Using Email Responses

The system can be configured to allow users to respond to a work order request notification with an email or text message and update the work order without having to log on to the system. These responses can contain simple text comments or email response codes that trigger an action to occur on the work order. This functionality is commonly used to allow users in the field to make updates through mobile devices, however, it can be used by any computer capable of sending email.

By responding with an established email response code, a user can change status, add comments, reassign, or add labor records to work orders. For example, responding to a work order email with the “OK” response code could trigger the system to change the work order status to Open and add a “Received, OK” comment. Before this functionality can be used, the appropriate email response codes must be set up by the system administrator. For more information, see Email Response Codes.

ClosedHow to Respond

When a you receive an email notification of a work request, you can send an email or text message response.

For the response to be routed properly, it must be made as a reply to the original email notification, and must contain the Request ID. Be especially careful when sending text message replies which may truncate or exclude the original message.

For users who utilize Outlook Web Access, the reply must include the greater than sign (>) or 4 dashes (----) after typing text to prohibit the original text from appearing in the work request. For users who use Outlook Web Access as their primary account, it is recommended that the greater than sign (>) or 4 dashes (----) is included as a part of their signature page.

The response can contain any of the following:

  • Email Response Code – These are the established email response codes set up by your system administrator. For example, a system might have codes set up for WIP (Work In Progress), CCC (Close), or ROH (Request On Hold) that not only enter a comment, but also change the status of the request or reassign it to another user. Your system administrator should be able to export a list of the valid email response codes for your system.

  • Free Form Text – Any text can be added as a comment to the work order. When entering text, make sure that the first few letters are not identical to an email response code or else your comment will be interpreted as an email response code.

  • Labor Entries – The number and type of hours can be entered to generate a labor entry on the Work Order Financial page. Labor entries must be in the following format:

    L<space><number of hours><type of hours>

    where <type of hours> can be blank (for normal hours), OT (for overtime), or DT (for double-time).

    For example,"L 2" is two hours at normal time and "L 1.5OT" is one and a half hours at overtime.

  • Separation Tokens – to add multiple email response codes or labor entries, you must separate them with the *** separation token.

    For example,"WIP***L 3" uses the Work In Progress email response code and enters 3 hours at normal time.

ClosedResponse Example

In this example, the following email response code has been configured:

Sample Email Response Code

If you respond to the work order notification with the following response:

L1.5***Checked battery voltage*** CCC*

The following actions occur:

  • A labor hour entry for 1.5 normal hours is made.
  • The comment "Checked battery voltage" is entered.
  • The CCC response code changes the status to Closed-COMPLETE.

ClosedError Processing of Email Responses

There are instances where the system will not be able to process your request. In these cases, the request will be ignored and an error message will be sent back to you at the same address the request was sent from. The following are examples of these types of errors:

  • If you enter a response code to close the request and you do not have the authority to close the work request
  • If you try to reassign a closed work request
  • If your installation requires a labor entry and you attempt to close a work request without entering labor hours. In such systems the order of the elements in the response matters. For example, CCC***Fixed***L2 will fail because the code to close comes before the labor entry, but L2***Fixed***CCC will succeed.