Notifications

Notifications inform users about specific important events, such as system errors or quote workflow stages.   

Types of notifications

A user can be notified in two ways:

1. Via email
2. Via the notifications display on the top bar of Epicor CPQ.  Represented by a globe icon, the notifications display lists all notifications for the current user.
   

Sources of notifications

Users can notified about the following events:

Event	Description
Error Logs	When logic inside a configurator, output, or workflow invokes an error, the error is added to the server log and can be emailed to company administrators.
New User	When a company administrator creates a new user, this notification is sent only to that new user's email address. It includes login information so they can set up their own password and log in for the first time.
Password Reset	When a company administrator has pressed the "Reset Password" button for a specific user, this notification is sent only to that user as an email.  It includes a link the user can click to create a new password.
Pending Approval	When a quote enters an approval stage in the workflow, this email is sent to all the approvers defined at that stage.
Quote Approved	When a quote has been approved, this notification will be sent to the user who created the quote.
Quote Rejected	When a quote has been rejected, this notification will be sent to the user who created the quote.
Send Email Snap Code	When the code you write in a Safe Function or Workflow Rule executes the "send email with template" Snap block, this sends a message you define to one or more email addresses you define, using a template you design.

Controlling the distribution of notifications

Some types of notifications can only be shared via email, such as the New User, Password Reset, or Snap Code notifications.  Other notifications, however, can be shared in different ways that best suit your users.  These other notifications can, by default,

1. be turned off (so no email is sent, and no notification appears in the notifications display),
2. be emailed,
3. be added to the notifications list, or
4. be both emailed and added to the notifications list.

Allowing users to control their own notifications

Below the notifications list, a checkbox allows you to release control over notifications directly to your users.

• Check the box, and each user will see a Notifications section on their user record.  They can choose to override the defaults defined on this page as they like.
• Uncheck the box, and each user will be notified as defined on this page.  They cannot override the defaults on their user record.

The adjustments made here are the defaults for this specific environment. Log in to other environments to adjust their settings separately.

For example, you can prevent un-necessary error notifications from spamming your company administrators by setting error notifications in your "production" environment to "Notification+Email", and error notifications from your "dev" or "test" environments to "None".

Designing custom email notification templates

Default templates are pre-built and assigned to all standard notifications for you.  These default templates cannot be edited or removed.   To adjust the notification emails your users receive, you can easily create your own templates and use them instead.

Email Template Properties

Creating or editing an email template shows the following properties:

Property	Description
Name	A name for your email template.
Template Type	Determines where this template can be applied to: Generic: Pertaining only to general-use templates. The "send email with template" Snap block can only use templates of this type. New User, Password Reset, Pending Approval, Quote Approved, Quote Rejected, Error Logs: For use with their respective events. Quote: Pertaining to quotes. Only workflows have access to these types of templates.
Description	An internal description of your email template. The recipients of the message will not see this description.
Subject	The subject of the email being sent. Placeholders may be added (see placeholders below).
Body	A markdown-formatted email body. See placeholders below.

Creating a Custom Notification Email Template

1. In the administration interface, choose Settings > Notifications, and click the "Add" link.
   
   
2. Provide a name and an optional description.
   
   
3. Select a Template Type. 
   The type of template controls which placeholder fields are available within the message itself.  Select the template type which best summarizes the type of message you would like to send. When you change the template, the Subject and Body of your custom template are replaced with example code from one of the default templates, which you can modify.  The "Placeholder" drop-down buttons are also updated, to show the types of information you can place into the template.
   
   
4. Edit the Subject and Body of the email template.
   You can use HTML, markup, and placeholder text you insert by using the "Placeholder" button. 
   
   
   Placeholders are replaced with data contextual to the specific event. Different template types will provide different placeholders in this dropdown. For example, quote-related templates will have placeholders related to the quote the notification is about, while new user templates will have placeholders related to the user being added. When you add a placeholder to your template, it will appear in the form of {{Placeholder}}. It is important to leave this text intact, including the curly braces.
   
   
5. Test your work.
   Click the "Test" button at the bottom of your custom template to have it run and sent to you.

Using Email Templates

After you've defined them, custom email templates can be used...

1. In a notification, to alert company administrators of a system-wide event or an error at a certain level.  These are triggered automatically by the event.
2. In a workflow rule, to alert a group of users that a quote needs their approval, was rejected, etc.  These can be triggered by simply entering the workflow stage, or through the "send email with template" Snap block.
3. In a safe function, to alert of any event you can design.  These can be triggered through the "send email with template" Snap block.  Only templates based on the Generic template are available to safe functions.

Constraints for Using Email Templates

Email templates from Epicor CPQ have the following constraints.

• Links to Attachments can be included, but the actual binary files themselves cannot.
  By sending a link in a quote-based email template, instead of the actual file, we help you ensure the security of your file and the reliability of your email notifications. Specifically,
  1. A link to the file helps you secure your data. Anyone can click the link in the message, but only a user who meets your authentication standards can see the file. 
  2. A link makes the notification more reliable.  Emails with large attachments are often filtered or blocked by many corporate email systems.  Emails with links are not.
     
     
• The body of the message is limited in size.
  This is to help ensure delivery through most global email systems.
  
  
• Notifications are event-based, not time-based.
  Emails are sent at the moment the event occurs, not at a certain time or date.  You can use Epicor CPQ to notify a customer that their quote was approved, for example, but you cannot send an email 30 days after that event.
  
  
• The message routing and "from" fields show the message came from KBMax, a platform from Epicor Software.
  This is simply due to the fact that the message originates on a server within that domain.

To avoid these limitations, read the "Other Options" section below.  

Using custom templates in SNAP blocks

Once a Custom Template for a notification type has been created, you can use it in the appropriate SNAP blocks. 

• If a quote template of type "Generic" is defined,
  then it can be used in a Safe Function you design and call from a configurator, quote, or workflow.
  
  
  
• If a template of type "Notification" is defined,
  it will be automatically used when the notification event occurs.
  
  
• If a template of type "Quote" has been created,
  then it becomes visible in workflow rules, as described in the table above.  For example, if a "Quote" notification template called "QuoteInformation" was created, then in the screenshot below, we can edit a workflow, add a "Send email with template" SNAP block to a workflow stage event (such as "on entry" or "on exit"), and refer to that template:
  

Other options for notifying your users

If you need more flexibility than the Epicor CPQ standard or custom messages offer, you can create and send any email message you like from your own mail server, based on information your servers can gather from our REST API. Some integration engines can even map an API input to an email output for you.

See also

• Safe Functions
• Quotes and Workflows