Texting from PC JIMS

KB article ID:5020 (permalink)

Available from support.goodinassociates.com/5020 

What kinds of text messages might your county choose to send?

Send text reminders from PC JIMS Courts to notify litigants of upcoming hearings.

Text jurors from PC JIMS Jury to keep them abreast of their responsibilities.

Probation officers can text clients reminders from PC JIMS Probation for any number of reasons.

Setup

Begin by setting up a Red Oxygen account, which handles the actual sending of texts. (Or email support@redoxygen.com and they'll do the setup with/for you.)

• Go the free trial route, or sign up for something like 1,000 messages to start (fees apply.) 

• Sign up for “SMS API” access --the option for a CRM solution. (Select "Red API" from their Product of Interest drop-down list.)

• Register by completing their "Brand and Campaign Registration Information Form" (more on this, below). See our sample completed form for guidance.

• Provide your standard billing information, as needed.  

• Your account info should not change if you go the trial route, then switch to a paid plan.

• You should not have to upload or download or install anything. 

Once your Red Oxygen account is created, you can log into it to set up to send texts from different offices (sub-accounts), e.g. from PC JIMS Courts, Jury and/or Probation, each using their own email address, if so desired.

Next, enter your Red Oxygen account information into each appropriate PC JIMS program, (PC JIMS Courts, Jury and/or Probation), under Technical/System Tables/Edit SMS Settings. This setup is (1x) per program for all users of that program.

• your Red Oxygen Account ID

• the email associated with the account (or sub-account, if you set up sub-accounts)

• the account password

If you have any questions, Goodin Associates can help. We can also walk you through entering your account info into PC JIMS.

Brand and Campaign Registration --for spam monitoring

Read all about this in Red Oxygen's post. In short, in an effort to block spam (but not legitimate texts), carriers are requiring Application to Person text senders, like PC JIMS users, to register and pre-approve the kinds of messages (campaigns) they send. --If you intend to share your Red Oxygen account with other county government offices, you should collaborate on your registration.

Fees for Brand and Campaign Registration

As of mid-April 2021, these fees are still evolving, but here are a couple of links to pages which can help keep you up to date:

1. Red Oxygen's take on fees - this is a bit a bit alarmist because it includes penalties which will only happen if their senders don't register. 

2. Here's another texting provider's fee summary.