This chapter covers the following topics:
The Monitoring Engine enables the administrator to track the state of a lead and ensure that each lead is acted upon in a timely manner. When a lead has not been acted upon, the monitoring engine can be set up to send reminders to the owner, or reroute the lead.
The lead monitor is set to trigger on two conditions:
When a lead is created (See Creation Date Monitors)
When a lead is assigned to a sales team (See Assignment State Monitors)
When a lead satisfies one of the above conditions, a monitor is selected for the lead based on its scope. Based on the conditions specified, notification(s) or reminder(s) are sent to the lead owner and/or the owner's manager. If the lead is still not acted upon, it may be timed-out and rerouted.
A monitor is active on a lead till the lead reaches the To condition set for that monitor. When the monitors are evaluated again after changes in some lead attributes, the monitors are either stopped or continue to run the course. They are stopped if the lead's attributes no longer match the monitor's scope. If the new state of the lead satisfies another monitor, it is reassigned.
Every time a new lead is created, the monitoring engine is called. If the lead matches a Creation Date (Creation From State) monitor, the lead is attached to this monitor. For this lead, the monitors defined for Assignment From State are never used. The creation date monitors are picked up only once for a single lead.
The Creation Date monitors are also called Absolute Monitors.
If the lead does not match any of the Creation Date monitors, then a matched Assignment State (Assignment From State) monitor is chosen for the lead. Every time this lead is reassigned, the monitoring engine is called. At this time, any old Assignment State monitors that may be active on the lead are terminated, and the workflow for the new monitor is launched. If a new Assignment State monitor is not available for the new state, then no action is taken.
The Assignment State monitors are also called Relative Monitors because they are evaluated every time some lead attributes such as Lead Owner and Lead Rating change.
Behavior of the Monitoring Engine
The following table elucidates the behavior of the monitoring engine depending on the change in the lead attributes.
| Event | Creation Date | Assignment State |
|---|---|---|
| Change in Lead Rank | Monitors are reevaluated. If the current monitor is no longer valid, it is stopped. No new Creation Date monitors are assigned. This lead is never picked up by an Assignment State monitor. |
Monitors are reevaluated. If the current monitor is no longer valid, it is stopped. A new Assignment State monitor that satisfies the lead attributes is assigned. |
| Change in Lead Owner | Creation Date monitors are not evaluated. | Monitors are reevaluated. If the current monitor is no longer valid, it is stopped. A new Assignment State monitor that satisfies the lead attributes is assigned. |
The scope of a monitor is defined by the Country and Rating attributes. A monitor can have either one or both these attributes defined for it. A lead satisfying the attributes is processed by the appropriate monitor. For example, if the scope of a monitor is Country=US and Rating=A, all leads that belong to the US and have an A rating are processed by this monitor.
When no monitors satisfy the lead attributes, the lead is not monitored.
Note: There is an implicit AND between the Country and Rating attributes, if both are selected.
Smart time frames determine the expiration date of a lead. For more information about smart time frames, see Setting Up Time Frames.
The Monitoring Engine uses smart time frames through the Relative to Expiration Date check box. If the check box is selected, and the expiration date is set for the lead, the owner, or owner's manager, or both, are notified n days before the expiration date of the lead. If the check box is selected, and the expiration date is not set for the lead, the monitor condition will never be satisfied by the lead.
The concept of a timeout in the monitoring engine is the mechanism to make sure that leads are followed up within a certain period of time. If a timeout in days is mentioned in the monitor rule set, then the lead is reassigned to a new owner from the sales team after the elapse of the timeout days unless the rule set condition is reached.
Consider the following scenarios to understand timeouts in the monitoring engine.
Monitor 1
Monitor 1 has been defined in the application with the following conditions:
| Condition | Value Set |
|---|---|
| From | Creation |
| To | Accepted |
| Timelag | 1 day |
| Relative to Expiration | N |
| Reminders | To Lead Owner |
| Timeout | 2 days |
A new lead NewTech Inc. is created that satisfies Monitor 1. The monitor is started as and when the lead is created. The lead owner has one day to accept the lead. After one day, the first notification goes to the lead owner stating that the lead must be accepted. Two days after the monitor was started i.e. one day after the first notification was sent, the monitor times out and the lead gets reassigned to the new owner.
Monitor 2
Monitor 2 has been defined in the application with the following conditions:
| Condition | Value Set |
|---|---|
| From | Creation |
| To | Accepted |
| Timelag | 1 day |
| Relative to Expiration | Y |
| Reminders | None |
| Timeout | 2 days |
Note: In this example, the Relative to Expiration condition is set to Y. When a lead is created, it is assigned an expiration date based on the Timeframe attribute.
A new lead HiBiz Corp. is created that satisfies Monitor 2. The monitor is started as and when the lead is created. The lead owner has one day to accept the lead. In this case, technically the first notification will be sent only one day prior to the expiration date of the lead. However, the timeout will still happen two days after the lead is created. This means that if the lead were due to expire in 2 weeks time, the first notification will be sent one day before the two weeks are over. But that would never happen because the monitor would always timeout in two days flat.
Timeouts are valid only for very important leads where an opportunity might be lost if not followed up within a certain time period. For the HiBiz Corp. lead, the timeout is not needed because the objective is to follow up on the lead before it expires.
The Workflow Background Process concurrent program sends notifications and reminders from triggered monitors. You must schedule the concurrent program to run every day, or twice a day, if required.
Use the following details to run the Workflow Background Process concurrent program.
Prerequisite: None
Responsibility: System Administrator
Parameters:
Item Type - Monitoring Engine Workflow
Process Deferred - Y
Process Timeout - Y
Process Stuck - Y
Schedule: Once
Use the following procedure to set up one or more monitoring rules for lead monitoring.
Prerequisites: Make sure the system profile OS:Max_Lead_Reroutes is set. The number assigned to this profile defines the maximum number of reroutes allowed to a lead that is timed out by the monitoring engine. If the lead does not have a owner after the maximum reroutes, it is routed to the default resource defined by the AS_DEFAULT_RESOURCE_ID profile.
Navigation: Log in with the Oracle Marketing Superuser responsibility and navigate to Administration > Leads > Processing Rules > Monitoring Rules.
Notes
Valid From and To Date:Dates between which the rule is valid.
Status: The rule will be effective only in the Active status.
The following table lists the monitor conditions with their descriptions.
| Condition | Description |
|---|---|
| From State | The state of the lead (whether it was created or assigned) when it first qualifies for a monitor condition. The values supported for the From State are Creation and Assignment. |
| To State | The state of the lead till when the monitor conditions are applicable. The states supported are Accepted, In Progress, and Updated. |
| Time Lag Limit | Number of days when the first notification must be sent after the From State changes. |
| Relative to Expiration Date check box | Three possibilities exist:
|
| Total Reminders | Total number of reminders to be sent after the first notification. |
| Frequency | The number of days between two reminders, and between the notification and the first reminder. |
| Timeout Number | The number of days after the first notification when the lead must be timed out if it still satisfies the monitor condition. |
The monitor log keeps track of all leads that were processed by a monitor. For each monitor, you can view details such as the monitor triggered date, the notification and reminder recipient(s), and the status of a lead that triggered the monitor.
You can search for a specific log by specifying the name of a monitor, a valid date range, the status of a monitor, and the name and ID details of a lead.
Navigation: Log in with the Oracle Marketing Superuser responsibility and navigate to Administration > Leads > Setup > Monitoring Rules.
Notes
Reports: From the Reports column, click the Reports icon for the monitor whose log you wish to view.
Valid Date: The Valid Date range indicates dates between which the monitor should have been triggered.