Escalation Email

The information that is included in escalation email can be configured to include certain fields.  To configure the default escalation email for a Project, select Administration | Project | Escalation from the FootPrints Toolbar, then click the Configure Escalation Email link on the main Escalation Setup page. To configure the email template for a particular rule (doing this for a particular rule does not affect the template), select Configure in Step 4:  Escalation Actions on the Set Up Escalation page.  The form you use to set up the escalation email is the same regardless of whether you are configuring the email for a template or for a particular rule.

Note

The Specify Email Content for Escalations page was changed significantly in the 7.0 release of FootPrints.  However, FootPrints is entirely backwards compatible with earlier releases and, if you have escalation email templates from an earlier release, they work exactly as before in release 7.0+.  If you upgrade to a 7.0+ release and make any changes to the existing default template, you must access each escalation rule and re-save it.  In this instance, where you have changed the default template following an upgrade, existing escalation rules will not work unless you re-save them.

1. Either select Administration | Project | Escalation from the FootPrints Toolbar, then click the Configure Escalation Email link on the main Escalation Setup page to configure the email template, or select the Configure link in Step 4:  Escalation Actions on the Set Up Escalation page.  A pop-up window is displayed.

2. If previous templates have been created, you can select one to edit or delete by clicking the appropriate radio button and then selecting the template from the drop-down list.  To create a new template, click the Create radio button and then click GO using the Default selection, or choose an existing template, making that the basis for the new template, and click GO.

• Subject of Mail—Click the icon to configure the information that appears in the Subject line of the email.  The following options are displayed.
• Single Issue notification mail—Applies to single Issue notifications that go to Assignees or contacts.  
• Summary report mail—Applies to summary email notifications (which may list multiple Issues).
• Allow replies to escalations—If the box is checked, the Issue number and project ID are included in the subject, allowing users to respond to the email.
• Short list of what just changed—A summary of what was changed in the Issue that caused the email to be sent.  If you click the icon in each of the columns, a pop-up window is displayed that allows you to specify whether to include changes to internal Issues or Employee fields.
• Text at top of message—Customizable message that is displayed near the top of the notification email.   Click the  icon to display the page to create the message.  The checkbox must also be checked in that column.  The following variables can be placed in the greeting to include the subject of the email, the user’s name, etc.:
• · _WHONAME_ : Name of user who created/edited Issue
• · _WHOMAIL_ : Email address of user who created/edited Issue
• · _PROJECTNAME_ : Project Name
• · _ENTRYTITLE_ : Title of Issue
• · _ENTRYNUMBER_ : Issue number
• Project Name—The name of the Project is displayed in the body of the notification email. 
• Project ID—Each Project is assigned a number within FootPrints.  You can include that number.
• Title—The Title of the Issue is displayed in the body of the notification email. 
• Issue Number—The Issue number is displayed in the body of the notification email. 
• Link to Details Page—A hyperlink to the Details page of the Issue in FootPrints (requires password authentication).

Note

If you are using a custom login page for customers (e.g., group.html), that URL can be specified for Customers by clicking the icon in the customer column and entering the URL. This does not automatically bring the Customers to the Details page of their Issue; after entering their email address, the main customer page is displayed.  Contact Numara Software for details on turning the custom customer login page into a Perl script that directly displays the details of their Request when using the hyperlink.

• Last Edit Date—The last date the Issue was edited.
• Last Edit Time—The last time the Issue was edited.
• Priority—The priority of the Issue.
• Status—The current status of the Issue.
• Creation Date—The date on which the Issue was created.
• Creation Time—The time at which the Issue was created. 
• Creator—The submitter of the Issue.
• Show Subtask or Global Entry Relationship—If the Issue is a Master, Subtask, Global, or GlobalLink, include this reference in the email.
• Description—The Issue's description, with time/date/user stamps.  Two options are available by clicking the icon:  Most Recent Description and All Descriptions. 
• Assignees—The list of users/Teams assigned to the Issue.
• CC's—Any email addresses that are listed in the CC section of the Issue.  Both permanent and one-time CCs are shown, denoted by one of these labels: (permanent); (permanent, but not CC'd on this edit); (this edit only)
• Issue Information—Project field data. By default, customers only see Public fields and internal users see all fields.  Individual fields can be selected for inclusion by clicking .
• Address Book Fields—Address Book data.  By default, customers only see Public fields and internal users see all fields.  Individual fields can be selected for inclusion by clicking .
• List attached files—A list of files attached to the Issue are displayed in the body of the email.
• Attach attached files—Attached files are sent with the escalation email.

• Complete Issue History—A summary of the Issue's history appears in the body of the escalation email. 
• Text at bottom of message—Customizable message that appears at the end of the escalation email.  A different message can be made for each type of mail by clicking the icon in that column, entering the message in the text box, and clicking GO. The checkbox must also be checked in the column.  In addition, variables can be placed in the greeting to include the subject of the email, the user’s name, etc.  The Text at top of message option above describes the variables.
• Send mail as text—Notification mail is sent as plain text. 
• Send mail as html—Notification mail is sent in HTML format.

Note

If both text and html are checked, FootPrints includes both formats in the message.  For most Windows-type email readers (Outlook, Lotus Notes, etc.), only the HTML is seen.

• Custom formatting for text message—Create a custom email template for FootPrints escalation email layout and custom formatting in plain text (refer to Custom Email Templates).
• Custom formatting for HTML message—Create a custom email template for FootPrints escalation email layout and custom formatting in HTML (refer to Custom Email Templates).

NOTE

For Issue Information and Address Book fields, custom email template settings override settings you specify on this page, regardless of whether the custom formatting is for text or HTML messages.  For example, if your Specify Email Content page specifies that the message is to contain only public fields in the Issue Information section and you specify an internal field in the custom email template, the custom email template overrides the other settings.  Refer to Custom Email Templates for details on how to include the settings on this page with the custom email.

3. Enter a name at the bottom of the page under which this escalation email is to be saved.
4. When you are finished configuring the template, click SAVE.

When you have finished configuring the escalation email template, it includes the fields and other options selected for the escalation rules that use this template.  Escalation email notifications are flagged with the "Urgent" flag (!) in Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes.