Who can use this feature?
System administrators only
Note: This feature is optional functionality and may incur charges.
By default the chat butler is used to send new joiners welcome messages as well as to inform staff users whenever a new client they share a contact book with joins the organisation.
However, as a system administrator you can configure it to provide centralised, one-way communications from your organisation to your users.
Every user has by default a chat with the Butler, which makes it easy to use this chat to give out announcements and keep everyone informed about important updates. Please note that the Butler does not respond.
Out-of-the-box we provide ability to use the Butler via our APIs to send messages to your users, and we also provide an excel based toolkit (i.e. a workbook) to take advantage of this capability. We refer to this workbook as the Butler app. Additionally, you can use the butler to broadcast messages on your behalf.
What can I do with the Butler App excel workbook:
Send messages, documents, and attachments to users via the Butler
You can set your workbook to send multiple messages at a time and get immediate confirmation that it was delivered. You can send both text messages as well as attachments.
Configure your recipients
You can decide who will be your recipients by user type (i.e. staff, clients), by contact books or make a custom list of recipients.
Personalise your messages
Additionally, you can send messages in the format <First Name> or <Last Name> and the Butler will automatically insert the name of the recipients, making the communication much more personalised.
Setup your Butler app
Setting up your Butler app is a 5 step process that requires some technical knowledge. After setting up your workbook to work with your organisation the spreadsheet communicates to Qwil from Excel to provide centralised, one-way communications from your organisation to your users.
1. Create a Chat Butler App
Download the Chat Butler End-User App Generation Tool. It is available here or email support@qwil.io
This is an excel-based workbook that must be used with the Windows desktop version of Microsoft Excel.
Once downloaded, rename the workbook to include your company name and password protect it with a complex password you will remember. This is highly recommended as the workbook will contain clear text parameters that are highly sensitive but required to create the end-user workbook.
We also recommend that the workbook be stored in a location that is only accessible to Qwil System Administrators or technical support teams that need to maintain the end-user tool.
Once you performed the above steps, open the workbook so you can populate the Qwil keys that you will generate in the next step.
2. Generate a System API Key
- As a System administrator sign in to Qwil.
- From your desktop, click on the admin menu.
- Click on System API Keys.
- Click on Create.
- Name the Key (i.e. Chat Butler Excel Tool)
- Select the first two permissions (see screenshot).
- A CIDR block is an optional additional security control.
- Click on Create.
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Important! On the next screen, you will see a System API key ID and Secret. Make sure you copy both and paste them in theExcel workbook into the respective field cell.
Note: If you did not copy the System API key secret you will have to generate new keys.
3. Generate a Master User API Key
- As a System administrator sign in to Qwil.
- From your desktop, click on the admin menu.
- Click on Master API Keys.
- Click on Create.
- Name the Key (i.e. Chat Butler Excel Tool)
- Select the second and fourth permissions (see screenshot).
- A CIDR block is an optional additional security control.
- Click on Create.
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Important! On the next screen, you will see a System API key ID and Secret. Make sure you copy both and paste them in the Excel workbook into the respective field cell.
Note: If you did not copy the Master API key secret you will have to generate new keys.
4. Populate the Configuration Parameters
In addition to the keys you will have pasted into the correct cells in the sheet, populate the other values.
The below table explains each parameter:
5. Generate the User Butler App Workbook
Once you have populated the correct details, you need to test the keys are correctly configured and then generate the workbook.
To test the keys, press the Set Keys button in the workbook.
If you have set everything up correctly, you will see a message “Keys are ready to use”.
If there is an error, please check that you have correctly setup the keys in Qwil and that you have also correctly pasted the corresponding values into the workbook.
Once your keys are set, press the Generate App button. This will create the end-user workbook in the same directory where you currently have the Chat Butler End-User App Generation Tool workbook.
If you have a copy already in this folder, please remember to ensure it is not a read-only file and that it can be overwritten.
Change the file properties of the newly generated workbook to be set to read-only. Your file is now ready to be shared with end-users. Within the workbook, you will find the instructions to send messages to your users via the Butler.