About Task E-mail Notification Replies

When you create a task e-mail notification, it is possible to enable the My webMethods Server user receiving the notification to interact with the originating task (running in the Task Engine) without requiring a connection to My webMethods Server. This is accomplished as follows:

A Task Action Link control enables you to include and define reply links in a task notification e-mail; each reply link specifies a reply e-mail address, subject text, body text, and, if desired, an action that is to be executed on the task after it is received.

A Task Engine e-mail listener monitors a specified POP3 e-mail account for messages on a scheduled basis. Notification reply e-mails are downloaded, processed, and any embedded task action requests are executed. The task notification reply e-mail actions are logged and displayed on the task's Audit tab.

For example, suppose a business process has an activity step that determines if an order is approved or denied. The task developer can create a task notification based on an automated denial of the order (for example, the order amount exceeds the limit authorized for the customer).

This task notification is e-mailed to the account manager for that customer, who is subscribed to the notification. The task developer includes basic task business data in the task notification (for example, the order amount and reason for denial) and includes a Task Action Link control in the notification e-mail.

This control specifies an e-mail account for receiving a reply from the task notification subscriber, as well as an action that invokes a predefined task dataflow action. In this case, the link triggers a service that overrides the denial and approves the order. The link appears in the account manager's e-mail as “Override this denial and approve the order” The task developer can add additional links for other responses.

When the account manager receives the e-mail and decides to override the denial, he clicks the “Override this denial and approve the order” link. A reply e-mail is automatically created and sent (by way of the account manager's e-mail client) to the e‑mail account specified in the link.

The e-mail listener monitoring this account downloads the account manager's reply, deletes the e-mail from the monitored account, and executes the action included by the task designer (in this case, the service that overrides the denial and approves the order). The task notification subscriber does not need to be connected to My webMethods Server to carry out this action.

This is a one-time occurrence; if the subscriber clicks the link again, the resulting e-mail will be downloaded by the e-mail listener, but will be ignored. Security measures are in place to prevent e-mail spoofing and the substitution of non-defined actions.

Note:
Task notifications are sent to the e-mail address recorded in the user’s My webMethods Server profile. Some e-mail service providers may configure their server to remove, alter, or otherwise disable the URL contained in the “Click here to open task” link to comply with security requirements. In this case the link may be missing or inoperative in the delivered e-mail message.

For more information about the configuration and behavior of task notification e-mail replies, see: