Designing Action Templates

Action Templates play an important role in the configuration of HelpMaster, and are used in various features of the software to update jobs, create workflow, send email and more.  Designing a solid set of Action Templates will allow you to use HelpMaster in the most efficient way and leverage these vital features.

Remember that Action Templates are primary used to update jobs, and send email, so when designing them, think about what it is you want to update, and what type of email to send.

The General tab

Name

Each template must have a name.  Give it a name that is not only description of what it does, but also alludes to the workflow process that it might be part of.  This will help you identify and recognize the template when you need to find and use it later.

Category

Select a category to classify the Action Template.  Categories can be created via the System Codes screen.  Classify similar Action Template with the same category.  This will assist with searching, grouping and finding templates.

Assigned to

This is an optional field.  Select a Staff member, or a Skillgroup to assign the job to.  Leave it blank if you want to force the staff member using the Action Template to select.  Use the Q check button to the right of this drop-down box to display the Queue Check screen.

Auto Assign

This field becomes available if a Skillgroup is selected in the Assigned to field.  Choose an appropriate auto-assign option.  See Auto Assign

for further information

Action details

This is an option field.  Any text entered here will also be displayed in the Action screen when the template is used.  The staff member using this Action Template may choose to use this text, or over-type with their own.  Text entered here may be used as prompting text, or instructional text to the staff member performing the job update.  Use the checkbox options on the Security tab to force staff members to update template text.

Email this action to….

Every action that is performed within HelpMaster, either via a template or otherwise has the ability to send email as part of the job update.  Any email that is sent here is either an Email Template, or an email that is composed as part of the update.  Use this section of the Action Template screen to pre-fill these details with relevant information.

Previous assignee

Only becomes relevant when the job is being re-assigned. The Previous Assignee is the person/skillgroup that the job is being reassigned away from.  Use this checkbox to send them an email to let them know that they have just lost a job.  Consider creating a dedicated Email Template for this purpose.  You could also use a generic “Reassign” email template.  In the event that the Previous Assignee is a Skillgroup (the job was assigned to the skillgroup unassigned queue rather than someone specific), the email will be sent to the address as specified in the Skillgroup Email Settings.

New assignee

The new assignee option only become relevant when the job is being re-assigned.  The New Assignee refers to the staff member or skillgroup that the job is being assigned to.  Consider creating a dedicated Email Template for this purpose.  You could also use a generic “Reassign” email template.  In the event that the job is assigned to a Skillgroup (the job was assigned to the skillgroup unassigned queue rather than someone specific), the email will be sent to the address as specified in the Skillgroup Email Settings.

Primary Client

The Primary Client option refers to the Primary Client for the job.  This client’s name will appear in the form title bar of the Action Screen, or is visible from the Links tab within the job.  Use the drop-down arrow next to the checkbox to select other client options.

Other…

When checked, an email will be sent to whatever email adress is typed into the Other textbox.  This address may be an Exchange Group name, or multiple email addresses that have been delimited via either a comma, or a semi-colon. 

The Details tab

Summary

The Action Summary code is optional in the Action Template, but mandatory when updating a job via an action.  The purpose of the Action Summary code is to classify the nature of the action/update that has just been performed on the job.  This code can give meaning to reports, statistics, searching, and is a good visual field when viewing the Action Log for a job.  It can also be used to trigger automation events.

Examples include

• Phone call
• Add note
• Install Software
• Install Hardware

etc..

Status

The Job Status code is option in the Action Template, but mandatory when updating a job via an action.  The purpose of the Job Status code is to indicate the current state of a job.  Read further information about the Job Status Code