Create a Recurring Whiteboard Plan

Recurring whiteboards repeat tasks at set intervals.

Prerequisites

1. Whiteboards are an extra feature that must be enabled for your system.

2. You need the following permissions to use whiteboards:

   Permission Number	Permission Name	Purpose
   1600	Whiteboard: View All	Allows you to view whiteboards in your system.
   1602	Whiteboard: View and Edit All Whiteboards	Allows you to edit all whiteboards in your system.
   356	Automations: Activate Automations	Allows you to activate and deactivate whiteboards in your system.

3. Prepare anything that you need for the setup of your whiteboard, for example, segments, or prepared messages. These resources must be created in their own areas of the system and cannot be created on the whiteboard.

General Information

General rules for recurring whiteboards

• By default, the minimum amount of time between recurrences is one hour.

• The first task on a recurring whiteboard is a start job. The start job begins at a specified date and time. When the start job occurs, contacts begin their journey on the plan. Subsequent tasks begin when the previous tasks finish.

• It is possible to schedule a step on your recurring whiteboard to start at a specific time.

• If you start your whiteboard with an import, the whiteboard audience group is set to the target group of your import automatically.

• The contacts in your audience group can enter the same recurring whiteboard multiple times, once for each recurrence. To prevent multiple enrollments of a contact to the same whiteboard, select ​ Multiple Enrollments​ | ​ Only Once​ in your whiteboard settings. If a contact is still enrolled in the whiteboard when it recurs, the contact does not enter the new recurrence. Once a contact in your audience group exits the previous recurrence, they can enroll in future recurrences.

• Recurring whiteboards enroll contacts who are active members of the audience group each time the first scheduled step begins.
  To include only new contacts who join the audience group, use a segment that filters contacts by membership date. For example, repeat the whiteboard each week and select only contacts who entered the group since the previous week.

Procedures

A) Create the Whiteboard

As you work, the system shows you the events, jobs, and filters that make sense for the current step. Options that are not allowed in a certain location are not displayed.

1. In the ​Main Navigation​, click ​ Automations​ > ​Whiteboards.

2. Click ​ Create​.

3. In the New Whiteboard window, select ​ Recurring​.

4. Define the name of the new whiteboard.

   The name must be unique in the system and no longer than 100 characters. After you create your whiteboard plan, you can use the global search function in the top navigation to locate the plan by name.

5. (optional) To provide more information about the whiteboard, enter a description. It helps you identify the whiteboard in the system. Descriptions can contain a maximum of 1000 characters.

6. Click Create​.

7. To schedule when your whiteboard starts and recurs, click ​ Setup​.

8. Click ​ Recur on scheduled dates and times​.

9. In the Activation ​area, define when the system starts tasks on your recurring whiteboard for the first time.

   Configuration

   Configuration	Description
   Start Date	Enter the date on which the whiteboard plan begins for the first time. To select a date on a calendar, click the symbol.
   Time	Enter the time of day that the whiteboard starts. Specify the time in hours and minutes.
   Time Zone	Select the time zone that the system uses to calculate when the recurrence occurs.

10. In the ​ Recurrence Rules​ area, define a pattern of recurrence for your whiteboard:

    Configuration

    Configuration	Description
    ​ Period	Select the unit of time the system uses to schedule the recurrence	Hourly	The recurrence is calculated in hours.
    		Daily	The recurrence is calculated in days.
    		Weekly	The recurrence is calculated in weeks.
    		Monthly	The recurrence is calculated in months.
    Frequency	Define how frequently you want the whiteboard to recur, based on the selected period	Hours	Select a recurrence rate of 1–24 hours. For example, recur every four hours.
    		Days	Select a recurrence rate of 1–365 days. For example, recur every two days.
    		Weeks	Select a recurrence rate of 1– 52 weeks. For example, recur every three weeks. In the ​Days of Week​ area, select on which days in the week your whiteboard recurs each week. For example, recur every Monday and Thursday.
    		Months	Select a recurrence rate of 1–12 months. For example, recur every four months. In the ​Day of Month​ area, define whether your whiteboard recurs on a specific day or a day and week. Specific Day:​ Select the day in each month the whiteboard recurs. Select a number 1–31, or the last day of each month. For example, recur on the last day of every month. Week and Weekday:​ Select the week of the month the whiteboard recurs in the ​Week​ drop-down list. You can select the first–fourth week of each month, or the last week of each month. In the ​Day of Week ​area, select the day of the week on which the whiteboard recurs. For example, recur every third Sunday of the month.
    ​ Deactivation	Define when the recurrence of your whiteboard ends.​	End Date	Enter the date and time on which the whiteboard no longer recurs.
    		Repetitions	Enter how many times the whiteboard can recur.

11. In the ​ Whiteboard Goal​ area of the ​Setup​ panel, select the Goal Event. This event defines when contacts end their journey on your whiteboard.

    • All standard whiteboard events can be defined as a goal event.

    • Goal events cannot be split.

    • If the same event is specified as a goal event and also placed on the whiteboard plan, the goal event has priority. Journey after the same standard event that is placed on your whiteboard canvas is not continued.

12. Click ​ Apply​.

B) Configure Whiteboard details

• Start jobs define which group of Mapp Engage contacts can enter the whiteboard and when the plan starts.

• The ​Whiteboard Audience​ start job is mandatory.

• The ​Import Contacts​ start job is optional. If you select the ​Import Contacts​ start job, add the import as the first step on your plan. Add the ​Whiteboard Audience​ start job as the second step.

1. Click the ​ Add First Step​ rectangle on the whiteboard canvas, and select one of these task.

   1. Whiteboard Audience Defines when the plan starts and the group of contacts who can enter the plan. Only contacts who are active members of the whiteboard audience group at the moment the first step begins enter the plan. The whiteboard does not enroll contacts who join the group after the first step on the plan begins.

   2. ​Import Contacts

      Adds contact data that you have stored on an FTP server to an existing Mapp Engage group. By default, the group into which you import the contacts becomes your whiteboard audience group. For more information, see Import Contacts.

   3. Click ​ Apply​.

2. Define the settings of your start jobs.
   For recurring whiteboards, the ​Whiteboard Audience​ start job defines which group of contacts can enter the whiteboard. Settings in the ​Setup​ window define when the recurring whiteboard starts and recurs.

3. Click ​ Apply​.

4. To add more steps to the whiteboard plan, click the ​ Add Next Step​ rectangle on the whiteboard canvas. The steps that you choose guide your contact down a path of selected marketing interactions.

5. Continue to add steps to the whiteboard until your whiteboard plan is complete.

6. To check your whiteboard plan, click ​ Validate ​ in the ​Actions​ menu.

7. To define your whiteboard settings, click the symbol.

   Configuration

   Configuration	Description
   Sendout Settings	Select specific days of the week and hours to exclude them from the whiteboard sendout.
   Notifications	Select whether an expiry notification is sent 30 days before the whiteboard plan deactivates.
   Whiteboard Time Zone	Defines the time zone the system uses to calculate automations on the whiteboard.

8. To execute the automations on your recurring whiteboard one time, click ​ Run Once​ in the Actions menu.
   Execution takes place immediately. Run once does not change the status or schedule of the automation.
   A system message confirms that the automation was executed. If there are any processing errors, the system sends an information email to the owner of the whiteboard.

9. To save your whiteboard plan, click ​ Save​ in the ​Actions​ menu. the system saves the new plan and sets the status of the plan to inactive. The steps on an inactive plan are not executed and can be edited.

10. In the Whiteboard Settings window, define settings for your recurring whiteboard.

C) Activate the Whiteboard

1. To activate your recurring whiteboard plan, click ​ Activate​.

• Activation is only possible when the whiteboard is logically correct and all necessary fields are filled. If the system detects errors in the whiteboard, you receive a notification with information about the problem.

• You can't edit an active recurring whiteboard. If you need to edit the steps or recurrence rules of your whiteboard, deactivate it.

• When you deactivate a whiteboard, all contacts who are in the plan exit immediately.