9. Alarm Notification

The CRM Module in xTuple ERP offers support for user To-Do lists. Users may either assign To-Do items to themselves—or they may have To-Do items assigned to them. Because To-Dos are often time-sensitive, the system includes Alarm functionality. To-Do Alarms can may be sent as email by the Batch Manager. In this section we'll explore how this is done.

9.1. Setting Up User Preferences

In order receive an email for a CRM To-Do Alarm, the user's preferences must be set up to enable them. To do that, follow these steps:

  1. Follow this path: System > Preferences

  2. Specify the user who should be notified about the Event

  3. Select the "Alarms" tab

  4. Under "Default Actions", make sure the "Email" option is selected

  5. The following screen shows this configuration:

User Preferences for Alarm Notification

User can receive Alarm notifications through multiple methods: as Events, email, or System Messages. For this exercise, we will be focusing on the email method, as emails are sent through the Batch Manager. Select the SAVE button to ensure the user Preferences are saved.

9.2. Creating To-Do Alarms

The next step in this process is to create a To-Do item with an associated alarm. To begin, follow these steps:

  1. Follow this path: CRM > To-Do > List

  2. Select the NEW button

  3. In the "Task Name" field enter "xTuple"

  4. In the "Description" field enter "Learn about xTuple"

  5. Set the "Priority" to "Normal"

  6. Set both the "Owner" and "Assigned" fields to your xTuple username (select it from the list)

  7. In the "Due" and "Assigned" fields, enter today's date―but leave "Started" and "Completed" blank

  8. The screen should look as follows:

Sample To-Do List Item

Now that we have a To-Do created for our user, let's create an Alarm for it. To do that, follow these steps:

  1. Select the "Alarms" tab

  2. Select the NEW button

  3. Set the "Due field" to "15 minutes before"

  4. Set the time equal to the current time

  5. Make sure the "Email" option is selected and that the correct email address appears in that field

    Tip

    You can lookup and add the email addresses of other users who should also receive this Alarm by selecting the USER LOOKUP button. Likewise, the email for a Contact may be added in the same way by using the CONTACT LOOKUP button.

  6. The Alarm screen should look like this:

To-Do Alarm Configuration

Once you are satisfied everything looks correct, select the SAVE button.

9.3. Sample Alarm Email

Assuming the Batch Manager is running, you should receive an email notice of the Alarm right away. The email message will look something like this:

Alarm Notification Sent by Email

Of course, Alarms are sent when they are due. In this example, we set the time and date due to immediately. However, Alarms defined in the future will not be triggered until their due date/time arrives.