Broadcast is a custom, SMS-based communication tool for managing and coordinating groups of people for specific events. The challenge was to build an application layer that could easily be extended to apply to specific niches – gig booking, cater staffing, temp job offerings, etc – for each deploy. The core of the app is a lightweight framework built using the MEAN stack and Bootstrap 3. Broadcast allows a user to create lists of contacts, events, and manage all communication and receive real-time updates from the Broadcast dashboard. All communication from the user is sent out by the app through SMS. The design is purposefully generic to provide a blank slate for easy customization.
Use Case
A cater staffing director needs to fill 2 spots in 24 hours. She imports her list of caterers or chooses from recipients existing in her account, creates an event, or “Broadcast”, with details about the job, and sends it out. Her Broadcast will go through SMS to all chosen recipients. Recipients can respond by texting back according to the instructions (i.e. “yes” for available, or “confirm” to confirm a position). From the dashboard the director can see live updates on availability, and choose how to respond with the click of a button.
Status
Broadcast is currently in MVP form and is being demonstrated to a number of interested parties.
Creating Recipients
Remember our use case from above? Let's continue that through the walk through. In the Recipients section, the staffing director can create or import contacts, assign them roles (i.e. server, chef, bartender), and later create a list from her recipients.
Creating Lists
In the List section, she can create a new list and either add recipients from her saved contacts or create more from the list page. In this case, the director needs to fill 2 spots for an event in the next 24 hours. She will create a list of recipients that qualify for the job and then send a Broadcast out to that specific list.
Sending Broadcasts
Once the list is created, she can create a Broadcast and select which list to send it to. In this case, our catering director will send out a simple Broadcast describing the job and specifying how many positions need to be filled. The Broadcast will go out to everyone on the list as an SMS, and our the app will await SMS responses from the recipients.
Broadcast Dashboard
As recipients begin to text responses, the staffing director will see their statuses update in real-time from the apps dashboard using Socket.io. She can now choose to respond by clicking on the acceptance or declining buttons. Custom responses can be created for each action, and a coherent conversation can be had with many people very quickly.
The app automatically requires double confirmation from the recipients and the director before a position is marked as confirmed. Once the required number of positions designated by the director have been filled the job is ready! A "final step" is designated by the director, i.e. she may want to send an employee handbook or contract as a PDF to the recipient's email.
Tools Used
- Angular.js
- HTML
- CSS
- Bootstrap3
- Node.js
- Express
- MongoDB
- Mongoose.js
- Git and GitHub
- Twilio API
- Socket.io