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milagrosadrianar
March 27, 2023
Question

Run a process model through a link (link, button) in the email

  • March 27, 2023
  • 10 replies
  • 0 views

Hi,

I have the following use case: The client needs to approve or reject a batch of invoices, but that everything is done through email, and they are external users who will not have a user in appian, they do not want to enter the platform, but from the mail they have the option to approve or reject. What occurred to me was that from the mail call a webAPI and it executes the startprocess, according to the link (approve or reject) that the user selects.

Is this possible? Can I run a POST type webAPI from an email link? If not possible, what other way could I implement in this use case?

Thanks.

10 replies

stefanhelzle0001
stefanhelzle0001
March 27, 2023

A link in an email can not trigger a POST API call. And to call Appian, authentication is required.

One option might be to reply by email and a specific keyword. That email would start a process.

Another option is to create an Appian Portal which accepts a unique identifier sent by email. On this portal these external users could approve or reject.

    R
    ryanb71
    April 4, 2023

    Stefan, 

    Do you have tips for how to insert/extract custom property fields from emails? I'm running into a similar manner as the original poster, but I'm having a very difficult time trying to get the information out of the email. I see in the documentation about retreiving custom properties, but nothing about how to actually implant and/or use them in the email itself. Any help/tips?

    I am also having a difficult time with splitting the body information. Using any of the body properties includes the company footer in what is stored in the variable being used to hold the body. 

    stefanhelzle0001
    stefanhelzle0001
    April 4, 2023

    As an email has zero structure, there is no good or fool proof way of doing this.

    What is your concrete use case? If it is about requesting data from a non-Appian user, did you consider Portals?

    J
    juergeng0002
    March 27, 2023

    Hi, 
    Stefan is absolutely correct - an email can not trigger a POST API call.

    An alternative solution would be sending an email to the external users, with a link in it. If the link is clicked, it generates an answer email [utilizing mailto:] with the recipient set to the process model ID (you can obtain this with  a!queryProcessAnalystics() docs.appian.com/.../fnc_system_a_queryprocessanalytics.html) and with the desired keyword, 'reject' or 'approve'.

    In the process model you will have the normal start node and the received message event set to 'email'. The flow from the incoming email node will go to the gateway where it is determined what path further should be followed. You might consider a timeout or a reminder loop, if the external user is not responding to avoid having active processes sitting in the environment. 

    M
    milagrosadrianarAuthor
    March 29, 2023

    Thank you very much Stefan and juergeng0002

    I'm going to try with the email option that would start the process

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