Restricting Communications by Time

You can restrict the times during which event-based messages can be sent by setting a blackout time for specific parts of the day. Messages sent during the blackout period can be sent in advance, or after the blackout, or events that occur during the blackout period can be ignored and no message sent. By default, any events that occur during the blackout are sent after the end of the blackout.

The blackout period will apply to all messages sent for the comm type, regardless of the delivery method.

Example

You could stop messages from being sent late at night to avoid disturbing customers..

To set a blackout period for a comm type:

Note

Blackout periods are configured in the Objects module, not in the Comm Types module.

  1. Click Objects to open the Objects module.
  2. Click Find Objects to search for Comm Types.
  3. In the Find Objects screen, choose Customer Communication Type in the Type field and click Find.
  4. Select the comm type that you want to change and open the Attributes tab.
  5. Double-click on the Blackout start time of day s attribute and enter the following details:
    FieldDescription

    Effective

    Date and time from which this blackout will be effective

    Value

    Time after midnight when the blackout will start (in seconds)

  6. Repeat for the Blackout end time of days attribute to set the end of the blackout period.
  7. Click Save to save your changes.

Sending messages before or after a blackout

You may want to send messages that would have been sent during the blackout, but to send them before or after the blackout. There are two controls for this behaviour:

  • The Poll in blackout; send after attribute which is set on the Comm Type. It is set to Yes by default.
  • The Enable the check for next poll in blackout parameter which is set at the system level. It is not set by default. It is only relevant for Order Stop Alert and Order Start Alert comm types.

This is how these controls work:

Poll in blackout attribute Check next poll in blackout parameter Result
Yes (default) Not set (default), No

Messages for events that occur in the blackout are sent after the blackout as long as they have not expired by the time the blackout ends.

This is the default behaviour.

Note that this option is not useful for Order Start and Order Stop alerts because they would expire before the end of the blackout period.
No Not set, No Events in the blackout are ignored and no messages are sent.
Yes, No Yes

Messages for events that will occur in the blackout are sent before the blackout.

This option is used for Order Start and Order Stop alerts because these message types would expire during the blackout period and no message would be sent even if the Poll in blackout attribute was set to Yes.

However, don't set both options to Yes for other message types or you will send duplicate messages (that is, before AND after the blackout).