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

Certified Associate Developer

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.

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  • 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. 

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  • 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. 

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