Configure communications

To configure customer communications, you need to set up email communications, or SMS communications, or both. Additionally, you must modify the templates used by those channels and determine the time zone to be used in the communications.

• Set up email communications

• Set up SMS communications

• Customize communications

Set up email communications

Setting up email communications involves the following steps:

1. Create a no-reply mailbox

2. Create an email connector

3. Update the mail sender address in the flow

4. Enable relevant email flows

5. Enable email communication channels

1. Create a no-reply mailbox

Create a no-reply shared mailbox through the Microsoft Exchange admin center. The email address in the shared mailbox will be used as the sender address to all customer communications.

1. Create a shared mailbox, and assign the required access and Send As permissions to different users as required. For more information, go to Create a shared mailbox.

2. Define rules for the mailbox to stop processing emails and block replies. For more information, go to Configure shared mailbox settings.

2. Create an email connector

To send emails, the created flows in Power platform require you to configure a connector. In this default example, the connector used is an Outlook connector.

1. Navigate to Connections in the Power Apps portal.

   

2. Click Create a Connection and search for Office 365 Outlook.

   

   A pop-up window appears asking for confirmation.

3. After you provide your confirmation in the pop-up window, the system prompts you to enter your Outlook credentials.

   

After you have entered the credentials, the Outlook connector is ready and usable.

3. Update the mail sender address in the flow

After configuring the connector, you must update the flow to reflect the sender address.

1. Navigate to Solutions in the Power Apps admin portal, and select Financial Services Power Apps Communications.

   

2. Within the solution, go to Objects > Cloud flows, and then select FSI_SendEmail (Generic).

   

3. The default state is Incomplete. Therefore, click Edit and update the connector and Outlook steps in the flow with the details configured in Create an email connector.

   

4. Expand the Outlook step and specify the no-reply account in the From (Send as) field.

   

5. Save your changes.

6. In the flow dashboard, click Edit against Run only users, and select the connection you created in Create an email connector. This step verifies that the Outlook connection can send respond on behalf of the no-reply account.

   

4. Enable relevant email flows

You need to ensure that all the relevant flows and automation processes are enabled. You can enable FSI_SendEmail (Generic) because it is the child flow of all the other flows.

In the Power Apps admin portal, navigate to Intelligent Appointments Communications and enable the following flows from the Cloud flows section:

• FSI_SendAppointmentScheduledEmail for scheduling confirmations.

• FSI_SendAppointmentCanceledEmail for cancellations.

• FSI_SendAppointmentReminderEmail for reminders.

The existing FSI_SendAppointmentScheduledEmail flow uses Virtual appointments as the online meeting platform. If you wish to keep using original Teams meeting as the online meeting platform, remove the Virtual appointments step from the flow.

5. Enable email communication channels

You need to verify whether the administrator has enabled the email communications.

1. Go to Scheduling administration > Settings > Communications > General Settings.

2. Activate toggles for the relevant communication types you want to activate in the selected channel.

3. Validate that the general communications are enabled, the specific communication type is enabled, and that the email channel is enabled or disabled according to your setup for each type.

Set up SMS communications

Setting up SMS communications requires you to perform the following steps:

A. Set up an SMS connector

B. Enable relevant SMS flows

C. Enable the SMS communications channel

A. Set up an SMS connector

To send SMS messages, the created flows in Power platform require a connector configured.

1. Navigate to Solutions in Power Apps admin portal, and select Intelligent appointments Communications.

2. Within the solution, go to Objects > Cloud flows, and then select FSI_SendSMS (Generic).

3. Add an SMS connector. For example, Azure Communication Services SMS, or any third-party connector.

   

4. Add the relevant parameters for the connector, and save the flow.

   

5. To complete the setup of the connector, click Turn on from the top ribbon.

B. Enable relevant SMS flows

You need to ensure that all the relevant flows and automation processes are enabled. You can enable FSI_SendSMS (Generic) because it is the child flow of all the other flows.

In the Power Apps admin portal, navigate to Intelligent Appointments Communications and enable the following flows from the Cloud flows section:

• FSI_SendAppointmentScheduledSMS for scheduling confirmations.

• FSI_SendAppointmentCanceledSMS for cancellations.

• FSI_SendAppointmentReminderSMS for reminders.

C. Enable the SMS communications channel

You need to verify whether the administrator has enabled the SMS communications.

1. Go to Scheduling administration > Settings > Communications > General Settings.

2. Activate toggles for the relevant communication types you want to activate in the selected channel.

3. Validate that the general communications are enabled, the specific communication type is enabled, and that the SMS channel is enabled or disabled according to your setup for each type.

Customize communications

Customizing the communications involves modifying a communication template and configuring the time zone for the template.

Modify a communication template

You can modify each of the communication types—confirmation, cancellation and reminder—to adapt to the needs of your organization. In the case of an email communication channel, this includes the contents of the email, the header and footer, and the language.

Each of the communication types has a corresponding Dynamics 365 processes that you can modify. These processes are associated with the Intelligent Appointments Communications solution:

• FSIComposeAppointmentScheduledEmail

• FSIComposeAppointmentReminderEmail

• FSIComposeAppointmentCancelledEmail

• FSIComposeAppointmentScheduledSMS

• FSIComposeAppointmentReminderSMS

• FSIComposeAppointmentCancelledSMS

To edit an email communication template, follow these steps:

1. Open the relevant object in the environment, under the Intelligent Appointments Communication solution..

2. Edit the Compose the EmailBody step and implement changes in HTML format.

   

3. To edit the header and footer, open and update the FSIComposeEmailHeaderAndFooter process.

Configure the communication time zone

Information about the time zone in which a meeting is scheduled is held by the meeting communications. Dataverse saves the meeting times in UTC. To change the time zone of a communication, you need to edit the Time zone name environment variable, which has the default value of Eastern Standard Time.

To edit the Time zone name environment variable, create an unmanaged solution and follow these steps:

1. Add an existing environment variable.

2. Select the Time zone name environment variable.

3. Click Add.

4. Edit the unmanaged Time zone name environment variable.

   

Learn more about environment variables and the supported time zone formats.

See also

Configure Intelligent appointments
Deploy Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services
What is Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services?