advanced business rules (part2)

© 2010 Dovetail Software Inc.

Advanced Rulemanager &Business Rules

(Part 2)

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© 2010 Dovetail Software Inc.Join the conversation at: http://backnoise.com/rulemanager

BackChannel

Join the conversation:http://backnoise.com/?rulemanager



Me

Gary Sherman, Clarify


Previously, on Days of Our Lives…

• Intro to Rulemanager and Business Rules• Advanced Business Rules (Part 1)

Both presentations are available on the Rulemanager wiki: http://rulemanager.wikispaces.com

http://rulemanager.wikispaces.com/


CUSTOM NOTIFICATION METHODS


Baseline notification methods

• Email • Notifier• Tone Pager• Digital Pager• Text Pager• None• Forward to my Supervisor


1990 called and wants their pagers back

• Email • Notifier• Tone Pager• Digital Pager• Text Pager• None• Forward to my Supervisor


1990 called and wants their pagers back

Rulemanager uses an external app to send pages

This means we can take over that method

And we can do whatever we want!


Paging Application Configuration

Clarify Rulemanager:SvcConfig.exe (Windows)Rulemansvc.env (UNIX)

Dovetail Rulemanager:<add key="NotificationConfig.PagerApplicationPath" value=“c:\mypager.bat" />


Paging Application

{paging application} -p <pager_type> -t <employees pager number> -m <message to be sent> -e <employees email address>

pager_clerk.exe -p SKY_WORD -t 512-123-4567 -m “This is a message” -e “[email protected]”


Paging Application

{paging application} -p <pager_type> -t <employees pager number> -m <message to be sent> -e <employees email address>

pager types:text pager: SKY_WORDdigital pager: DIGITALtone pager: SKY_PAGER


My Paging Application

• DOS batch file• Powershell script • UNIX shell script• Java or .NET executable• cbbatch script• Javascript script• Ruby script


My Paging Application

• Send an SMS message • Send an email to a user’s mobile device (email

to SMS gateway)• Make a phone (voice) call• Send a direct Twitter message• Send an Instant Message• Send a message to a beeper

(in case you’re still stuck in 1990) • Third party APIs and services make this easy


Additional Nicety – Modify the UI


Which Message?If sending to a text pager, then the full message

is used.

Tip

If sending to a tone or digital pager, then the abbreviated message is used.


Custom Notification Methods

There are a couple of examples on the rulemanager wiki

http://rulemanager.wikispaces.com


Lets see this in action…


CUSTOM BUSINESS RULE EVENTS


Example

Fire a business rule when the Priority of a Case is changed


Custom Events


User-Defined Business Rule Events

Steps

1. Add your event to the business rule GUI2. Create a business rule for your event3. Optional: Create an act_entry for your event4. Create time bomb for your event


Add your event to the business rule GUI


Create a business rule for your event

Object: CaseEvent: Change PriorityCondition: Action: Notify someone


Create time bomb (ClearBasic)dim TimeBombRecord as New Recorddim TimeBombSave as New BulkSave

TimeBombRecord.RecordType = "time_bomb"

TimeBombRecord.SetField "focus_lowid", caseRecord.GetField("objid")TimeBombRecord.SetField "focus_type", 0TimeBombRecord.SetField "escalate_time", "1/1/1753 "TimeBombRecord.SetField "end_time", App.CurrentDateTimeBombRecord.SetField "flags", 65601538

‘Optional fieldTimeBombRecord.SetField "time_period", actRecord.GetField("objid")

TimeBombSave.InsertRecord TimeBombRecordTimeBombSave.RelateRecordsToId TimeBombRecord, "employee", _

App.EmployeeObjid, "cmit_creator2employee"TimeBombSave.Save


Time Bomb Flags

flags = (n * 65536) + 2

for our example of event id 1001:(1001 * 65536) + 2 = 65601538


User-Defined Events

The User-Defined Business Rule Events document on the rulemanager wiki has all the gory details that I just covered.



Lets see this in action…


ADDITIONAL CUSTOMIZATIONS


Adding new object types to Biz Rules

For example, create business rules for your custom object, such as

• widget• license_key• build



• Customize the Business Rules form (472)– Add a new entry to the Object Type List– Add your custom events to the event List

• Add your custom rule properties • Add your custom recipient aliases• Create your business rule• Create your custom time bomb



Refer to the Adding new Object Types to Business Rules document on the rulemanager wiki: http://rulemanager.wikispaces.com


Adding Event Creation Times

Examples:Fire an action -30 days from

contract expiration dateFire an action -30 days from

license key expiration dateFire an action 180 days from

a site’s last onsite visit date



• Customize the Business Rule Action Form (474), adding a new entry to the List

• Add a Property Name Object for this new Event Creation (@USERTIME150)



The User-Defined Business Rule Event Creation Times document on the rulemanager wiki has all the details.



Adding Custom Calendars

For example, fire a rule based on the business hours of a queue



• Edit the Business Rule Actions form (474)• Add your new business calendar to the List• Create a new rule property for the path to find

the new business calendar entry• Create a new rule property for the time zone

for the calendar



The creating user-defined calendars page on the rulemanager wiki has all the details.



TIME BOMBS


What the heck is a Time Bomb?

A time bomb is the mechanism used to tell Rulemanager that something happened in the system


What the heck is a Time Bomb?

A time bomb is simply a row inserted into the time_bomb table


Different kinds of Time Bombs

Rule Scheduling Time BombIndicates an end-user event, such as Case Create

Rule Time BombReflect the upcoming action of a business rule

Message Time BombInternal communication to rulemanager, such as telling it to re-cache information


Time Bomb Flow

An event happens in the system (such as case is created)A new time bomb is createdRulemanager looks at all of the business rules in the system,

to see if this event matches to any business rulesIf a start event matches, then Rulemanager evaluates the rule

conditionsIf all of the conditions match, then a new time bomb is

created for the rule action (this may be now, or in the future)

When this time bomb expires, then the business rule action is fired


Time Bomb Data

The flags field indicates:• which kind of time bomb it is• What event occurredThe escalate field says when this time bomb will

“go off”Other data :• objid of the “act_entry” for this event• objid and type of focus object (case 268435457)


Time Bomb Data

The Business Rule Time Bombs document onthe rulemanager wiki has all the gory details



TROUBLESHOOTING


Common Issues

Rules not firing at allRules firing at wrong timeRules fire, but notifications are not setBad Time Bombs


Troubleshooting

Tip


Logging is your friend

Clarify Rulemanager: set the Logging Level to Verbosemake sure the admin email address is set

Dovetail Rulemanager : set the logging level to DEBUGlog warnings and errors to a separate log filesend email to admin on errors


Rules fire, but notifications are not set

Check:• User’s email address• User’s Notification Preferences• User’s Business Hours• User’s Site’s Business Hours


Bad Time Bomb

A bad time bomb will have it’s expiration date set way in the future (1/1/2999)

This allows you to diagnose itTypically caused by custom time bombsReview log file (search the logs for the time

bomb’s objid)Review the data in the time_bomb record


FUTURE SHOWS


Future Sessions (under consideration)

• Performance Tuning of Rulemanager• Monitoring• cbbatch• Your Ideas?


Learn More

Wiki:http://rulemanager.wikispaces.com/

http://rulemanager.wikispaces.com/


Questions, Comments, Queries?


advanced business rules (part2)

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