Communication queue management overview

The purpose of the communication queue is to manage the routing of all communication jobs to the correct printer, email (SMTP) server or text messaging (SMS) gateway. The creation and management of communication queues provides end users with the widest flexibility in contacting tenants and other stakeholders on any number of services, at every key stage of the process. End users can create, maintain and manage their communication queues effectively in a multi-company environment, including redirecting communications to an alternative queue to cope with periods of high demand or service unavailability.

The first step to creating a communication queue is to configure one of three output services available on which it will be based: a letter, an email or mobile text message. The communication jobs directed to a specific queue are then generated in one of three ways, as described in the table below.

Generation Method	Description
Scheduled	The communication jobs contained within the queue are set to run at specific points in time, as defined by the end user, and applied to the printing of letters, sending emails or generating SMS text messages. The recurrence pattern for these scheduled tasks can be set to Daily (a once only or multiple event at prescribed time intervals), Week days only, or Weekly (on any number of days), together with the start and end times. It is common practice to set the timing of print runs to avoid known periods of high resource demand.
Managed manually	As the name suggests, this option is assigned to a queue where the end user wishes to trigger the communications manually. Although this option is available to all three output services, it is particularly relevant to the production of letters, and within housing organisations that have a dedicated post room. End users can access that resource at their allotted time and generate the required communications, often as a batch.
Immediately generated	Communication jobs assigned to this method of generation are processed the moment they arrive in the queue without any user intervention. Again, although this option is available to all three output services, it is most commonly used for the generation of emails and text messages.

Once communication jobs are allocated to a queue they appear in a summary dashboard, both for reference - in the case of scheduled or immediately generated queues - or ready for end user processing. Of particular importance is the status of each communication job, which is automatically assigned as the job progresses through to successful generation. Where a job fails to generate, a qualifying reason is also displayed and an incremental counter is updated, recording the number of failed attempts. The range of status values are explained in the table below.

Status Value	Description
Pending	A communication job is assigned this status until such time as it is generated, triggered either by a scheduled process or manual user intervention.
Successful	A communication job is assigned this status once it is generated fully.
Failed	In the event that a communication job fails to generate, the qualifying reason is displayed along with the failed status, allowing the end user to take appropriate action. For example, a failed letter communication may display the reason 'The printer <Printer Name> could not be found...'; similarly, a failed SMS communication may display the reason 'There was no endpoint listening at <SMS Gateway URL> that could accept the message...'
Cancelled	This status is applied to a communication job in the instance where it is manually cancelled by the end user.
In Progress	A communication job displays this status while it is being processed e.g. while a large document is being spooled to the printer or a large email, with many recipients, is being transferred to the email server.
Downloaded to PDF	Communication letter jobs can be saved as a PDF file rather than sent directly to a printer. Once the end user has sent the communication to the PDF queue the status is updated to Downloaded to PDF.
Unsent	A communication job is assigned this status to indicate that it has not been sent to the recipient i.e. it may have been initially sent in error and then recalled by the end user.

Through the summary dashboard tool, the end user can control the communication jobs via a number of commands:

Send - Despatch the communication job to the output service configured within the queue. This command is also available for scheduled queues, where an end user wishes to generate the communication in advance of the scheduled time.
Preview - Inspect a sample of the output, viewing merged data for the selected communication.
Reassign Item To Another Queue - Force the communication job to be managed through another queue, perhaps to accommodate periods of high demand or service unavailability.
Cancel - The communication job is no longer required.

Separate help articles have been created for each key aspect of communication queue management, including: