Basic Information About Email Notifications

The body of a Tracker email notification is divided into seven sections which you can configure. Listed from the top (first line of email body) to the bottom, they are as follows.

1. Greeting - the first line of the email, e.g. "Hello Sue Smith,". The Greeting is part of the Email Common Content configured for each form in Tracker.
2. Introduction - a few lines to introduce the email, e.g. a sentence or two to let the user know this is an automated response from Tracker. The Introduction is part of the Email Common Content configured for each form in Tracker.
3. Operation Description - a few lines to describe why this email notification is being sent, e.g. this issue has been assigned to you (the recipient of the email). The Operation Description can be configured in each Email Rule.
4. Link - link (URL) to the record in Tracker (when browsing to the link, record is displayed after you enter your login information). The hyperlink is created based on the configuration set for the workgroup in the Workgroup Management System
5. History Comment - the History Comment that was entered by the user who triggered the email, e.g. comment they entered when using the Edit operation to update a record.
6. Fields - the fields within the record referenced by the email notification. The fields included in the notification message can be limited by user group within a field's visibility options.
7. Signature - the last section of the email, typically used for the signature at the bottom of the email (contact information). The Signature is part of the Email Common Content configured for each form in Tracker.

Outgoing email notifications can be configured for a workflow using Email Rules. You can configure a set of email rules that are applied to a workflow or you can configure a set of email rules for each option menu item in a pulldown. Review the Basic Information About Email Notifications section for details about the structure of email notification messages.

To manage email rules for a workflow:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Workflows link
4. Select the workflow in the Workflows pulldown at the top of the page. The page will be refreshed to display the properties of the selected workflow.
5. Click on the Manage link to the right of Email Rules
6. The Email Rules for the form will be displayed.

   If the <Pulldown Name> <Default> Email Rules field is displayed (where <Pulldown Name> is the selected pulldown), this indicates that the Email Rules can be set differently based on the option menu item that was selected in the pulldown. If <Pulldown Name> <Default> Email Rules field is not displayed, this indicates that the Email Rules are not different for each option menu item in a pulldown (the Email Rules will be the same for all records added with this combination of Project and Form). The pulldown selected in the <Pulldown Name> <Default> Email Rules field can be set using the Edit Based On link in the Workflows section.

   Select an option in the <Pulldown Name> <Default> Email Rules field to set the Email Rules that will be applied when records are added to Tracker with this option menu item selected. When selecting an option in this field, the page will be refreshed to display the Email Rules that correspond to that selection.

   The <Pulldown Name> Values field contains the following options:

   • <Default>
     Selecting this option will allow you to choose the Email Rules that will be applied when new option menu items are added to this pulldown (the pulldown selected in the Based On field). When this option is selected, the option Apply these settings to other <Pulldown Name> values will be available. Checking the box for the option Apply these settings to other <Pulldown Name> values will show a list of the option menu items for the Based On pulldown. Select the option menu item(s) that should inherit the same Email Rules that you have set for <Default>. To select multiple option menu items, hold down the Ctrl button on your keyboard while clicking on the desired option menu items.

   • Option Menu Items for the Based On pulldown
     Each option menu item configured for the pulldown field selected in the Based On field will be listed. Selecting an option menu item will allow you to set the Email Rules that will be applied when records are added to Tracker with this option menu item selected. Click on the Load Defaults button if you wish to have the Email Rules configured for <Default> to be filled into the Email Rules for the option menu item selected.

   Decide whether you would like to add, edit or delete an email rule.

7. Click OK to save the changes

To add an email rule:

1. Select a Condition (details of each option that can be selected are described in the Options section). Check the Notification Rule List to see if the condition you selected is already on the list. If so, you may wish to edit an existing preference rather than create a new one.
2. In the Notification List, select the user(s) and / or user group(s) that should receive an email message when the condition occurs. Descriptions of the special user roles such as Assignee, Reporter, etc. can be found in the Notification List section.
3. Enter information into the Subject field. This text will appear as the Subject line of the email message generated when the condition occurs. Up to 80 characters can be entered as the Subject.
4. Enter information into the Operation Description field. This text will appear in the body of the email message after the Greeting and Introduction. Up to 255 characters can be entered as the Operation Description (end of line characters do count towards that limit).
5. For the Subject and Operation Description, you can specify variables so that information from the issue that triggered the email notification is included. For an explanation and example of the variables that can be used, review the Variables section.
6. Click on the Add Notification button. The email rule will now be displayed in the Notification Rule List. Except when the Notification Rule is selected, it will be displayed with a green background until you click the OK button. This is to let you know that this rule has been added, but has not yet been saved. You can continue to create or modify rules, or you can click the OK button to save your changes.

To edit an email rule:

1. In the Notification Rule List, click on the Notification Rule you wish to modify, then click on the Edit Notification button (you can also simply double click on the Notification Rule).
2. The fields in the Notification Rule section will be updated with the information associated with the Notification Rule you selected.
3. Make changes to the fields in the Notification Rule section.
4. Click on the Update Notification button. The Notification Rule will be displayed with an orange background color until you click the OK button. This is to let you know that this rule has been edited, but the changes have not yet been saved. You can continue to edit more rules, or you can click the OK button to save your changes.

To delete an email rule:

1. In the Notification Rule List, click on the preference you wish to delete, then click on the Delete Notification button
2. Click on the OK button to save this change.

Options Available When Configuring Email Rules

The following options are available when configuring email rules.

Conditions
The Conditions below are the actions that can trigger an email rule to be sent. For all conditions you can select whether the condition applies to records added using a particular form configured for the workflow to which the email rules pertain (by selecting a specific form in the 2nd pulldown in the Condition selection) or to all records added using the workflow to which the email rules pertain (by selecting <Record> in the 2nd pulldown in the Condition selection). The forms available for selection in the 2nd pulldown in the Condition selection are based on the forms that have been associated with this workflow. Please Note: If you create a email condition for a specific form in the workflow and you create the exact same condition for all records (<Record>) in the workflow, the form specific condition will be used as a the rule for sending notifications and general condition is ignored.  This applies even if the matching conditions specify different recipients or common content. This behavior also allows you to have similar rules with varying common content or recipients for a particular form, while having a general rule that will handle records of the other form types.

• Add
  Setting a rule with this condition will send an email notification message when a record is added to the workgroup: using the Add page, using the Submit page, using the Clone operation on the View page, by submitting via email, or by executing the Tracker SDK AddRecord operation.

• Edit
  Setting a rule with this condition will send an email notification message when a record is edited using the Edit operation.

• Delete
  Selecting this condition will send an email notification message when a record is deleted using the Delete operation.

• Task
  Selecting this condition will send an email notification message when the Task operation is performed on a record.

• Change of
  There are 2 parts to the Change of condition:
  • Change of Status to <State or State Group>
    Creating a rule with this condition will send an email notification message when a record's status is changed to the State selected. If a State Group is selected, an email notification message will be sent when a record's status is changed to one of the states in the State Group selected. To select this condition, select Change of in the first pulldown, select Status in the second pulldown, then select the State or State Group that should used for this rule.

  • Change of Assignment
    Creating a rule with this condition will send an email notification message when a record's Assignment (Assigned To field) is changed. To select this condition, select Change of in the first pulldown, then select Assigned To in the second pulldown.

Variables that can be used in the Email Content

There are a list of variables that are supported so that you can reference the specific record number, status, assignees when entering the content for email notifications. For example, if you want the Subject line for a rule to say "PRN 31 previously assigned to Development Manager has been re-assigned to Developer One", but since each record has an individual record number and may have various possible users that can be assigned at any point in the process, it is necessary to enter the content using variables. To set the Subject line such that it will enter the relevant PRN and User IDs for each record, enter the following into the Subject field exactly as it appears below:

PRN <number> previously assigned to <old assignee> has been re-assigned to <new assignee>

The variables supported by Tracker are listed below

To specify this information in the email content Enter this variable into the field workgroup name <workgroup> project name <project> form name <form> form + record number <formnumber> record number - PRN <number> current user selected in the Assignee field <assignee> previous user selected in the Assignee field <old assignee> new user selected in the Assignee field <new assignee> current state selected in the Status field <status> previous state selected in the Status field <old status> new value selected in the Status field <new status> the current value of the History pulldown <product> the user selected in the Reporter field <reporter> the user receiving the email notification message <recipient> the user whose action triggered the email <action user>

In addition to the variables listed above, you can also include the value of any field in the record (except for TextArea and Date fields) by specifying the Field Name (in all lower case characters) and surrounding the name with < and >. For example, <text1>, <pulldown23>, or <reporter>. To find the Field Name for a particular field, click on the Admin icon, click on the Forms link, click on the Fields button, click on the field you wish to use as a variable, then click on the Edit button. Take note of the name listed for "API Field Name". Note: The field name variable must be specified in all lower case characters (e.g. <text1> not <Text1>) to be properly recognized by the Tracker email processor. Special fields like PRN and the History Pulldown have variable names that differ from the API Field Name. These exceptions are listed in the table above.

Notification List

The options below are available for selecting which users receive email notification messages for a particular rule.

<Assignee>
The user currently assigned to the record

<Assignee (new)>
The user assigned to the record after a change in the record's Assigned To field has been made. This user is only available for selection in rules for the condition "Change of <Record> Assigned To".

<Assignee (previous)>
The user who was assigned to the record prior to a change made in the record's Assigned To field. This user is only available for selection in rules for the condition "Change of <Record> Assigned To".

<Reporter>
The user who created the record using the Add, Submit Page or Submit via Email feature. When the Reported By field of a record is the "Inet" (Unregistered User), email notification messages are not sent to the Reporter.

<State Manager>
The user who is listed as the manager of the record's current state according to the State Manager settings for the combination of Form and Project set in the record (refer to Form State Managers for more information).

<State Manager (new)>
The user who is listed as the manager of the record's current state according to the State Manager settings for the combination of Form and Project set in the record (refer to Form State Managers for more information) after a change in the record's Status field has been made. This user is only available for selection in rules for the condition "Change of <Record> Status".

<State Manager (previous)>
The user who is listed as the manager of the record's previous state according to the State Manager settings for the combination of Form and Project set in the record (refer to Form State Manager for more information) prior to a change in the record's Status field. This user is only available for selection in rules for the condition "Change of <Record> Status".

<Unregistered User>
This will send email notification messages to the email address saved in the Unregistered User Email field of a record. The rules that will be used to send email notifications to unregistered users depend on the setting for the Send Email Notifications On option in the Unregistered User Options section of the General Preferences page.

<User Pulldown Field>
This will send email notification messages to the user set in a record's user pulldown field. For example, if you have configured a field called Fixed By, the option "<Fixed By>" will be available in the Notification List to send email notifications to the user selected in this field.

User Groups
All user groups in this workgroup will be displayed to be selected for the Notification List

To edit the pulldown that the Email Rules are based on:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Workflows link
4. Select the workflow in the Workflows pulldown at the top of the page. The page will be refreshed to display the properties of the selected workflow.
5. Click on the Edit Based On link to the right of Email Rules
6. Select a pulldown in the Based on Pulldown so that you can configure different Email Rule settings for each option menu item in this pulldown
7. Click OK to save your selection
8. Click OK to return to the Workflows section or click Set Email Rules to configure the settings for each option menu item in the selected pulldown

To edit the email rules for a specific pulldown option menu item:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Workflows link
4. Select the workflow in the Workflows pulldown at the top of the page. The page will be refreshed to display the properties of the selected workflow.
5. Click on the Edit icon to the right of the option menu item
6. The Email Rules for the form will be displayed.

   If you are editing the settings for the option menu item <Default>, the Email Rules displayed will be applied when new option menu items are added to this pulldown (the pulldown selected in the Based On field). The option Apply these settings to other <Pulldown Name> values will be available. Checking the box for the option Apply these settings to other <Pulldown Name> values will show a list of the option menu items for the Based On pulldown. Select the option menu item(s) that should inherit the same Email Rules that you have set for <Default>. To select multiple option menu items, hold down the Ctrl button on your keyboard while clicking on the desired option menu items.

   If you are editing the settings for an option menu item in the pulldown, the Email Rules displayed will be applied when records are added to Tracker with this option menu item selected. Click on the Load Defaults button if you wish to have the Email Rules configured for <Default> to be filled into the Email Rules for the option menu item selected.

   Decide whether you would like to add, edit or delete an email rule.

7. Click OK to save the changes