Inbound Email
Features
Inbound email can be used to process emails sent to a specific mailbox that is read by SSP 7. Emails received in this mailbox may result in 1 of the following actions:
A new ticket is started
The content of the email body is added as a message to an existing ticket
The content of the email body is added as a text update to an existing task
The content of the email body is set as the solution of an existing task
The first 2 options can be used without using Tasks in the ticketing module. The last 2 can only be used in combination with Tasks in the Ticketing module.
General Settings
The inbound email configuration can be done from with the Admin pages of SSP 7.
The URL is: http://yourserver/Common/admin/MailboxReaderOverview.aspx.
When getting started for the first time, it is important to use the button labeled "SYNC THE EXTERNAL APP FIELDS". By clicking this button, new external apps are added to your system. These external apps are needed to make use of inbound email values within your workflow definitions.
It is possible to configure multiple mail servers and per mail server multiple email addresses can be defined. To add a new mail server, click on the button labeled "ADD MAILBOX SETTING".
Name: Give your mailbox settings a name for future reference
Failover person: In case the email-from address can't be resolved in the person database, this person will be used.
Default tag format: Tags can be used to transfer specific field values into SSP 7 through the body text of an email message. Tags only work in case the inbound email results in a new Ticket. For example: the tag format is defined like this: [[LABEL]]: [[Value]] and the body of the email message contains the following data:
[[Description]]: A new workstation should be configured for James Gartner [[Priority]]: Low [[Information]]: Please process this request after next week, as the person needs its current workstation Thanks Jan [[Source]]: Email
In this example 4 fields will be recognized in the body of the email message. Within the workflow, this fields can be referred to as if they were coming from a Form. When using for example the placeholder #REPLACE-FORMFIELD-Source# in your workflow definition, this placeholder is replaced with the text "Email". Please note that these placeholders can not be selected through one of the dropdown lists, as all emails have free text content and may contain any Tag.
Ticket number format(s): This option is used to let inbound emails automatically add messages to existing tickets. An example definition would be "TicketId:TICKETNUMBER". When emails now arrive that have the text "TicketId:" in their subject, the system will search for a number behind this text. When found, that number is considered to be the Ticket number and the body of the email message is added as a message to the ticket with this number. The email From-Address is lookup in the Person database. When found, that person will be the sender of the message. When not found, the Failover person configured earlier will be used. For Example:
The email above has a subject that complies with the format set. The email body content will be added as a message and James Gartner will be the person sending the message. Attachments will be added to the ticket.
It is possible to define multiple formats. This could be useful when you are using multiple email definitions, with other keywords in it, or when you are building an automated interface with another system that has no flexibility in Tag usage.
Task number format(s): This works in a similar way as the previous option, with the only difference that the reply message is saved as update text to a task. Please note that this only works in case the task is assigned to a group that has an external interface defined on it. See the Group page for more information on external interfaces.
Task acknowledge body format(s): This definition is specific to external interfaces through Tasks and is used to properly process the acknowledgement email sent from an external system. Please note that this configuration is based on the email body and not the email subject. When a tasknumber is found within the subject line of the email message, the system will check if any of the tags set in this field, is found within the body. When found, the system knows this is an acknowledgement email, and will use the text found after the tag as the external reference number. For example, this is defined:
and this email is received:
Email subject: Confirmation of ticket registration for TaskId:31 Email body: ExtTicketId: M1201-9876
In this case, the system will search for Task 31. When found, the task is updated and the External Reference Field is filled with the text "M1201-9876". Because the task has been updated, the ticket status will be set to the value configured as the "Updated" status value.
As long as the external reference field has no value, the Save update message option is not available.
Task reassignment body format(s): This definition is used to recognize an email that contains the solution, or reassignment back to the original creator of the task. In case the incoming email is recognized as Task update and the tag defined in this field is found within the body of the email message, the task will be reassigned to the ticket assignment group. For example, this is defined:
and this email is received:
Email subject: Confirmation of ticket registration for TaskId:31 Email body: Solution: Your access rights have been granted
In this case, the system will search for Task 31. When found, the provided text is added to the information field and the task is reassigned to the assignment group of the ticket.
The provided solution can now be accepted or declined.
Reply error message: The text defined here will be sent when the incoming email could not be processed. For example when a tag is found to update a ticket, but the provided ticket number could not be found.
Mail Server configuration
For every Mailbox configuration group, 1 or more mail servers can be defined. To add a new mail server, open an existing Mailbox configuration and click on the Add button underneath the "Servers" header:
The example above shows how a connection to GMail is configured. The options Move to folder when processed and Move to folder when failed can be used to remain processed emails within the mailbox. Only emails within the Inbox will be processed by the Mailreader.
Note that if you are creating folders within the Inbox, your folder name definitions should include Inbox, for example: Inbox/Processed.
From - address rules
The From address rules are only working in case a new ticket is created through inbound email. To add a new rule click on the Add button under the header "From address rules".
Name: Give this rule any name to recognize it in the future
Stop processing other rules when this rule is valid: There is no ordering in the processing of rules, however the system first evaluates the rules with this marker set. When a rule is found with a valid condition and this marker is set to true, no other rules will be processed. When none of the rules is matched with the marker on, the rules without marker will be checked.
From address: Define from which address(es) emails should be processed. You may use the operator list to include a single or multiple email addresses. In our example above a single email address is selected.
Process: Select the process that should be started in case the rule is true.
Parse body tags: When this marker is set, the system will try to find tags within the body of the email message. See general settings how tags are set.
Tag format: You can overwrite the tag definition from the General settings page for this specific rule.
Fixed requestor in process: In case new tickets should always have the same requestor, select a person here. When no person is selected, the system will try to resolve a person based on the From email address. When that isn't successful, the fail-over person set in General settings is used.
Fixed requested for in process: Works similar as requestor
There is no limit on the number of rules that can be defined.
Starting a new ticket from email
To start a new ticket from an incoming email, please make sure to have setup the inbound email correctly. When a From address rule is valid and a process is started, you can make use of all fields available from the inbound email within the workflow.
The following fields are automatically set for new tickets:
In case the external app "MailboxReader" is not available, make sure to press the Sync External App field once on the General Settings of the inbound email configuration page.
Tags that were included in the email message can be refered to as if they were coming from a normal form. For example:
the tag format is defined like this: [[LABEL]]: [[Value]] and the body of the email message contains the following data:
[[Description]]: A new workstation should be configured for James Gartner [[Priority]]: Low [[Information]]: Please process this request after next week, as the person needs its current workstation Thanks Jan [[Source]]: Email
In this example 4 fields will be recognized in the body of the email message. Within the workflow, this fields can be referred to as if they were coming from a Form. When using for example the placeholder #REPLACE-FORMFIELD-Source# in your workflow definition, this placeholder is replaced with the text "Email". Please note that these placeholders can not be selected through one of the dropdown lists, as all emails have free text content and may contain any Tag.
In case you would like to use external app fields in for example setting of the Actor, you can find these fields under "Lookup":
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