WhatsApp messages

With WhatsApp turned on for your masjid, InflowBooks sends four kinds of message for you: a payment reminder to members with an Outstanding amount, the receipt for a payment, a registration link to a household or a member, and the verification codes for registration and WhatsApp sign-in.

How the messages read

Messages come from the InflowBooks WhatsApp number and name your masjid in the text. Their wording is fixed and approved by WhatsApp, so it cannot be edited. A reminder greets the member by name and states their Outstanding amount, worked out at the moment you send.

Sending payment reminders

1. Open Members. Only finance roles can send reminders.
2. Open Send reminders. Members with an Outstanding amount are listed.
3. Choose the members to remind. Members without a saved number are shown so you know they cannot be reached.
4. Send. You will see how many reminders went out and, if any could not be sent, which ones and why.

Automatic reminders

An administrator can have the reminder round go out on its own once a month. On the WhatsApp page, under Automatic reminders, choose On, the day of the month and how far behind a member must be, then Save.

• Each member is reminded at most once a month this way, between 9 am and 8 pm.
• Members who have died or are inactive are never reminded. To leave out a family going through a hard time, tick Leave out of automatic reminders on the member's profile. You can still remind them yourself.
• If the balance cannot cover the whole round, nothing is sent and the WhatsApp page says so. Top up, then send from Members.

Receipts on WhatsApp

When you issue a receipt to a member with a number on file, InflowBooks sends the receipt PDF to them on WhatsApp straight away. The receipt screen shows whether it was sent. Use Send again there, or the WhatsApp button on the payment's row, to send another copy. An administrator can turn automatic receipts off on the WhatsApp page.

To check what reached one member, open them and look under WhatsApp messages on the Overview tab. It lists their latest receipts and reminders from the last 90 days and whether each was sent, delivered or read. A message that could not be delivered shows why, for example when the number is not on WhatsApp.

Payslips on WhatsApp

When money is paid toward a staff member's salary for a month, in full or in part, InflowBooks sends the payslip PDF to their phone on WhatsApp. The message names the month, never the amount; the figures are inside the payslip. The saved sheet after paying shows whether it was sent, with Send again for another copy, and Share, Download and Print. An administrator can turn automatic payslips off on the WhatsApp page.

Rent reminders to tenants

A tenancy with rent due and a phone number has a Remind button. It opens your own WhatsApp with a message giving the rent due and the months it covers; you check it and send it. Nothing goes unless you send it, and it uses none of the WhatsApp balance.

WhatsApp balance

Payment reminders, receipts and registration links are paid from your masjid's WhatsApp balance. Open WhatsApp from the menu to see the balance, the price per message and your receipts. The Messages list there shows each message, who it went to, whether it was delivered and what it cost. Sign-in and verification codes are free. Every masjid starts with some free credit, shown in the history as Free credit.

1. Open WhatsApp and choose Top up.
2. Scan the QR code with any UPI app and pay the amount you want to add.
3. Enter the amount and the UPI reference from your payment app, then choose I have paid.
4. InflowBooks confirms the payment. The balance goes up and the receipt appears under Top-ups and receipts.

The price per message falls as your masjid sends more in a month, and the count starts again on the 1st. When the balance is too low for a round, the reminders are not sent. Messages that could not be sent are refunded to the balance.

How each send went

Every send in the History list shows how many messages were delivered and read, and how many were not delivered (those are refunded). Choose See messages to see exactly who that send reached.

Daily limit

So that a mistake cannot spend the whole balance at once, the masjid can send only so many paid messages a day. The limit is twice the number of members, and never less than 200, so a full round of reminders always fits. A send that would go past it is refused and can go the next day. The WhatsApp page shows how many have gone today. An administrator can set a different limit there, or leave it empty to use the automatic one. Messages from your own WhatsApp number do not count.

Your own WhatsApp number

An administrator can connect the masjid's own WhatsApp number. Members then get receipts, reminders and registration links from your number and name, and Meta bills these messages to your own WhatsApp Business Account, so you do not top up the balance here. Sign-in codes and messages from InflowBooks still come from InflowBooks.

You will need a Facebook account, a phone number for the masjid that can get a code by SMS or call and is not in use on the WhatsApp app, and a debit or credit card for Meta's billing.

1. Open WhatsApp and choose Connect WhatsApp.
2. In the Facebook window, sign in, create or choose your business, and add the masjid's number with the code Meta sends to it.
3. InflowBooks finishes the setup and shows each step. Your message templates go to Meta for review, which usually takes a few minutes.
4. Choose Add a payment method and add a card in Meta's billing settings.

The WhatsApp page then shows whether Meta lets the number send, and what to fix if not. Choose Disconnect to go back to the InflowBooks number; any balance you had is kept.

If messages from your number stop going out, for example because Meta could not charge your card or InflowBooks was removed from your account in Meta, every page shows a red notice and your contact person gets an email. Messages are not sent from the InflowBooks number in the meantime. Open WhatsApp to see the fix: add a payment method, choose Connect again, or submit a message again. The notice clears once the next message goes through.

Pausing WhatsApp

An administrator can stop every message the masjid pays for: open WhatsApp and choose Pause. While it is paused, receipts, payment reminders and registration links are not sent, from the InflowBooks number or your own. Sign-in codes still go. Every page of the dashboard shows that WhatsApp is paused, and the activity log records who paused and resumed it.

Choose Resume to start sending again. Receipts issued while paused are not sent later on their own; use Send again on a receipt to send it.

Announcements

Publish an event or announcement on the noticeboard, then share the notice's link from your own WhatsApp.