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ISMS SERVER - APPLICATION MANAGEMENT
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The ISMS Server comes with a management console for easy deployment of applications
accessible via SMS. It has a built-in Menu to set up the modems, define the keywords
for the many applications, establish an ADO link to the database, manage the phonebook,
view the log files and generate reports.
Administrators have the option of working on a browser-based interface. For security
considerations, authorized users are required to login. Depending on the rights of the
user logging in, you may define keywords for the SMS applications, establish an ADO
link to the database, manage the phonebook, view the log files and generate report.
Please note that set up of new modems can only be done via the Management Console.
SMS Application Groups
There are mainly two groups of applications: user originated application (Pull)
and server originated applications (Push).
There are thousands of applications out there where a customer will query for specific
information from a company and the company provides the data being asked for.
However, very few enterprises have started looking into server-originated applications.
Have you thought that instead of spending millions of pesos in mailing reminders to
your customers to settle their account on time, why not deploy it via SMS?
Less printing + less manpower = higher collection efficiency + higher cash flow
Depending on the level of interaction required between the enterprise and the users,
the SMS session may be managed in three ways: mono session, single-session and
multi-session.
A mono session is a single SMS that does not warrant a reply. This can be a database update
or infomercial, either server or user originated.
A single session is a request and a reply, for example a query and a response.
Single sessions can also be either server or user originated.
A multi session is a number of requests and replies that has the same sender and the
same receiving application.
Deploying Applications via ISMS Server
For each attached modem (either a simple phone or a modem like phone) and
modem number, the system administrator can set up different SMS applications.
To activate a SMS application, the administrator defines a Keyword that will call
the application residing as a page in the IIS web server.
From the user's perspective, the user selects the application by entering a
Keyword followed by the rest of the message and sending this to the phone number.
A session is then started. If the keyword sent requires a reply, the ISMS will send
the reply to the originating number. If the application triggered allows multiple sessions,
the sender may send his reply and succeeding messages without typing the keyword as
the first word.
If, for example, the user sends a message where the first word of such message
is not in the keywords database, the Default application is started. Please note
that the default application is only started when there is no ongoing session with
the sender. The Default application may be designed as your help menu - listing all
keywords and the functionalities of each keyword.
Terminologies:
Keyword is the first word of a message sent to the modem. The server will scan the
message for the first word and starts the application corresponding to the keyword.
Should the keyword activate a multi-session capable application; the succeeding
messages need not contain a keyword.
For multi-session applications, the administrator may define a keyword to tell the
server to close the multi-session loop. It may be the word "Break" or "@" sign, except
# since this is a default character used by telephone companies.
Default application is started when the first word of the message sent is not in
the list of keywords. This may be designed as help menu - listing all keywords and
the functionalities of each keyword.
Applications are web pages residing on the web server: "Microsoft IIS". Some
of your applications may be a VBScript, the easiest and most widely used scripting
language in the world. However the system is not used to serve up web pages and is
not accessible from the web. The IIS is being used as a scripting engine with an
extremely easy to use interface. Enabling an application on the server can be as
easy as copying a file to the correct directory and making an entry in a database
that matches a keyword to the filename.
If VBScript is not capable of doing the job by itself, it has excellent support for
calls to other applications made in other programming languages, either through
ActiveX, or RPC / SOAP. For applications where UNIX machines running programs in
COBOL are queried using SOAP, integrating the ISMS Server is easy because it was
designed to be flexible and leverage on the existing data and code of your company.
During normal use, the ISMS Sever emulates a client (not a server) on the company
network. This means that from a mobile user point of view, it acts as a server that
the mobile client talks to but from a network point of view it acts as a client, or
just another desktop computer.
The SMS sent by the user is translated into http, put requests to a local ASP server,
the URL is then decoded by the application by a component and the response is sent
back thru another component. The interfaces to these components are very simple and
require no session management from the programmer. It is as simple as making an ASP
page for the internet. The advantage of this is that your mobile users can access any
recourse on your network that can be reached by an application program or a web page.
And the number of applications you can have only depends on your workstations ability
to serve up pages.
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