Defining Email Rule Engine use cases

When the Email Rule Engine receives an email message for creating or updating a record, it determines what action to take according to the rules defined in the use cases. You can define specific use cases to process the email. For example:

Communicate with the Email Rule Engine to create a change request that uses a specified change request template, based on the content of the email subject line
Update an existing change request with work information notes

To create Email Rule Engine use cases

To perform any Email Rule Engine configuration procedure, you must have Email Rule Config permissions. Also, ensure that the Email Engine is installed on your system and your inbox to receive the incoming email is configured. For information about configuring mailboxes, see Configuring Email Engine.

Also, for the user creating the email service request, one of the following conditions must be satisfied:

People record of a user is configured with email address and a Login ID.
The email address is configured as a Trusted address and a recipient is associated with it.

To create an Email Rule Engine use case

From the Application Administration Console, select Custom Configuration > Foundation > Email Engine Rules > Configure Rules, and then click Open to open the Inbound Email Rule Configuration form.
From the Company field, select the company for which you are creating the use case.
Click the Base Configuration tab.
From the Category list, select Use Case.
Click Add.
Complete the following fields for the use case that you are creating:
- Status—Select Active (default) or Inactive.
- Name—Enter a name for the use case.
- Applies to Form (optional) — Specify the application to which the use case applies: Incident, Known Error, Problem, Task, Change, and so on. The system uses this entry to group the use cases in the table field on the left side of the Base Configuration tab.
- Sort Order (optional) — Specify the digit that corresponds to the order in which you want the Email Rule Engine to evaluate this use case relative to other use cases. Use case 1 is evaluated before use case 2, and so on.
  Important
  Do not set the same Sort Order value for two use cases. Although the Email Rule Engine evaluates uses cases with the same Sort Order value, it might not evaluate them in the same relative order consistently.
Click Submit.
The use case appears in the table on the left side of the Inbound Email Rule Configuration form.

Defining Email Rule Engine use case rules

The general procedure for defining rules is the same for all use cases. However, the way that you use the fields on the Rule Configuration tab depends on the purpose of the use case.

Important

You can define and edit custom Email Rule Engine use cases for any company that you create. However, you cannot add or edit use cases for the Global company.

Before you begin

Before you define an Email Rule Engine use case rule, you must create the use case record. For more details, see Configuring Email Engine.

Functional panes on the Rule Configuration tab

You define the Email Rule Engine use case rules on the Rule Configuration tab, which has the following panes:

Rule Qualification, where you define the rule
Actions, where you specify the type of action (Create or Update) that occurs when the rule qualifications are met

To open the Rule Configuration tab

From the Application Administration Console, select Custom Configuration > Foundation > Email Engine Rules > Configure Rules, and then click Open to open the Inbound Email Rule Configuration form.
From the Company field, select the company for which you are creating the use case.
Click the Rule Configuration tab.
When you open the tab, the Rule Qualification pane appears.
To view the Actions pane, click inside the Actions bar.
To go back to the Rule Qualification pane, click the Rule Qualification bar.

The following tables describe the fields on each of these panes:

Rule Qualification pane
Actions pane

Field name	Description
Field Name	The field on the incoming email message scanned by the Email Rule Engine to determine whether the rule applies: From—Apply the rule when the message comes from a specific sender. Plain Text Body—Apply the rule when the body of the email message contains specific words or phrases. Subject—Apply the rule when the subject line contains specific words or phrases. To—Apply the rule when the message is sent to several valid email accounts, but you want only one of the accounts to do anything with message. The Email Engine can be configured to host more than one account to handle application request emails.
Operation	The logical operator for the rule qualification with which the Email Rule Engine compares the content of Field Name with the value of Field Value when evaluating incoming email messages: Contains—Selected field must contain the specified word or phrase Equals—Selected field must match the specified word or phrase Starts with—Selected field must begin with the specified word or phrase
Field Value	The word or phrase for which the Email Rule Engine scans in the selected Field Name. You can use % as a wildcard character in this field.
plus button	The button to move Field Name, Operation, and Field Value selections into the Qualification field.
And	A qualification that is joined to a preceding qualification by an AND condition.
Or	A qualification that is joined to a preceding qualification by an OR condition.
Not	A qualification that is joined to a preceding qualification by a NOT condition.
Qualification	The rule qualification. If you are familiar with the syntax, you can directly type the qualification string in this field without using the Field Name, Operation, or Field Value fields. You can also use this field to edit existing qualifications.
Action	The basic action that the Email Rule Engine takes when the email message matches the rule qualification: Create—Creates a record (available only if the form type selected on the Base Configuration tab is Change Request, Incident, or Work Order) Update—Updates a record (default)

Field name	Description
Request Handling	Name of application form on which the specified actions occur. This field is auto-populated from the Base Configuration tab. You cannot edit this field.
Find Request in fields (Available only if you select Update from the Action menu)	Specifies where the Email Rule Engine gets the application request ID number, which enables the Email Rule Engine to handle update messages for existing application requests You can select one or both of the following qualifications: Subject—The subject line of the forwarded email message Body—The plain text body of the forwarded email message
Data Handling	Provides multiple options from which you can select: Include Email Fields—Add the entire content of the email (To, From, subject line, and body text) to the record, instead of just the body text, which is the default behavior. For a Create use case, the content is added to the Notes field. For an Update use case, the content is added to the Notes field on the Work Info tab. Replace Blank Subject—When the subject line of an incoming email message is blank, add "[No subject provided]". For a Create use case, the phrase is added to the Subject line on the Change form. For an Update use case, the system uses the phrase only when displaying the details of the selected email message in the Messages tab. For information about the Messages tab, see Troubleshooting email record creation and updates. Replace Blank Body—When the body of an incoming email message is blank, add "[No details provided]". For a Create use case, the phrase is added to the Notes field on the Change form. For an Update use case, the phrase is added to the Notes field on the Work Info tab.
Notify Sender	Sends a notification to the email sender. You can select none or all that apply: On Success—When the action initiated by the sender's email message has been completed successfully On Failure—When the action initiated by the sender's email message was unsuccessful On Rejection—When the email message did not pass all of the rule's qualifications
Option and Value (Available only if you select Create from the Action menu)	(Optional) Enables you to specify default information to add to the specified fields when creating or updating an application request. Alternatively, you can specify a template for the use case to use. For example, if you are creating an incident use case, if you select Assigned Group from the Option list and type Front Office in the Value field, when the Email Rule Engine runs the rule, it will update the Assigned Group field on the application request record with the value Front Office. Option—Provides a list from which you select one of the following options: A field name. Type the value that you want the field to contain in the Value field. Template Name. Type the name of the template that you want the use case to use. TemplateID. Type the ID number of the template that you want the use case to use. Value—Provides an entry field for the value of the option that you selected from the Option list. You can use % as a wildcard character in this field.
Configured Options	Displays the options that you specify in Option and Value. If you are familiar with the syntax, you can directly enter the options to this field without using the Option and Value fields. You can also use this field to edit existing configured options.

Example: Creating an email change request from a template

This example demonstrates how to create a use case that configures the Email Rule Engine to create a change request from the Upgrade Server Hard Drive template when an inbound email message's subject line starts with the phrase Upgrade Server. The Email Rule Engine evaluates email messages by using this rule before any other rule, and notifies the email sender when the change request is created successfully. Before you define a use case that generates a change request from a template, complete the steps described in Creating Email Rule Engine use cases.

To create a use case that generates a change request

From the Application Administration Console, select Custom Configuration > Foundation > Email Engine Rules > Configure Rules, and then click Open to open the Inbound Email Rule Configuration form.
From the Company field, select the company for which you are creating the use case.
Click the Rule Configuration tab.
In Form Name, select Change.
In Use Case, select the use case that you created in Creating Email Rule Engine use cases.
The Rule Qualification pane appears.
In Field Name, select Subject.
In Operation, select Starts with.
In Field Value, type Upgrade Server.
Click the arrow next to Field Value.
The following qualification appears in the Qualification area:
('Subject' LIKE "Upgrade Server%")
In Action Name, select Create.
Click the Actions bar to open the Actions pane.
Under Notify Sender, click On Success.
In Option, select Template Name.
In Value, type Upgrade Server Hard Drive.
Click the arrow next to Value.
The following text appears in the Configured Option area:
<templateName>Upgrade Server Hard Drive</templateName>
Click Save.
Test the rule by sending an email message that satisfies this rule to the inbox.

Where to go from here

When you finish creating the use cases and defining their rules, enable the email application request feature.