# Using the Omni Channel message activity

In order to send messages using the Omni Channel message activity in your journey, you must:

1. [Add the Omni Channel message activity to the journey itself](#adding-the-omni-channel-message-activity-to-your-journey)
2. [Configure the Omni Channel message activity](#configuring-the-omni-channel-message-activity)


## Adding the Omni Channel message activity to your journey

To add the Omni Channel message activity to your Salesforce Journey:

1. Navigate to or create the journey to which you'd like to add the Omni Channel message activity. If you are creating a journey, ensure you select a **Multi-Step** journey.
![Omni Channel Multi Step](/assets/omnicon-multi-step.54b65870f46b6d4b1a69fb2196c0b0ba8c93656de855f1ec4639fa0dcaa9f06e.2a64585d.png)
2. Locate the Omni Channel message activity under the **Messages** category of the **ACTIVITIES** section on the left side of the screen.
![Omni Channel activity](/assets/omnicon-message-activity.8d63d1527d3751ac88456fd48aedbefab2c2e8126bd341cf1828e89d06a2612d.2a64585d.png)
3. Click and drag the Omni Channel message activity to an appropriate space on your journey.
![Omni Channel drag](/assets/omnicon-message-place.4f080dbb8eceaf98696211ebf4f895727479c51b6acc725ea3435c2aac9d0066.2a64585d.png)


After it has been added to your journey, you must configure the Omni Channel message activity.

## Configuring the Omni Channel message activity

To configure an Omni Channel message activity that has been included in your journey:

1. Double-click the Omni Channel message activity that is included in your journey. The first page of the Omni Channel message activity configuration wizard is displayed.
![Omni Channel configure](/assets/omnicon-message-double-click.358ea892e33d0a6025c23501ff1669e6e76e5e4a027a31ed1cf7a74f12fc78cd.2a64585d.png)
2. Select the Conversation API app to use with your Journey from the **Conversation API App** drop-down list.
![Select Conversation app](/assets/omnicon-message-select-app.32cde2f2d6b1c34cc303316f7180fd82d6c2079e44647e4a073414cb30a3bb7b.2a64585d.png)
Depending on your configuration (i.e., if you have an existing solution that is already set to the `CONVERSATION` processing mode), you may also set the [processing mode](/docs/conversation/processing-modes/). If this is a new solution, or if your existing solution uses an app that is already set to `DISPATCH` mode, you will be unable to update the processing mode. Note that, by default, all new Conversation API apps are set to `DISPATCH` mode.
Finally, you may set the queue to **high priority**.
3. A new section, **Select and prioritise channels**, is displayed. Use the left and right arrow buttons to transfer channels from the **Available channels** list to the **Selected channels** list. The **Selected channels** are the channels the Omnichannel Connector app will use to send messages in this campaign. Use the up and down arrow buttons on the right side of the **Selected channels** list to determine channel priority.
![Select Conversation channels](/assets/omnicon-message-select-channels.97c8e0be70a7a771e8023a3774378bd1fe5a666ea9fbb892a8c5e7458c9135e4.2a64585d.png)
4. When you have completed selecting and prioritising your channels, click **Next** in the bottom right corner of the screen. The **Channel identities** page is displayed.
5. The channel identities drop-down lists that are displayed depend on the channels you selected on the previous page. The channel identities represent the recipients of your message(s). For each displayed channel, select the source of the channel identity/recipient (for example, a phone number when using the SMS, WhatsApp, MMS, and/or RCS channels) from the drop-down list.
The options available in these drop-down lists depend on the entry source that precedes the Omni Channel message activity in your journey.
![Select Conversation identities](/assets/omnicon-message-select-id.0714a383cbaf4e93e0492f11ea10ca53c0a437549b09d1a56da9b62c0051d02c.2a64585d.png)
You may also specify what [metadata](/docs/conversation/keyconcepts/#metadata) to be included with sent messages. Additionally, you can specify an [SMS Sender](/docs/conversation/channel-support/sms/properties) ID for outbound messages (the default Sender ID configured for your Sinch SMS account will be used if this value is not specified).
6. After you have completed selecting channel identities, click **Next** in the bottom right corner of the screen. The **Setup templates** page is displayed.
7. Select either **Starting a conversation** (if this journey is to be used to initiate conversations with recipients) or **Follow up conversation** (if this journey is to be used to continue a conversation). Note that some channels require an approved template to start a conversation, whereas follow up conversations allow for the use of a wider variety of templates.
![Omni Channel template conversation type](/assets/omnicon-setup-template-conversation-type.4e29c0a4c4d8e357d595e8def62ac09679cc4a58f7ff6c0c721b31f79b1141c8.2a64585d.png)
8. If you would like specific templates to be used with specific channels (instead of a single template for all channels), select those channels from the **Select channel** drop-down list and click **Add channel**. A section representing that channel is added to the bottom of the screen.
![Omni Channel add channel templates](/assets/omnicon-setup-template-channel-select.7e7862c9a7089b56f02f47f4e630cddf04c91227e26612570492a95a71c02a12.2a64585d.png)
Note the following:
  - In addition to [omni-channel templates](/docs/conversation/templates/#conversation-api-omni-channel-templates) that can be used by any channel of the Conversation API, you are able to configure use [channel-specific templates](/docs/conversation/templates/#channel-specific-templates) for certain Conversation API channels. These are templates that meet specific requirements defined by the channel itself. In many cases, these templates are used to initiate conversations. If these templates are configured in your Conversation API solution, they will appear in the drop-down list for the corresponding channel.
  - In some cases, channel-specific templates may be required. If so, the corresponding channel will appear at the bottom of the screen, regardless of the channel selections you made from the **Select channel** drop-downlist.
9. Select the default omni-channel template to use when sending your message from the **Select default template** drop-down list, or click **Create Omnitemplate** to create a new template.
![Omni Channel default template](/assets/omnicon-setup-templates-default.8e987682dc1cb965f521eaa559d75bb432358e2e44a7d82e6172282b8b3a8785.2a64585d.png)
Alternatively, depending on the channels you selected earlier in the process, you may also have channel-specific templates you can choose from. These are displayed in their own sections, and may have additional options.
If you selected **Starting a conversation** and a channel that requires an approved template in order to initiate a conversation, you must select a channel-specific template for that corresponding channel.
![Omni Channel channel specific template](/assets/omnicon-setup-templates-specific.8d5f664cdc45a7e40881d466c8e55a585ca3aa0569392f605fe1d532cc366dcb.2a64585d.png)
In some cases, you also define an explicit payload for the channel-specific template by clicking the coding icon and clicking **Open editor**.
![Omni Channel specific code icon](/assets/omnicon-setup-template-code-icon.d043ad1363b976d0ee4dc449976916e8e34e38955faad0ec10aa1ebaeccde62c.2a64585d.png)
![Omni Channel open editor](/assets/omnicon-setup-template-open-editor.41b87ff62d3043e16d0075503ae528e4287589d885551caec18c208a326377e8.2a64585d.png)
After selecting the template, a preview of how the message will appear on the handset is displayed on the right side of the page.
![Populate variables](/assets/omnicon-message-preview.03f1396a995cfbf5c81cc2d8c8a72a18905a42a7a919d5c27f3a3cff6dab8460.2a64585d.png)
10. Depending on the template you choose, there may be more selections to make. Complete any remaining selections and click **Continue setup**. This may include configuring variables. Any variables are listed with a corresponding drop-down. For each variable drop-down, select the field from the preceding entry source that will be used to populate the variable.
![Populate variables](/assets/omnicon-message-variable.32c2b7543024e94f7e68658e2427b19627a8a4e555dad2a911fd5479fb4a2356.2a64585d.png)
If you are using an SMS channel-specific template, and you provide a value for **SMS maximum parts** (which corresponds to the [`SMS_MAX_NUMBER_MESSAGE_PARTS` property](/docs/conversation/channel-support/sms/properties/)), you will be given an estimate of how many messages will be required when sending your content. This value is an **estimate** (based on the **SMS maximum parts** value, you encoding settings, and the lengths of the overall message content). Ensure that you monitor your outbound traffic in a production environment.
11. After you have completed making your selections, click **Next** in the bottom right corner of the screen. The **Summary** page is displayed. First, select how you want your delivery reports and inbound messages to be stored.
  - Select **Save in a global bucket** to store all content in a single, pre-named data extension (**Omnichannel Connector Delivery Reports** for delivery reports and **Omnichannel Connector Inbound Messages** for inbound messages from exisiting contacts).
  - Select **Save in a journey scoped data extension** to store the content in a custom-named data extension associated with this journey. If you select this option, populate the field under the radio button with the name to use for the data extension.
  - Note that inbound messages from *unknown* contacts will be saved in the **Omnichannel Connector User-Initiated Messages** Data Extension regardless of your selection.
  - After making your selections, click **Confirm Data Extensions**.
![Omni Channel summary data extensions](/assets/omnicon-summary-data-extensions.9c9d4b4d2761190a1cf3f8fd0721bf3fbf85a7b298b64fa01bd59fa5c1236b1e.2a64585d.png)
Then, review the rest of your your configuration options. You may optionally send a **Test message** by selecting the appropriate channel, populating required fields, and clicking **Send**. This will emulate the Omni Channel message activity's functionality, though the information you provide will be populated by the entry preceding the Omni Channel message activity in your journey in production.
![Omni Channel summary](/assets/omnicon-message-summary.4f81ec341711eab3d804c6ade2df20d108c9705f10b7afca0fac9446f4b4849d.2a64585d.png)
12. Once you have reviewed your configuration (and, optionally, sent a test message and validated that the test message was received), click **Done** in the bottom right of the screen. If there are any issues with your test message, or if you need to update your configuration, use the **Back** button to navigate through the configuration process and update your selections.


## Retrieving delivery reports

After messages are sent on the Conversation API, delivery reports are generated. Data from these delivery reports is transferred to your connected Omnichannel Connector app and stored in a Data Extension called **Omni Connector Delivery Reports**. This Data Extension includes the following fields (any corresponding Conversation API delivery report fields are noted in the table):

| Data Extension field | Conversation API field | Description |
|  --- | --- | --- |
| `eventId` | N/A | The ID of the journey event associated with this Data Extension |
| `eventTime` | N/A | The time at which the journey event occurred. |
| `messageId` | `message_id` | The ID of the sent message. |
| `contactId` | `contact_id` | The ID of the contact to whom the message was sent. Will be empty if the `processing_mode` of the corresponding Conversation API app is set to `DISPATCH`. |
| `identity` | `channel_identity` | The identity of the contact in the underlying channel (for example, a phone number for the SMS channel or WhatsApp channel). See the `identity` field of the [Channel Identity](/docs/conversation/callbacks/#channel-identity/) object for details. |
| `channel` | `channel` | The channel on which the message was sent. See the `channel` field of the [Channel Identity](/docs/conversation/callbacks/#channel-identity/) object for details. |
| `status` | `status` | The delivery status of the message. See [Delivery Status](/docs/conversation/callbacks/#delivery-status) for details. |
| `errorCode` (if present) | The `code` field of the `reason` object | High level classification of the error. See [Error Codes](/docs/conversation/callbacks/#error-codes/) for details. |
| `errorMessage` (if present) | The `description` field of the `reason` object | A description of the error. See [Reason](/docs/conversation/callbacks/#reason/) for more information. |
| `journeyId` | N/A | The ID of the corresponding journey. |
| `journeyName` | N/A | The name of the corresponding journey. |
| `journeyVersion` | N/A | The version of the corresponding journey. |
| `activityId` | N/A | The ID of the activity that supplied the data to this Data Extension. |
| `activityName` | N/A | The name of the activity that supplied the data to this Data Extension. |
| `templateChannelType` | N/A | Either Omnichannel or a channel-specific template. |
| `templateId` | N/A | The ID of the template used to send the message. |
| `templateName` | N/A | The name of the template used to send the message. |
| `omnichannelMessageId` | N/A | An internal identification value that is used by backend processes. |
| `externalId` | N/A | An external identifier |


You may export this data to process it externally. You may also use the [Omni Flow flow control](#using-the-omni-flow-flow-control) to configure your journey to respond to the `status` of the delivery report.