IBM FileNet P8, Version 5.2.1

Developing Email Notifications

Many organizations use email notifications to notify or remind workflow participants about work assignments.

Typical uses of email notifications in workflow system applications include such notifications as:

The participant was assigned a new step.
Work associated with one or more steps in a workflow is due.
Work for a step is overdue.
An email notification to a Tracker that work is overdue.

To help facilitate use of email notifications, IBM® provides a set of default email notification files. These email notification (.MSG) files are text files (containing HTML-formatted content) that are available for you to customize.

Warning: It is recommended that you do not add email notification files or rename the existing files.

The email notification files contain placeholder variables that are embedded in the HTML. The values for these variables are supplied by the process services at run time. A field variable obtains its values from the field that is named by the string that follows the "$" prefix in the field variable name. The workflow system notification process caches the notification files when the process starts. When invoked, the workflow system notification process performs the following actions:

Retrieves the necessary data from the notification information database
Populates the variables with the relevant field information
Dispatches the file via the configured SMTP service

For more information, see Enabling Email Notification and Optional Email Notification Variables.

Modifying Email Notification Files

Use the following procedure to modify the default email notification files:

Enable logging for the Exception and Begin Operation categories. For more information, see Configuring Event Logging Options.
Expose the associated system fields, if they were not already exposed, or are not exposed by default. Exposed fields are system and data fields in a roster, queue, or event log that were made available for searches and sorting.
Review Email Notification Types to determine which email notifications you need and which default files need to be modified.
Locate the email notification files as follows:
- None (Indicates that the web application is not set.)
  \Program Files (x86)\IBM\FileNet\ContentEngine\tools\PE\msg\en\0 on the primary Content Platform Engine server Windows host
  
  /opt/IBM/FileNet/ContentEngine/tools/PE/msg/en/0 on the primary Content Platform Engine host that is not running the Windows platform
- Workplace
  \Program Files (x86)\IBM\FileNet\ContentEngine\tools\PE\msg\en\1 on the primary Content Platform Engine Windows host
  
  /opt/IBM/FileNet/ContentEngine/tools/PE/msg/en/1 on the primary Content Platform Engine host that is not running the Windows platform
- IBM FileNet® Web WorkFlo
  \Program Files (x86)\IBM\FileNet\ContentEngine\tools\PE\msg\en\2 on the primary Content Platform Engine Windows host
  
  /opt/IBM/FileNet/ContentEngine/tools/PE/msg/en/2 on the primary Content Platform Engine host that is not running the Windows platform
- IBM FileNet Open Client
  \Program Files (x86)\IBM\FileNet\ContentEngine\tools\PE\msg\en\3 on the primary Content Platform Engine Windows host
  
  /opt/IBM/FileNet/ContentEngine/tools/PE/msg/en/3 on the primary Content Platform Engine host that is not running the Windows platform
- IBM FileNet Collaboration
  \Program Files (x86)\IBM\FileNet\FileNet\ContentEngine\tools\PE\msg\en\4 on the primary Content Platform Engine Windows host
  
  /opt/IBM/FileNet/ContentEngine/tools/PE/msg/en/4 on the primary Content Platform Engine host that is not running the Windows platform
- IBM FileNet Web Content Manager
  \Program Files (x86)\IBM\FileNet\FileNet\ContentEngine\tools\PE\msg\en\5 on the primary Content Platform Engine Windows host
  
  /opt/IBM/FileNet/ContentEngine/tools/PE/msg/en/5 on the primary Content Platform Engine host that is not running the Windows platform
- IBM Enterprise Records
  \Program Files (x86)\IBM\FileNet\FileNet\ContentEngine\tools\PE\msg\en\6 on the primary Content Platform Engine Windows host
  
  /opt/IBM/FileNet/ContentEngine/tools/PE/msg/en/6 on the primary Content Platform Engine host that is not running the Windows platform
- IBM FileNet Workplace XT
  \Program Files (x86)\IBM\FileNet\FileNet\ContentEngine\tools\PE\msg\en\7 on the primary Content Platform Engine Windows host
  
  /opt/IBM/FileNet/ContentEngine/tools/PE/msg/en/7 on the primary Content Platform Engine non-Windows host
- IBM Lotus® Mashups
  \Program Files (x86)\IBM\FileNet\FileNet\ContentEngine\tools\PE\msg\en\8 on the primary Content Platform Engine Windows host
  
  /opt/IBM/FileNet/ContentEngine/tools/PE/msg/en/8 on the primary Content Platform Engine non-Windows host
- Business Space
  \Program Files (x86)\IBM\FileNet\FileNet\ContentEngine\tools\PE\msg\en\9 on the primary Content Platform Engine Windows host
  
  /opt/IBM/FileNet/ContentEngine/tools/PE/msg/en/9 on the primary Content Platform Engine non-Windows host
- IBM Content Navigator
  \Program Files (x86)\IBM\FileNet\FileNet\ContentEngine\tools\PE\msg\en\10 on the primary Content Platform Engine Windows host
  
  /opt/IBM/FileNet/ContentEngine/tools/PE/msg/en/10 on the primary Content Platform Engine non-Windows host
- IBM Case Manager
  \Program Files (x86)\IBM\FileNet\FileNet\ContentEngine\tools\PE\msg\en\11 on the primary Content Platform Engine Windows host
  
  /opt/IBM/FileNet/ContentEngine/tools/PE/msg/en/11 on the primary Content Platform Engine non-Windows host
- Custom (Indicates that the web application is for custom use.)
  \Program Files (x86)\IBM\FileNet\FileNet\ContentEngine\tools\PE\msg\en\100 on the primary Content Platform Engine Windows host.
The integer directories at the end of the path match the VWSession.WEBAPP* fields.
Select all of the files in the directory, and change the file attributes from read-only to read/write.
Locate and make a copy of the appropriate .MSG file. Change the extension of the copy to .ORG (to indicate that it represents the original content of the file).
Open the notification file (with the .MSG extension) in a text editor.
Modify the HTML content according to the changes you want to make (see Email Notification Types).
Save the changes and close the text file.
Restart the Content Platform Engine server. This restart enables the vwnotify process to cache the changed files when the Content Platform Engine restarts.