Improved Alert Rules

Docentric improves Alert rules in D365FO by introducing the following features:

• Configure conditional rules,
• Show system fields,
• Open alert notifications,
• Target a user group,
• View in grid,
• Advanced filtering.

Advanced emailing options:

• Improved Alert Emails,
• Alert Summary Emails.

Alert rule improvements are introduced in Docentric 3.4.5 version.

Configure conditional alert rules

In D365FO, alert rules are triggered by events (fields in the Alert me when section) and they are always created using a form (more precisely – a form data source) in D365FO. So, if you filter a form before creating an alert rule (e.g. you filter Sales orders by Status = Open order), you will create a conditional alert rule. Only if the alert rule event (e.g. Confirmed ship date is due in 1 calendar day) occurs for a sales order that fulfills the condition previously configured through the filtering the form (e.g. with Status = Open order), the alert notification will be created.

 

You can also add additional tables to the query representing an alert condition and overall control it better. You can see the configured alert rule condition in the Condition criteria field in the General tab of the Manage my alerts / Alert rules (EventRule) form.

So, if an alert rule is conditional (the Is conditional field is turned on), an alert notification will be created each time when the alert rule event occurs (the Alert me when and Alert me for fields) and the rule condition criteria (the Condition criteria field) is fulfilled at the same time. Alert notifications will be created only for the active alert rules (the Alert me until fields).

The alert notification will receive the user configured in the built-in field User ID, but also each of the user group members configured in the User group ID field, which is added by Docentric. Learn more >>

Alert email notification will receive all recipients specified in the Email recipients field, if the Send email option is turned on. Advanced emailing options such as using Email templates, the fields Cc and Bcc, placeholders in email recipients as well as emailing via Email distributor batch are available if Docentric emailing is used instead of the built-in emailing (the Send email using Docentric option is turned on).

Learn more on alert emails >>

Show system fields

If you are interested in System fields of the Alert rules (EventRule) table, you can see them in a new fast tab added to the Manage my alerts / Alert rules (EventRule) form by Docentric.

Among other data, you can see on which form the alert rule is created, the alert rule event type: Change based alerts (CUD – Create, Update, Delete) or Due date alerts, the names of Primary table (the form main data source) and Alert table (the form data source for which the alert rule is created), etc.

Open Alert notifications

When alert notification is created for a user, it appears in the user’s Action center. When the user reads it, it disappears from the Action center, but it’s retained in the EventInbox table, which contains alert, workflow and batch alert notifications, and it can be seen on the Notification list form (EventAlertInbox).

For each alert rule, you can open the Notification list form directly from the Manage my alerts / Alert rules form, showing all alert notifications based on this alert rule. You can edit or delete them or change their status to Unread or Read.

 

Target a user group

In the Alert me with section on (1) the Create alert rule dialog form and (2) the Manage my alerts / Alert rules form, you can specify which user should receive the alert notifications (the User ID field). By default, the current user ID is selected. The ability to change the user receiving the alert is restricted to administrators.

Beside the user who will be receiving the alert notifications in the Action center when the event of the active alert rule occurs and the rule condition is met (if configured), you can also configure a user group (the User group ID field), whose members will also be alerted.

 

If the Send email option is turned on, alert emails will be sent to all email addresses configured in the Email recipients field. If Send email using Docentric is turned on, alert emails will be sent using Docentric which enables advanced emailing options. Learn more on alert emails >>

The User group originated field indicates whether the alert rule was created by another user (configured in the User ID field) and originated from the user membership of the user group (configured in the User group ID field). This field is visible only on the Manage my alerts form (meant for regular users) and not on the Alert rules form (meant for administrators).

 

View in grid

View in grid is a tabular read-only view of alert rules which enables advanced filtering and sorting. It can be accessed by clicking the new View in grid button placed on the Manage my alerts / Alert rules form.

Bulk delete is also supported. When deleting an alert rule, all alert notifications generated from this alert rule will also be deleted (after the confirmation).

 

Advanced filtering

Advanced filtering that supports targeted user groups on alert rules is introduced. The same filters are supported on both detail and tabular view (View in grid) forms.

Manage my alerts

By default, regular users see their own alert rules (the User ID field points to the current user) – the My rules filtering option. However, the Show rules filter enables also to show those alert rules which affect the current user via configured user group (the User group ID field). This is the User group originated filtering option and by using it, each user can “discover” for which alert rules he or she will be receiving alert notifications in the Action center while not being the owner (usually the creator) of the alert rule (the User ID field). The third filtering option is All, which shows all alert rules for which the current user will be receiving alert notifications, regardless of that if he or she is the owner (usually the creator) or the rule is the user group originated.

 

Alert rules

There are two types of filters:

• Filter by user, where an administrator first selects a particular user and afterwards apply additional filter per alert rule ownership and user group membership, if needed.
• Bulk filter, where an administrator first apply filter per alert rule ownership and user group membership and afterwards apply additional filter per user, if needed.

Filtering per alert rule ownership means filtering by users which are (or not) the owners of the alert rules (the User ID field), while filtering per user group membership means filtering by users which are (or not) the members of the user groups configured on alert rules (the User group ID field).

For example, we can filter out all alert rules which have owners that are the user group members at the same time. Or we can filter out all alert rules which have owners that are not the user group members on these rules, which means that those users make other users receiving alert notifications without their “consent”.

 

See also

Alert Summary Emails >>
Improved Alert Emails >>
Improved Alerts Security >>