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Implementing Communication Planner

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Step 1: Install the Communication Planner Package

Please see TargetX Recruitment Suite: Admin Group or TargetX Retention Suite: Admin Group for the latest package version. 

Step 2: Submit a Support ticket

You must submit a Support ticket to set up email sending for the Communication Planner.

Step 3: Configure Communication Planner Permissions

Understanding Communication Planner Permissions

You can assign Permissions for:

  • Administrators can create and edit templates and manage and update Email and SMS Settings that impact the Communication Planner's behavior. They access these Settings using the gear icon in the Communication Planner.
  • Standard (can’t create or edit templates)

Configuring Communication Planner Permissions

You can assign Permissions by assigning permission sets:

  1. Navigate to Setup and search for Permission Sets.
  2. Click the TX Communication Planner (Admin) permission set, then choose Manage Assignments.
  3. Assign Users to the permission set.
  4. Repeat for the TX Communication Planner (Standard) permission set.

Configuring SMS Inbox and messaging on the Contact page

For users who should have access to SMS Inbox and messaging on the Contact page, the user needs to be a member of an inbox and have READ access to the following objects: 

  1. Navigate to Setup and search for Profiles.
  2. Click the Profile of users who need access to the SMS Inbox on the Contact page.
  3. Click Object Settings.
  4. Select the SMS Inboxes object and click Edit.
  5. Assign Read access to the SMS Inboxes object [TX_CommPlanner__SMS_Inbox__c ] and fields.
  6. Repeat for SMS Inbox Memberships [TX_CommPlanner__SMS_Inbox_Membership__c]
  7. Repeat for SMS Inbox Phone Numbers [TX_CommPlanner__SMS_Inbox_Phone_Number__c]
  8. Select Visualforce Page Access and click Edit.
  9. Select TX_CommPlanner.Contact_SMS_Inbox from the Available Visualforce Pages list and add it to the Enabled Visualforce Pages list.
  10. Save your changes.

Note: if you wish to have users access SMS Inbox but not manage campaigns in Communication Planner - clone the Communication Planner (Standard) permission set and remove Read access to Campaigns [TX_CommPlanner__Campaign__c] then assign the permission set to the user(s).

Configuring permissions to Standard objects

Because standard objects can’t be included in the permission scanner definitions, you must update some field permissions manually.

Note: These are only available in the May '25 release and higher.

  1. Navigate to Setup and search for Profiles.
  2. Click the Profile or Permission Set for Communication Planner Admin users.
  3. Click Object Settings
  4. Select the Contact object and click Edit.
  5. Assign Read and Edit access to the following fields:
    • TX_CommPlanner__Has_Alt_Email_Bounced__c
    • TX_CommPlanner__Has_Alt_Email_Bounced_Date__c
    • TX_CommPlanner__Has_Email_Bounced__c
    • TX_CommPlanner__Has_Email_Bounced_Date__c
  6. Save your changes.
  7. Repeat for any Integration Users profiles.

Step 4: Grant access to the TargetX Communication Planner Images file library

When the Communication Planner package is installed, a TargetX Communication Planner Images library is automatically created. Two custom library permissions (TargetX Library Author and TargetX Library Administrator) are also created during installation.

Only the user who installs the package is automatically added to this library so the user who installs the package must add all other users to the TargetX Communication Planner Images library.

Adding users to the File Image Library 

  1. Navigate to Files.
  2. Choose Libraries and select the TargetX Communication Planner images library.
  3. Choose Manage Members
  4. Select the Users and/or Groups that will need access to images in Email Templates. Choose the appropriate Access level.

For details on Library permissions, see the Salesforce Help & Training article Create and Edit Library Permissions.

Step 5: Update Page Layouts

Administrators must add the Visualforce page "Contact Activity" to see Email and SMS activity from Comm Planner.

  1. Navigate to Setup and select Object Manager.
  2. Click the Contact/Student object.
  3. Click Page Layouts.
  4. Click the Page Layout you use for Students.
  5. In the Page Layout Palette, choose Visualforce Pages.
  6. Drag the Contact Activity Visualforce page onto the page.
  7. Save your changes.

Update the Contact record layout to include the Visualforce page: contact_sms_inbox.

To add the component to your Lightning Layout: 

  1. Open a Contact record page.
  2. Click the gear icon in the upper right and choose Edit page.
  3. Find the Visualforce page in the left-hand menu and drag it into the layout.
  4. The recommended height is 700 px.
  5. Select Contact SMS Inbox.
  6. Save & Activate.

To add the component to your Page Layout:

  1. Navigate to Setup and search for Object Manager.
  2. Select Contact > Page Layouts.
  3. Select Edit next to the appropriate Contact Layout.
  4. Select Fields and drag a new Section onto the layout.
  5. Enter a Section Name, such as SMS Inbox.
  6. Select 2-columns.
  7. Select Visualforce Pages and drag the following onto the page layout:
    • contact_sms_inbox
    • The recommended height is 700 px.
  8. Save your changes.

Step 6: Update Permissions to view Contact Activity

To enable users to view Communication Planner Contact activities, you must provide them with access to the Visualforce Page:

  1. Navigate to Setup and search for Profiles.
  2. Click the Profile for the user(s) that need to view Contact activities.
  3. Click Visualforce Page Access.
  4. Click Edit.
  5. Locate the TX_ CommPlanner_Contact Activity in Available Visualforce Pages and click the arrow to move it to Enabled Visualforce Pages.
  6. Save your changes.

Step 7: Create and Schedule Communication Planner Apex jobs

For the initial configuration of Communication Planner, you must manually schedule three Apex jobs:

  1. Navigate to the Communication Planner tab.
  2. Click Settings (gear icon).
  3. Under the General heading, click 
  4. Navigate to the Communication Planner tab.
  5. Click Settings (gear icon).
  6. Under the General heading, click Schedule Jobs.
  7. Choose a Run time for each of the jobs and click Start Job:
    • Auto Deactivate Campaigns and Tracks
    • Campaign Sync Retry
    • Report Validator

Step 8: Configure Communication Planner Settings

Begin by reviewing your existing Email Settings. Then you can define numerous settings for your institution within the Communication Planner tool. To display the available settings, select the gear icon at the bottom left of the tool and click the carrot next to Email.

Email Settings

The table below outlines the Email settings available in the Communication Planner tool:

Email Opt-Out Page Footer Settings

These settings are related to what appears in your Email Opt-out Page.

Setting

Description

Institution Name

The Institution Name that will display on the Opt-out Page footer.

Address 1

The Address1 that will display on the Opt-out Page footer.

Address 2

The Address2 that will display on the Opt-out Page footer.

City

The City that will display on the Opt-out Page footer.

State

The State that will display on the Opt-out Page footer.

Postal Code

The Postal Code that will display on the Opt-out Page footer.

From Email

The From Email that will display on the Opt-out Page footer.

From Vanity

The From Vanity that will display on the Opt-out Page footer.

 

Email General Settings

Setting

Description

Enable Email Groups

This enables Email Groups. You aren’t required to select an Email Group. If you don’t select a group, the system will send the communication to all eligible recipients in your report. If one or more email groups are specified on a track or element, recipients in the report who belong to the selected group, as well as those with no email group, will receive the communication.

Alternate Email Address: Contact

 This setting allows you to select an alternate email field when choosing to use Alt Email in the Track or Element level. For example, if you have a custom field for your University email, you can select it here and when Alt Email is selected, this field will be used.

 

Step 9: Configure SMS Settings

Twilio Settings

Twilio Settings are where admins manage your SMS account's Twilio settings.

  1. Navigate to the Communication Planner tab.
  2. Click Settings (gear icon).
  3. Under the SMS heading, click Twilio Settings.
  4. Enter the following:
    1. Twilio Account SID
    2. Twilio Account Auth Token
    3. Country code default 
      • Note: Twilio requires a country code for sending SMS messages. When sending an SMS, the system uses the default country code unless the Salesforce mobile field already contains a different country code. If no default country code is set and the Salesforce mobile field does not include one, Communication Planner will automatically apply the US/Canada country code “+1.”
  1. You can verify your Twilio API credentials and your Twilio credential sync by choosing Check Again or Try Again in the top of the screen:

Step 10: Create Email Test Lists

  1. Navigate to the Communication Planner tab.
  2. Click Settings (gear icon).
  3. Under the General heading, click Test List.
  4. Click the + to add a new Test list.
  5. Enter the following:
    1. List Name 
    2. List Description 
  6. Click the + to Add Members. You can create a New member or select from a list of existing members.
  7. Add First Name, Last Name, Email and Mobile Phone, then click Add, then Create.
  8. Choose Existing Member to select from a list of members you’ve already added in another Test List.

Notes:

  • To manage Test List members, select the person icon in the top right. From here, you can search and view all the members in the Test List. Select a specific member to remove the member or view all the Test Lists they belong to and delete them as needed.
  • Choose Delete Test List to delete the selected list.

Step 11: Create Folders

Refer to Creating folders to begin creating your folders.

Step 12: Create Templates

Refer to Creating Email Templates to begin building your Email Templates or Creating SMS Templates for SMS Templates.

Step 13: Create Campaigns

Refer to Creating Campaigns to begin building your Campaigns.

Step 14: Set up SMS Inboxes

To use TX SMS and Communication Planner simultaneously without rerouting, configure each tool with its own dedicated messaging service.

You’ll need to create your SMS Inboxes within the Communication Planner:

  1. Navigate to Communication Planner and click the Settings icon (gear).
  2. Click SMS, then Inboxes.
  3. Click + to create a new Inbox.
  4. Enter a Name and select a Messaging Service.
  5. In the Phone Numbers section, click + to add phone numbers. You can add multiple phone numbers.
  6. Indicate if you want to Enable Email Notifications and, if enabled, select a Notification Timer.

Step 15: Update Twilio Messaging Service(s)

After setting up your inboxes, configure the following Twilio settings for each Messaging Service to ensure incoming replies are routed to the Communication Planner SMS Inbox. Because this configuration updates the webhook, note that if multiple Salesforce orgs share the same Twilio Account SID, each Messaging Service can be linked to only one Salesforce org. Therefore, schools with multiple TargetX instances (e.g., 2 or 3) that use a single Twilio account should assign at least one dedicated Messaging Service to each instance, since the webhook connection is based on the Org ID.

Notes:

  • If you use the same messaging service for both Communication Planner and TX SMS, updating the Twilio Webhook will direct incoming messages to Comm Planner and no longer send them to TX SMS.
  • If you have a TargetX Managed Twilio account please reach out to support to complete this step
  1. Log in to Twilio.
  2. On the Develop tab in the left pane, choose Messaging > Services.
  3. Use the Search by SID to locate the relevant messaging services.
  4. Click the name of the Messaging Service.
  5. Choose Integration on the left navigation panel.
  6. Ensure the Send a webhook option is selected.
  7. In the Request URL field, paste the following URL, replacing the ORG_ID_HERE with your 18-digit Organization ID:

https://ws-prod-ag.targetxucp.com/webhook/api/v1/message-inbound?org_id=ORG_ID_HERE

 

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