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Siebel Applications Administration Guide > Administering and Using Inbox >
About the Inbox
The goals of the Inbox are to provide users with:
- A single screen that shows all approval and notification items assigned to them regardless of the screen where the item originated.
- Enough detailed information about the item so that they can act on the item from the Inbox and not need to navigate to other screens for more information.
Table 17 lists some terminology used in this chapter.
Table 17. Inbox Terminology
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Inbox item |
Requests for approval and notification that are delivered to in Inboxes of users. Inbox items point to other records, or to feature objects in the database, which require review or approval. The term Inbox item is shortened to item in some text in this document. |
Inbox screen |
This is the screen where users can perform the following tasks:
- Take action on their current Inbox items.
- View their completed items.
- View their submitted items.
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Inbox Items List |
A view that displays Inbox items on which the user needs to act. |
Submitted Items List |
A view that displays deactivated Inbox items that have been submitted by the user. |
Completed Items List |
A view that displays deactivated Inbox items. Typically, these are the items for which the approval process is complete. |
Inbox action |
The action that the user takes on the Inbox item. Typically, this is approval, rejection, or acknowledgement. |
Inbox type |
Determines some characteristics of the Inbox item, such as which actions can be taken on the item, and the expiration date for the item. |
Destination view |
A view that displays data from the feature object, and which is linked to by the Name hyperlink. |
Feature object |
The underlying entity that the Inbox record points to; for example, a service request record or, for ESS, a row in the SmartScript session table. When you drill down on an item in the Inbox, you see the feature object. |
ESS |
Siebel Employee Self-Service application. The Inbox is an important feature for this application. When this document provides ESS-specific information, the information is noted as ESS-specific. |
Universal Inbox |
This is an alternative name for the Inbox. |
How the Inbox Interacts with the Feature Objects
Inbox items contain references to the feature objects. Feature objects interact with Inbox items through the methods of the Universal Inbox business service. These methods can be invoked using various mechanisms, for example, run-time events can monitor the business component operations of the feature object. The Inbox interacts with feature objects through Inbox actions, which are defined as part of the Inbox type. Integration business service methods are invoked when the users take action on Inbox items. Figure 5 illustrates interaction between feature objects and the Inbox.
Figure 5. How Inbox Interacts with Feature Objects
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About the Universal Inbox Business Service
The Universal Inbox business service is the interface between the underlying feature object and the Inbox items. Universal Inbox business service methods handle creation, update, deactivation, and deletion of Inbox items. CAUTION: Do not interact with the Inbox through any channel other than the Universal Inbox Business Service.
For information about the methods in Universal Inbox business service, see Universal Inbox Business Service Methods.
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