Defining Notifications

Use notifications to send messages and output files based on task status to email addresses or any output device defined in Applications Manager.

Use notifications to create output files based on task statuses and send those output files to email addresses or any output device defined in Applications Manager. To use notifications, you:

Define a list of one or more notification details.
Assign the notification to applications, program types, jobs, and process flow components.

You define notification objects, and then assign them to process flow components, jobs, applications, and program types. A sample notification definition is shown below. If a task has notifications defined for it in multiple objects, all notifications are performed.

Add Notification details to the notification object to send message text based on task status.

Prerequisite: Specifying Email Settings

In order to send notification emails, you must specify email settings for the Applications Manager automation engine/local agent.

Creating Notifications

To add notifications using the Applications Manager client:

From the Notifications Selector window, click New.

Applications Manager opens the Notifications window.

For information on using selector windows, see Adding, Editing, and Deleting Applications Manager Objects.

Enter a name and description for the object.
After creating the notifications object, add notification details.

Adding Notification Details

To add notification details to a notifications object:

From the Notifications window, click the New button.

Applications Manager opens the Notification Details window.

Complete the fields in the Notification Details window using the information in the table below.
To save the settings and add the notification detail, click OK.

Applications Manager adds the notification detail to the Details table on the Notifications window.

Notification details are evaluated in the order they are listed. If you wish to reorder them, use the arrow buttons to the right of the list.

Assigning Notifications

After you have defined a notification object, you can assign it to process flow components, jobs, applications, and program types. If you assign the object to an application, the notification will apply to any job assigned to that application. The same holds true if you assign the object to a program type. Being able to assign notification objects to applications and program types makes it easy to set up notifications for a whole class of jobs.

Notification Field Description

Field	Description
Frequency	Applications Manager evaluates notifications for a task at least every 59 seconds. However, you select how often the action for each notification detail should be taken: First Time: Applications Manager only initiates the specified action the first time the notification detail is true. Every Time: Applications Manager initiates the specified action every time the notification detail is true.
Status Trigger	Specifies the status that will trigger the notification: Finished: The task goes to a FINISHED status. Deleted: The task is deleted from the Backlog. Aborted: Any failure status, such as ABORTED or TIMED OUT. Failed to Start: Any status that prohibited the task from running, such as LAUNCH_ERROR, DIED, or DB_ERROR. Hold: The task is put into a HOLD status. Running: The task goes into a RUNNING status. Completed: The task completes without regard to status. Queued: The task goes to QUEUED status. Requested: The task is requested or run with awrun. Restart Finished: A task was restarted and has finished with a decimal value run ID rather than an integer. Condition: Indicates that this notification is one that is meant to be used in a SEND NOTIFICATION condition action. For an example, see Checking and Notifying the Time Since Request.
Message Text	Specifies the message sent to the email recipients and Applications Manager output devices you select. The message text is also written to an output file named notif_<run_id>_<series> that you can view on the Output Files tab of the Task Details window from the Backlog and History. Template: Uses a message template object to specify text. For more information, see Defining Message Templates. Custom Text: Text to be used for this notification only. Either method allows the use of substitution variables and replacement values for variable text.
Subject	Text written as the subject when sent as an email. Allows the use of substitution variables and replacement values. The default subject, {status} {run_id} uses replacement values to alert the recipient(s) of the status and run ID of the task.
Email Recipients	List of one or more email addresses to receive email notification. Separate multiple email addresses with a space or semicolon. To select from emails assigned to Applications Manager users, click the Select button. Applications Manager opens a window where you can select the email addresses. In order to send notification emails, you must specify email settings for the Applications Manager automation engine/local agent.
Email Attachments (radio buttons)	Specifies the output files to attach to the emails specified above and the output device specified below (if allowed in its definition): System Output: Attaches only the system output file. Other Output: Attaches all registered output files, except the system output file. All Output: Attaches all registered output files including the system output file. Pattern: Attaches files of a particular name. For wildcard pattern matching, use the % character or .. For example, enter report%* to specify all output file names beginning with report. To attach two files, create two notification details.
Normal	When selected, file contents are attached to the email.
In Body	When selected, file contents are included in the email body rather than as attachments.
Zip	When selected, files are attached in a zip file.
pdf	When selected, files are converted to a PDF file and attached.
System Output As	Renames the attached system output file to whatever name you select. To use the file name for the system file, use the {file_name} replacement value. For example, {file_name}.txt.
Other Output As	Renames the attached output file(s) to whatever name you select. To number multiple other output files, use the special subvar {#}. For example, assume you want to rename output for a program to finance{run_id}, and the task creates two or more output files. You might enter finance{run_id}{#} in this field. To use the file name for the other file(s), use the {file_name} replacement value. For example, {file_name}.txt.
Output Device (On Output Device tab)	Specifies the output device or set of devices where the output will be sent (for example: EMAIL, ACCOUNTING LASER, ATLANTA LASER). Printing to output devices for notifications will be done on the automation engine machine rather than on remote agents.
Output Option (On Output Device tab)	Used for specifying dynamic output options for the selected output device. This field will be active if this value or list of values is defined by the output interface assigned to the output device.