This documentation supports the 25.3 version of BMC Helix Digital Workplace Basic and BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced. Icons distinguish capabilities available only for the Advanced and External license levels. For more information, see License types and features. To view an earlier version, select the version from the Product version menu.

 

Task 5: Enabling the notification engine

After setting up the outgoing mailbox and modifying the notifications events, templates, and processes (if needed), you enable the notification engine on BMC Helix Innovation Suite to send email notifications to the end users. If you have enabled push and in-app notifications, they are not affected by this change and are sent by the notification engine in BMC Helix Digital Workplace.

 

Related topics

Leveraging-the-notification-engine-on-BMC-Helix-Innovation-Suite-for-greater-flexibility

Important

  • You can enable only one email notification engine at a time - the notification engine on BMC Helix Innovation Suite or the notification engine in BMC Helix Digital Workplace. 
  • After enabling the notification engine on BMC Helix Innovation Suite, notifications are sent only for the supported out-of-the-box events and templates. Unsupported events or templates, notifications are not sent.
    For more information, see Out-of-the-box-notification-events-templates-and-processes. 

 

 

The following image shows the process of leveraging the notification engine on BMC Helix Innovation Suite:

Task 5 Enable the notification engine.png

 

Before you begin

Product

Description

BMC Helix Innovation Studio

Make sure that the domain name of the BMC Helix Digital Workplace server is added to the email allow list. 

For more information, see To whitelist HTML tags and domains in emails.

Mid-Tier

Make sure that you note down the Reply To Address that you want to use to send notifications. You can get the Reply To Address from the AR System Email Mailbox Configuration form. For more information, seeConfiguring outgoing mailboxes

BMC Helix Digital WorkplaceEnd users must configure email notifications in their preferences to receive notifications from the notification engine on BMC Helix Innovation Suite. For more information, see Setting up end-user preferences.

 

To enable the notification engine on BMC Helix Innovation Suite

  1. As an administrator, log in to BMC Helix Digital Workplace. 
  2. Select Configuration > Email & Notifications. 
  3. On the Email configuration tab, from the Notification engine list, select Helix Platform.
  4. In Backend URL, specify the link to your application in the https://hostname:port/dwp format. 
  5. In Reply-to email, specify the email address to receive the approver's responses or comments.
    When an approver approves, rejects, puts on hold an approval request via an email notification, the response is sent to this email address. When an end user adds comments via an email notification, the comment is also sent to this email address.
  6. Click Save. 

The following image shows how to enable the notification engine on BMC Helix Innovation Suite:

Notification en_enable from DWP Admin_tooltip.png

 

(Optional) To enable end users to change the language of email notifications

By default, the notification engine on BMC Helix Innovation Suite uses the language selected in the Notification Language field on the CTM:People form to determine the language of email notifications. You select this language when enabling email notifications for end users. End users see this language as a default notification language in Email notification language field within their Preferences in the BMC Helix Digital Workplace end-user console. As an administrator, you have the option to enable end users to change the notification language on their own. 

If you have a multitenant environment, you enable this capability on a subtenant level. Additionally, you can enable external users to change the notification language. 

Best practice
Although it is technically possible, we recommend avoiding the use of the notification engine on BMC Helix Innovation Suite for external portals.

Perform the following steps to enable end users to select their preferred language for email notifications. These configurations can be considered an extension of the steps to enable the notification engine on BMC Helix Innovation Suite. 

  1. As an administrator, log in to BMC Helix Digital Workplace. 
  2. Select Configuration > Email & Notifications. 
  3. On the Email configuration tab, from the Notification engine list, select Helix Platform.

  4. Select Recipients can change their notification language.

    By default, this setting is not selected for new deployments and upgrades. If you keep this setting disabled, end users see the default notification language that you selected in the Notification Language field on the CTM:People form, but they can't change it.

    admin_settings_notification.png

  5. Click Save.

You can review and track changes made to the Recipients can change their notification language setting. These changes are recorded in the allowEditItsmNotificationPreferences record, which includes details such as the name of the user who made the update, the date and time of the change, and the chosen value for the setting. For more information, see Auditing-administrator-configuration-changes.

If you switch back to the traditional BMC Helix Digital Workplace email notification engine after allowing users to change the language of their email notifications, the Recipients can change their notification language setting becomes hidden in the Administration console. Additionally, the Email notification language field is also concealed in the BMC Helix Digital Workplace end-user console.

Results

After you enable end users to change the language of their email notifications, they can select their preferred language independently. They can do this by selecting a different language in the Email notification language field in their Preferences within the end-user console. For more information, see Setting-up-end-user-preferences.

preferences_language.png

When a particular user selects a new language for email notifications and saves this change, the language selection in the Notification Language field is updated accordingly on the CTM:People form. Even if you switch back to the traditional BMC Helix Digital Workplace email notification engine after any user has already chosen a different language for their email notifications, their language selection remains saved in the Notification Language field on the CTM:People form.

Languages supported for the email notifications from the notification engine on BMC Helix Innovation Suite

End users can only select languages that are common between BMC Helix ITSM and BMC Helix Digital Workplace for their email notifications.

BMC Helix Digital Workplace supports a total of 31 languages, while BMC Helix ITSM supports 19 languages. For a complete list of languages supported by BMC Helix ITSM, see Supported languages and locales.  Additionally, the BMC Helix ITSM administrator has the option to manually add extra languages to BMC Helix ITSM or delete any language supported by default. To add more languages to BMC Helix ITSM, the administrator must carefully follow the specific procedure outlined in How to add a new locale in CTM: People form and Notification Template. For instance, the administrator can manually add all BMC Helix Digital Workplace languages to BMC Helix ITSM.

languages_overlap.png

Ultimately, only the languages supported by both products are available for selection. The following table outlines different use cases that affect the language availability for end users and the default language selection for email notifications: 

Use case

Impact

BMC Helix Digital Workplace doesn't support the language selected in the Notification Language field on the CTM:People form.

English (US) is set as the default language for email notifications in the end-user console. Consequently, the notification engine on BMC Helix Innovation Suite sends email notifications in English (US).

End users see a message indicating that the original language of the email notifications is not supported by BMC Helix Digital Workplace. If end users can change the language of their email notifications, they can select a different language that is supported by both BMC Helix ITSM and BMC Helix Digital Workplace. However, the language selected in the Notification Language field on the CTM:People form is not available for selection.

Example

use_case_1_new.png

BMC Helix Digital Workplace and BMC Helix ITSM do not have any common languages

English (US) is set as the default language for email notifications in the end-user console. Consequently, the notification engine on BMC Helix Innovation Suite sends email notifications in English (US).

End users see a message indicating that the original language of the email notifications is not supported by BMC Helix Digital Workplace. They can't select any other language for email notifications.

This situation might arise if the BMC Helix ITSM administrator deletes all default BMC Helix ITSM languages and then adds a new BMC Helix ITSM language that is unsupported by BMC Helix Digital Workplace, such as Bulgarian.

Best practice: We strongly recommend against deleting the default English (US) language in BMC Helix ITSM.

Example

use_case_2_new.png

The administrator successfully added a new language in BMC Helix ITSM, which is supported by BMC Helix Digital Workplace.

End users can select this language for email notifications. The notification engine on BMC Helix Innovation Suite then sends email notifications in the chosen language because the notification templates are localized for all BMC Helix Digital Workplace languages by default.

Example

use_case_3_new.png

The administrator incorrectly added a new language in BMC Helix ITSM, despite it being supported by BMC Helix Digital Workplace. 

End users can't select this language for email notifications.

To properly add more languages to BMC Helix ITSM, the administrator must closely follow the specific procedure outlined in How to add a new locale in CTM: People form and Notification Template.

The language is supported by both BMC Helix ITSM and BMC Helix Digital Workplace, but it is not enabled for end users in BMC Helix Digital Workplace. For more information, see Setting-a-language-for-your-end-users.

End users can select this language for email notifications. The notification engine on BMC Helix Innovation Suite then sends email notifications in the chosen language.

Example

use_case_5_new.png

Where to go from here

Task-6-Auditing-the-email-notifications

 

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