Send an Emergency SMS Message

by Raven Douglas

Emergencies require action. Your community needs to be alerted immediately of emergencies that affect them in the community. You need to be able to quickly and efficiently notify community members. @Assist lets you send SMS messages straight your community’s phones, in the form of an automated voice call or SMS message.

To send a Test Emergency SMS message in Sugu:

If this is your first time sending an Emergency message in Sugu, you’re able to create a test alert first.

Hover over the “Messaging” tab in your navigation bar at the top of your page.

Select “Emergency Alerts” from the drop-down menu.

Your Emergency Alerts screen will appear.

If you’d like to test what your recipients will see first, select the blue “Send Test Alert” button on the right side of your Alerts screen.

Enter the information you’d like to test for sending and select the phone number you’d like to use.

You may enter up to 111 characters.

A voice call will be sent to the test phone number.

You can also choose whether you’d like to send an SMS message. Just select yes or no in the drop-box at the bottom of your Send Test Voice Alert screen.

Click the green “Send” button to send your test voice call.

To send an Emergency Alert:

Hover over the “Messaging” tab in your navigation bar at the top of your page.

Select “Emergency Alerts” from the drop-down menu.

Your Emergency Alerts screen will appear.

Select the property you’d like to send the alert to.

Enter all the information to send for the emergency message.

You may enter up to 111 characters.

If you do not select a timeframe for display of your emergency message, the alert will automatically be displayed on the dashboard for 1 week.

Click the green “Go to Next Step” button.

You will now be on the Confirmation Page for your message.

If you’d like to edit your message, click the golden “Cancel” button at the bottom left of the screen to go back and edit.

If you’re ready to send your message as-is, click the blue “Send Alert” button at the bottom left of the screen.

You will receive one final confirmation check once you click “Send Alert,” to make sure you’re ready to send your message.

If you’ve made an error, click the golden “Cancel” button.

If you’re ready to send, click the green “Send” button.

You will be directed back to your Emergency Alerts screen where your alert will show on a list. You’ll also see a green message confirming that your alert has been successfully sent.