Overview#
Operational teams need to send messages through whichever provider fits the deployment, region, cost model, or resilience requirement. A public safety tenant may use one SMS provider for emergency callbacks, a council may use another for resident updates, and a telephony deployment may route messages through a VoIP provider. The workflow should stay the same even when the provider changes.
The Provider-Agnostic SMS and MMS Dispatch module separates message intent from provider mechanics. Teams can send outbound SMS or MMS, receive delivery state, handle provider-specific failures, and preserve audit evidence without rebuilding workflows around one carrier or gateway.
Key Features#
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Provider-Agnostic Dispatch: Message workflows target a common messaging capability rather than a single carrier or vendor.
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SMS and MMS Support: Send text messages, media attachments, incident updates, resident notifications, and callback information through configured providers.
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VoIP Provider Adapter: VoIP-backed messaging can support deployments where telephony and messaging share the same operational provider.
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Tenant-Level Configuration: Each tenant can use its own provider settings, routing policy, sender identity, and delivery rules.
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Delivery Tracking: Sent, delivered, failed, pending, and retried states are recorded for operational visibility.
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Fail-Closed Provider Gates: Providers that require explicit platform opt-in stay unavailable until configured, reducing accidental use of the wrong messaging path.
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Operational Retry Handling: Transient failures can be retried or escalated according to policy rather than disappearing into provider logs.
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Audit Trail: Message content category, recipient, sender, provider, status, and operator context can be recorded for governance.
Use Cases#
- Emergency callback messages where a PSAP needs to confirm location, send instructions, or request additional details from a caller.
- Municipal resident updates where councils send reference numbers, appointment windows, service changes, or outage updates.
- Evidence and investigation notifications where authorised users receive secure workflow notifications without exposing sensitive content.
- Provider migration where an organisation changes SMS or MMS vendor without changing operational workflows.
- Resilience planning where backup providers can be configured for high-volume or degraded-service periods.
- MMS evidence intake where image or media attachments need a controlled messaging path.
Integration#
The module connects notification workflows, telephony, PSAP callback handling, municipal service requests, audit reporting, and tenant provider configuration. It hides provider-specific details behind policy and delivery status so operators see the message workflow, not the provider plumbing.
Open Standards#
- E.164: Recipient and sender phone numbers are normalised using the international telephone numbering format.
- SMS / MMS carrier messaging standards: Text and media delivery follow the message types supported by mobile carrier infrastructure.
- MIME Media Types (RFC 2046): MMS attachments can use standard content-type metadata for controlled media handling.
- JSON (RFC 8259): Delivery status and message metadata can be represented in a portable structured format.
- HMAC-SHA256: Provider callbacks can be verified with keyed signatures where supported.
- ISO 8601: Message creation, dispatch, delivery, retry, and failure timestamps use consistent date and time formatting.
- WCAG 2.2: Message review and configuration screens support accessible operation.
Security and Compliance#
Messaging can expose personal, operational, or emergency information. The module enforces tenant configuration, provider opt-in, role checks, retention policy, and audit logging before messages are sent or delivery callbacks are accepted.
Last Reviewed: 2026-06-25 Last Updated: 2026-06-25