In VIA, conversations are recorded text messages between different users. These conversations can be related to the system as a whole, board related or card related. They can be private conversations that only the invited members can see or they can be public and can be seen by any user with the right permissions. Conversations can also be initiated and participated in with VIA mobile. Finally, they can be freform or they can consist of standardized messages called macros. This section will cover everything you need to know to get starting using conversations in VIA.
Where Can I Create a Conversation?
Conversations can by created in the following areas:
Home screen - You can start a conversation using the slideout menu right off the main home screen. These would be general conversations that are not necessarily related to any one board or specific card.
Boards - You can start a board specific conversation that may be related to a specific dispatch board, or carrier board without being related to one card. To create one of these conversations you can use the slideout menu and navigate to the conversaton option.
Cards - If your conversation is related to a card you can create a conversation directly on a order, trip, truck or any other type of card.
How to Start a Conversation
Starting a conversation on the home screen of from a board - Click on the slideout menu on the right side of the screen. Click on the conversations icon:
From the conversation menu item click on the + Start Conversaion menu item to begin a new conversation
Starting a conversation from a card - When you have the card open, click on the + button on the top right side of the card just under the conversations header:
Regardless of how you choose to start a conversation you will be asked to give you conversation a name and to select the privacy level of your conversation.
Give you conversation a meaningful name. Especially for board and home screen conversations you may end up with a number of conversations and being able to tell them apart will be helpful. Under the Title field is a note that the conversation by default will be public. Any public conversations on cards or boards will be visible to all users and they will be able to participate in them. This does not apply to home screen conversations where you can only see conversations that you are part of. If you click on change on the start conversation screen and change your conversation to private then only the people that you invite into the conversation will be able to see it.
Adding More People to Your Conversation
What is a conversation without someone to talk to? Let’s add some people to the conversation so that you can share ideas within the conversation. If this is a brand new conversation then VIA will prompt you to add some people to the conversation. If you already have users added to the conversation, the method to add more will be the same. Press the + button on the top left side of the conversation. This will open a search screen. Start typing in the username and press enter to search, the results will appear in a list below the search box. Click on the name you want to add.
Your new conversations will appear along the bottom of your VIA screen. To enlarge the conversation click on the blue box with the conversation name that you want to view. To minimize a conversation, press the - button on the right side of conversation and it will hide the conversation down to the bottom of the screen.
Creating and Using Macros
VIA allows you to create and re-use standardized messages in conversations using macros. These macros, once created can be re-used as often as you like and can save time when you have to use standardized instructions or questions. The following section will look at macros, how to create, use and delete them. The screen shot below will outline some of the parts of the macro screen:
Category drop down field - This category provides a way for you to group your macros in a meaningful way. For example, you may want all your driver related macros to be stored together, all your internal macros also stored separately
Macro Listing - This section shows all the macros that you have currently created for the category that you have selected in the first section of the screen.
Consignee fields - These are the fields that you have in the macro
Add and Edit Buttons. You can add a new macro by clicking on the + button or edit the existing macro by pressing on the edit button
Send - If you have selected a macro that you want to use in you conversation you can press the send button and utilize the macro.
Creating Macros
Before you can use a macro you have to first define the macro. This process will show you how to create a new macro. You can find the macro button on any active conversation by pressing the </> button on the top right side of an open conversation screen.
On the macro screen, press the + button on the top right side of the screen to create a new macro. In the first filed (labelled Untitled) enter in the name you want to give you macro. This name will be displayed in the macro list on the left side of the macro screen so make sure it is a meaningful name.
The second field will be the category you would like to group this macro under. If the category you want already exists then you can enter the category name here. If you would like this macro to be in a new category you can enter it here. Finally, enter the text that you want to see in the macro in the final field. When you are done you can click on the save button in the screen and your macro will be saved.
It is possible to insert data fields into your macros assuming you know the field name you want to add. These fields will only be visible on the mobile device. So, if you wanted to send a driver a macro that showed the order number for example you might want to write your macro as follows:
