This article explains how to create a Business Rule which will automatically send an e-mail notification based on system events. System events include the adding, editing and deleting of entity records such as Issues, Risks, Tasks, and so on. E-mail events can be set up for any entity in PPO and can be customised to go out only for a specified set of conditions, allowing for flexibility and control.
Adding a new e-mail notification
Under the Administration Menu select Business Rules which will take you the Business Rule List page and then click on the Add button. On the form that is displayed, complete the information as described below:
Description: Provide an applicable description for the e-mail notification e.g. "Issue: Send Email when an Issue is added (High Priority)"
The entity this rule relates to: Select the applicable entity from the drop-down list.
The events that should trigger the rule: Select whether the rule should be triggered on add, update, add and update, or on delete.
Is the rule active?: The Active checkbox is by default selected when a new business rule is added. If you need to disable a rule you simply untick the checkbox.
Action: Specify the "Send E-Mail" action.
Sort Order: This is not applicable when setting up e-mail notifications. This will be discussed in more detail later, when explaining the validation rules.
E-mail Subject: Enter the desired e-mail subject that the users will see when receiving the email notification in their inbox.
E-mail Body: Enter the text that should appear in the body of the e-mail that the users will see in their inbox.
The e-mail subject and e-mail body can be customised, using intelligent e-mail tags, to also include information like the Project name, Task / Issue / Risk title, Priority, etc. For more details on how to set this up, access the following FAQ.
Data Fields: Click on the data fields line to see a drop down list of the fields available for the e-mail notification. Select the fields that should be included on the e-mail notification, and then click on the apply changes button.
Recipient Fields: Click on the recipient fields to see a drop down list of the recipients available to send the e-mail notification to. Select the recipients who should be included, then click on the apply changes button. You will notice that all the Resource List type fields on the specific entity, as well as on the project entity, are shown as available recipient fields.
Conditions and exceptions: In this section you can specify any conditions or exceptions for when the business rule should be triggered. In the above example it would only send an e-mail where the Priority on the Issue is set as High.
In order to set up the above e-mail events, you must have the necessary User Group access.
For more information related to business rules follow this article.
Additional notes:
To enforce PPO's security model, e-mail notifications are only sent to people who have an active user account on PPO and all e-mail notifications adhere to PPO's user group access settings, ensuring that no unauthorised information can be accessed via e-mail.
Customers who understand these risks but still want to send e-mail notifications to non-users may elect to do so by hovering over the Administration Menu and click on System Configuration and enabling the sending of e-mails to non-users (this is found under Technical Settings). Note that only the user designated as the Key Client Contact will see, and be able to change this setting. For more details on the implications of allowing e-mails to be sent to non-users, read the following FAQ.
It should be noted that e-mail notifications will not be sent if the Disable email events setting is checked under the System Configuration.
Individual users can also opt to not receive e-mails by unticking the appropriate boxes on their Preferences Page.