USSD Campaigns

In order to use Panacea Mobile USSD you must create a campaign. A campaign allows you to build your application (or multiple applications as different campaigns). Once a campaign is created, you will be able to assign your USSD string to your campaign. As part of your campaign you will need to select a starting node (the first node the user hits when they enter the string). Campaigns allow you to report specifically on a particular usage once have interacted with the system.

There are two types of campaigns you can create:

Normal Campaigns using the Node Builder

This type of campaign allows you to build the nodes of the campaign directly from the Panacea Mobile Dashboard. You are then able to specify to which nodes the users are directed to based on their responses.

Proxy Campaigns

This will allow you to point the campaign to your server which can then serve the nodes to the users as plain text. All responses and node text would then be handled by your server.

USSD Nodes

Nodes can be thought of as the pages of the USSD campaign. Nodes are the most important part of the USSD system as they control what the user sees, and where they go in the process, depending on their responses. When the user starts the session they will go to the first node as selected by the campaign setup.

Nodes contain the following set variables:

Variable	Meaning
Name	The node name is primarily for presentation purposes, making it easier to navigate your nodes. However, it is also stored in session data when users interact with the content. For example, if you name a node "User Gender" and ask users to enter their gender, the response will be stored in a variable named "User_Gender" (with spaces removed). This variable can later be used to check conditions, passed to any HTTP URL, and included in the session transcript.
Response Text/URL	This is the initial text the user sees upon entering the node. If "Text from URL" is selected, the Panacea Mobile system will fetch the specified URL and respond to the user with the text output from that URL.
Error Text/URL	This functions the same as the Response Text/URL, but it is only displayed if the user responds to the question in this node and their input does not match any predefined response conditions (i.e., it cannot be redirected to the next or a new node).
Response Conditions	Response conditions determine how users are navigated between nodes. When a user responds to the Response Text, the system checks for a matching response condition. If a match is found, the user is directed to the corresponding next node. If no valid response matches are found, the Error Text/URL is displayed.
Actions	Actions are a set of operations executed when a user enters a node. These can include calling HTTP URLs, adding phone numbers to lists, sending emails or SMS, and more. Actions are triggered every time the node is processed—whether the user is entering it for the first time, being redirected back to it during the session, or responding incorrectly to the same node.
Last Node (end session)	This Yes/No option, if enabled, will immediately close the USSD session, preventing the user from responding. As a result, no response conditions will be processed since no input will be received.