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About Processing Email with Siebel Workflow

This chapter contains information about how Siebel Email Response works with Siebel Workflow, particularly the Workflow Process Manager component, to process incoming email. It also describes two inbound email workflow processes included with Siebel Email Response, eMail Response - Process Message and eMail Response - Process Service Request.

For information about how to use Siebel Workflow and the Siebel Business Process Designer, see Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide.

Siebel Email Response processes each inbound email message using Siebel Workflow. Workflow processes are also used for user interface operations. Understanding Siebel Workflow and the way Siebel Email Response uses it is critical to a successful deployment. It is strongly recommended that you learn the basics of Siebel Workflow before implementing Siebel Email Response.

Siebel Email Response includes some preconfigured workflows that route email messages to the right agent at the right time. You can see a list of the preconfigured Siebel Email Response workflows by querying for eMail Response* in the Name field of the Workflow Processes view in the Administration - Business Process screen. You must activate preconfigured workflows before using them. For instructions, see Activating Workflow Processes.

To use a workflow process, you must specify the Workflow Process Manager business service and RunProcess method in the response group and the workflow process name in the ProcessName input argument of the response group.

You can use Siebel Workflow with Siebel Assignment Manager or a third-party routing and queuing solution to further automate your email interactions. Regardless of which routing method you use, the routing process sets the Owned By field in the activity record so that the agent can view the email on the My Communications screen. You can find detailed instructions for these applications in the following guides:

• Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide
• Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide

Siebel Email Response Workflow Processes and the Mobile Client

When you log in to the mobile client, only a subset of the workflow processes for the Siebel Email Response Web Client are available in the Workflow Processes list. The preconfigured Siebel Email Response workflows available through the mobile client include:

• eMail Response - Client Send Email
• eMail Response - Update Activity Status
• eMail Response - Response Workflow
• eMail Response - Append Thread Id

Workflow Process Terms

The following terms appear frequently in the workflow processes used for Siebel Email Response:

• New message. A new email work item entering the Siebel Email Response workflow for the first time. The message does not have a thread ID.
• Follow-up message. An email work item that has a thread ID.
• Decision point. The place in a workflow process at which a work item branches to other steps depending on a set of conditions. It includes possible branches for that point in the business process. Each branch consists of one or more conditions that must be met for a work item to follow that branch. A workflow process definition can have one or more decision points.
• Business service. An activity within a workflow process. Business services are logically linked together to create a workflow process definition.
• Subprocess. A workflow process that is embedded in another workflow process as part of the workflow process definition.

Workflow Process Statuses

Workflows initially have a status of Inactive, but a workflow can have the following statuses:

• Inactive. Preconfigured Siebel Email Response workflows have a status of Inactive. You must activate inactive workflows before using them.
• In Progress. You must change the status of a workflow process to In Progress before you can change the workflow.
• Active. An activated workflow is used to process Siebel Email Response work items. Only one workflow for each process can be active.
• Outdated. An outdated workflow is a workflow that is no longer used in Siebel Email Response.