RADD Chat - Frequently Asked Questions

What information do I need to send to the IRB to use RADD Chat? 

You will need to add language to your consent form that indicates how participants opt in and out of receiving text messages. You will also need to include a copy of our data security plan and add our study team to your IRB. 

Data Security Template 

Sample IRB Language 

What information documentation do I need to provide to create my RADD Chat account? 

If your study is using a 10-digit long code phone number, we will need to register your phone number with Twilio. We will need a copy of your IRB approved consent form with language indicating how participants opt in and out of receiving text messages. 

My project was just created on RADD Chat, what do I need to do to get started? 

There are three important steps you must take when you begin using RADD Chat (two if you’re only using it for texing).  

First, create a group for your project. [Instructions].  

If you’re using RADD Chat to call participants, it is important to add at least one research staff phone number to your project. If none are added, you will not be able to make phone calls and participants calling your study’s phone number will hear “An application error has occurred” before the call is automatically disconnected. Go to the Admin Dashboard > Manage Research Staff Phone Numbers and click on “Add New”. Give the phone number a name and assign the phone number to a group. 

I want to add a coordinator to my project 

To add a coordinator, access the Admin Dashboard, then click on “Manage Coordinators” under the Staff section. Click on “Add New” in the top left corner to create a new user. You’ll need that person’s NetID and email to create a new user. To sign in, they’ll need to use this link: https://messaging.isgmh.northwestern.edu/users/sign_in and input their NetID and NetID’s password while connected to Northwestern’s or Lurie’s VPN. 

How do I make a phone call? 

A research staff’s phone number must be added to a group in order to place an outgoing call. To place a phone call, click on the conversation log for a particular participant, select your phone number from the “Call from” drop down menu, select the participant or alternate contact phone number from the “Call/Text to” drop down menu, and tap the blue-colored “Call” button. 

How do I schedule a text message? 

Text messages may be scheduled individually or via bulk upload. 

To schedule an individual participant’s text message in advance, access their conversation log and click on the “Message Scheduler” tab to access the log. Input the message, set the time, and click the “Schedule” button. The scheduled message will appear in the window, where it can be edited and deleted. 

To bulk upload scheduled text messages, access the Bulk Upload Scheduled Text Messages page in the admin dashboard and follow the instructions on the page. If you scheduled a batch of messages using the bulk upload feature and need to cancel/do not want to send them, you can delete the scheduled messages by going to Admin Dashboard > Scheduled Text Messages, find the message you wish to delete and click on “Delete”. 

What is an unrecognized message? 

These are participants that have access to and have dialed or sent messages to a Twilio phone number that belongs to a different group than the group that they are in or have not been assigned to a group. You can add an unknown participant to a group or merge them with a pre-existing participant account. 

What are circles? How do I use them? 

Circles are RADD Chat’s group chats. If you’re interested in using circles, please email us at raddchat@northwestern.edu and we’ll enable this feature for your project. 

I am experiencing an issue with RADD Chat. Who should I contact? 

Email raddchat@northwestern.edu with a detailed description and screenshots of your issue, URLS/links to pages you experienced the issue on, as well as browser used. You can also If multiple people are experiencing the same issue, include their NetIDs on your message. 

I forgot my password; can you help me change it? 

Unfortunately, you will have to reach out to the team that set up your netID as we do not have access to that information.  

I can’t log in with my credentials, even though they are correct 

First, make sure that you are on the correct sign in page. Sometimes, people have trouble logging in because they are on the administrator’s page. You should see “User Log In” on top of where you are inputting your NetID. Here’s the link you should use: https://messaging.isgmh.northwestern.edu/users/sign_in. 

Also make sure you were added as a coordinator to your team’s account and that you are connected to Northwestern’s VPN.  

If none of these steps work, reach out to us at raddchat@northwestern.edu. 

I’m connected to VPN but I’m not able to see the site 

If you are connected to VPN and still can’t access the site, you can reach out to us at raddchat@northwestern.edu or you can log in using NU Workspace. 

To access NU Workspace, click here. You will need to click on the red “NUworkspace Login” button on the right side of the screen. Once you’re logged in, you’ll have the option to launch an application. Scroll down and select “Duo Desktop Compliant”.  

Loading the desktop may take a couple minutes. It will look something like this after it is done loading:  

 Once you see your desktop, you can select any browser and open RADD Chat.