As an ASP, how do I onboard customers to Sinch's Facebook Messenger service using the Sinch Build Dashboard?

[Sam_Williams]

In order to allow your customers to send Facebook Messenger messages using the Conversation API, you must allow them to onboard to Sinch's Facebook Messenger service. This can be accomplished using the Sinch Build Dashboard.

This process involves the creation of a project for your customer. Then, you will create a Conversation API app for your customer. You will then temporarily invite your customer to their specific project, granting them access to the Sinch Build Dashboard. Then, your customer will provide business details and complete signup process. Finally, you (the ASP) will remove your customer's access to the project.

The corresponding procedures are detailed below. If all of the requisite information is available, completing the process may take between ten and thirty minutes.

Prerequisites

Prior to completing the onboarding process, review the following prerequisites. Having all of the requisite information readily available can greatly expedite the onboarding process.

Admin account

You must be an admin of the Facebook Page you plan to connect to your Conversation API app. For more information on Page roles, see What are the different Page roles and what can they do?.

Verifying the business

Ensure that your customer has verified their business in Meta's system.

Preparing your Sinch account

Prior to beginning the onboarding process, you must ensure that your (the ASP's) Sinch account is properly prepared:

• You must have an account type that matches your organization's goals. Because you are planning to offer customers (and yourself) access to Sinch's Facebook Messenger service, you must have a Reseller account. Throughout this guide, we assume you have a Reseller account.
  
  
  

Project creation, app creation, and inviting your customer

When onboarding customer, you must create a separate project for them using your Dashboard account.

Note: If you are planning to use Sinch's Facebook Messenger service for your own business purposes, in addition to providing your customers access to Sinch's Facebook Messenger services, you may create a separate project for yourself as well.

You must then invite your customer to the project. First, review the information we have available on general account structure and how projects are defined and used in Sinch's systems.

Once you have reviewed the above articles, complete the following procedures (detailed in the subsections below):

1. Create a new project for your customer.
   
   Note: You must create a new project, NOT a subproject.
   
   
2. Create a new Conversation API app for your customer.
   
   
3. Invite your customer to the newly created project as a Limited member. This will give them access to the requisite Build Dashboard functionality.

Project creation

To create a new project for this onboarding process:

1. Log in to the Sinch Build Dashboard. Click the Project menu at the top left of the screen.
   
   
2. Click View all projects. The Projects page is displayed:
   
   
3. Click CREATE PROJECT. The Create project dialog is displayed.
   
   
4. Enter a name for your project in the Name field. Enter a name that meaningfully represents the customer you are onboarding.
   
   
5. Click CREATE.

Note: For more information, see our article on Creating a new project.

After creating the project, you must invite your customer to the project. This procedure is detailed in the next section.

App creation

Create a Conversation API app for your customer after creating their project. Ensure that, when you create this app, you set the region to the region in which the customer's data is to be stored.

To create a new Conversation API app:

1. Log in to the Sinch Customer Dashboard.
   
   
2. Select Conversation API from the left menu and select the Apps option (highlighted in red below). The Conversation Apps page is displayed:
   
   
3. In the Apps section, click NEW APP. The New App form is displayed.
   
   
4. Specify a name and an appropriate region for your App. Click CREATE.
   
   Note: The region you select is the region in which your Conversation API app will be hosted (and, therefore, where the associated data will be stored). Once you have selected a region for your App, you cannot change it.
   
   

The newly created APP will be displayed in the APPS section

Inviting customers to the project

After creating a project and app for your customer, you must invite the customer to the newly created project. This will provide the user with access to that project's Build Dashboard functionality, including the Facebook Messenger signup process.

To invite your customer to the new project,:

1. Log in to the Sinch Build Dashboard and select your profile icon in the top right corner. Your profile menu is displayed.
   
   
2. Click the User Management option. The User management page is displayed.
   
   
3. To invite users to your account, click Invite users. The Invite a user form is displayed.
   
   
4. Enter the e-mail addresses for the users you want to invite in the Email field and select the Limited member user type role for this user. Select the project you created for the customer from the drop-down list.
   
   Note: Ensure that you select the Limited member user type. Other user types may grant them more or less access to your account than required.
   
   
5. Once you have completed the form, click Send x invite (where x is the number of invites you are sending) to send the invites to your specified users.
   
   

Note: For more information, see our article How do I invite another user to my Sinch Build Dashboard account?.

Once the customer accepts the invite, they'll be able to onboard to Sinch's Facebook Messenger service.

Completing the Facebook Messenger onboarding procedure

Note: This procedure is to be completed by your customer after they gain access to the project that corresponds to their organization.

After your customer accepts the invite and gains access to the project that corresponds to their organization, they can log in to the Sinch Build Dashboard.

In order to onboard to Sinch's Facebook Messenger service:

1. Log in to the Sinch Customer Dashboard.
    
2. Select Conversation API from the left menu and select the Apps option. The Conversation apps page is displayed:
   
   
   
   Click the application with which the Facebook Page will be associated.
   
   
3. The application's page is displayed:
   
   
   
   In the Set up channels section, click the Facebook Messenger option.
   
   
4. The Configuration section of the Facebook Messenger page is displayed:
   
   
   
   Select the type of token you'd like to use to connect your Page. If your Page is a personal Page, select the User access token option. If your Page is associated with a business in the Meta Business Manager, select the System User access token.
   
   
5. Click Login with Facebook.
   
   
   
   
6. Enter your Facebook credentials. If you chose the System User access token option, you must also select a business portfolio associated with your account.
   
   
7. You are prompted to select a Facebook Page for Sinch to manage.
   
   

   Warning: Deselecting any previously connected Facebook Pages in the list will remove the Facebook Page from the Conversation API app. For example, if you are setting up a Conversation API app, and an existing Conversation API app is already connected to a different Facebook Page, that Facebook Page is displayed as already selected and connected to Sinch. Deselecting this Facebook Page will invalidate your existing Conversation API app integration.

   
   Select one available Facebook Page to connect to your Conversation API app.
   
   Note: Only select one new Facebook Page each time you connect a Facebook Page to a Conversation API app.
   
   Click Next.
   
   
8. You are prompted to confirm permission assignments to the Conversation API app:
   
   
   
   After reviewing all permissions, click Save.
   
   
9. The status of the integration is displayed:
   
   
   
   The process of connecting your Facebook Page with your Conversation API app is asynchronous and, while it is ongoing, the status will appear as ACTIVATING CHANNEL. Once the Facebook Page has been successfully connected to the app, the status will appear as ACTIVE.
   
   

Once the integration is ACTIVE, you can start using the Facebook Messenger channel on your Conversation API app.

Removing customer access to project

Note: This procedure is to be completed by you, the ASP, after your customer configures the Facebook Messenger channel on their Conversation API app.

After your customer has completed configuring the Facebook Messenger channel, you must remove their access to the project. This will help ensure project stability and limit security risks.

To remove the customer's access to the project:

1. Log in to the Sinch Build Dashboard and select your profile icon in the top right corner. Your profile menu is displayed.
   
   
2. Click the User Management option. The User management page is displayed.
   
   
3. To remove a user, click the three vertical dots corresponding to the user you want to remove and select the Remove option from the pop up menu .
   
   

Your customer's Conversation API app is now configured to send messages using Facebook Messenger.

For full information on the Conversation API's capabilities, see the API reference.

Learn more about the Sinch Messenger API for Facebook Messenger.

[#2]

Watch this demo video to get a feel for how to make the most of connected conversations using Conversation API and the easily accessible demo on the Sinch customer dashboard:

The video shows you how you can get stared with Sinch using one simple API to reach customers over multiple channels and deliver a mobile-first experience that's out of this world.

Useful Links:

• Conversation API Getting Started Guide - takes you through all the different steps of creating your first app with Conversation API.
• Sinch Developer Documentation - contains comprehensive documentation and tutorials, which show you how you can quickly create and configure your first Conversation API app. 
• Learn more about Sinch Conversation API.