Defining Outbound Communication Requests

This chapter provides information about creating and submitting outbound communication requests and about monitoring the status of outbound communication requests. It includes the following topics:

About Outbound Communication Requests

An outbound communication request is a defined request to send content from communications templates (optionally with field substitution) to recipients associated with business objects, such as to contacts associated with an account. Requests are sent using email, fax, wireless message, pager, or other channels, as defined in the specified templates and as supported for your communications infrastructure. Outbound communication requests use only advanced templates.

You can create and submit requests, or Siebel Workflow and business services can create and submit them.

Note: Administrators or advanced users can perform the procedures described in this chapter.

This topic contains the following information:

Prerequisite Information for Recipient Addressing

An outbound communication request succeeds when the business component records, or other associated records, for the recipients of the communication have the appropriate contact information. Email address, fax number, and pager fields for contacts, employees, partners, prospects, or other potential recipients must contain valid data. For information about specifying the business component fields that contain addressing information, see Configuring Recipient Sources Applets.

Siebel Views for Working with Outbound Communication Requests

Users can create and submit communication requests in the following views in the Communications screen:

My Outbound Requests
My Outbound Request Overview

Administrators can create and submit communication requests in the following views in the Administration - Communications screen:

All Outbound Requests
Outbound Request Overview

Users see only the requests they create. Administrators see all requests.

Note: The procedures in the topics in this chapter apply to a nonadministrator who uses the My Outbound Requests and My Outbound Request Overview views of the Communications screen.

Creating and Submitting Outbound Communication Requests

The procedures to create and submit an outbound communications request are the same for users and administrators, but administrators generally use different views for this activity. For information about dividing high-volume requests into subrequests for efficient processing, see Configuring Subrequests. For information about configuring a list of values for a custom channel type, see Siebel CTI Administration Guide.

Communication requests submitted from Siebel Web Client are processed immediately. When you are connected to the local database and disconnected from the enterprise database, requests submitted from Siebel Mobile Web Client are saved until you synchronize. The Communications Outbound Manager server component then processes them for delivery.

This topic contains the following information:

Creating Outbound Communication Requests

This topic describes how to create an outbound communication request.

To create an outbound communication request

Navigate to the Communications screen, then the My Outbound Request Overview view.
Add a new record in the Communication Request form.
Provide information for the new communication request by completing the following steps.
1. Specify a type of recipient group, such as Opportunity Contacts.
2. Specify at least one instance of the recipient source (such as an opportunity) to determine the actual recipient group for the request.
For more information, see Fields for Outbound Communication Requests.
Add templates for the request by completing the following steps:
1. Click the Request Templates view tab.
2. In the Request Templates list, add a new record.
3. Choose one or more existing templates from the dialog box that appears.
  In the dialog box, a user can see the templates for which the primary business component of the associated recipient group matches the business component of the recipient group for the request. That user created the listed templates, or the listed templates are publicly accessible. In the dialog box, an administrator can see all templates.
  
  In the requests views, records for templates are read-only. You can modify the template in the end-user or administrator views for templates. For more information, see Configuring Communications Templates
Optionally, specify the number of subrequests for the request by completing the following steps:
1. Click Subrequests on the Communication Request form or the Communication Requests list.
2. In the dialog box that appears, specify a number between 2 and 26 to indicate the number of subrequests that must process the parent request.
For more information, see Configuring Subrequests.
Submit the request.
For more information, see Submitting Outbound Communication Requests.

Submitting Outbound Communication Requests

This topic describes how to submit an outbound communication request that you create.

Note: If the Communications Outbound Manager component aborts, then a communication request that is already submitted can be resumed automatically when restarting the Siebel Server. Alternatively, you can resubmit the request to process it from start to finish. For more information, see Restarting an Aborted Communications Outbound Manager Component, Monitoring Outbound Communication Requests, and Monitoring Outbound Communication Requests as Server Requests.

To submit an outbound communication request

Navigate to the Communications screen, then the My Outbound Requests view.
In the Communication Requests list, select the record for a communication request to submit.
A user can see the requests that user created. An administrator can see all requests.
From the Show drop-down list, choose My Outbound Request Overview.
Verify that the request is correctly configured and includes the intended templates, and modify the request, as appropriate.
Click Submit in the Communication Request form.
If the Server Request Processor, Server Request Broker, and Communications Outbound Manager server components correctly process the communication request, then the request is passed to the appropriate messaging applications for delivery to the intended recipients.
Monitor the progress of the request, as appropriate.
For information about monitoring requests, see Monitoring Outbound Communication Requests and Monitoring Outbound Communication Requests as Server Requests.

Configuring Subrequests

You can divide an outbound communication request into subrequests. More than one instance of the Communications Outbound Manager server component can process the subrequests to achieve greater scalability for requests with a large number of recipients or high processing demands.

You can specify from two to 26 subrequests for a request. Subrequests are allocated by using the last name of each recipient.

For example, if you specify two subrequests, then one subrequest handles all recipients with last names A through M, and the second subrequest handles all recipients with last names N through Z. If you specify three subrequests, then recipients are allocated to three alphabetical groupings (A through I, J through R, and S through Z). If you specify four subrequests, then recipients are allocated to four alphabetical groupings (A through F, G through M, N through S, and T through Z), and so on.

Subrequests are distributed to multiple instances of the server component with a name that you specify for the request. This approach load-balances your communication requests to achieve scalability objectives, particularly when subrequests are divided among multiple Siebel Server computers. Server Request Processor and Server Request Broker distribute requests.

If you click the Subrequests button after you specify subrequests, then the number of subrequests appears. After a request is processed, the Communication Subrequests view tab displays a list of the subrequests for the request. The form that appears below the Communication Subrequests list includes the Recipient Search Specification field. This field might display information about how the set of recipients for the subrequest is defined.

To configure your application for optimal processing of high-volume outbound communication requests using subrequests, you can designate Siebel Server instances running on multiple server computers to run Communications Outbound Manager. For more information about Communications Outbound Manager, see Administering Communications Outbound Manager.

Note: You cannot specify subrequests for any outbound communication request with more than one recipient source object. For example, for a request that is based on the Campaign Contacts recipient group, specify only one campaign record if you want to specify subrequests for the request.

Subrequest SQL File Option

Depending on the requirements for your deployment, your company might choose to implement alternative SQL for processing subrequests. In this scenario, you create a SQL file to be read in place of the default Siebel method of processing subrequests.

You must name this file commoutboundmgr.cfg and place it in the CMS subdirectory of the Siebel File System directory. For example, depending on your installation, the full path might be as follows:

C:\sba82\FS\CMS\commoutboundmgr.cfg

If no file with this name exists in the designated location, then the default hardcoded SQL from Oracle is used to process subrequests.

Deleting Outbound Communication Requests

You can delete a record for an outbound communication request. A user can delete any request the user creates. A Siebel administrator can delete any request.

If you delete a request, and the request is processing (the status changed from Submitted to Processing), then the request continues processing until completion.

Fields for Outbound Communication Requests

This topic describes the fields for outbound communication requests. Several fields are read only, and you reference them for tracking purposes.

Note: All fields do not appear in all of the outbound request views. Check the application user interface for the specific views in which a particular field appears.

The following fields apply to outbound communication requests:

Description. Enter a description for the request.
Request #. (read only) A unique ID for each request. This ID is generated when you create the request.
Recipient Group. Select from a drop-down list the group of intended recipients for the communication. The recipients might be, for example, all contacts associated with an opportunity. This group is Opportunity Contacts.
After you specify the recipient group, the Recipient Sources list in My Outbound Request Overview changes to reflect the business object, such as Opportunities, that represents the source from which the recipients are derived. The source business object for the recipients is identified using a label that appears on the right side of the applet header area.
You add records to the Recipient Sources list, which is renamed to reflect the specified business object, to specify one or more instances of the primary business component for this business object, such as particular opportunities.
The read-only Recipients list, which appears below the Recipient Sources list, shows every individual recipient to whom a separate instance of the communication is sent, such as the Opportunity Contacts for each opportunity.

Note: The Recipient Group drop-down list displays recipient group types for many major business objects and business components. For a list of the predefined values and the business object and business component associated with each recipient group, see Predefined Recipient Groups.
You can customize the values that appear in the Recipient Group drop-down list. For more information, see Configuring Recipient Groups for Requests and Advanced Templates.

Default Preference. Specify a default delivery type to use for communication requests to each recipient if the Only Send Preference check box is selected for the request, and no communications preference is specified for the recipient. For more information, see the description for Only Send Preference.
Only Send Preference. Select this option to send to each recipient only the templates that match the recipient’s communications preference, if this preference is specified, or that match the channel preference in the Default Preference field.
If you construct a communication request that contains templates of more than one channel type, and you select this option, then a recipient can receive communications only for a single channel type.
The communications preference field that the Only Send Preference check box affects generally corresponds to the setting of the Recipient Preferred Medium Field user property for the business component.
For example, for both employees and contacts, the Preferred Communications field is the default field containing the channel preference. (For contacts, the caption for this field is Contact Method.) If you do not define this user property, then the preference is retrieved from the Preferred Communications field if the business component includes such a field. For more information, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide.
If the communications preference is not specified for a recipient, and the Only Send Preference check box is selected, then the preference in the Default Preference field is used for that recipient.

Start Time. (read only) The time that the Communications Outbound Manager server component starts to process the request.
End Time. (read only) The time that the request is fulfilled.
Created. (read only) The time that the request is created.
Created By. (read only) The user who creates the request.
Status. (read only) The current status of the request. For more information, see Monitoring Outbound Communication Requests.
Status Message. (read only) Status message text, if any, that the Communications Outbound Manager server component for the request generates. For more information, see Monitoring Outbound Communication Requests.
Comments. Enter comments about the request.
Component Name. The name of the server component that is to process the outbound communication request. For more information, see Administering Communications Outbound Manager and Siebel System Administration Guide.
The default component name is CommOutboundMgr (for Communications Outbound Manager). If you configure any new server components that are based on CommOutboundMgr, then you can specify another component name in this field.
For example, if you create and configure the CommOutboundMgr2 server component, and you want an instance of this component to process the current request, then specify this new component name in this field.

Note: If your Siebel application deployment involves different Siebel runtime repositories, then run differently named server components that are based on CommOutboundMgr for each different repository file used by one or more Siebel Server. Otherwise, field data might not be correctly substituted in your communications templates.

Note: According to your environment configuration, more than one server task (for the server component designated to handle a request) might process subrequests for the request. For more information about subrequests, see Configuring Subrequests.

Restarting an Aborted Communications Outbound Manager Component

If the Siebel Server aborts (or the host computer stops) while the Communications Outbound Manager component is processing a communication request, then Communications Outbound Manager creates a file in the Siebel File System containing information about the last sent message. The file is named CommOutboundMgrxxx.crf, where xxx is the ID number for the request.

If, later, a request with the same request ID is submitted, then Communications Outbound Manager detects the corresponding file CRF file and resumes processing the request where it stopped processing.

If a user modifies the request or the template data after the request was originally submitted, then the total message output of the resumed request plus the aborted request might not exactly match the output that the original request would have generated if the Communications Outbound Manager did not abort the original request.

You can delete the CRF file if you do not need it. If you delete the CRF file and resubmit the request, then the request is processed completely from start to finish.

The restart capability described in this topic applies only when the Communications Outbound Manager component aborts while processing a valid communication request. It does not apply when the component stops processing a request due to an error, such as incorrectly specified recipients. In such a scenario, Communications Outbound Manager does not abort and can continue to receive and process requests.

Monitoring Outbound Communication Requests

In the views for working with outbound communication requests, you can monitor outbound communication requests that users or administrators initiate. These views display the status of each communication request that the Communications Outbound Manager component processes.

Note: It is recommended that you specify text for the Comments field when you create requests. Such comment text can help you to identify or differentiate requests or subrequests that you monitor.

For more information about monitoring requests, see the following content:

To monitor outbound communication requests

Navigate to one of the following views:
- Administration - Communications screen, then the All Outbound Requests view
- Communications screen, then the My Outbound Requests view
In the Communication Requests list, query the listed communication requests for all records matching certain criteria, and check the status for these requests.
For example, you might want to find all email requests with a particular status, all requests that a particular user created or submitted, or all requests submitted to a specific server component.
As applicable, in the Communications Subrequests list, browse the listed subrequests for a submitted request, and check the status for each subrequest.

Status Settings for Outbound Communication Requests

For each outbound communication request record, or subrequest record, detailed status information might appear in the Status Message field. In addition, the Status field displays one of the following values:

In Progress. The request is created but not yet submitted for the Communications Outbound Manager server component processing.
Submitted. The request is submitted to the Communications Outbound Manager server component. The request has this status even if Communications Outbound Manager has not yet received it.
Processing. Communications Outbound Manager received and is processing the request.
Done. Communications Outbound Manager successfully completed processing the request.
Incomplete. The request was not fully processed because it did not include all necessary information, for example, one or more recipients were not resolved, no templates were specified for the request, or a template was invalid.
A request with subrequests might have the status Incomplete if only some of the subrequests were correctly processed. Each subrequest has its own status. Resubmit any subrequest that is not processed.

Note: If address information, such as the email address, is not available for any of the recipients of a communication request, then the request status after processing is Incomplete. However, this status does not indicate that Communications Outbound Manager did not deliver to the recipients with available addresses.

Monitoring Outbound Communication Requests as Server Requests

In the Jobs view of the Administration - Server Management screen, an administrator can monitor outbound communication requests that users or administrators initiate. This view displays the status of a request that is sent as a server request to the Communications Outbound Manager component for processing as a communication request. For more information about server requests, see Siebel System Administration Guide.

When a user or an administrator clicks the Submit button to submit an outbound communication request that Communications Outbound Manager sends, a Siebel Server request is created.

The Server Request Processor and Server Request Broker server components initially process the request, then pass it to the Communications Outbound Manager server component for further processing.

Note: Server Request Processor and Server Request Broker must be running for Communications Outbound Manager to operate. Request processing depends on the availability of these components. Delays in request processing might be due to intermittent availability of these components.

In addition to submitting a request, the administrator can perform the following actions on a request:

Hold. Hold back a request from the queue.
Resume. Place a request back in the queue.
Cancel. Cancel a request that is currently in the queue.

To monitor outbound communication requests as server requests

Navigate to the Administration - Server Management screen.
Click the Jobs link.
In the Jobs list or the Job Detail form, query for all server request records in which the value for the Component or Job field is Communications Outbound Manager (or the component name for your implementation).

Status Settings for Server Requests

For each outbound communication request record, the Status field in the Jobs view displays one of the following values:

Queued. Server Request Processor and Server Request Broker queued the request, and the request is not yet passed to the Communications Outbound Manager server component.
Active. The request is currently processing.
Success. The request successfully processed.
On Hold. An administrator placed the request on hold. Placing a request on hold removes it from the queue.
Cancelled. An administrator cancelled the request.

Note: After an outbound communication request is submitted for processing, you can cancel it as a server request only from the Jobs view. You can cancel a request only if it has a status of On Hold or Queued.
Error. An error occurred during request processing, and Server Request Processor and Server Request Broker did not successfully pass the request to Communications Outbound Manager.

Note: If a request has the Error status, then use one of the communication request views to obtain more detailed status information. For more information, see Monitoring Outbound Communication Requests.

Viewing Activity Records for Outbound Communication Requests

Users and administrators can monitor and troubleshoot communication requests that include particular templates by viewing activity logs or Siebel Communications Server logs.

You specify activity logging by selecting the Create Activity check box when you create an advanced template. You view activity records in the Activities screen. For more information, see Fields for Templates.

The procedure in this topic for the All Templates view of the Administration - Communications screen also applies to the My Templates view of the Communications screen.

If the Create Activity check box is selected for a template, then one activity is generated for each recipient after the message is sent to that recipient.

The message body text (and some other data, such as the sender name and the To line) appears in the Email Body field, up to a size of at least 16,000 characters. (The actual length depends on your Siebel database).

Note: When a message is sent to a large number of recipients, an equally large number of activity records is generated.

To set activity logging for any requests using a particular template

Navigate to the Administration - Communications screen, then the All Templates view.
In the Templates list, select a template to include in an outbound communication request.
Click the Advanced tab.
Select the Create Activity check box.
Any outbound communication requests that include this template generate activity records.

Viewing Activity Records for Requests

Complete the procedure in this topic to view activity records for requests.

To view activity records for requests

Navigate to the Activities screen, then the Activity List view.
Choose All Activities.
In the All Activities view, query activities by searching for all relevant activity records.
For example, the Activity Type differentiates Communications Outbound Manager activities as follows:
- For activities logged for email templates, Email - Outbound is the activity type.
- For activities logged for fax templates, Fax - Outbound is the activity type.
- For activities logged for pager templates, Paging is the activity type.