Email routing request

[Dan Munns]

Hi all,

When setting which service to use for app.email.routing.rules.default.service.IN would there be the possibility of allowing the selection of a catalog item rather than a service as this would allow much greater flexibility.

Selection such as Service Name : Catalog Item name much in the same way as categories are drilled into.

And in the email rules creation page allow the selection of a BPM to be used after the Operation selection. So if the operation selected is log/update service request allow the selection of a BPM to log the service request to.

I know you have email functionality in the roadmap just wanted to throw some ideas in for changes we would like to see for us to be able to utilise emails better.

Thanks 

[James Ainsworth]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for your post. We have a change that is currently in our development queue that will allow for more options when a request is automatically raised using the routing rules.  The selection of a Request Catalog Item is part of this.  The work on this is likely to start in the next couple of weeks.

Regards, 

James

[Keith]

@James Ainsworth Any update on progress on this functionality. I am now trying to configure routing rules for automated emails and bumping into a number of issues.

Having only one default service is hugely limiting. We need to be able to send in automated emails which could be assigned to different services and teams. Such settings need to be at the rule level and not a global default.

Regards

Keith

 

 

[James Ainsworth]

Hi Keith,

I'm pleased to say that this is currently being worked on by our development team.  This should be available in the next few weeks.

Regards,

James

[Keith]

@James Ainsworth Good to hear!! Will it allow services /catalog items to be defined per service?

 

Regards

 

Keith

[James Ainsworth]

It will allow for both service and request catalog items to be allocated to a request that is processed by the Email Routing Rules.  Email Processing will be a new section under Service Manager in Administration where rules for applying different aspects of a new request will be configurable.

Regards,

James

[Keith]

@James Ainsworth Thanks for the explanation. Looking forward to this development.

Cheers

 

Keith

[Dan Munns]

Hi @James Ainsworth,

Any updates on this? Enhanced rules for email will be very useful.

Thanks

Dan

[James Ainsworth]

Hi Dan,

The development work has been completed and we are looking to make it available in our next build if all goes well.  We have already provided the wiki documentation for the new Email Routing Rule Templates feature to allow you to see how this will be configured.

Regards,

James

[Dan Munns]

@James Ainsworth Thanks for the update.

Any idea when the next build release will be? I have about 25 different alert emails to configure ASAP

Thanks

Dan

[James Ainsworth]

Hi Dan,

It is always tough to give an exact time that a build will be released.  There are a lot of factors that can influence the timing.  However, builds do go out on a regular basis so I would expect within the next couple of weeks provided all goes well.

Regards,

James

[James Ainsworth]

I'm pleased to let you know that in the lasted build of Service Manager (914) is now available and it includes a feature to allow you to set a number of options for a request that has been raised using the Email Routing rules.  Documentation can be found here.

Regards,

James

[Dan Munns]

Brilliant.

On a scale of 1 -10 how sad is it that I have been really looking forward to this and am now excited to have a play with it today?

Thanks again

Dan

[Dan Munns]

Hi @James Ainsworth,

Loving the change so far. Just one tiny little change I would like to see.

Would it be possible to add a fourth visibility option when you are updating a catalog item?

At the moment you can set it to Portals .. Service Desk .. Both

Can we have 'Emails' added to it so that items made for email templates don't show anywhere else?

Some of our email alerts require actions but the issue will only ever be able to be logged via email so having the item on the service desk may cause confusion and lead to tickets being raised incorrectly

Thanks

Dan

[Guest]

Love this, however I got the below error!

Is the idea behind linking it to a catalog item so  you can also use the BPM to update the category etch?

This is great but I agree you want a catalog item just for email as otherwise it is seen on the portal or in service manager.

Or just have the ability to complete the request with a category and assign to individual if required.

Thanks

[Dan Munns]

So I use it for our IT Security alerts.

Email from Solarwinds is logged by the auto responder and is processed through the IT Security - Email Alerts BPM.

The BPM will assign a category (based on the subject line), assign to a team and assign a priority and generate tasks based on what the alert is.

I have never had an error with it though.

I do love it and it makes sorting out emails so much easier.

Just waiting for them to add the 'Email Template' catalog visibility and I will be totally happy

[Guest]

That is great, so is the only downside that the catalog item is visible either within Service Manager or the Portal?

[Dan Munns]

That is the only downside I have found so far.

I am trying to group as many email related BPMs together as possible to stop the amount of catalog items growing too much for the analysts to wade through for the moment.

[James Ainsworth]

Hi Dan,

It's great to see the conversations here and good to hear that this new feature is helpful.  Dan, from your posts I can understand what you are trying to achieve.  Can I ask if the reason for setting of the Request Catalog Item in the Routing Rule Template is just for associating a particular BPM?  Or do you have other reasons for setting the Request Catalog Item?

Regards,

James

[James Ainsworth]

Hi Adam,

Sorry to see the error that you are experiencing with this new feature.  It seems to directed to the initiating of the BPM.  Could you check the BPM settings for the Service that these requests are being raised against and confirm that the associated BPM is active?

Regards,

James

[Victor]

@Adam Haylock the error you got is not related to the new Routing Template functionality. It is actually caused by a platform issue whereby the autoresponder doesn't get along very well with async BP spawn. It's been discussed before (here: https://forums.hornbill.com/topic/9735-email-routing-bpm/ and here: https://forums.hornbill.com/topic/9770-email-rules/).

We have a fix for this which is included in the next platform update scheduled for tonight.

 

 

[Keith]

@James Ainsworth very pleased to see this come to fruition and am looking forward to trying it out in the near future.

 

@Victor Good to know the platform update is planned for tonight. Should be another issue I can tick off my list

 

 

[Dan Munns]

Hi @James Ainsworth,

Basically I am going to have BPMs for Security alerts, Infrastructure alerts and potentially Dev Team and Service Desk alerts and they will be assigned to catalog items.

I don't want these items to be visible to the analysts or users as they are just BPMs for logging alert emails from various systems.

As in the new email system we are unable to select a BPM and it has to be a service and catalog item (which is fine) it would be useful to be able to hide the email only items from the analysts to stop the items list getting huge.

Or allowing the selection of a BPM or calalog item (where by if one is blank it uses the other) would also be good.

Either way it is 100% better than what was before so just a small niggle in an otherwise great update.

[James Ainsworth]

Thanks Dan.  For the feedback on the update and great to hear that you are liking the improvements. 

I can see exactly what you are trying to achieve.  I was also considering an option on the Routing Rule Templates to allow a BPM to be selected.  This would provide another way of associating a BPM to a request raised by the Routing Rules without having to specify a Request Catalog Item.  If you are needing to associate the Request Catalog Items for other reasons, I can see the benefit of hiding those Request Catalog Items that are only used for email.

Regards,

James

[Guest]

@James Ainsworth

That would be great if the routing rules could simply select a BPM

I have mine all setup using a Request Catalog and therefore BPM but I cannot get it to kick the BPM in.  So it wont assign to an analyst or set the category.

Any ideas?

I have also noticed that the request comes in with the 'source' as blank

Thanks