How to Embed Data Fields in Service Request by Email

​In the coming release of R20d one can embed data fields in the service request emails. This feature may be used by 3^rd party apps to integrate with Calem. It is an alternative to integration with Calem via REST API.

The following is an email sample reporting an issue with an asset.

// Email Subject: 
Routing device malfunction Ref#3359

// Email Body:
The issue is reported with the following information:

Asset-Tag: T-55990
Failure-Time: 2020-07-25 15:30
Priority: P1
Requester: John Joe 

Here is the configuration out of the box:

• The configuration defines how a text pattern is mapped to a field in Calem.
• The key in the array is the field name of SR table. For instance, "asset_id" is the asset tag.
• The value of a key (such as "Asset-Tag:" of the key "asset_id") is the text pattern for a field.
  • You may add additional text patterns for different languages.
• You may extend the configuration to add additional fields.
• You can find additional fields for SR at its metadata Calem_Home/server/metadata/table/cm_sr.php.

$_CALEM_dist['sr_conf']['mail_conf']['data_tpl']=
array( 
    'asset_id'=>array('Asset-Tag:'), 
    'location_id'=>array('Location:'), 
    'request_time'=>array('Failure-Time:'), 
    'priority_id'=>array('Priority:'), 
    'requester_id'=>array('Requester:'), 
    'ref_no'=>array('Ref#')
); 

Calem uses the following rules to parse the email:

• Each line in the email body and the subject is parsed.
• If a text pattern is found, the remaining of the text pattern is the value of the corresponding field value. For instance, "Asset-Tag: T-55990" is parsed, Calem identifies "T-55990" as the asset tag.
• For lookup field (field with ending "_id" such as "asset_id") Calem will search the asset table to validate asset tag.
• For date time field the format is "yyyy-mm-dd H:i" where 24-hour format must be used. The time zone is the default Calem time zone. See "Appendix F" for Calem time zone configuration.

Additional resources

• Service Request without Login
  
• Batch Update via Export/Import
• Calem Integration Part II: REST API
  
• Calem Integration Part III: Custom Triggers
  
• User Guide and Admin Guide (customer account required)
• Calem Enterprise Training Site
  
• Calem Enterprise Blogs
  
• Calem Enterprise demo