Messaging balance

Email, push and in-app notifications are always free. SMS cost money, so they are paid from a prepaid messaging balance. WhatsApp will work the same way once it is available. Each organization can have a balance, and so can each of its complexes.

How SMS are paid for

• Each SMS is charged when it is sent, by the number of segments it takes. One segment holds 160 characters of the basic SMS alphabet (Latin letters, digits and common punctuation), or 70 when the text has any character outside it, such as an Armenian or Cyrillic letter or an emoji. A longer message takes several segments.
• A message about a complex is paid from the complex’s balance when it covers the whole message, otherwise from the organization’s balance. A message is never split between the two.
• When no balance can pay, the SMS is not sent. Everything else still goes out: an emergency alert still reaches everyone by push, email and in-app.
• An SMS that finally fails to be delivered is refunded.

Who can use it

• Organization admins: Sidebar › Billing › Messaging in the organization context, for the organization’s balance.
• Complex admins: Sidebar › Settings › Messaging in the complex, for the complex’s balance. Organization admins see it there too.
• Global Admin: approves top-ups under Billing › Top-ups and sets the prices under Settings › Messaging prices. On these screens a balance is called a wallet, as in the Wallet filter and the drawer’s Wallet field.

Topping up stays possible while an organization is suspended, so its emergency SMS keep working.

The balance page

• Messaging balance: what is left, in the balance’s currency, and whether SMS and WhatsApp can be sent right now.
• Low-balance alert: when the balance falls to this amount or below, the admins get a notification and see a banner at the top of the portal. Closing the banner hides it until the page is reloaded. Change the amount to suit how many SMS you send; leave it empty to use the platform’s default.
• Balance history: every change of the balance, the latest first: the date, what happened (a top-up, a charge for a message, or a refund), the channel, the number of segments, the amount and the balance after it.
• Top-ups: the top-ups sent for this balance, with their status. A rejected one shows the reason.

When the balance changes, the page and the SMS options update without a reload for the admins of that balance (a change of an organization’s balance also reaches the admins of its complexes) and for Global Admins. Everyone else sees the change within about half a minute, or when they return to the page.

Topping up

1. Click Top up on the balance page. The dialog shows the platform’s account details to transfer to and what to write as the payment’s purpose. When the platform has published no details, it says to ask the platform for them before you transfer.
2. Transfer the money to that account.
3. Back in the dialog, enter the amount, the day you paid, the payment reference and an optional comment, and attach one to three photos or PDFs of the receipt.
4. Click Send top-up. The top-up appears in the list as Pending confirmation.

The balance grows only when HOA.AM confirms the transfer. You are notified when your top-up is approved or rejected, and the notification opens the balance page. You can withdraw a top-up you sent while it is still waiting.

Approving top-ups (Global Admin)

Billing › Top-ups opens on the Awaiting approval view, which lists only the top-ups still waiting for a decision; All top-ups shows the rest too. The tab shows how many are waiting, and each new one arrives as a notification that opens it.

1. Click Review on a top-up. The drawer shows the organization, the balance it is for, the amount, the day it was paid, the reference, who sent it and the receipts. A Possible duplicate warning means another top-up has the same receipt, or the same amount and date for the same balance.
2. Check the transfer on the platform’s bank statement.
3. Click Approve to credit the balance at once, or Reject and give the reason.

Nobody can decide on a top-up they sent, or on one for an organization or complex they administer.

Prices (Global Admin)

Settings › Messaging prices sets what one SMS segment and one WhatsApp message cost, for each enabled currency. A balance whose currency has no price cannot pay for that channel. A new price applies to messages sent after it is saved.

When the SMS option is greyed out

Anywhere the portal offers SMS or WhatsApp, the option is disabled while no balance can pay for it, and an info icon beside it explains why (hover it, tab to it or tap it):

• Top up your messaging balance to use SMS: you can top up, and the Top up link opens the balance page.
• SMS isn’t available in your complex yet: the balance is empty, and only an admin who manages the balance can top it up.
• SMS isn’t offered for this currency yet: the platform has set no price for the balance’s currency.

Once a top-up is approved, the option is enabled again: at once for the admins of that balance and for Global Admins, and for everyone else within about half a minute or when they return to the page.

The organization’s plan and its monthly invoices are on Platform billing.