LP6: Adding an Email Event to a Task

Introduction

Email events are configured emails that are sent out when a specified condition of a task is met, such as when a task has started or finished. 

Each activity template contains a collection of tasks such as Basic Tasks, Approvals or Forms. All task types have an event handler that can trigger the sending of an email to one or more recipients* when a work item is finished, started, started late, or started on time.

Users with Domain Admin or Activity Manager roles can add an email event to a task in an activity via the Activity Template.

*including external recipients as access to e-flow is not required to view the message.

Access the Event Section of a Task

1. Open an Activity template (Activities-> Browse Templates -> open the required template).

2. Click the Tasks tab of the template – the Tasks are displayed on the left side of the window.

3. Select the task that requires an email event.

4. On the right side of the screen, click the Event tab of the Task.

Adding an Event

1. Access the Event tab of a Task.

2. Click the Add drop-down list and select 'Email Action'.

3. Then click the Email Action bar to expand the event details.

4. In the 'To' field enter the recipient email addresses separated by a comma ‘,’ or semicolon ‘;’

5. Click the Event Type drop-down list and select the trigger for the event (when the task is Started/started late / on time / finished).

6. Add the Subject and Email Body as required.

7. See ‘Adding Dynamic Information’ below to learn how to add information from your Activity into the email.

Adding Dynamic Information

Auto-email events can be designed to contain dynamic Information of the following types:

• Activity Fields – the custom values captured during the life of an Activity, usually input via a Form.
• Activity Properties – information about the Activity such as Name, Actual Start Date or even a URL link to the Activity Gantt View.
• Task Properties – information about the specific task that the event was triggered from such as the task Name or the Projected Finish Date of the task.

This is done by using special text to denote placeholders for dynamic values. By Placeholder, we mean values that change every time the Activity is run. This special text can be used in both the email Subject and Body fields.

Activity Fields

Activity Fields store values captured during the life of the Activity mainly values input by a form.

For reference, these field names can be viewed within the Activity template in the Fields tab as shown in the image below.

Add these fields into the Subject and/or Body of the email event to add useful information for the recipient of the email. The field name must be preceded with a ‘$’ symbol and must be all UPPER cases with ‘_’ in-between words. It may be helpful to copy from the Fields tab of the template and paste it into the email to ensure correct spelling.

Activity Properties

Add properties of the Activity into the email subject or body. The Activity property placeholder must be in the following format where the text within the ‘{}’ denotes the dynamic value that changes for each instance created from the Activity template.

%{property name}

Below is a list of properties that can be used:

%NAME
%DESCRIPTION
%ID
%HOSTNAME
%ACTUAL_START
%ACTUAL_FINISH
%PROJECTED_START
%PROJECTED_FINISH
%ORIGINAL_START
%ORIGINAL_FINISH
%GANTT_URL

Use the %ID property to add a link to the Activity Assets page or any other Activity page. Some examples are below. Make sure you replace <<domain>> with your domain name.

• Add a link to the Assets tab of the Activity

            https://my.sbssunrise.com/_<<domain>>/workflows/details/%ID#assets

• Add a link to the Tasks tab of the Activity

            https://my.sbssunrise.com/_<<domain>>/workflows/details/%ID#items

Task Properties

Add properties of the specific task in which the email event is being added. As with Activity properties, these can be added to the email subject or body. The Task property placeholder must be in the following format where the text within the ‘{}’ denotes the dynamic value that changes for each workflow run.

~{workitem ordinal no.}.{property name}

What is the Ordinal Number?

The Task ordinal no. is the reference number for the specific Task within the Activity template. Using this ordinal number, you can reference details of future/past Tasks also by using the appropriate ordinal number prefix. Each Task's ordinal number is visible at the top right of the work item detail pane as shown below.

Below is a list of properties that can be used. All of these examples refer to the 1^st work item (ordinal 1) within the Activity template.

~1.NAME
~1.URL
~1.DESCRIPTION
~1.ACTUAL_START
~1.ACTUAL_FINISH
~1.PROJECTED_START
~1.PROJECTED_FINISH

Examples: This Activity name is %NAME, its projected finish date is %PROJECTED_FINISH, and the expected finish date of this task is ~1.PROJECTED_FINISH