Automated Communications
In addition to the manual correspondence methods that are described in this documentation, PeopleSoft CRM applications provide various mechanisms for sending automated communications.
This section discusses:
Automated correspondence within the correspondence management framework.
Workflow.
Automated acknowledgements and automated responses.
ERMS email alerts.
Note: Except for automated correspondence, these automated communications are not considered part of correspondence management.
Automated communications is accomplished within the correspondence management framework by business project or AAF action. Depending on the correspondence functionality required, implementers can keep correspondence generation and handling contained within the system or associate it with actions from other licensed Oracle and PeopleSoft applications or third-party systems.
PeopleSoft Order Capture uses the correspondence management framework to send automated order and quote confirmations. As a task of an order capture business project, an email correspondence (based on a preselected correspondence template) is sent after an order is submitted.
For more information about implementing correspondence management in PeopleSoft CRM, sign in to My Oracle Support for a copy of the document PeopleSoft CRM Red Paper - Enabling Correspondence Management.
Workflow notifications are triggered by events that you define. For example, you can use workflow to notify workers or interested parties about transactions such as cases, service orders, leads, campaigns, or tasks when certain transaction-related events take place, such as change of status or reassignment.
Based on how workflow notifications are triggered, the configuration is done in one of two ways:
Workflow configuration pages.
Use this interface when you invoke workflow actions from the AAF. These pages are embedded in the component that is used to build policies. When you trigger a notification and workflow action for a policy, the framework displays two pages for you to configure workflow. The most common method of triggering workflow actions is through the AAF.
Workflow Action component.
Workflow actions are triggered without the AAF in business project workflow and in return material authorization (RMA) workflow.
Note: While these two interfaces do not have the same look and feel, they share the same functionality and can invoke both processes and notifications as configured. Page elements that are required to set up workflow actions are relevant in both places.
You can send workflow notifications to internal or external recipients. Workflow notifications that are sent to external recipients are always sent by email. Workflow notifications sent to internal recipients can be sent to a worklist or to an email address.
PeopleSoft CRM uses correspondence management templates to produce workflow notification contents. Correspondence templates contain static text and dynamic terms that can be resolved into physical data.
If you use the ERMS and your customers can send communications to your organization through web self-service and email, you can set up the system to automatically send a standard acknowledgement message, confirming receipt of communication that is received through either channel.
If the communication is a structured email (an email that is submitted through a web form), the system may be able to automatically reply with information that the customer requests rather than replying with an acknowledgement receipt only.
Note: Automated acknowledgements and automated email responses are sent only to customers, and they are always sent through email.
The text of the acknowledgement or response comes from different sources, depending on the type of communication that is received:
Submissions on the Contact Us self-service page.
The acknowledgement text comes from the CONTACT CONFIRMATION workflow email template.
Email acknowledgements and responses.
The ERMS classifies email as structured or unstructured. Unstructured email is acknowledged by using a correspondence template that you select for the mailbox. As for structured email, responses are sent by using a correspondence template that is specified by the application class that handles the email. If the application class doesn't specify a template, a default correspondence template that is associated with the web form is used.
If you license ERMS, you can set up mailbox-level and worklist-level notifications. Set two deadlines at each level, one for a warning notification and one for a final notification. If an email is not closed before those times, the ERMS sends alerts to the mailbox owner or the worklist owner.
Note: Email alerts are sent only to internal recipients, and they are always sent to a worklist.