PhoneTools is one of the quickest ways to begin screening your Salesforce records against the UK-TPS and UK-CTPS databases to check whether the numbers are safe to call. This installation walkthrough will get you set up with a basic configuration in no time so you can rest easy and know you have a solution in place.
If you’re a UK entity that makes cold calls to UK numbers, you cannot afford NOT to know about the Telephone Preference Service. Let’s dive in.
The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is the UK’s only official ‘Do Not Call’ register for landline and mobile numbers. It allows people and businesses to opt out of unsolicited live sales and marketing calls. TPS is a free service that currently contains millions of UK phone numbers – at the time of posting it was 17,771,026 numbers!
There is also a register for businesses called the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS).
That’s right. It’s illegal to call any number on the TPS or CTPS unless:
If you’re not sure about whether a number is on the TPS, it’s not worth risking it… as you’re about to see.
The Information Commissioner Office (ICO) is responsible for enforcing the regulations and will determine what action should be taken for breaching the regulations. They can issue fines of up to £500,000.
This isn’t an empty threat. You can read about recent action the ICO have taken here.
If you are making unsolicited sales calls, you are legally required to screen against TPS/CTPS. You must do this at a minimum, every 28 days – it’s the law. If you want to find out more, read the Privacy and Electronic (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (known as PECR).
It’s a common misconception that buying data that has already been TPS screened does not require ongoing screening. This is wrong. This also means that if you register your number on the TPS, you should allow 28 days for it to become effective.
Don’t think this is just for private companies. The TPS list means no organisation for profit or non-profit – including companies, charities, voluntary organisations and political parties – can call that number.
✔️ no code ✔️ screen within Salesforce ✔️ manual and automated screening
Hop on a call with us to check out PhoneTools, our app for Salesforce that keeps you compliant!
If you want to find out more information about the Telephone Preference Service, check out these resources:
PhoneTools from ProvenWorks safeguards Salesforce users against breaching privacy laws when contacting potential customers in the UK. This is done through Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS) register checks.
The managed package assigns statuses to each record at two levels, record level (a summary status of all phone numbers on the specific record) and then drilling into it, a phone number level (highlighting the status of individual phone numbers).
So what are the statuses and what do they mean?
The record level status provides a summary of each of the numbers that exist within the record. This status is ideal for use in Salesforce reports to quickly identify whether a record has callable numbers.
The phone level status is displayed within a Lightning Component that can be placed onto your record app pages. These statuses provide a clear summary at a glance of which numbers are callable on the record.
If you want to find out more about PhoneTools please get in touch at info@provenworks.com or Arrange a Demo via the PhoneTools product page!
Please note: PhoneTools has two features: Click to Call and SMS functionality, and Phone Screening functionality. This installation article will cover Formula field creation which is relevant to Phone Screening.
We understand that you won’t want to screen every number in your Salesforce Org, so we provide the ability to include/exclude numbers based on a true or false formula.
For this example, we want to exclude any number that sits on a record where the Billing Address is not “United Kingdom” or is left blank, as we are going to make an assumption that the number on the record won’t be British.
Note that you can configure your formula to whatever your own requirement is giving you full control over your screening process.
Navigate to Setup and select Object Manager. Once the page has loaded, select the object you want to create the formula for by clicking the Label.
Click Fields & Relationships and then select New.
Type your formula into the field which must result in 0 or 1.
0 = Number doesn’t require screening 1 = Number does screening
Here is a basic formula used for this example:
Select Next and then ensure that All Profiles are granted Visibility to the formula. Select Next and uncheck adding the formula field to your page layout. Then press Save to finish.
Navigate to the Salesforce App Launcher and then select PhoneTools Administration under All Items. Once loaded, select the Installation sub-tab.
Scroll down to the Fields to Screen section and select Edit next to the field that you just configured your formula for.
Scroll down the Formula Field picklist to find your new Formula’s API name. Once chosen, select Save.
Now when checking a record that doesn’t meet the formula criteria, the TPS and CTPS alert bubbles will display grey with a Not Required status.
Great! PhoneTools is our 5* app for Salesforce that lets you screen phone numbers against UK TPS and CTPS to keep you PECR compliant. All within Salesforce with no coding required!
Try out PhoneTools for free on the AppExchange.
If you are experiencing any issues, or have any questions, please reach out to support@provenworks.com where a member of our team will be happy to assist.
You are required to screen phone numbers against the TPS and CTPS databases to ensure you are not calling registered UK numbers, which can lead to heavy fines.
The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is a central opt out database where individuals can register their wish not to receive unsolicited sales and marketing calls. The Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS) is the equivalent register for business and organisation telephone numbers. It is a legal requirement that companies do not make unsolicited calls to numbers registered on the TPS or CTPS databases, and fines of up to £500,000 can be levied depending on the magnitude of the breach.
We offer a solution for Salesforce CRM called PhoneTools, which includes an automated phone number screening service which can be implemented directly into your Salesforce org. Our automated screening ensures GDPR compliance with ease, screening your numbers regularly and providing relevant number statuses to your Org and users. You can choose to screen the TPS list, CTPS list, or both, depending on your requirements. User can also screen numbers manually, directly on the record, for a quick status check of a new number.
Click the image below to see a video for more information.
Great! PhoneTools is our 5* app for Salesforce that lets you screen phone numbers against UK TPS and CTPS to keep you PECR compliant. All within Salesforce with no coding required!
Try out PhoneTools for free on the AppExchange.
Alternatively, get in touch if you have any questions or want to discuss PhoneTools further.
Want to find out how we helped Ebury with TPS and CTPS compliance in Salesforce? Check out our case study!
“PhoneTools mitigates the risk of being fined by the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office), it is really well embedded in our Salesforce Organisation and it’s one of the best installs you can find on the AppExchange, it is simple and does what it needs to do.”
Stuart Reeves, VP Sales Technology, Ebury
Ebury is a financial technology company, specialising in cross-border payments, FX risk management and short-term lending. Ebury’s unique product offering helps businesses to accelerate their international growth by unlocking capital and protecting their margins. Using innovative products and technology, they are able to bring the kind of service and pricing normally reserved by banks for their largest clients to SMEs. Currently, Ebury works with over 40,000 businesses and organisations around the globe, and has traded over $19bn in foreign exchange in the past 12 months.
💡 If your organisation is making unsolicited live sales and marketing calls to UK numbers, you are legally required to screen these phone numbers against the Telephone Preference Service. Failing to do so can not only risk company reputation but also lead to a fine of up to £500,000 by the ICO. Here are the 5 things you need to know about the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).
Ebury makes millions of outbound phone calls each year and needed a screening solution for their Salesforce environment. Manual screening was time-consuming and prone to human error, so an automated method that wouldn’t require ongoing administration was preferred. They were looking for an easy-to-use, visual solution requiring minimal user training.
Ebury discovered PhoneTools on the Salesforce AppExchange and were pleased to see it integrated directly within Salesforce, aligning perfectly with their ongoing goal of systems consolidation. It’s a simple solution that can be placed on any object to flag the record and inform users if phone numbers exist on either the TPS or CTPS databases.
Installation was ‘self-explanatory and easy’, and users only require a single sentence of training to understand the meaning of the PhoneTools traffic-light notifications – vital for rapid onboarding of new staff. Since they make the most of the automated functionality, users already have numbers screened before they go to call them.
To avoid being fined by the ICO, you need to be compliant with the PECR and screen numbers against the TPS and CTPS databases for anyone you are making outbound calls to. The ICO has the power under PECR to impose a financial penalty on a data controller of up to £500,000. Given that the minimum purchase for PhoneTools is just £100/month this was a ‘no brainer’ for Ebury and why they have remained a valued customer since 2015.
PhoneTools is lean and simple, easy to install and maintain, and we always have a positive experience when contacting support. Support queries have been quickly resolved and you always get put through to a real person who understands the product. It’s always a matter of how can we make this work, as opposed to sorry we can’t help here. It is simple and does what it needs to do.
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