Setup instructions for sending SMS from Microsoft Office Sharepoint (MOSS)
Workflow management is an essential part in
large companies for being competitive and productive. With Ozeki's solution
if you already use Sharepoint you can make corporate communication more
effective within and outside your company. In this installation guide you
can learn about how you can configure your software to be able to send
SMS messages. Please check our video tutorials.
In successful companies it is required to keep deadlines
while remaining effective. To do so, Sharepoint software is often used to
keep workflow and documentation management in hand because these are key
figures in a well-organized work process.
Adding SMS functionality to this software makes the excellent features of
Sharepoint more various. With this solution you will be able to organize
several cases by sending an SMS text message increasing the flexibility of
your company. You can send messages to recipients chosen from your address
book thus a large number of messages can be sent at the same time. In this
way nobody will be left out from your list so all the important employees or
customers and partners can get your SMS in time. Sending important SMS
messages can prevent several problems. For instance you can inform your
staff about changes so they immediately get the necessary information to work
with. Everyone will know his/her responsibility and exact tasks so there will
be no delays in deadlines. Moreover customers can be involved in several
cases of your company keeping them well-informed and calm as they are
notified about the important steps of, for example, production or delivering,
etc.
To sum it up, with this solution you can be competitive and
flexible at the same time. You will improve the communication flow and
provide a composed workplace for employees and an attractive company for
customers and business partners.
In Sharepoint you can create own webpage or website and you
also can customize them with the help of the built-in webparts or with the
creation of further spwebparts. This guide gives you step by step details on
how to configure SMS text messaging in Microsoft Sharepoint. A new webpage is
integrated into Sharepoint and a GSM modem is used to send the messages.
Prerequisites
In order to setup this solution you need to find a way
to connect your system to the mobile network. You can do this
by using an Internet connection or you can
setup a wireless connection by attaching a GSM phone/GSM modem to your computer. To help you make a
decision, we have prepared a webpage for you:
Internet based SMS connections vs. GSM modem based (wireless) SMS connections.
Depending
on what you select, you need the following prerequisites.
Prerequisites for Internet based connection to the Mobile network
If you wish to connect your system to an SMS service
provider over the Internet you need the following components:
Figure 1/a - Prerequisites for Ozeki NG SMS
Gateway IP SMS connection
In this case you need to find an SMS service
provider who can reach the mobile phones in your area. This SMS
service provider should be able to provide SMS service through
the Internet. To find such a provider, you can check our
website where we list some of them:
SMPP SMS Service providers.
Once you have found such a provider, you need to sign up for
their service to get the connection parameters. You can use these parameters
to configure your Ozeki NG SMS Gateway software.
Prerequisites for wireless (GSM modem) connection to the Mobile network
If you wish to connect your system to the mobile
network wirelessly, you need a GSM modem or GSM phone, that you
can attach to your computer with a data cable. In this case your Ozeki
NG SMS Gateway software will operate this phone and will send and receive
SMS messages wirelessly. To setup this connection method, you need the following
components:
Figure 1/b - Prerequisites for Ozeki NG SMS
Gateway GSM modem connection
Your checklist (for GSM modem connection):
System architecture
If you would like to send an SMS with this solution first
you need to compose your SMS text message in the given box in Sharepoint,
then in the contact information boxes you need to provide the necessary
information; the list of the addressees. After this
Sharepoint transmits the message to Ozeki with a HTTP request.
NG SMS Gateway reads it and forwards it through a GSM device to
the given recipient or recipients. You can check this process in Figure 2.
Figure 2 - Ozeki NG SMS Gateway solution for how to send
SMS from Sharepoint
Configuration guide
To configure Ozeki's solution for Sharepoint please follow
the steps below:
Step 1. Importation of the Ozeki SMS site
First you need to download the following file:
ozeki_sms_site.stp.
Save it for example in "ozeki_temp" library. You also
need to know how the Sharepoint software refers to your computer. To know
this run Sharepoint and the reference to your computer will be on
the opening page (Figure 3). In our example:
http://ozeki-test-comp.
Figure 3 - The name of the computer
To start the configuration you need to run the command line
then open the following library:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN.
To do so type in the following command:
cd C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server
extensions\12\BIN
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Then from the saved stp file you need to import the page into Sharepoint.
To do so type in the followings:
stsadm.exe -o import -url http://ozeki-test-comp/ozekisms -filename c:\
ozeki_temp\ozeki_sms_site.stp
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Here the http://ozeki-test-comp/ozekisms is the name of the website to be
generated (the http://ozeki-test-comp can be replaced by the name of the
computer) and the :\ozeki_temp\ozeki_sms_site.stp signs the place of the
saved file, (c:\ozeki_temp can be replaced by the access path of the file.)
(Figure 4).
Figure 4 - Import website
If the importation is complete you will receive a message
about it (Figure 5).
Figure 5 - Importation is successful
If the importation was successful then the link of the
imported website appears on the opening page of Sharepoint (Figure 6).
Figure 6 - Imported site
Click on the link to see the website itself (Figure 7).
Figure 7 - Ozeki SMS site
Step 2. Sending SMS
To send SMS messages first you need to select the location
where Ozeki NG SMS Gateway has been installed. You can choose from three
possibilities:
- Ozeki NG SMS Gateway is on the same computer as Sharepoint
- It is on your local computer from which you are watching
the website.
- It is installed on a third computer. In this case the following text
appears:
"Please enter the IP address of the machine Ozeki NG SMS Gateway is installed
on". In the box next to it you need to provide the IP address of the third
computer (Figure 8).
Figure 8 - Location of Ozeki NG SMS Gateway
Next you need to provide your username and password
used in Ozeki NG SMS Gateway (Figure 9).
Figure 9 - Authentication
On the right hand side you can see the "SMS Contacts"
containing the contact information generated in SMS contact list.
Double click on them and you can add them to the list of addresses or
click on "All" if you want to add all of them to this list (Figure 10).
Figure 10 - Select recipients
Under recipients there is a "Message text" box in which
you can type your text message. Click on "Send" and the website sends it
to Ozeki NG SMS Gateway on the chosen computer which will forward it to
the given recipients (Figure 11).
Figure 11. - Compose a message
A window notifies you about the status of
the message with the following message: "Your message has been successfully
sent" (Figure 12).
Figure 12 - Successfully sent message
You can see this sent message in the Ozeki NG SMS Gateway,
too (Figure 13).
Figure 13 - Sent message in Ozeki NG SMS Gateway
Please visit the
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