Record creation and updates by email

For step-by-step procedures that describe how to create application requests or add work information by using email, see the following topics:

Depending on how your system is configured, you can create and update the following BMC Remedy ITSM application records by email: 

• Create and add work information for incident requests, work orders, and change requests
• Add work information only for problem investigations, known errors, and tasks

The Email Rule Engine checks incoming email messages based on a set of rules that are provided out-of-the-box and the rules configured by your system administrator. The email message must pass the following checks:

1. The Email Rule Engine determines whether the text in the subject line is part of an Excluded Subject list. For example, if the subject line contains Delivery Error,  the Email Rule Engine rejects the email message because that phrase is on the Excluded Subjects list.
2. If the email message passes the excluded subject test, the Email Rule Engine evaluates the content of the message according to the Email Rule Engine use cases that have been configured by your system administrator. If a matching use case is found, the Email Rule Engine processes the message according to the rules of that use case. After the first match, the Email Rule Engine does not check any of the remaining use cases for additional matches; it runs only one use case against any given email message. If no use case matches are found in the configured or the default use cases, the Email Rule Engine rejects the email message.

Example: Creating a request and updating it by using email

In an environment that is configured to create and update records using email, an Email Rule Engine use case is defined as follows: 

• The keywords in the subject line are Server and Upgrade. 
• If the keywords are in the subject line, the Email Rule Engine creates a change request from the Upgrade Server template (this is an example template name; your system might have different templates).

A customer sends an email message with the following text in the subject line: "change request, upgrade server for payroll". When the email message arrives in the configured inbox, the following events take place:

1. The Email Rule Engine runs the following tasks:
   1. Scans the Subject field for defined excluded subjects and finds none
   2. Evaluates the email message according to the configured use cases
   3. Discovers that the content of the Subject field matches the criteria in the use case that creates a request using the Upgrade Server template
   4. Creates a change request, using the Upgrade Server template
   5. Copies the details of the email message to the change request's Work Information form
2. The Change Management assignment rules assign the new change request to a help desk analyst.
3. The help desk analyst opens the new change request, reviews the details, and has a question about some of the information in the request.
4. The help desk analyst sends the question to the change request submitter directly from the change request, using the Email function.
5. The submitter receives the email message and responds to it.
6. The Email Rule Engine adds the response to the change request as a work information entry.
7. The help desk analyst opens the change request and reviews the work information.
8. With the information provided by the submitter, the help desk analyst completes and then closes the change request.