The SMS connector allows you to link your system to the AWS Simple Notification Service SMS gateway in order that you can communicate with your customers by SMS text, in addition to email and post. There are many use cases where setting up your system to send SMS messages would be an advantage, such as sending automated SMS notifications when scheduling outbound calls to customers to reduce the number of missed outbound calls, and sending one-time passwords to secure email content. Amazon SNS has no upfront costs and you can pay as you go.

Setting up the connector

SMS text messages are sent through the AWS Simple Notification Service (SNS). If you don't already have an AWS account, you will need to set one up in order to be able to send SMS through your system. You will set up an IAM user and associated API credentials to allow your system to connect to your AWS account, and will set up an AWS permissions policy to ensure that iCasework only has the ability to send SMS, and not to access any SNS topics you may have associated with your account.

1. Sign into your AWS Console, and access the Identity and Access Manager (IAM) console.
2. Set up a new Policy, with the below JSON notation:
   

   {
   
      "Version":"2012-10-17",
   
      "Statement":[
   
         {
   
            "Effect":"Deny",
   
            "Action":[
   
               "sns:Publish"
   
            ],
   
            "Resource":"arn:aws:sns:*:*:*"
   
         },
   
         {
   
            "Effect":"Allow",
   
            "Action":[
   
               "sns:Publish"
   
            ],
   
            "Resource":"*"
   
         }
   
      ]
   
   }

   This permission will give the system connecting with the API key the ability to send an SMS direct to a mobile number, but will deny the ability to do anything else. The explicit "deny" on the SNS topic resource takes precendence for topic access, but the more generic "allow" means we can still publish an SMS direct to a mobile number.

3. Set up a Group, with a relevant name. Attach the permissions policy created in the previous step to the group.
4. Add a user, or associate an existing user to the new group.
5. In the security credentials section on your user, create a new Access Key. You should download the credentials on creation as you cannot access them subsequently.
6. In your iCasework system, access Administration >> AWS API Credentials, and input the details into the fields below:
   
   
   
   The SMS From Identifier (or Short Code) should not include any spaces or special characters.
7. Once you have saved your credentials, access Administration >> Regional Settings and add the default dialing code.