Configure Email Settings

Web Tracks can be setup to automatically send email notifications when a new ticket is created or an existing ticket is modified. Web Tracks can also be configured to monitor an email address and automatically create service desk tickets when new messages are received.

To start using the automated email feature you will need to configure your Email Settings. To configure the Email Settings, you must have Administrative access to Web Tracks. From the Admin Menu click 'Configure Email'.

MAIL SERVER TAB (outgoing mail)

From Email - Enter the email address from which the tickets will be sent (e.g., servicedesk@yourcompany.com).

IMPORTANT:
If you are using the Email-To-Ticket converter Web Tracks will not send emails to the account which is used to process the conversions (the incoming mail tab). It behaves in this manner to prevent the possibility of a circular email chain.

If you are using the Email-To-Ticket converter it is recommend that you use the same email account used in tab #4 (incoming mail).

Display Name - Enter a descriptive name for the "From Email" address (e.g., Service Desk).

SMTP Server - Enter the DNS name or IP Address of your SMTP Mail Server.

Port - Enter the Port for your SMTP Mail Server uses. This is typically port 25. If you are using SSL the port is usually 465.

SSL - Check if your mail client uses Secure Socket Layer(SSL) to secure the connection. If checked the default port is 465. If not checked the default port is 25.

SMTP Server Requires Authentication - Check this if needed.

User ID - Enter the User ID you wish to use to login to your SMTP Server (if authentication is required)

Password - Enter the password for your SMTP Mail Server (if authentication is required)

MAIL OPTIONS TAB

The following settings apply when a ticket is processed by a end-user (not a technician) or the Email-To-Ticket Converter:

Email assigned technician when a ticket is created

Email assigned technician when a ticket is updated

Email requester when a ticket is created

Email requester when a ticket is updated

The following applies to tickets which are updated or created by a technician:

Email Technician when assigned to a Ticket (applies to new or existing tickets).

Global Options:

Self Notify - If Self Notify is NOT checked the person performing the action that triggers the email is excluded from the email list (presumably they are already aware since they were the one performing the action that caused the email to be sent). If this option is checked they will receive the email as well (assuming they would have been a recipient of the email).

Send Email in HTML format - Choose whether to send emails in HTML format (when checked) or plain text (when not checked).

MAIL TEMPLATE TAB

Email Subject - Enter the subject text you would like to see when automated emails are sent. The Ticket No. (event.eventNo database field) value will be appended to this value.

New Ticket Prebody Text - Default Value displayed before the Mail Body Template when a new ticket is created (technicians can override this value when manually initiating emails).

Update Ticket Prebody Text - Default Value displayed before the Mail Body Template when a ticket is updated (technicians can override this value when manually initiating emails).

Technician Change Prebody - Default Value displayed before the Mail Body Template when the technician of a ticket is changed.

Mail Body Template - You may modify the mail template to include the fields of your choice. You may choose fields from the ticket, user variables or technician variables as dynamic values within the template. To select a field to include in the email template put your cursor at the desired location within the text area and then select a field from the 'Insert Database Field' drop down list.

You may also include the ticket comments, attachment count and the ticket Url variable (useful for creating a link back to the ticket detail screen).

Ticket Comment Template - The Mail Body template has two options for displaying ticket comments (new to old, or old to new). If one of these are present the output of the comments will be displayed according to the template. You may choose any field within the Ticket Comments table to display. To select a field to include in the email template put your cursor at the desired location within the text area and then select a field from the 'Insert Database Field' drop down list.

EMAIL TO TICKET CONVERSION TAB (incoming mail)

NOTE: If you are not using this feature you can stop the 'Web Tracks' Windows Service and set its startup mode to manual. If you are planning on using this feature the 'Web Tracks' Windows Service must be running. Messages from this service are registered in the Windows Event Log under the application 'Web Tracks'.

POP Mail Host
Enter the DNS name or IP Address of your POP Mail Server (this is usually the same as your SMTP Server).

POP Username - POP User ID of the mail account to monitor.
IMPORTANT: You should use a dedicated email account for Web Tracks. Email that is received in this manner is processed by Web Tracks and then deleted. It is recommended to not use auto forwarders or auto responders with this email account as it could potentially cause a recursive loop. Furthermore Web Tracks will never send an email to this account.

It is recommended that you use the same email account used in Tab #1 (outgoing mail).

POP Password - The password for the POP User Account.

Port - The port used for POP Server (typically 110 for non SSL, or 995 for SSL)

Use SSL - If checked the connection will switch to Secure Socket Layer(SSL) when processing mail.

Reply Separators - If the email includes the original message within a reply the reply separators are used to determine what is the new portion of the email. Replies to Emails sent from tickets are then processed by Web Tracks and the new portion of the email is added as a comment in the ticket. The Email-To-Ticket converter parses the subject and looks for the ticket number in the right most portion. If it finds a ticket to update it will do so. Otherwise a new ticket will be created.

NOTE:
The Email-to-Ticket Converter assumes that the root of your website is

http://%YourServerName%/WebTracks

If this is not the case (i.e., you changed the location in Internet Information Services) you should edit the WebTracksWinService.exe.config file located in C:\Program Files\Gritware\Web Tracks\WinService and adjust the value of the WebServiceUrl key to point to the proper location. See comments in the WebTracksWinService.exe.config file for further instructions.

EMAIL TO TICKET RULES (GRID)

Rule Name
A descriptive name for the rule

Text to Match
Enter the text for which to search within the email. The from address, subject and body will all be searched.

Ticket Type Assigned
The Ticket Type which the ticket will be assigned.

Note: Ticket types can determine who is assigned the ticket as well as email addresses which are notified when the ticket is created. You can edit Ticket Types from the Admin--Lookup Tables--Ticket Types form.

Ticket Priority
The priority to which the ticket will be assigned.

Priority Order
This is the rule priority. Rules with lower numbers will be processed first. Once a rule matches the rule processing exits.

Example:

RULE #1
Rule Name: Internet Problem
Text to Match: Internet
Priority Order: 2

RULE #2
Rule Name: Internet Problem 2
Text to Match: Internet Down
Priority Order: 5

In this scenario the 2nd rule would never be processed since 'Internet' would be found by the first rule. For this reason you should make rules with the most specific text searches have higher priorities than rules with generic text matches.

Active
If checked the rule will be used. If unchecked the rule will be ignored.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING AUTOMATED EMAIL

By default when a ticket is initially created emails are sent to the requester, technician as well as any email addresses specified for the given 'Ticket Type' (you can edit Ticket Types by choosing Admin--Lookup Tables--Ticket Types from the main menu).

After the initial email is sent, future emails (i.e., when a ticket is updated) are only sent to the technician and requesters email address.

TIP

If you would like to configure multiple email addresses for a user account you can do so by separating the email address with semicolons (e.g., jdoe@yourcompany.com;jdoe@personal-isp.com). When setting up accounts in this manner the primary email should be entered first. For example if you wanted Bob and Mary to always be notified when one is notified you would set Bob's email to bob@company.com;mary@company.com while Mary's account's email would be mary@company.com;bob@company.com.