Workflow Notification Checklist

First published: 05 October 2023 (cf)
Last updated: 11 December 2023 (cf)

Summary

This article is a checklist how to analyse issues with the workflow notification emails. Please see the Administration Help for detailed information about the mentioned steps.

This information is applicable from Fabasoft Folio/eGov-Suite 2019.

Solution

Walk through the following steps to check your workflow notification configuration.

1 SMTP Configuration

Check that the mail server configured in your SMTP configuration is accessible by your Fabasoft Folio AT Server. Possibly it is required to open ports on the firewall, and allow relaying of emails.

Mails are sent via the smtp server that is configured in the SMTP configuration of the sender’s users tenant.

2 Check that the Fabasoft Folio AT Service is installed and running

Email notification is processed by the Fabasoft Folio AT Service.

3 Check that the Fabasoft Folio AT Service user is Privileged User

Get the operating system user of the AT service:

Windows: The configured Windows user for the AT Service can be found in Fabasoft Folio Server Management at the service entry, or in Windows’ Services app (services.msc) at the AT Service entry.
Linux: On the AT server, check the /var/opt/Fabasoft/instances/COOATService_*/env/FSC_LOGIN file for the user used to login. If the file does not exist, the user is fscsrv.

Find the Fabasoft Folio user by matching the login string property to the found operating system user.

Check that the found Folio user is set in the Current Domain / Primary Domain object on tab System Configuration in the Privileged Users property.

Without that permission, the AT Service user cannot send emails in context of the sending user.

4 Check the List of Automated Tasks

In the AT service users object, on the Advanced tab, check the property List of Automated Tasks:

If a List of Automated Tasks object is set, this list is used by this AT service user.
If no object is set, the fallback is, that the first List of Automated Tasks object with AT service user as owner is used. If multiple List of Automated Tasks objects exist with that owner, the situation is undefined (not sure what list is used).

5 Check for CheckDeadline jobs in List of Automated Tasks

For correct processing of Background Tasks, multiple CheckDeadline actions need to be called within Automated Tasks. See the Administration Help chapter “Scheduling” for the list of CheckDeadline jobs required for your actual Fabasoft Folio/eGov-Suite version.

A guide to find the Administration Help of your current Fabasoft Folio/eGov-Suite installation, see at the bottom of this chapter.

The following actions are required in Automated Tasks:

For email notification, an FSCSCHEDULE@1.1001:CheckShortDeadlines job is required. This action actually is sending the notification emails. Please configure these jobs as explained in the Administration Help chapter “Scheduling”.
For long-term suspended activities a COOWF@1.1:CheckLongTermActivities job is required. The action is checking for activities currently on long-term deadline that untercut the long-term deadline stage, and brings them back to the normal suspended activities list in the worklist. To configure this job, follow the instructions in the Administration Help chapter “Long-Term Suspended Activities”.
For suspended activities to return to the worklist, an COOWF@1.1:CheckExpiredActivities job is required. This action is checking for activities whose deadline has reached to come back to the worklist. It schedules the background task to send the email notification (that subsequently is processed by CheckShortDeadlines). To configure this AT job, please follow the instructions in the White Paper “Configuration of Workflow Escalations” chapter “Creating Automated Tasks”.

To configure each of these actions:

Check if you may already have Automated Tasks configured that calls these actions.
Check that these Automated Tasks are activated and have valid begin and reoccurring time scheduled.
Check the History list of the Automated Tasks that no errors have occurred.

How to find your Administration Help for your Folio/eGov-Suite version

Navigate to your Domain Administration / Domain Objects / Software Components.
Find the Software Component “Help Web General” (HELPWEBGENERAL)
Open the Software Component and scroll to the “Contents” property.
Download the content referred as “help:HELPWEBADMINUsrEng.pdf”.

6 Check the Domain/Tenant Notification Definition

Locate the Workflow configuration of your domain/tenant (Domain/Tenant object / tab Components Configuration / Workflow). Consider the common inheritance rules for configuration objects.
In the Workflow configuration, on tab Others check the Notification Definition. Consider the common inheritance rules for configuration objects.
In the Notification Definition, in the Defined Notifications list, different use-cases have defined a Sending of Notifications:
- Send Always will send the notification without possible user intervention.
- Send if Requested by Receipient allows the receiving user to enable or disable this notification type.
- Send if Not Denied by Receipient will send the notification if the user has not explicitely disabled this notification.
- Never Send will not send the notification and won’t allow a user to enable it.

Check that the requested notification type (e.g. “New Activity Received”) is configured and has set an appropriate Sending of Notification setting.

7 Check the user’s notification setting

The user can define what notifications should be received.

At the user’s dropdown, open Advanced Settings / Workflow.

In the appearing overlay, set the notifications that should be received (e.g. “New Activity Received”).

Hint about mistaking: The setting Advanced Settings / Notifications is not the configuration of email notifications in Workflow.