

Note: Forward all Messages and Forward when Logged-Out are mutually exclusive options, that is, you can enable one or the other but not both.

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