You can define the following types of alerts and notifications for workflows:
You want to... That are sent when... Then choose this method:
Define templates for email
notifications and To-Do alerts A workflow is approved or a
comment is added Set up workflow notifications [page 133]
Send reminder notifications A workflow has been pending for a certain period and action is required
Set up reminder notifications [page 135]
Send email notifications and
To-Do alerts A period is approaching its end
and action is required Set up alerts and notifications using rules [page 137]
Tasks
Set up workflow notifications
You can set up email notifications if the person doing the change and the approver of the current step are to get an email if somebody approves a workflow or writes a comment. This
is an optional step; if you don't define email notifications, the approvers will still get the approval request in their To-Do List.
To set up workflow notifications:
1. Go to Administration Tools.
2. In the Company Processes & Cycles portlet, select Company Settings E-Mail Notification Templates Settings .
3. Define the templates using the following tags that are currently supported:
Tag Name Description Sample Value
APPROVAL_CHAIN The approval chain up to the current user who gets the email notification
List of users
CURRENT_OWNER The current owner of the
workflow with whom the workflow is or by whom the workflow is rejected (if the workflow is rejected by an approver)
User
EFFECTIVE_DATE The effective start date for the
suggested change Calendar date
EVENT The event associated with the
workflow Change Job/
Transfer/Data Change
EVENT_REASON Event reason associated with
the workflow
For Employee Central 2.0, we suggest you use event reasons instead of HRIS actions.
Hire, transfer
CREATED_USER The user who created the
workflow
CREATED_TIME Date/time at which the
workflow was created The company's default date format is selected.
RECENTLY_APPROVED_BY The name of the user who recently approved the workflow request
Bill Mintz
RECENTLY_APPROVED_BY_COMMENT Comments entered by the user who recently approved the RECENT_COMMENT_POSTED Recently posted comment on
workflow by the approver or contributor
Comments posted by approver/
contributor RECENT_COMMENT_POSTED_BY Full name of the user who
recently posted the comment RECENT_COMMENT_POSTED_DATE Date/time when the latest
comment was posted 07/09/2012 RECIPIENT_NAME Full name of the email recipient
Tag Name Description Sample Value
REJECTED_BY The user who rejected/
declined the workflow REJECTED_BY_COMMENT Comments entered by the user
who rejects the workflow
SUBJECT_USER The user for whom the change
is suggested User
VIEW_LINK Link to the approval page
Set up reminder notifications
You can define that the current workflow approver is reminded to take action on a pending workflow after a certain number of days. To achieve this, you have to set up reminder notifications for approval workflows. You can either...
● Set up the same number of days for all workflows
In this case you only have to set up the number of days once in Provisioning.
● Set up individual number of days for different workflow foundation objects
For example, you might want to have a more frequent reminder for promotion-related workflows than for job relationship changes. For simple data changes you might even decide not to have any reminder notifications at all. The Admin can define the number of days for each workflow foundation object individually in the Administration Tools.
To set up reminder notifications:
1. Log in to Provisioning, and select your company.
2. Under Managing Job Scheduler, click Manage Scheduled Jobs.
3. On the Manage Scheduled Jobs page, click Create New Job:
4. On the Create New Job page, enter the required details:
● Job Name: Enter a name for the job.
● Job Owner: Enter a valid user in the system.
● Job Type: Select Workflow Action Reminder.
● Job Parameters: Remind In Days: Here you have two options:
○ To set up the same number of days for all workflows, enter a number into this field.
This is the number of days after which a reminder notification is sent to the current approver of a pending workflow.
○ To set up individual number of days for different workflow foundation objects, leave this field empty.
● Occurrence: Select Recurring.
Choose an appropriate time. We recommend to run this job daily, once a day.
● Start Date: Enter the date when this job should be run for the first time.
● Additional E-mail Recipients: You can enter additional email recipients who should be notified when this scheduled job is completed. Note that this has got nothing to do with the actual workflow notification sent to the workflow approvers.
5. Click Create Job.
6. In the row that contains the created scheduled job, click Select Submit . If you have chosen to set up the same number of days for all workflows by entering a number in the Remind In Days field, you are done with setting up the reminder notifications.
If you have chosen to set up individual number of days for different workflow foundation objects by leaving the Remind In Days field empty, you have to follow one more step:
7. In Provisioning, check that the following HRIS field is part of the Corporate Data Model:
<hris-element id=”wfConfig”>
...
<hris-field id=”remind-indays” visibility=”both”>
<label>Remind in Days</label>
</hris-field>
...
</hris-element>
Note: You can find more information about the Corporate Data Model under Setting up the Corporate Data Model [page 40].
This field is displayed in the system, in the Administration Tools:
The Admin can enter a different number of days in this field for the different workflow foundation objects existing in the system. To do this, the Admin has to go to the Administration Tools, to the Company Processes & Cycles portlet and select Employee Files Manage Organization, Pay and Job Structures .
The resulting system behavior is the following:
When the scheduled job runs, the system gets all the pending workflows. The number of days is determined either based on what you have entered in the scheduled job in Provisioning, or
— if that field is empty — from what the Admin has entered for each workflow foundation object in the Administration Tools. If the workflow has been pending for that number of days, the reminder notifications are sent to the current approver.
The reminder notification reuses the original notification the approver gets when a workflow is triggered, with “Reminder:” in the email subject line. So there is no need to configure a specific email template for reminder notifications.
You have configured the number of days as 2 for a workflow foundation object. If no action has taken place for that workflow, then a reminder is sent on day 2, 4, 6, 8, and so on, until the current approver takes action on that workflow. The action could be adding a comment, or changing approvers in the workflow.
Let's say the current approver gets a reminder on day 2. The approver then makes a minor change on the third day, like adding a comment, and then again leaves the workflow pending for another 2 days. The next reminder is sent on day 5. This behavior will be repeated until the approver finally approves or rejects the workflow.
Set up alerts and notifications using rules
You can set up To-Do alerts and email notifications that are sent when a certain period approaches its end to remind the user to take action. For example, you can define that the HR Admin is notified 10 days before an employee's contract ends. You can also customize the alert and notification template.
Currently, you can set up this feature only for changes done to the Job Information record.
Here's an overview of the implementation sequence:
Step Details
If you want to deviate from the default template, you can define your own.
2. Define a
rule Here you define....
● When the rule is triggered (for example, 10 days before a contract ends)
● Which workflow is assigned to it
The workflow defines which users get the alerts and notifications:
○ The CC users receive an email notification.
○ The workflow step approvers receive an alert in their To-Do list.
○ If only CC users are assigned to a workflow, only email notifications are sent. If only workflow step approvers are assigned to a workflow, only To-Do items are created as alerts.
● Which alert message template is used for the alerts and notifications
3. Assign the rule to the HRIS element
This enables the rule to be triggered.
4. Schedule a
job The first time you are setting up alerts and notifications using rules, you need to schedule a job in Provisioning.
To set up alerts and notifications using rules:
1. (Optional): Define an alert message
If you do not define an alert message, the alerts and notifications follow this default format:
● Email Header/To-Do item name: Alert for (subject user name), (event reason)
● Email Body/To-Do item detail: Alert for (subject user name), (event reason) on (effective start date)
Example for a default email notification:
Example for a default To-Do list alert:
To define your own alert message:
1. Go to Administration Tools.
2. In the Company Processes & Cycles portlet, select Company Settings Configure Object Definitions .
3. On the Configure Object Definitions screen, search for Object Definition:
AlertMessage.
4. Change the Alert Description maximum length to 4000. This enables the user to enter long description texts.
5. Go back to Administration Tools.
6. In the Company Processes & Cycles portlet, select Employee Files Manage Data .
7. Select Create New: AlertMessage.
8. Enter the required fields:
externalName: Enter a name for the alert message.
externalCode: Enter a unique ID for the alert message.
effectiveStatus: Select Active.
alertHeader: Enter the default format for the header of the email notification message, and the To-Do item’s label.
alertDescription: Enter the default format for the description of the email notification message and the To-Do item.
You can use only the following tags:
● Subject user in the format [[SUBJECT_USER]]
● Event reason in the format [[EVENT_REASON]]
● Effective start date in the format [[EFFECTIVE_DATE]]
9. Save your changes.
2. Define the rule
1. Go to Administration Tools.
2. In the Company Processes & Cycles portlet, select Company Settings Configure Business Rules .
3. Click Create New Rule . 4. Enter the following fields:
● Rule ID: Enter a unique external code for the rule.
● Rule Name: Enter a name for the rule.
● Base Object: You can only select Employee Information or Employee Information Model.
Employee Information is a composite of the portlets displayed on the Add New Employee screen. Select Employee Information Model if you want to set field properties in the rule.
● Rule Type: Select a rule type. You do not have to use a specific rule type for setting up alerts and notifications.
5. Click Manage Parameters.
6. Select Alert as object, and enter the code and name as displayed here:
Make sure that the text is exactly Alert.
7. Enter the If and Then conditions for the rule as in this example:
Currently, you can assign the rule event only to the jobInfo HRIS element.
Consider this when defining the If condition.
Note the following for the Then condition of the rule:
● Alert.Workflow Information defines which workflow is assigned to this rule. The workflow defines which users get an alert and/or a notification message.
This is a required entry for the alert rule.
● Alert.Effective Date defines when the rule is triggered.
This is a required entry for the alert rule.
● Alert.Alert Message defines which custom alert message format is used for the alert and notification information.
This is an optional entry for the alert rule; if it is not defined, the system uses the default message template as explained in step 1: Define an alert
message.
8. Save the rule.
3. Assign the rule to the HRIS element
You have to assign the rule to the corresponding HRIS element to trigger the rule.
Currently, you can assign the rule event only to the jobInfo HRIS element.
1. Go to Provisioning.
2. Download the Succession Data Model and assign the rule you have created by adding the trigger-rule event saveAlert as in this example:
<hris-element id=”jobInfo” >
<label>Job Information</label>
<trigger-rule event=”saveAlert” rule=”Rule1” />
<trigger-rule event=”saveAlert” rule=”Rule2” />
<hris-field id=”company” visbility=”both”>
....
</hris-field>
...
</hris-element>
3. Save your changes.
4. Import the data model in Provisioning.
4. Schedule a job
You have to do this only once when you set up alerts and notifications for the first time.
1. Log in to Provisioning, and select your company.
2. Under Managing Job Scheduler, click Manage Scheduled Jobs.
3. On the Manage Scheduled Jobs page, click Create New Job:
4. On the Create New Job page, enter the required details:
● Job Name: Enter a name for the job.
● Job Owner: Enter a valid user in the system.
● Job Type: Select EC Alerts and Notifications.
● Job Parameters: Modified date since: Here you have two options:
○ Last successful EC Alert job run date
If the scheduled job runs for the first time and you choose this option, the alert job checks all the history job information records.
After the first scheduled job run, the alert job checks all the job information records that have been modified on or after the last successful EC alert job run date.
○ Specify a date
If you choose this option, the alert job checks all the job information records that have been changed on or after the specified date.
● Occurrence:
○ If you have chosen Last successful EC Alert job run date, we recommend you select Recurring.
○ If you have chosen Specify a date, you have to select Once.
5. Click Create Job .
This is how the rules are triggered:
1. The scheduled job scans all the job information records that have been modified since the specified date.
Keep in mind that changes to the job information record are only saved directly if they don't have to go through an approval workflow themselves.
Let's say the user changes the location. There is an approval workflow assigned to this type of change. The change will only be made to the job information record after the last approver of that workflow has approved the change.
2. If the job information matches the rule you have defined beforehand, the system triggers the rule and sends alerts and notifications.
Please note the following:
When the job information record change matches multiple rules, and the rules use the same message object, only one To-Do alert or email notification are created.
Here's an example:
Example 1: Two rules triggered on same date
JobInformation
Record Change Rule Alert Effective
Date Alert Message Alert Job change 1 Rule 1 January 01 Message 1 Alert 1 Job change 1 Rule 2 January 01 Message 1 Alert 2
As a result, only one To-Do item is created and one email notification is sent, as the message is the same.
Example 2: Two rules triggered on different dates
JobInformation
Record Change Rule Alert Effective
Date Alert Message Alert Job change 1 Rule 1 January 01 Message 1 Alert 1 Job change 1 Rule 2 January 15 Message 1 Alert 2
As a result, when the first rule is triggered, one To-Do item is created and one email notification is sent for Alert 1. When the second rule is triggered, the first To-Do item is deleted, as the message is the same. A new To-Do item is created and an email notification is sent for Alert 2.