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How to Trigger Emails when the Entry Status is Transitioned

Nucleus has a range of mechanisms for admins to contact different user groups in Nucleus. These include:

All of the above options are powerful tools but for more complex workflows where users who are not part of the form submission or checking process, or even users in Nucleus, who might need to receive emails there is another function called Email Automation. This feature allows admins to create power bespoke rules that trigger customised emails to users which can include a range of granular criteria including:

  • Answers to questions on the from
  • Awards and Categories
  • Entry Status

This allow, for example, to cc a user into an email if the answer was Yes or No to a particular question on the form and the entry was in a particular category at the point it was approved. The feature uses the and expands upon the question dependencies so a range of rules can be created triggering emails instantly when previously the recurring jobs as part of the entrant mailout would have been required to be placed into a category and then trigged once every 24 hours.

There are many applications for the functionality and if you would like to discuss how this functionally can support your work flows please create a meeting request support ticket.

How to Set Up the Email Templates

Before you create an automation rule you need to set up an email template prefixed with Mailout/ .

  1. Log into the Admin Interface
  2. Go to Actions>Misc
  3. Under the Email Management section, choose Email Templates
  4. Click Add
  5. On the Add new Email Template Type page give your template a Name (prefixed by Mailout/ ) , and decide if you want it to be Award-Specific
  6. Click Save and Close
  7. The Add new EmailTemplate page opens. Set the following:
  8. Enabled? Yes
  9. Include Standard Header and Footer? As you require
  10. Emails To Queue In This State? As you require
  11. Deliver Priority? As you require
  12. BCC – if any users who are not entrants or viewers need to receive the emails then they can be included in the BCC section of the template. Each email must be separated by a comma and a space. Emails addresses specified here will receive a copy of each email generated for the template
  13. Set the Subject as you require – remember that if the Subject is blank an email won’t send, even if Enabled
  14. Input the body copy in the Content field, as you require – for more information about how to write copy for email templates and using special values view the Manage Email Templates guide.
  15. Click Save and Close

How to Set Up an Automated Rule

Once the email template has been created then it is time to set up the rule for triggering the emails. To action this:

  1. Log into the Admin Interface
  2. Go to Actions>Misc
  3. Under the Email Management section, choose Email Automation
  4. Click Add on the next page
  5. Select the Trigger
    1. Status Change – this will trigger then email when an entry changes status, from Submitted to Approved for example.
    2. Trigger Action – ????
  6. Set a unique Name for the rule, so you can identify the rule
  7. Select the Award which the rule will belong to
  8. Select any Categories if the rule should only be triggered for some categories
    1. If no categories are selected then the rule will apply to all categories in an award
  9. Select the Transition for then the rule should be applied. This is when the entry changes form one status to another
    1. If you select Progression this is the entry moving from one award to another and the rule should be set on the destination award
  10. Specify the Criteria
    1. This follows the same rules as the question dependencies. Select the Question, the Test and the Value if required
    2. Define if the dependencies are AND or OR or ADVANCED
    3. Advanced allows admins to specify a combination of and/or dependencies allowing for some complex rules. Please contact us for support with this option if required.
  11. Select Send Email for the Action
  12. Select the Email Template that you created previously
  13. Specify the recipients by
    1. Entering email addresses comma separated
    2. Providing a special value which will return an email address
    3. Using an internal question name, where the answer value for the question will be an email address
  14. Click Save and Close

Note – we recommend that you test and teak the automate rules as required before opening your award

Currently this functionally only applies to sending emails but we are planning on expanding this to other areas such as progression. If you have any process that you would like to automate please do get in contact as this could assist in how we develop the functionality in future.