Adding notification actions to steps

Use notification entry and exit actions to send notifications to either a user or email specified for a user.

A notification entry action sends an email notification when a business process step begins. A notification exit action sends an email notification when a business process step is completed.

Before starting this task, ensure that you have deactivated the business process template. You cannot modify active templates. Also, before you can localize business process templates, your system administrator must have enabled localization privileges using NexJ Admin Console.

To add a notification entry or exit action to a step:

1. Navigate to the Customize workspace.
2. In the Business Processes tab, select the template in which you want to add an action.
3. In the Steps subtab, select the step that you want to add an action to.
4. If you want to send a notification as a step entry action, select the Entry Actions subtab. If you want to send a notification as a step exit action, select the Exit Actions subtab. Then, click the Add button and select Send Notification.
   The Add Send Notification Action dialog opens.
5. In the Details tab, specify when to send the notification, add a notification description for users, and specify whether the notification is mandatory:
   1. In the Execution area, select one of the following options to define when the notification is sent:
      • Immediate
        Notification is sent immediately after the step begins for a notification entry action or immediately after the step completes for a notification exit action.
      • Time Based
        Notification is sent relative to a time or date field in the step, for example, relative to the Created Date or Due Date field. To specify the relative time or date, in the Time Based fields, define the number of days or hours before or after the time or date field for a step. For example, to create a notification to remind an approver two days before the due date of an approval step, specify 2 Days Before Business Process Step -> Due Date.

   2. Enter a description for the notification.
      

      Users can see descriptions for turned-off notifications in the Notifications tab in the User Preferences dialog under the Options menu.

   3. To make the notification mandatory for users, select Mandatory.
      

      Users cannot unsubscribe from mandatory notifications.

6. In the Locale drop-down, select the required locale for the notification message. For example, select fr for the French locale.
7. In the Channels & Messages tab, select the required notification channel. Specify whether to deliver the message to the notification stream in NexJ CRM, to a user's email address, or both.

8. To define the notification message that users will receive in the notifications stream, in the Notification Stream Message field, enter a message.
   

   Notifications can display a maximum of 255 characters. If you enter more than 255 characters, notifications are truncated in the notification stream. The maximum character limit can also be exceeded when tokens are interpreted, for example, when the ${assignToCaption} token is replaced with multiple user names.

   You can use tokens to include values from updated fields and links to approval records in notification messages. You can include token fields in notification stream messages, email subjects, and email bodies. For further information about email subjects and email bodies, see the next step in this procedure.

   You can use the following tokens for the business process subject area for contacts, companies, opportunities, and service requests:

   Token	Description
   ${entityParticipant entity fullName}	First and last name for the contact belonging to a business process
   ${entityParticipant entity tier}	Tier type for the contact belonging to a business process
   ${entityParticipant entity companyName}	Name of the company belonging to a business process
   ${entityParticipant entity lastName}	Last name for the contact belonging to a business process
   ${opportunity title}	Title for the opportunity belonging to a business process
   ${opportunity typeString}	Type of the opportunity belonging to a business process
   ${primaryEntity firstName}	The first name of the primary entity belonging to a business process
   ${primaryEntity lastName}	The last name of the primary entity belonging to a business process
   ${serviceRequest primaryEntity fullName}	Primary entity associated with a service request and belonging to a business process
   ${serviceRequest priority}	Priority for the service request belonging to a business process
   ${serviceRequest severity}	Severity for the service request belonging to a business process
   ${serviceRequest title}	Title for the service request belonging to a business process

   You can use the following tokens for approval plans:

   Token	Description
   ${plan:status}	Status of an approval plan
   ${plan:priority}	Priority of an approval plan
   ${plan:title}	Description of an approval plan
   ${plan:text}	Notes for an approval plan

   You can use the following tokens for business process template steps:

   Token	Description
   ${step:startTime}	Start date and time of a business process template step
   ${step:title}	Description of a business process template step
   ${step:createTime}	Creation date and time for a business process template step
   ${step:text}	Description of a business process template step
   ${step:status}	Status of a business process template step
   ${step:editTime}	Date and time when a business process template step is modified

   For additional subject areas, including call records, documents, events, leads, schedule items and tasks, you can also use the tokens described in Tokens for notification messages in your notification messages. For links, only the token used for links for schedule items and tasks is supported. For example, you may wish to provide a link that opens the approval task record in a docked workspace or the docked view of an opportunity from the body of your email.

9. To define the notification message that users will receive by email:

   1. In the Email Subject field, enter the subject for the email notification that users will receive.
      

      Only plain text tokens that cannot be linked are supported in the Email Subject field.

   2. In the Email Body field, enter the notification message that users will receive. As described in the previous step, you can use tokens to include values from updated fields and links to approval records in the Email Body field.

      In the Email Body field, you can include a link to an approval record by using the following token: ${url,this,title}, which shows the title of an approval record as the link.

10. In the Recipients  tab, define which recipients to send notifications to:
    1. Specify who will receive a notification when the rule criteria is satisfied:
       • If you want to specify recipients by role:
         1. Click the Select button to the right of the word "Roles".
            The Field Picker dialog opens.
         2. In the Type column, select the subject area to define recipients for. For example, select Product Opportunity.
         3. Select further recipient criteria in the remaining columns, then click OK. For example, to define the coverage team associated with a product opportunity as recipients, select Product Opportunity from the Type column, and Coverage Team and Account Manager from the Name columns.
            The Field Picker dialog closes.
       • If you want to define specific users as recipients:
         1. Click the Select button to the right of the word "Users".
            The Select User  dialog opens.
         2. Select the user you want to define as a recipient. Click OK.
            The Select User dialog closes.
       • If you want to define the members of one or more user groups as recipients:
         1. Click the Select button to the right of the word "Groups".
            The Select User Group dialog opens.
         2. Select a user group from the list. Click OK.
            The Select User Group dialog closes.

11. In the Quick Responses tab, specify the quick responses that you want to make available to users for the notification.

    To use the quick responses to approve changes to service requests, approvers will need NotificationsManage privileges from the ManageContacts privilege group and ServiceRequestApprovalApprove privileges from the Business Process Approver privilege group. To use the quick responses to approve changes to opportunities, approvers will need NotificationsManage privileges from the ManageContacts privilege group and OpportunityApprovalApprove privileges from the Business Process Approver privilege group. To use quick responses to approve changes to contacts or companies, approvers will need EntityApprovalApprove privileges and NotificationsManageprivileges.

    1. To add a quick response, click the Select button .
       The Add/Edit Quick Responses dialog opens.
    2. Select a quick response in the left column and click Add to move it to the right column. You can also click Add All to add all quick responses.
    3. Click OK.
       The Add/Edit Quick Responses dialog opens.
12. Click OK. The Add Send Notification Action dialog closes.

The notification entry or exit action is added to the step.