Please note: This feature is currently only being piloted at a number of organisations. We hope to have this available for other users soon.
What are fragments?
When an SMS is sent via Accurx, although it appears as 1 message to the user and the patient, it is split into chunks of around 160 characters, each chunk is called a fragment.
The three methods that incur fragment costs are:
Individual SMS messaging
NHS App Fallback - fallback messages are sent when:
Patients don’t have the NHS App installed
Patients have the NHS App installed but notifications are switched off
Patients have the NHS App and notifications switched on but don’t read the message within 3hrs
How to access the fragments dashboard
Click on the initials on your Accurx toolbar
Select 'Manage Organisation'
Scroll down to the 'Reporting' section and select 'Fragments'
The views of the Fragments Dashboard 🔎
There are four different dashboards that give you an insight into the different parts of your fragment usage. These are:
Overview 🗺️
Overview 🗺️
This page is designed to give a high-level view of message usage & fragment usage by your organisation.
Please note: The data from our screenshots is taken from our test environment and doesn't represent real-time data.
You can use this page to look at the high-level figures presented in this report. This page serves as an introduction to fragment usage reporting, capturing:
Total fragment volumes & message volumes
Message channels and their volumes:
NHS App (currently only supports Batch simple messaging and Batch Questionnaires)
SMS
Email
The overall trend by month
Per 1000 patients benchmark
Each practice has a different patient list size, comparing messages sent and fragments sent per 1000 patients allows you to benchmark your usage at national and regional levels to see whether you are sending more or less than other organisations.
Message Usage 📩
Message Usage 📩
This section is designed to show you a detailed breakdown of your organisation's monthly message usage by product.
Please note: The data from our screenshots is taken from our test environment and doesn't represent real-time data.
Monthly message usage by product graph
Monthly message usage by product graph
This graph shows the message usage split by product month-on-month, products included:
Appointment Reminders
Booking - Self-Book & Accubook
Online Consultation - Patient Triage
Questionnaire
Simple Message
Video Consult
Message Method (filter) Include:
Individual Messaging
Batch Messaging
Monthly message usage table
Monthly message usage table
This table shows in detail the monthly message usage broken down by product, channel, average message length (fragment per message) and % of month calculations.
What does each column tell you?
Total Messages
The volume of messages sent, including SMS, email and NHS App.
Click on the '+' to expand for product-level detail.
% of Month (Messages)
When expanded to the product-level detail, this column shows the percentage of the product message volume in the month’s total message volume.
NHS App Messages
The volume of messages sent via the NHS App.
Email Messages
The volume of messages sent via email.
SMS Messages
The volume of messages sent via SMS (including NHS App fallbacks).
SMS Fragments *(Fragments only, therefore not including email messages or NHS App messages)
The volume of fragments sent.
% of Month (Fragments) *(Fragments only, therefore not including email messages or NHS App messages)
When expanded to the product-level detail, this column shows the percentage of the product fragments volume in the month’s total fragments volume.
Average Fragments per Message *(Fragments only, therefore not including email messages or NHS App messages)
The average number of fragments sent per message.
Fragment Usage 🔎
Fragment Usage 🔎
This section is designed to show insight into fragment usage to understand the leading fragment costs in-depth by message length, message volume, product type and message method.
Please note: The data from our screenshots is taken from our test environment and doesn't represent real-time data.
Practice message length
Practice message length
This prompt shows your organisation's average number of fragments per message along with the national and regional averages for comparison so you can understand for benchmarking.
Practice message length by product
Practice message length by product
This visual shows you which products are using the most fragments per message, so you can identify potential cost savings, by reducing message length for the highest-cost products.
Fragment usage by message method
Fragment usage by message method
This visual shows the fragment usage split by message method to find the biggest fragment cost message method.
Monthly fragment usage by product
Monthly fragment usage by product
This visual shows the product fragment usage month-on-month so you can understand fragment usage patterns and trends over time. This graph only includes messages sent via SMS (including NHS App fallbacks).
Products include:
Appointment Reminder
Booking (Self-Book & Accubook)
Online Consultation
Questionnaire
Simple Message
Video Consult
NHS App 💙
NHS App 💙
This section is designed to show NHS App data and prompt practices to encourage patients to install the NHS App and turn their notifications on in order to reduce fragment usage.
Please note: The data from our screenshots is taken from our test environment and doesn't represent real-time data.
Patients NHS App download & notification status
Patients NHS App download & notification status
This visual shows the breakdown of the percentage of patients’ NHS App download & notification status.
The 3 statuses are:
No NHS App installed
The patient does not have the NHS App installed.
NHS App installed, notifications off
The patient has the NHS App notifications turned off.
NHS App installed, notifications on
The patient has the NHS App notifications turned on but does not read the message within 3 hours.
Potential fragment savings
Potential fragment savings
This visual shows the number of fragments that could have been saved if all patients messaged:
Had the NHS App installed.
Had the NHS App notifications turned on.
Read the message on the NHS App within 3 hours.
Fragment savings by product
Fragment savings by product
This visual shows the number of fragments that were saved by sending the message via the NHS App.
Fragments are saved for messages sent to patients who have installed the app, have their notifications switched on and read the message within 3 hours.
Patient NHS App download & notification status by month
Patient NHS App download & notification status by month
This visual shows the breakdown of your practice's patient list size into:
Those who do not have the NHS App
Those who have the app with notifications off
Those who have the app and notifications on.
Monthly volume of NHS App fallback fragments
Monthly volume of NHS App fallback fragments
This visual shows the monthly volume of NHS App fallback fragments split by reason. By hovering over the table, you'll be able to see:
Total
The total volume of SMS fallback fragments.
No NHS App installed
SMS fallback fragments that were sent to patients who don’t have the NHS App installed.
NHS App installed, notifications off
SMS fallback fragments that were sent to patients who do have the NHS App installed but notifications switched off.
NHS App installed, notifications on, not read in 3hrs
SMS fallback fragments that were sent to patients who do have the NHS App installed with notifications switched on but did not read the message in 3 hours.
Other
SMS fallback fragments that were sent because the NHS App message attempted to send during out-of-hours times.
SMS fallback fragments that were sent because the NHS App returned an error.
If you still have any questions or concerns, feel free to chat with us using the green message bubble in the bottom right-hand corner of this page. 👉