Incident Synchronization Logic

This topic describes incident synchronization.

When the Exchange Integration Service runs, if the Enable Incident Creation from Emails check box is selected on the Exchange Integration Parameters form, the following occurs:

  • All the folders/emails specified to be monitored on the Exchange Integration Parameters form will be reviewed.
    Note:  Only messages marked as "Unread" will be evaluated.
  • When an email is received to a folder or inbox being monitored, an Incident in created in Service Management and is populated as follows:
    • The service uses the "from" email address and try to find a matching email address within Service Management contacts so that a customer and contact information can be assigned.
    • If a match on the email address is not found, a second search is performed attempting to match the "from" name to a Service Management contact so that a customer and contact information can be assigned.
      Note:  If a match is not found or more than one match is found, the customer number and ship to are left blank on the incident being created.
    • The notes of the Incident are populated with additional information from the email such as the Email To list, Email CC list, names of all Attachments, and the Text version of the body of the email.
      Note:  If the email contains highly formatted/special HTML then the contents may look different from the originating email.
  • Upon successful creation of the Incident, these actions occur:
    • The email is marked as read.
    • The subject line of the original email is altered to include the incident number that was created in the system to track the request.
    • The email is moved to the archive folder specified on the Exchange Integration Parameters form (if populated).
    • A notification email containing the incident number, description, and notes of the incident created is sent to the address specified in the folder/inbox grid (If the "email" column is populated).
    • If Store Attachments is set in the grid on the Incidents tab of Exchange Integration Parameters form, the attachments files of the email are stored to a subdirectory name the same as the incident number created. The name of the attachment file is also altered to ensure a unique file name an prevent it from being over written. Both the incident number and current system date will prepend the file name.
  • When an incident fails to be created, the message remains in the folder/inbox and is picked up from processing at the next interval. Typically, the only reason the incident would not be created is due to a network failure or inability to connect to the Service Management application database.