Using Email Alerts

This chapter provides an overview of the Alerts framework and discusses how to:

Set up alerts.
Manage alert subscriptions.
Send email alerts.

Understanding Email Alerts

Configuring your Alerts framework enables users to subscribe to email alerts from the Discussions module as it appears in discussions, calendars, collaborative workspaces and anywhere else in PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal. Administrators and users can configure the Alerts framework to send text- or HTML-based emails to users to alert them of updated information in the Discussions module. For example, users can subscribe to alerts that notify them when discussion forums and topics in which they are interested are updated. These alerts can be configured to be sent daily or weekly. Administrators use an Application Engine process to send the alerts.

Setting Up Alerts

This section discusses how to use the Alerts Setup component (EPPAN_ALERTS_SETUP) and Email Options component (EPPAN_EMAIL_OPTNS) to:

Define alert options by feature.
Define email alert options.

Pages Used to Set Up Alerts

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Alerts Setup	EPPAN_ALERTS_SETUP	Portal Administration, Alerts, Alerts Setup	Define alert options by feature.
Define Alerts Email	EPPAN_EMAIL_OPTNS	Portal Administration, Alerts, Email Options	Define email alert options.
Preview Alerts Email - Header Text	EPPAN_EMLPREV_SEC2	Click the Preview button for the Header Text item on the Define Alerts Email page.	Preview the email alert header text entered on the Define Alerts Email - Header Text page.
Define Alerts Email - Header Text	EPPAN_EMLTXT_SEC	Click the Edit button for the Header Text item on the Define Alerts Email page.	Enter default header text that you want to send out in text-based email alerts.
Preview Alerts Email - Footer Text	EPPAN_EMLPREV_SEC2	Click the Preview button for the Footer Text item on the Define Alerts Email page.	Preview the email alert footer text entered on the Define Alerts Email - Footer Text page.
Define Alerts Email - Footer Text	EPPAN_EMLTXT_SEC	Click the Edit button for the Footer Text item on the Define Alerts Email page.	Enter default footer text that you want to send out in text-based email alerts.
Preview Alerts Email - Header HTML	EPPAN_EMLPREV_SEC	Click the Preview button for the Header HTML item on the Define Alerts Email page.	Preview the email alert header HTML entered on the Define Alerts Email - Header HTML page.
Define Alerts Email - Header HTML	EPPAN_EMLHTML_SEC	Click the Edit button for the Header HTML item on the Define Alerts Email page.	Enter default header HTML that you want to send out in HTML-based email alerts.
Preview Alerts Email - Footer HTML	EPPAN_EMLPREV_SEC	Click the Preview button for the Footer HTML item on the Define Alerts Email page.	Preview the email alert footer HTML entered on the Define Alerts Email - Footer HTML page.
Define Alerts Email - Footer HTML	EPPAN_EMLHTML_SEC	Click the Edit button for the Footer HTML item on the Define Alerts Email page.	Enter default footer HTML that you want to send out in HTML-based email alerts.
Send Test Email	EPPAN_EMAIL_TEST	Click the Send Text Test Email button on the Define Alerts Email page. Click the Send HTML Test Email button on the Define Alerts Email page.	When you click the Send Text Test Email button, you can send a test email to a desired email address using the default text header and footer definitions. When you click the Send HTML Test Email button, you can send a test email to a desired email address using the default HTML header and footer definitions.

Defining Alert Options By Feature

Access the Alerts Setup page.

Feature

Displays the name of the feature for which you are setting up alerts options.

Active

Select to enable alerts for the feature.

Feature Details

Type	Displays the aspect of the feature for which alerts can be configured.
Description	Enter a description of the aspect of the feature for which alerts can be configured. This description text appears on the Add Alerts Subscription page and Update Alerts Subscription page within the selected feature.
Image Type	Select the type of image source that you want to use to provide the image for the alert subscription. Available values include: Catalog. URL.
Image Object Name	If you have selected an image type of Catalog, select the image that you want to appear with the description text on the Add Alerts Subscription page and Update Alerts Subscription page within the selected feature.
URL	If you have selected an image type of URL, enter the URL to the image that you want to appear with the description text on the Add Alerts Subscription page and Update Alerts Subscription page within the selected feature.

Defining Email Alert Options

Access the Define Alerts Email page.

You must have an SMTP server set up to send email alerts. When sending test emails using the Define Alerts Email page, the system uses the SMTP server specified in the application server configuration file.

Allow HTML Email

Select to enable the Alerts framework to send HTML-formatted emails using the Header HTML and Footer HTML data you have entered.

Header and Footer Setup

Items

Header Text. Click the Preview button to access the Preview Alerts Email - Header Text page, where you can preview the email alert header text entered on the Define Alerts Email - Header Text page.

Click the Edit button to access the Define Alerts Email - Header Text page, where you can enter email alert header text.

Footer Text. Click the Preview button to access the Preview Alerts Email - Footer Text page, where you can preview the email alert footer text entered on the Define Alerts Email - Footer Text page.

Click the Edit button to access the Define Alerts Email - Footer Text page, where you can enter email alert footer text.

Header HTML. Click the Preview button to access the Preview Alerts Email - Header HTML page, where you can preview the email alert header HTML entered on the Define Alerts Email - Header HTML page.

Click the Edit button to access the Define Alerts Email - Header HTML page, where you can enter email alert header HTML.

Footer HTML. Click the Preview button to access the Preview Alerts Email - Footer HTML page, where you can preview the email alert footer HTML entered on the Define Alerts Email - Footer HTML page.

Click the Edit button to access the Define Alerts Email - Footer HTML page, where you can enter email alert footer HTML.

Subject	Enter the default subject text that you want to send out with email alerts.
Reply To	Enter the default reply email address that you want to provide in email alerts.
Send Text Test Email	Click to access the Send Test Email page, where you can send a test email using the header and footer text you have defined in the Header and Footer Setup group box.
Send HTML Test Email	Click to access the Send Test Email page, where you can send a test email using the header and footer HTML you have defined in the Header and Footer Setup group box.

Managing Alert Subscriptions

This section discusses how to:

Administer user alert subscriptions.
Maintain your alert subscriptions.

Pages Used to Manage Alert Subscriptions

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
User Alerts	EPPAN_MY_ALERTS	Portal Administration, Alerts, User Subscriptions	Manage user alert subscriptions.
Update Alerts Subscription	EPPAN_ALERTS	Click the Edit button on the User Alerts page.	Portal administrators can update alert subscription preferences for users.
My Alerts	EPPAN_MY_ALERTS	My Alerts	Users can update their alert subscription preferences.
General Profile Information	USER_SELF_SERVICE	Click the Edit link on the My Alerts page.	Access a page you can use to enter an email address to which you want email alerts delivered. See Enterprise PeopleTools 8.48 PeopleBook: Using PeopleSoft Applications, “Setting User Preferences,” Setting Up Your System Profile

Administering User Alert Subscriptions

Access the User Alerts page.

A user ID description displays if you access this page for a user other than the current user.

Alerts Subscriptions

Use the drop-down list to filter the alerts that appear by feature.

Title	Displays the title of the item to which the user has subscribed to email alerts. When used with the Collaborative Workspaces Discussions module and calendars, these are the titles of the forums and topics to which a user has subscribed to email alerts.
Delivery	Displays the frequency at which the user selected to receive email alerts.
Edit	Click to access the Update Alerts Subscription page, where you can update alert subscription preferences.
Delete	Click to delete the alert subscription. You will be prompted to confirm the deletion.
Delete All Subscriptions	Click to delete all alert subscriptions displayed in the Alert Subscriptions group box. You will be prompted to confirm your deletion. If you do not want to complete the deletion, do not click Save.

Delivery Preferences

Email Address	Displays the email address to which the email alerts are being sent. This email address is defined on the General Profile Information page. See Enterprise PeopleTools 8.48 PeopleBook: Using PeopleSoft Applications, “Setting User Preferences,” Setting Up Your System Profile
Email Format	Select the format in which email alerts should be sent to the user. Text Only. Select to indicate that text-based email alerts should be sent to the user. The contents of the email will use any text header and footer definitions you have entered on the Define Alerts Email page. HTML. Select to indicate that HTML-based email alerts should be sent to the user. To use this option, the Allow HTML Email option must be selected on the Define Alerts Email page. The contents of the email will use any HTML header and footer definitions you have entered on the Define Alerts Email page.
Content	Links Only. Select to indicate that the email alert should contain only links to the items about which the user is being notified. Links with Summaries. Select to indicate that the email alert should contain links to and summaries about the items about which the user is being notified.
Include Overview/Outline	Select to have email alerts sent with an overview at the beginning of the email. The overview contains an outline of email contents.

Maintaining Your Alert Subscriptions

Access the My Alerts page.

Most of these page elements and behaviors are discussed as a part of the User Subscriptions page. This section discusses the elements and behaviors unique to this page.

Alerts Subscriptions

Title

Click to access the item for which you have subscribed to email alerts.

When used with the Collaborative Workspaces Discussions and calendar modules, these are the titles of the forums and topics to which you have subscribed to email alerts.

Delivery Preferences

Edit

Click to access the General Profile Information page, where you can access a page where you can enter the email address at which you want to receive email alerts.

Sending Email Alerts

This section provides an overview of the Send Alerts Notifications processes and discusses how to use the Send Notifications component (EPPAN_ALERT_RUN) to configure and run the processes to send email alert notifications. The Send Notifications component is only used for daily and weekly alerts subscriptions, such as Discussions. Calendar subscriptions are sent real-time and do not require set up using this component.

Understanding the Send Alerts Notifications Processes

The primary process used to send email alerts to subscribed users is the Send Alerts Notification Application Engine process (EPPAN_ALERTS). This process should be run at least once a day to process any requested daily alert notifications.

The Send Alerts Notification process (EPPAN_ALERTS) is the parent process of the EPPAN_ALRTST child process. This secondary process performs the actual work of constructing and sending alert emails.

The administrator sets the number of child processes to spawn from the parent process using the Number of Parallel Processes field on the Send Alerts Notifications page. The parent process works to derive the appropriate range of notifications that need to be sent by each child process and spawns them with the appropriate run control settings.

First, this involves getting the number of unique users who have qualifying subscriptions. This means selecting daily subscriptions whose last notification date reflects a date of one or more days ago, or weekly subscriptions whose last notification date reflects a date of seven or more days ago. Based on this count of how many users have qualifying subscriptions, the range of users can then be split into the appropriate number of sets to be handled by each child process.

These child processes send out one email for each subscribed user for each process run. Multiple qualifying subscriptions for a user are consolidated into one email message.

Email alert notifications are sent by way of the PeopleTools-supplied Notification class. This class uses the same SMTP server as configured in PeopleTools.

You must have an SMTP server set up to send email alerts. When sending emails using the Send Alerts Notification Application Engine processes, the system uses the SMTP server specified in the Process Scheduler configuration file.

Page Used to Send Email Alerts

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Send Alerts Notifications	EPPAN_ALERT_RUN	Portal Administration, Alerts, Send Notifications	Configure and run the Send Alerts Notifications process.

Sending Email Alert Notifications

Access the Send Alerts Notifications page.

Last Run Date

Displays the date on which this process was last run.

Number of Parallel Processes

Select the number of child processes to spawn and run in parallel.

See Understanding the Send Alerts Notifications Processes.

Create Log File

Select to indicate that you want additional process information, beyond the information in the message log, to be generated into a log file. The log file is generated and placed in the Process Scheduler directory; <tools>/appserv/prcs/<database name>/files, for example.

Feature	Displays the name of the feature for which you are setting up alerts options.
Active	Select to enable alerts for the feature.