Notification Template Configuration
Notification Templates are Microsoft Word-based notifications used to merge data from specific functional areas, such as permits, evaluations, and compliance actions. Notification templates are used to create a variety of notifications for activities such as item status changes, account-related notifications (expiring passwords, account invitations), and deadline reminders. Notification templates are most often used by System Actions and Notification Templates to create notifications on various event triggers, but other notification templates are triggered by system events, such as new user account creation.
In order to use the Notification Template editor, the AceOffix browser plugin must be installed on the client desktop browser. In addition, Microsoft Office must also be installed on the client computer. While notifications are composed in Microsoft Word, the templates are converted to HTML before sending as email.
For more information, see the Editing a Notification Template and Document Template Syntax Guide topics.
To configure notification templates, navigate to Admin > Notification Templates. This page displays a list of existing notification templates.
Editing a Notification Template
To edit a template, click the Open button corresponding to the template to be edited. Or, to create a new template, click the Add New Notification Template button. In either case, a page opens on which the metadata associated with the template can be edited:
To edit the content of the notification template, click the Edit button at the bottom of the page. The notification template opens in an AceOffix window, which displays the notification itself as an editable Word notification, along with a list of merge fields available for insertion into the notification. Usage of this Editor section is explained in the Editing a Notification Template topic.
Note that, when editing a notification template in the AceOffix window, a popup window will be displayed over the main nVIRO page, indicating that AceOffix is open in another window.
Previewing a Notification Template
Notification templates can be previewed to show how they will look when generated with real data. To preview a notification template with data merged into it, do the following:
- Open the notification template and click the Preview button at the bottom of the Configure Notification Template page. A dialog box opens, prompting you to specify an item from which to merge data into the notification template. The type of item depends on the functional area in which the notification template is being created. For example, if previewing a notification in the Permit functional area, you will be prompted to enter a permit number. (When previewing a notification, it is important to select an item–a permit, in this example–that contains data in the merge fields that are used in the notification template. Otherwise, these fields will appear blank when the notification is previewed.)
- The Notification Template Preview window opens in read-only mode and any merge fields that were added to the notification template are replaced with the data in those fields.
- Click Cancel to close the Notification Template Preview window.
The following fields are available on the Configure Notification Template page:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Notification Name | The name of the notification template |
| Notification Description | A description for the notification template. The description is not displayed outside of the Administrative screens. |
| Functional Area | Indicates the functional area for the notification template, such as Permit, Schedule, Application/Request, etc. |
| Notification Subject | The subject line of the generated notification email |
| Sent Notification Retention Period / Retention Period Date Interval | The period of time the system retains copies of sent notifications. Notifications are purged after the retention period lapses. Notifications are deleted after the retention period whether the message has been read or not. A blank Sent Notification Retention Period will retain notifications indefinitely |
| Program Area | Specifies the template's program area. Setting the program area filters this notification template to only be available on System Actions for the matching program area. |
| Notification Category | Specifies the notification category into which the notification template is organized. This setting is not currently used. Categories are defined by functional area and are created and modified in Admin > Lookups > Document Categories. |
| Notification Datasource | The name of the datasource containing the merge field list; this determines which database fields are available to insert into the notification template. The available datasources are based on the selected functional area. |
| Form Datasources | The names of Form datasources (e.g., application forms, program component forms) to pull into the notification template in order to make corresponding form fields available to insert into the notification template. |
Standard Notification Template Fields
See the Editing a Notification Template page for a complete list of fields available.