Question

business process notifications - timing and customization

Workflow Business Processes

Updated November 20, 2014

asked on November 7, 2014

I am trying to use business process notifications to accomplish a task, but I need a little help on the timing.

There will be around 20 files dropped into a folder, I want 1 email sent to the person approving them to notify them that they have new files, about 2 hours after I drop the first one in - to give me time to locate the rest of the files and drop them in there.

In about 2 weeks, I want another email sent to them telling them that they still have files waiting. How do I set up the server timer for this? I can set the due date for due in 14 days, but the server timer only gives the option to send daily and then repeat in hour or minute increments until 5 pm+. Otherwise I could set it for send in 336 hours until forever, but I can't delete the 5 pm, and changing it to midnight isn't going to cut it. I want it to repeat every 2 weeks, how do I set this up? If I set it up to be due in 14 days, how do I set the first notification to go out within 2 hours? If I want more reminders sent every 14 days, how do I accomplish this, since the repeat is only in hours and minutes?

Also, the email notification that I receive has a line item for each one of the documents that are placed in there. This is the same business process and the exact same instructions, and the person only needs one set of instructions, a 5 page email reiterating the same thing 20 times is unnecessary and daunting to the recipient - it looks like a huge task, when it's really not. How do I modify the notifications so that the recipient only receives one little email telling them to check their approval folder?

I have attached a screen shot of a portion of the business process - there are several of the same branches that just route to different managers. When a file is tagged for audit a shortcut is created in one of the manager folders. It hangs out there until the manager checks the file and then it moves along to another workflow.

Capture.PNG (7.2 KB)

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replied on November 20, 2014

Ok, so I figured out a solution and I thought I'd share. With help from this post:

https://answers.laserfiche.com/questions/65285/Find-Oldest-Document-in-a-Folder

and Kevin Robert's input on it, thanks, Kevin.

I created 2 similar workflows for notifications, one for new files that runs daily at 6 pm to catch any new files from that day, and another reminder workflow that only runs every 2 weeks and only sends a notification if there are files in the folder that have been sitting for longer than 10 days.

I loaded an image of one branch of my New Notifications workflow - I have a branch for each of the folders I need to look in, there are only a few.

First I calculate yesterday.

Then I create a Most recent file date token and default that to yesterday.

Then workflow finds all of the program file shortcuts and for each of them it pulls the creation date.

Then I do a For Each that contains a conditional sequence that tests if the creation date for the current entry is greater than yesterday, and if it is, then update the Most recent file date token with that value. And then continue updating the token with more recent values, trying to find the most recent one.

Then I have a conditional sequence that says if the most recent file date token equals today, send an email to the user saying that they have new files. This runs daily at 6 pm.

The reminder workflow is similar except that the date token calculator calculates today - 10 days and then finds the oldest file in the folder. I have a token for oldest file that defaults to today-10 days. Then I find the files and for each I pull the last modified date and if that is less than today-10 days, I update the token. At the end I have a conditional sequence that says if the oldest file (modified date) is less than today-10 days, send a reminder. This will run on a schedule every 2 weeks.

I have also toyed with the idea of if the newest last modified date is 10 days or older send a reminder, as this would imply that they have been doing work in this folder and I don't need to send a reminder if they're active in it, and have worked on files within 10 days, but I'm leaning towards reminders if they have files sitting longer than 10 days.

New File Notification.PNG (18.49 KB)

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replied on November 7, 2014

See the Notification Content tab in the business process notification timer in the WF Admin Console. It defaults to the notification table you're seeing. You can modify it any way you want. If you change your mind and want the table back, just click Restore Default.

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replied on November 10, 2014 • Show version history

I tried setting the notification content, I even took out all of the table formatting, everything and set it to "You have items due". - nothing else, not even pulling in the instructions from the business process.

The email that I received back said: "You have items due You have items due You have items due" I only want it to tell me this once. It inserted one for each of the files I had in the folder - which was 3 for testing.

With regard to the timer, if I set the step to be due in 2 weeks, I understand that the notification will notify them in 2 weeks or 2 weeks+ when it's overdue, but how do I set it to notify them in 2 week intervals after that time? I am afraid that it will wait 2 weeks and then notify them daily after that point? Sorry if I'm just not understanding the timer. The one on the folder level is very easy to set and understand, this one not so much :)

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replied on November 10, 2014

So, every day (based on the business process notification schedule) you would get a list of your tasks. The list would include both pending and overdue tasks (based on the settings for your role). Overdue tasks would be on the list until they are completed.

Are you saying that one you've been notified of an overdue task, you wouldn't want it on your to-do list for the next 2 weeks? This functionality is not currently available.

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replied on November 10, 2014

You could use an escalation activity with a Wait for Entry Change activity which monitors to see if their folder is empty, and an email activity in the Escalation branch. You can set the branch to escalate the first time after 2 hours and then set it to run multiple times, waiting 14 days between each run.

If you want the emails to say more than "You have items due" you can use the business process instructions in the email body as tokens (as well as the participant email/Display name)

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replied on November 11, 2014

Thank you Kevin. I will try to see if I can do something like that.

@ Miruna, yes, I am saying that once it notifies of an overdue task, I wouldn't want it on the to-do list for another 2 weeks. It's not a really urgent matter, and I don't really want to flood their inboxes with notifications.

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replied on November 7, 2014

The timer for the later email is not controlled by the business process notification schedule, it's controlled by the business process steps in your WF. They should have a due date set to 2 weeks. And WF will email the user about the overdue items.

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business process notifications - timing and customization

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