If the administrator has enabled the incoming email feature,
customers can submit Requests without logging in to FootPrints.
To do so, a customer sends an email to a FootPrints email account
and it is processed as if it had been submitted via the web. Information
can be included in the subject and body of a regular email or a form can
be requested (see below).
The field breakdown is as follows:
Subject—The
subject of the email becomes the Title.
Body—The
body of the email becomes the Description.
Workspace
fields—Customers
are only required to include Workspace field information for fields that
have the permission status of public
mandatory. If a customer emails FootPrints without
this information, the customer receives an error notification email that
includes instructions for obtaining Workspace field information.
Email
address—The
user’s email address becomes the default submitter. Customers who
submit a Request via email are also automatically linked to their Address
Book contact information based on the submitter's email address.
FootPrints makes the link and places the Address Book data into
the Issue record.
Auto
assignment—The FootPrints auto assignment feature allows you to specify users to be assigned automatically
to Issues based on a custom choice field. New Issue and Request
submissions via email can be auto assigned by including the choice field
data in the body of the email submission in the form FieldName=data,
where FieldName
is the name of the choice field and data
is the field data. The user(s) associated with the specified choice
are automatically assigned to the Issue and receive notification email.
For information on configuring auto assignment, refer to the Workspace Administration topic on “Auto Assign”.
The
default priority is automatically given to all new email submissions—Refer
to Priorities for additional information..
Email addresses copied
(CC) on an incoming email submission to FootPrints are automatically
added to the permanent CC list for that Issue. The Agent or administrator
who takes the Issue can remove the CCs.
To
submit workspace or Address Book field information:
In the body of the
email, include a line for each Workspace field to be submitted.
The Workspace field
data must be in the form:
fieldname=data
For example, if the name of the field is
Problem
type and the data is Software,
the line should be:
problem
type=software
Note
By default, FootPrints assumes that the data is contained
on one line only. For multi-line data, a single backslash (\)
must be added to the end of each line.
By default, the request
is entered into the default Workspace for incoming email or to the Workspace
defined for that particular email account. To submit a request to
a different Workspace, the following line must be included in the body of
the email:
PROJECT=n
where n
is the Workspace number. You can obtain the Workspace’s number by submitting
the listprojects
email query.
Incoming email requests are checked for errors by FootPrints.
Data that is incorrectly formatted is not lost, but instead is added to
the description. For example, if the name of a Workspace field is
misspelled, that line is placed in the description of the request.
FootPrints also checks for invalid data. For example, if
text is submitted for an integer type field, FootPrints does not
create the request and sends the user an error message email.
Once a Request has been submitted successfully via email,
it works the same as a Request submitted via the FootPrints interface.
Agents can take the Request and turn it into an Issue or the Workspace Administrator
can assign it to one or more Agents.
Updates from Customers
Customers can also update an Issue via email. To reply
to a FootPrints email notification:
In your email reader
(Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, etc.), select Reply
to reply to a FootPrints email
notification.
Type your response
above the line that states When
replying, type your text above this line. In this way, FootPrints
only takes the latest information that you add (eliminating duplication
in the Description). FootPrints
does not append anything below the line to an Issue.
Do not change the
subject line of the email in any way; it contains important information
about the Issue and Workspace IDs and is needed by FootPrints to
update the correct Issue.
Click
Send
to send the update to FootPrints. The Issue is updated within a
few minutes. If the email rules are configured to send email updates to
customers and/or assignees, email notification of your changes is sent.
Note
When appending to an existing Issue, the FootPrints incoming
email feature only takes the latest information from a reply (eliminating
duplication in the description).
appears in every FootPrints notification email.
Users must enter their reply above this line. FootPrints
does not append anything below the line to the Issue.