Introduction
Notifications are a vital part of LogonBox, from the Messaging page administrators can configure all manner of email notificaitons to users from, incomplete security profile reminders, password reset notifications, to more passive schedule based notifications such as, notifying users their password will be expiring soon.
This article covers setting up the Profile Reminder email notification, which is used to remind end users to complete their security profile so that they can reset their passwords.
The configuration items covered here are relevant to every notification configuration, some may have fewer options, others the same.
Note: This article does not cover setting up an SMTP server. Self-hosted LogonBox servers cannot send emails until you have configured an SMTP relay. Our LogonBox SaaS in the cloud uses a generic SMTP server by default, this can be changed by following this article, Using Your Own SMTP Server
Step 1 - Scheduling Options
All email notifications are located under the Messages->Message Templates, click the Edit icon against the Profile Reminder template, this will open the Update Message window.
The first tab, Schedule, is where you can set the time of day that the system checks users for complete profiles.
The system will iterate through all users at this time and if there is missing information that is required for a password reset (for example missing answers to security questions), then an email will be sent to that user.
You may also click the Send Now button to run this check and email immediately (template needs to be enabled in Options).
Step 2 - Configuring the Email Template
The email can be configured either using Plain or HTML, it is recommended that if you wish to send HTML, Plain email template is also setup as a fallback. To configure either template select the appropriate tab.
Variables
Variables can be used, these allow values to be entered at runtime, such as the user's name, or email address. The template at delivery time replaces these variables with actual values, so more personal emails are sent. To insert a variable select the replace variable icon, ${} and a list of variables are shown, simply click the one required and it will be added to the email template.
Incomplete Profile Information
The Profile Reminder email template is unique in that it will display which mandatory profile items are still missing from the user's profile. In the Plain email template the special syntax towards the bottom will show a list of all profile items that have not been configured:
<#list credentials as c>${c}</#list>
Step 3 - Configuring Delivery Options
The Options tab provides the following options:
- Enabled - Whether or not to enable the emails from being sent
- Archive - Sends a duplicate of this email to the archive address configured in the Messaging settings.
- Track - When a user opens the sent email, an audit entry is made in the server
- Attachments - Send a file with the email such as instructions on how to configure a security profile
Note: In order for the emails to start going out, you will need to set the Enabled switch to On.
Step 4 - Delivery Options
The Delivery tab provides the following options:
- Deliver To - By default the emails will be sent to the users' main Primary email addresses (this is the email that comes from the user directory). You can choose to have it sent to their secondary or alternative email address (held in LogonBox configuration only).
- Additional Recipients - Additional email addresses can be added to every email that is sent out, for example an admin address can be added here.
- Reply-To Name - The default Reply-To name if different to the one configured in Messages->Settings->SMTP can be overriden here.
- Reply-To Email - The default Reply-To address if different to the one configured in Messages->Settings->SMTP can be overriden here.
Step 5 - Monitoring Notifications Sent
Every email sent is recorded in the audit log, which means admins can visually track which emails have been sent, those that have failed and also the message sent.
Summary
This article has covered the core concepts of configuring, enabling and monitoring email notifications, which are a vital tool for the engagement of users and also to get the most out of LogonBox. The article ran through setting up the Profile Reminder email notification however, all other notifications follow a similar process.
