Enabling users to interact with AR System through email


Use the following information to transform email into an interface that communicates with the AR System server using the Email Engine service:

Action

Reference

Learn how the Email Engine interacts with AR System.

Set up an outgoing email.

Learn to create and use email templates.

Learn about the different Email Engine forms and their uses.

The following table lists some terms you might see in these topics.

Term

Meaning in the context of Email Engine

Mail server

A computer system within your environment that is running a third-party software program that processes incoming and outgoing email messages. Examples include the Microsoft Exchange server or the UNIX sendmail program.

Failover mail server

A mail server that acts as a failover system, assuring uninterrupted processing of messages, when the primary mail server stops working. You can define this by using the AR System Email Failover Mail Server form. For more information, see Multiple mail server support.

Email account

A user account on a mail server that permits a user to transmit or receive email messages.

An email account is not the same as an email address. An email account consists of a username and often includes a password. Users must log in to the mail server by using an email account before they can send and receive emails.

Mailbox

An entry in the AR System Email Mailbox Configuration form, which resides on your AR System server. A mailbox contains all of the information required by Email Engine to access mail from a mail server or to request that mail be sent by a mail server. As such, a mailbox can contain such information as the name of the mail server, the protocol used by that mail server for sending or receiving mail, and email account information (if required). Mailboxes are configured to be either Incoming mailboxes or Outgoing mailboxes.

Incoming mailbox

A mailbox containing the information required by Email Engine to connect to and read email messages from a specific email account on a mail server. Email messages in this email account are assumed to be directed to the Email Engine. The installation program provides an option for creating and configuring an initial incoming mailbox. You can use this mailbox to get started with Email Engine; you can then change these settings or configure additional mailboxes.

Outgoing mailbox

A mailbox containing the information required by Email Engine to create and send messages. Email Engine uses this mailbox to send notifications, send the results of queries, and so on. The installation program provides an option for creating and configuring an initial outgoing mailbox. You can use this mailbox to get started with the Email Engine; you can then change these settings or configure additional mailboxes.

Instruction

A term used in the following ways:

  • In a broader sense, instructions see all the parameters contained in an email message that perform certain actions; for example, logging in to the server, querying for all tickets assigned to a user, and returning the results in HTML format.
  • In a narrower sense, instructions see a specific set of actions used in an email message; for example, Query, Submit, or Modify. The term Instruction can also be used as an alias for Action in a label/value pair.


 

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