E-mail event listener

E-mail event listeners enable Process Manager to use an e-mail application to initiate workflow processes. An e-mail event listener monitors a designated e-mail account and initiates the assigned workflow process as soon as the e-mail meeting the specified conditions arrives.

Setting up e-mail event listeners

To set up an e-mail event listener, you need to select the workflow to initiate when the expected e-mail arrives. You also need to specify the e-mail account and the specific data you want the event listener to listen for. The e-mail account information includes the name of your e-mail server, the type of e-mail it supports, the specific mailbox (or folder) where the e-mails will be delivered, and the username and password needed to authenticate to the server. You should be able to get this information from your IT department.

Once you have provided the e-mail settings, you can test the connection to insure the listener can communicate with the specified server.

Next you need to specify the e-mail content with the values you want the listener to listen for. You do this by specifying a flat file, which consists of text that includes the values, separated by a delimiter. This could be a variety of file types, including .TXT, .XML, .RTF, and so on.

You also need to specify an external unique system identifier. You can autogenerate the identifier, or you can select a specific column from the flat file to serve as the external unique system identifier. The external system identifier pinpoints the application that initiated the workflow and serves as a reference number to the client application. The external unique system identifier is used within all Process Manager applications to tell the database where to look for new records, what specifically to look for, and what to do with new records. It is also used to locate, identify, and track workflow instances in reports and audit histories.

Finally, you need to provide the required field mappings for the e-mail content. These mappings tell Process Manager how to use (where to place) the specific values found in the e-mail.

To set up an e-mail event listener

1. From the main menu, click Configure | Event Listeners.
2. Click Add.
3. On the Type tab, select Email.
4. Click the Details tab and specify a name for the listener.
5. Click the [ ... ] (Browse) button to find and select the workflow you want the e-mail listener to initiate, then click OK.
6. Click the Settings tab, select the mail server type, and enter the mail server name, mailbox name, User Id, and password.
7. Click Open, browse to and select the flat file containing the required values to watch for in the email, then click Open.
8. Check to see that the values inserted correspond to the expected email content.
9. Click Test, then click OK if the listener was successful in connecting to the email server.  If not, check the server name and authentication information and try again.
10. Click the Mappings tab, then click the Autogenerate external unique system identifier checkbox or use the drop-down list box to select the external system identifier.
11. (Optional) In the Requester field, use the drop-down list box to include a Requester, if you want this information to be included in the audit history and other reports.
12. Click Autogenerate field mappings, then click Yes to save the changes to the event listener. If you want to define your own field mappings, skip this step and use the field mapping tool. See "Field mapping".
13. Click OK, then click Close.

Note: Whenever a new workflow is initiated, the e-mail that triggered the workflow is automatically moved to a folder named Archive to prevent the listener from continually triggering new workflow instances.

To start (or stop) a mail event listener

1. Click Configure | Event listeners.
2. Select the event listener.
3. Click Edit, then click the Details tab.
4. Click Start listener (or Stop listener).
5. Click OK.

You can also use the Spin box to the indicate the interval (in minutes) at which you want the listener to poll the e-mail account.