Alerts - Setup and Configuration

AX 2009

Sumit Loya

3/17/2009

Alerts – Setup and Configuration

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 P a g e | 2

Table of Contents

1. Setups required for receiving alerts ...................................................................................................... 3

1.1 Enable receiving of alerts on the user account options................................................................ 3

1.2 Setup E-mail templates ................................................................................................................. 4

1.3 Setup E-mail parameters............................................................................................................... 7

1.4 Setup Alert parameters ................................................................................................................. 8

1.5 Setup batch groups ....................................................................................................................... 8

1.6 Start the alerts and email jobs in the batch mode ....................................................................... 9

2. Configuring an Alert Rule .................................................................................................................... 12

3. Managing alerts .................................................................................................................................. 16

3.1 Manage alert rules ...................................................................................................................... 16

3.2 Notifications ................................................................................................................................ 18


1. Setups required for receiving alerts Before a user can start defining rules for receiving alerts, he/she need to be sure that proper setup is in

place. Following setups need to be done before receiving any alerts

1. Enable receiving of alerts on the user account options

2. Setup E-mail templates (Mandatory if emails also need to be sent)

3. Setup E-mail parameters (Mandatory if emails also need to be sent)

4. Setup Alert parameters

5. Setup “Batch groups”

6. Start the alerts and email jobs in the batch mode

1.1 Enable receiving of alerts on the user account options The user should first be enabled to receive alerts. To do this traverse to Tools Options

Notifications tab and specify following data

Field Description

Receive

notifications

every (minutes)

The time interval by which Microsoft Dynamics AX polls for new alerts. The time

interval must be set in minutes. The minimum value is 1 and the maximum value

is 1440 minutes (1 day).

Pop-up link

destination

Specify whether alerts open to the current alert or to the original alert in the

Notification list form. Select to open to the original alert to see the context in which

the alert was triggered.

To alert: Link opens the alert that was raised. To alert origin: Link opens the origin from where alert was raised.

Send alert as e-

mail message

Specify whether alerts should be delivered as e-mail messages. The option to

deliver alerts as e-mail messages can also be set up on individual alert rules. The

selection in this field overrides rule-level setup.

Define on each alert rule: Email settings to be specified on each rule that you will create. For all alert rules: Email should be sent for all the alert rules. For no alert rules: Email should not be sent for any of the alert rules.

Show pop-ups Specify whether alerts should be delivered as pop-up messages. The option to

deliver alerts as pop-up messages can also be set up on individual alert rules.

The selection in this field overrides rule-level setup.

Define on each alert rule: Pop-up settings to be specified on each rule that you will

create. For all alert rules: Pop-up should be shown for all the alert rules. For no alert rules: Pop-up should not be shown for any of the alert rules.

See the screen shot below for more information


1.2 Setup E-mail templates E-mail templates are required to identify following information

1. The sender address

2. The subject of email

3. The body of email

The setup of E-mail templates is mandatory if a user wants to receive Alerts via emails.

Following steps describe how to create an E-mail template

Traverse to Basic Setup E-mail templates

Specify following information by creating a new record

Field Description

E-mail ID Unique identification for the pre-defined e-mail message.

E-mail

description

Short description of the e-mail content.

Default

language code

Use this language as the default if no messages exist in the language specified

under Messages.

Sender name Profile name on e-mail system.

Sender Internet e-mail address.

Priority Select the priority of the e-mail.

Batch group Select a batch group if the e-mail should be sent using batch.


Specify following information for email message

Field Description

E-mail ID E-mail message identification.

Language Language of current label.

Subject Subject of the e-mail message

Layout Specify the type of layout

HTML: Mail body is defined in HTML format XSLT: Mail body is defined in XSLT format and needs to be converted before embedding

Alternatively you can also click on “Template” button to specify the body format.

A sample body format for HTML is shown below


Corresponding HTML code is

%message% <a

href="dynamics://%LinkToBusinessData%/">Go to %for%</a>





<a href="dynamics://%LinkToBusinessData%/">Go to %for%</a> 



<a href="dynamics://%LinkToBusinessData%/">Go to %for%</a> 

__________________________________________________ 

Alert details



<table cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=3 background="">

<tbody>

<tr>

<td>Occurred:

</td>

<td>%occurred%



</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>For:

</td>

<td>%for%

</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>Company:

</td>

<td>%company%

</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>Event:</td>

<td>%event%

</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>Additional

info: </td>

<td>%data%

</td>

</tr>

</tbody>


</table>



<a

href="dynamics://%LinkToAlert%/">View Alert</a> 

<a href="dynamics://%LinkToAlertRule%/">Change Alert Rule</a> 

 



__________________________________________________ Dynamics AX

Alerts 

You may receive an error when clicking on the links if Microsoft Dynamics AX

cannot be launched from this computer. 

 



1.3 Setup E-mail parameters E-mail parameters setup is required to send emails. Below is the procedure for this setup

Traverse to Administration Setup E-mail parameters and specify following information.

Field Description

Outgoing mail

server

Specify the name of the outgoing SMTP mail server. This information is provided

by the system administrator or your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Local computer

name

Type the local computer's name or Internet Protocol (IP) address.

SMTP port

number

Specify the port number to be used with the SMTP server (the default is 25). This

port number should not be changed unless the system is specifically set up to use

an alternate port.

User name Type a valid user name (if the SMTP server requires authentication).

Password Type a valid password (if the SMTP server requires authentication). If you access

the SMTP server through more than one client, the password must be entered from

each client.

Use NTLM Select this check box to enable Windows NTLM authentication. You must select

this option to send an e-mail message by means of an SMTP server that is

configured to use Windows authentication.

Attachment size Specify a system-wide size limit for e-mail attachments. The maximum buffer size,

defined by the maxbuffersize registry key, also limits the acceptable attachment

size. If the size that you define here exceeds the maximum buffer size, the


maximum buffer size limit will apply.

Tip: When setting the acceptable size of e-mail attachments, consider the fact that any large

file passed to the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) may slow the application and may

cause denial of service to other users.

Directory Specify a system location for e-mail attachments and embedded e-mail data.

Attachments from other locations than the one that is specified are restricted. The

location should be on the server or, alternately, on a share.

1.4 Setup Alert parameters Traverse to Basic Setup Alerts Alert parameters and specify following information

Field Description

Batch Processing

Window (days)

Specify an interval, in days that the batch is allowed not to run without due-day

alerts becoming obsolete.

With this interval of days, an alert is sent when the alert rule is processed. Even

though the alert exceeds the time limit defined in the due-date criteria, it remains

valid as long as it does not exceed the due-date criteria plus the additional interval

of days.

E-mail ID Select a unique identification for alert e-mail messages. The drop-down will be from

E-mail templates table. You can specify the specific email template created for

alerts here.

Drill-down target Enter a value to identify the database to which the drill-down link in alert e-mail

messages refers.

Note: The value is included in the drill-down link, and thus it is visible to anyone who uses

the drill-down link. Therefore, do not use the database name as part of the value.

1.5 Setup batch groups You need to create batch groups to continuously keep processing the alerts submitted by the system

event. For this you need to create specific batch groups that are being handled by batch server and

invoked periodically by batch server for processing. You can create two batch groups, one for handling

the alerts processing and other one for handling the sending of email alerts.

Following is the process for creating a batch group

Traverse to form Administration Setup Batch groups and specify following information

Field Description

Group Enter up to 10 characters for the group.


Description Enter up to a 30-character extended description of the batch group.

Selected servers Displays the list of servers that the selected group can run on. Use the arrow

buttons to add or remove servers from the list.

Note: You need to add the batch server in this list for batch group to be handled by

automatically by AOS

Remaining

servers

Displays the list of available batch servers. Use the arrow buttons to add or remove

servers from the list.

1.6 Start the alerts and email jobs in the batch mode This step is required to ensure that the alerts and emails that are generated due to an event are

processed periodically and delivered to intended users.

The “E-mail distributor batch” job is required only if you have to configure the alerts through email as well.

To start the “Changed based alerts”, “Due date based alerts” and “E-mail distributor batch” jobs follow the

procedure as stated below:

Traverse to Basic Periodic Alerts Change based alerts, Basic Periodic Alerts Due-

date based alerts and Administration Periodic E-mail processing Batch and specify

following information

Field Description

Batch processing Mark this check box if you intend to run this process as a batch job, otherwise it will

be run immediately.

Caption Specify a caption for the job.

Note: If a process is having description method the caption will be defaulted.

Batch group Specify the batch group under which the task will run, if it has to run in batch mode.

Private If this check box is marked only the user who created that task can run it.

To set the recurrence, click on “Recurrence: button and specify following information

Field Description

TimezoneId Select the time zone that recurrence times are based on.

Starting time Type the time that the batch job recurrence should start.

Starting date Enter the date that the batch job recurrence should start. Click the calendar icon to the

right of the field to select a date using a Microsoft Outlook-style calendar.


No end date Specify that the batch job recurrence never ends.

End after: Specify that the batch job recurrence ends after a specific number of recurrences.

Count If you selected End after, type the specific number of recurrences.

End by: Specify that the batch job recurrence ends on a specific date.

End date If you selected End by, enter the date of the last recurrence. Click the calendar icon to

the right of the field to select a date using a Microsoft Outlook-style calendar.

Minutes Specify the recurrence time between batch jobs in minutes.

Enter the number of minutes in the Count field.

Hours Specify the recurrence time between batch jobs in hours.

Enter the number of hours in the Count field.

Days Specify the recurrence time between batch jobs in days.

Enter the number of days in the Per field.

To run the batch job daily from Monday to Friday, click Every weekday.

Weeks Specify the recurrence time between batch jobs in fixed weekly intervals.

Enter the number of weeks in the Fixed weekly interval field, and then select the days

on which you want the job to run.

For example, if you type 2 in the Fixed weekly interval field, and then select Monday

and Wednesday, the batch job runs every second week on Monday and Wednesday.

Months Specify a monthly pattern for the batch job recurrence.

To set the day of the month and the frequency of the batch job, select Repeat a

specific day by a fixed interval.

For example, if you enter 1 in the Day field and 3 in the Per field, the batch job runs on

the first of the month, every third month.

To set a particular day of the week and the frequency of the batch job, select Repeat a

specific day by a fixed interval.

For example, if you select Last in the Week field and Friday in the Weekdays field, and

then enter 6 in the Month field, the batch job runs every six months on the last Friday of

the month.

Years Specify a yearly pattern for batch job recurrence.

Select Repeat once a year or Repeat a specific weekday a year, and then set the

starting date.


For example, if you select First in the Week field, Monday in the Weekdays field, and

June in the Month field, the batch job runs annually on the first Monday in June.

Remember following points for change based events

1. The higher you set the frequency of batch job execution; the sooner after a change has happened

users receive their alerts. However, a high-frequency number might have a negative impact on

the performance of the system.

2. If, on the other hand, the frequency is low and is scheduled for times when the system load is

low, it would benefit the performance, but a low batch-processing frequency might not fulfill users'

demands for timelines of their alerts.

3. So when setting the frequency of change-based event batches, consider the balance between

timeliness of alerts and the performance of the whole system.

Remember following points for due date based events

1. Set up batch jobs that execute during the night or at specific times of the day to balance the

system load.

2. You should at least set up the batch to execute once a day.

3. Set flexible due dates: Alert-rule processing could be halted in a company for reasons like

vacation, system break down, or other issues that could cause batches not to be run for a

designated period of time.

4. To avoid situations where due-date alerts become obsolete because the batch has not been

running for a few days, you can use the batch-processing window interval to allow the batch to

not run for a specified number of days.

Remember following points for “E-mail distributor batch”

1. You can monitor the status of emails from Administration Periodic E-mail processing E-

mail sending status. This form shows all the emails that were sent successfully or failed. You can

restart the sending of email from this form

2. You can limit the number of attempts to resend an e-mail message when the first attempt fails by

defining it in the Administration > Periodic > E-mail processing > Retry Schedule form


2. Configuring an Alert Rule

In order to receive an alert, a user needs to configure an alert rule that can be processed by system in the

event of changes to the system.

The section below describes the step-by-step procedure to configure an alert rule. We will take

“Employee name” as an example for alert rules

1. Traverse to Basic Employee Details form and open it.

2. Now select the “Name” field and right click on the control.

3. Select the option “Create alert rule…”

4. This opens the “Create alert rule” form where you can specify following details

Field group Field Description

Alert me when

Field Specify the information in a form that you want to monitor. The initial

contents of this field change according to the location from where you

started the Create alert rule command. You can select one of the fields in

the active form.

Event Determine during which event an alert should be triggered.

Alert me for

All records in %1

Select whether to be alerted for all records of the selected business data

type.

Current record in %1%2

Select whether to be alerted for the active record of the selected business

data type.

Only records in %1 that match the selected filter

You are alerted for a subset of the records of the selected business data

type. Here click on “Select” button. This opens a query form where you

can specify the business data records for which to apply the rule.

Note: If you select the Only records in %1 that match the selected filter option

without inserting any filter criteria, the rule is applied on all business data records


created in the current form.

Alert me until

End date Trigger alerts up to and including the selected day. Then, the rule

becomes inactive.

No end date Trigger alerts indefinitely.

Alert me with

Subject The title of the alert message is generated from your entries in this form.

You can change the suggested title.

Message Enter optional message text. This text will be sent when an alert is

triggered.

Alert who

User ID Enter the user who is designated to receive the alerts that are generated

by the current alert rule.

Also alert me by

Show pop-ups

Send the alerts that are generated by the current alert rule as pop-up

windows.

Send e-mail Send the alerts that are generated by the current alert rule as e-mail

messages.


5. An event can have following options

Due-date type events

Option An alert is triggered

is due in This many days before* the date that is stated in your business data. A purchase order with a delivery date of October 16, and the “is due in” option set to two weeks, would trigger an alert on October 2.

is due On the date that is specified in your business data.

was due this amount of time ago

This many days after the date that is stated in your business data.

* You are also alerted if your business data changes so that the due date interval is less than the number of days that you entered as your due date interval.

For example, suppose that you have created a rule to be alerted two weeks before the delivery date of any purchase order. If a purchase order is created with a delivery date that is only one week ahead, you receive an alert when it is created because the purchase order is within the two-week period that you defined

Update type events

Option An alert is triggered when

has changed The current value of the selected field changes.

is set to: The current value of the selected field is set to a specific value.

The value can be set either when the record is created or when you change

the value from another value.

has been postponed The current value of the selected field changes to a date further into the

future*. For example, a postponement from August 10 to August 25 would

trigger an alert.

has been postponed

until at the earliest:

The current value of the selected field changes to a date further in the future*.

The date is an absolute date, specified in the rule.

For example, a postponement from August 10 to August 25 at the earliest and

beyond that date would trigger an alert, but a postponement from August 10 to

August 24 would not.

is set to an earlier

date

The current value of the selected field changes to an earlier date than the date

originally stated in the field. A change from August 25 to August 10 would

trigger an alert.

is set to a date earlier The current value of the selected field is set to an earlier date than the date


than: originally stated in the field, and the new date is earlier than the date stated in

the alert rule.

For example, if the date stated in the alert rule is August 15, then a change

from August 25 to August 10 would trigger an alert, but a change from August

25 to August 20 would not.

has decreased below: The current value of the selected field decreases below a limit which you

specify.

has increased above: The current value of the selected field increases beyond an absolute limit

which you specify.

* The future is a relative concept in this context. If you want to, you can set up

an alert rule that triggers an alert if a date in the past is changed to a later

date.

A postponement from August 10 to August 25 could trigger an alert even

though the present day is September 20.

A change from August 25 to August 10 could trigger an alert even though the

present day is August 15.

Create type / delete type events

Option An alert is triggered when

Record has been created A new record has been created in the application.

Record has been deleted A record has been deleted in the application.

6. After specifying the required details, click on “Ok” to create the alert rule and start receiving alerts.


3. Managing alerts

3.1 Manage alert rules After the alerts are created you can view and modify the alerts from Basic Setup Alerts Manage

alert rules form


Here you can delete/modify existing alert rules or create a new alert rule. Creation of new alert rules can

be done only if a company record template is defined for alerts.

In order to create a “Company account template” or a “User template” follow the below procedure

1. Select a record in the form and right click on it.

2. Select option “Record info”.

3. In the “Record information” form select option “Company account template” or “User template”


4. In the subsequent dialog enter required information and click on “Ok”.

5. A record template for alerts is configured and can be viewed from Basic Setup Record

templates

Once a record template is available users a can then go ahead and create new alerts from Manage alert

rules form by click on Create alert rule From template button.

3.2 Notifications Notifications are alerts that have been raised due to system meeting a criterion of an alert rule.

Use this form to maintain alerts that you have received. In this form, you can:

View alerts that you have received and when they have occurred.

See what alerts you have already read. If you have drilled down to the form where the alert was

initiated or if you have opened the General tab in this form, the alert has the status Read.

Delete alerts.

Open the Manage alert rules form where you can view, edit, or delete the alert rules that triggered

an alert.

Drill down to the form where the event happened that triggered the alert.

Toggle the status of alerts between read and unread.

This form can be opened from following places

Basic Setup Alerts Manage alert rules Notification list

By clicking on the Notifications icon ( ) on the tool bar of the AX client or form.

A notification pop-up appears when a new alert is received and can been seen on the status bar of the

AX client. Look at the screen shots below

Alert on the status bar (AX client)


Notification pop-up (Alert grabber)

Notifications form

Documents

Alerts - Setup and Configuration