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Templates(UX06US06)

User Story Document: UtilityConnect Message Templates

1. Problem Statement

Core Problem

Struggle with maintaining consistent, efficient, and personalized communications across different channels, leading to customer confusion, operational inefficiencies, and increased support burden. The Message Templates feature addresses the need for standardized yet customizable communications that can be easily managed and deployed by different teams.

Pain Points by Role

Utility Admin / Operations Team:

  • Manually creating messages for different scenarios is time-consuming and leads to inconsistencies
  • No centralized way to organize templates by category, channel, or purpose
  • Difficult to track when templates were last updated or which ones need revision
  • Limited ability to enforce communication standards across different teams

Customer Service Executives:

  • Spend excessive time drafting similar responses for common customer inquiries
  • Cannot quickly find appropriate templates for specific scenarios
  • Inconsistent messaging leads to customer confusion and additional support calls
  • Difficulty personalizing standard communications with customer-specific data

Billing Team:

  • Creating compliant payment notifications requires manual checking of legal language
  • Need to frequently recreate similar payment communications
  • Cannot easily organize templates by billing-specific categories
  • Limited tracking of which communications were sent to customers

Consumers:

  • Receive inconsistent communications across different touchpoints and channels
  • Important information may not be clearly highlighted or personalized
  • Inconsistent formatting affects readability and understanding

2. Who Are the Users Facing the Problem?

Utility Admin / Operations Team Responsible for system management, communication standards, and operational oversight. They need to create, edit, manage, and organize all templates across the organization.

Customer Service Executives Handle direct customer inquiries and communications across channels. They need to use templates and potentially create/edit templates for common service scenarios.

Billing Team Manage payment-related communications including confirmations and notifications. They need to use and potentially edit billing-specific templates.

Consumers End recipients of all communications. While they don't access the template system directly, they are the ultimate beneficiaries of improved communication consistency.

3. Jobs To Be Done

For Utility Admin / Operations Team: When I need to maintain consistent communications across our organization, But I struggle with tracking and managing numerous templates across different channels and teams, Help me create, organize, and govern a centralized template library with appropriate categorization, So that I can ensure communication quality while reducing creation time and improving operational efficiency.

For Customer Service Executives: When I need to respond to customer inquiries promptly, But I waste time drafting repetitive responses and risk providing inconsistent information, Help me quickly find and use pre-approved message templates with simple personalization options, So that I can increase my response efficiency while ensuring accuracy and maintaining our communication standards.

For Billing Team: When I need to send payment confirmations and billing notifications, But I worry about including incorrect information or missing required disclosures, Help me access standardized, compliant billing templates with automatic data insertion, So that I can ensure regulatory compliance while processing higher volumes of billing communications efficiently.

For Consumers: When I need to understand important information about my utility service, But I receive inconsistent communications that are sometimes unclear or impersonal, Help me receive well-formatted, personalized messages that clearly highlight what matters to me, So that I can quickly understand and act on important utility information without confusion.

4. Solution

The Message Templates feature in UtilityConnect provides a comprehensive system for standardizing communications while allowing for personalization across multiple channels. Key capability areas include:

Template Creation and Management

  • Rich template editor with formatting options and variable insertion capabilities
  • Categorization system (Reports, Billing, Notifications, etc.) visible in the interface
  • Template versioning with "last modified" timestamps as seen in the UI

Channel Optimization

  • Channel-specific templates (Email, SMS, In-App, WhatsApp) as shown in the filtering options
  • Channel-appropriate character limits with warnings when exceeded
  • Format options (Plain Text, Rich Text, HTML) as seen in the template creation screen

Template Discovery

  • Searchable template library with filtering by channel, category, and tags
  • Tag-based organization system for improved template findability
  • Status filtering (Published, Draft) to manage template workflow

Personalization Engine

  • Dynamic variable insertion using {{placeholder}} syntax visible in the templates
  • Customer-specific data integration (names, dates, amounts, etc.)
  • Conditional content capabilities for scenario-specific messaging

Template Organization

  • Category-based organization (Reports, Billing, Notifications, Onboarding, Alerts, Reminders)
  • Tagging system for improved searchability and organization
  • Status tracking (draft/published) for template workflow management

Template Usage

  • One-click access to templates
  • Preview functionality to see how templates will appear to customers
  • Copy and adaptation capabilities for template reuse

Analytics and Governance

  • Template usage tracking and effectiveness metrics
  • Template freshness monitoring with "days ago" timestamps

5. Major Steps Involved

For Utility Admin / Operations Team:

  1. Log into UtilityConnect and access the Templates section from the left sidebar
  2. Click the "+ New Template" button in the upper right corner of the screen
  3. Select communication channel (Email, SMS, In-App, WhatsApp) from the channel options
  4. Choose template format (Plain Text, Rich Text, HTML) based on needs
  5. Enter template name (e.g., "Payment Confirmation") and description
  6. Select appropriate category from dropdown (Reports, Billing, etc.) or create new category
  7. Add relevant tags to improve template discoverability
  8. Enter template content using the content editor, including placeholders for dynamic content
  9. Preview template to ensure proper formatting and personalization
  10. Save as draft or publish directly

For Customer Service Executives:

  1. Navigate to Templates section in the left sidebar
  2. Use the search bar at the top to find relevant templates or use filter options
  3. Apply filters by channel, category, or category to narrow down options
  4. Select appropriate template from the results
  5. System auto-populates customer-specific variables
  6. Review and edit content as needed for the specific situation
  7. Send communication through selected channel
  8. Log interaction in customer record

For Billing Team:

  1. Access Templates section from the left sidebar
  2. Filter templates by selecting "Billing" category
  3. Select appropriate payment-related template (e.g., "Payment Confirmation")
  4. System automatically pulls relevant customer payment data into template
  5. Review for accuracy, particularly dates and amounts
  6. Send via appropriate channel (Email shown in the UI)
  7. Log payment communication in customer record
  8. Track for any needed follow-up based on billing status

6. Flow Diagram

image.png

7. Business Rules

General Rules

  • All templates must be categorized under one category
  • Templates must clearly indicate their communication channel (Email, SMS, In-App, WhatsApp)
  • Character limits must be enforced and warned (as seen in the "limit exceeded" warnings) -(x)
  • All dynamic variables must use the {{variable}} syntax as shown in the templates
  • Templates must include the utility company name and appropriate contact information

Error Handling

  • If a template exceeds character limits for its channel, warning must be displayed
  • If a dynamic variable cannot be populated, system must flag before sending
  • Templates missing required elements should be prevented from publishing
  • Failed message deliveries must trigger a notification to the sender

8. Acceptance Criteria

  1. The system must allow creation of templates for all four communication channels shown: Email, SMS, In-App, and WhatsApp.
  2. The system must support dynamic variable insertion using {{variable}} syntax as shown in the templates.
  3. The system must enforce character limits based on channel type with appropriate warnings.
  4. The system must categorize templates into at least the six categories shown: Reports, Billing, Notifications, Onboarding, Alerts, and Reminders.
  5. The system must support tagging templates for improved searchability.
  6. The system must show email,sms,inapp,whatsapp in create new list in stapper form.
  7. The system must not show template message content on the templates page card ( shown in ppt slide 11 in first card only)
  8. The system must show default and custom count ( shown in ppt slide 12 )
  9. The system must have toggle button of active , deactive on every card ( shown in ppt slides 13 )
  10. The system must show search results of users from tags & names.
  11. The system must show " created by " and " updated by " on each template card ( shown in slide 13)
  12. The system must track template creation and modification dates as shown by the "days ago" indicators.
  13. The system must provide filtering options by channel, status, and category as shown in the filter panel.
  14. The system must support multiple template formats including Plain Text, Rich Text, and HTML.
  15. The system must provide a search function for finding templates by keyword.
  16. The system must allow templates to be saved as drafts before publishing.
  17. The system must track character counts for templates with channel-specific limits.
  18. The system must support creating new categories if existing ones don't meet needs.
  19. The system must provide template previews before publishing or sending.
  20. The system must allow for template duplication and modification.
  21. The system must maintain version history for templates with modification tracking.
  22. The system must integrate with customer data for dynamic variable population.
  23. The system must support default templates for common scenarios.
  24. The system must log all communications sent using templates.
  25. The system must provide usage analytics for template effectiveness measurement.

9. Process Changes

FromToImpactManually writing each customer communicationUsing standardized templates with personalizationReduced composition time and consistent messaging across customer touchpointsTemplates scattered across different systemsCentralized template repository with categorizationImproved findability and governance of communication assetsInconsistent formatting across channelsChannel-optimized templates with appropriate constraintsBetter customer experience across all communication channelsLimited tracking of communication effectivenessTemplate usage analytics and performance trackingData-driven improvement of customer communicationsTime-consuming approval processesPre-approved templates for common scenariosFaster time-to-send for critical communicationsNo visibility into template freshnessLast-modified tracking with "days ago" indicatorsTimely updates to keep communications current and accurateManual variable insertion for personalizationStandardized variable syntax with automatic populationReduced errors and faster communication personalizationLimited reuse of effective communication languageSearchable, tagged template libraryKnowledge sharing and consistent messaging across teams

10. System Design Details

New Components:

  • Template Editor: Rich text editor with variable insertion capabilities
  • Template Repository: Centralized storage with categorization and tagging
  • Template Search Engine: Search and filter functionality for template discovery
  • Dynamic Content Engine: Handles variable substitution in templates
  • Channel Formatter: Ensures templates meet channel-specific requirements
  • Template Analytics: Usage tracking and effectiveness measurement

Affected Existing Components:

  • User Permission System: Extended to include template-specific permissions
  • Customer Database: Integration for dynamic variable population
  • Communication Delivery System: Connection for sending templated messages
  • Reporting System: Enhanced to include template effectiveness metrics

Integration Points:

  • API for external systems to access templates
  • Customer data integration for variable population
  • Communication delivery services integration (email, SMS, etc.)
  • User authentication and permission system
  • Content management system for template storage
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