Introduction
The Inbound Emails and the Temporary Task Users allow designers to open up their workflows to external contractors while increasing the number of possible new use cases.
Start your workflow by sending an email!
It is now possible to start an instance of your workflow by simply sending an email to the designated email address linked to it. This feature can be customised so that it fits your specific use case. Click here to learn more.
Complete a task by answering an email!
Configuring tasks to be completed by email reply is now simpler. This feature was previously available via the SignalByMailReply Timer which is now obsolete. This improved feature is now better customisable and enables the implementation of more complex use cases. Click here to learn more.
Prerequisites
Some initial prerequisites are necessary to implement the feature into your workflow. To activate this feature your process model must have at least one of the following:
Email Start Event:
A transition needs to be drawn from the additional start event to an activity or gateway.
The process model must still contain the normal start event for the manual start of the workflow.
Task Boundary Event:
A transition needs to be drawn from the boundary event to the target activity or gateway.
Additionally, it is required to draw another transition from the activity where the boundary event is attached to another or the same target activity or gateway. See example below:
As seen in the thumbnails above 2 variants of the start and boundary events are supported (Signal and Message according to the BPMN Standard).
Configuration
To configure the Inbound Email feature, some initial configuration and a per workflow configuration is required.
Set up IMAP Host
For the TIM BPM Suite to receive inbound emails an IMAP Host needs to be configured. This is done outside the TIM BPMN Suite environment (e.g. Microsoft, Google, etc.).
POP3 is not supported.
Mailbox Connector
After completing the setup of the IMAP Host, you need to connect it to your TIM BPM environment. This is done via a new connector type the Mailbox Connector.
Like other Connectors it can be found in the Design section of the TIM BPM Suite, therefore it is required that the user that sets up the Mailbox Connector has the workflow-designer static role.
From there select the Connectors sub-section.
In the bottom-left corner the Plus-Button1 (
) is shown clicking it will show a sub-button-menu, there click the Mailbox-Button2 to create a new Mailbox Connector.
Reference | Attribute | Description |
|---|---|---|
1 | Mailbox configuration | These are the required fields to create a connection between the IMAP mail server and the TIM BPM Suite:
This address is freely selectable.
The typical IMAP port number is |
2 | Authentication | There are 2 authentication Methods available:
Depending on the selection new required fields need to be filled. Optionally No Authentication can be selected. |
Workflow Design
The configuration regarding the Inbound Emails is done on the workflow level.
Connecting the workflow to a mailbox
If the prerequisites regarding the process model are met a new tab is shown in the workflow properties.
Reference | Attribute | Description |
|---|---|---|
1 | Mailbox Connector | Here the Mailbox Connector that is linked to the workflow must be selected. Only one Mailbox Connector can be linked to a workflow at a time. |
2 | Other Configuration |
Configuration of email start
Configuration of task completion by mail reply
Administration
Click here to see what's new in the administration regarding the inbound emails.