Communication Creation

As we continue to integrate with systems that offer pet-parent communications such as welcome emails, appointment & medical reminders or tele-medicine consults, it’s becoming more important to align our integrations' functionality so our customers know what to expect when considering different options.

How to create a communication

Communications are created by making a POST API request to the v1/communication endpoint.

What are the communication type options?

When creating the communication record, select the appropriate communication type using the corresponding ID noted below. This value should be referenced in the contact_detail_type_id field in the POST request.

{ID}. {Communication Type}

1. Email

2. Fax

3. Snail Mail

4. SMS

5. Phone Call Log

6. In-Person Communication Notes

7. Calendar Invite

8. Unknown/Other

   • Should be used for any communication that doesn’t fit into the other types (e.g. Social media chats, WhatsApp etc.)

9. Postcard

What are the format options?

• SMS

  • Should only be used when sending a SMS.
  • Limited to 250 characters per communication record.

• PlainText

  • Can be used in any communication type.

• Html

  • Should only be used when sending an Email or In-Person Notes (if desired).

What records should be linked to a communication?

Communications will always be related to another record within ezyVet, whether that’s a contact, animal, consult or appointment.

• Welcome messages for a pet and medical reminders, should be mapped to an animal record.

• Appointment reminders should be mapped to the appropriate appointment record.

• Financial reminders should be mapped to the contact record.

Automated associated linkages

When a communication is linked to a consult record, ezyVet will also automatically link it to the animal record for which the consult is for.

When a communication is linked to an animal or appointment record, ezyVet will also automatically link it to the contact record to whom the animal belongs.

What are the different statuses and when should I use them?

• Pending status means the communication will be created but will not send until a user actions it.
  Use this status if you are wanting to have the communication sent from ezyVet after it’s been approved (fees apply to the clinic when sending SMS messages and postcards).

• Done status means the communication was sent successfully.
  Use this status if you’re creating a communication in ezyVet but do not want it to send from ezyVet (as it has already been sent by a third-party system).

• Sending status means the communication will send once it is generated.
  Use this status if you are wanting to have the communication sent from ezyVet as soon as it’s created (fees apply to the clinic when sending SMS messages and postcards).

• Failed status means the communication encountered a error.
  This status is an indicative field. It should only be used if a communication failed to send.

Example

POST v1/communication 
{ 
    "active": true, 
    "associated_type": "Contact", 
    "associated_id": 1, 
    "contact_detail_type_id": 1, 
    "destination": "demo@demo.com", 
    "direction": "Outgoing", 
    "content": "This is a reminder that Rader is due for their wellness exam.", 
    "content_format": "PlainText", 
    "status": "Done", 
    "subject": "example subject", 
    "user_resource": 123 
}

When to create a communication

When a partner sends single messages such as medical or appointment reminders, welcome messages or marketing material they can write the communication back to ezyVet immediately.

How should I handle conversations had in an external platform?

To ensure a record’s communication section is not cluttered or spammed with hundreds of records, all conversations should be bundled into a single communication record once the conversation has concluded.

A feature that could be useful is an ‘end conversation’ button on the partner’s platform. The pet-parent or vet user could click this button and it would close the conversation and create the POST request to send the communication record to ezyVet.

Certain details should be included in the conversation communication to ensure good readability.

• Sender

• Date/time

• Content

• Some form of separator between messages

Example

---

Joe Bloggs | 4/10/24 09:23
Hello Dr. Smith,
My dog, Minty seems to have a lot more energy than usual. She is wagging her tail lots!
What could it be?

---

Dr. Smith | 4/10/24 09:26
Hello Joe,
Sounds like Minty is very happy - nothing to worry about.

---

Why is it important to create communications this way

1. By using the framework laid out above we can ensure we’re minimizing clutter in any linked records and communications section.

2. By combining conversations into a single record we are increasing readability of the conversation.

3. We are also ensuring communications that have been sent in a third party system are not sent again from ezyVet when creating the communication record.

4. By linking the communication to the appropriate record we are reducing the time spent finding the records.