E-mail Groups

E-mail groups can be used to resolve a number of different issues relating to email addressing, distribution and translation. email Groups allow the one time set up of a "Group email address" which has linked to it a list of email addresses. The format of the Group email does not need to conform to standard email formats and can be used to translate business transaction values, such as Customer Names or Numbers,  to email addresses (or distribution lists).

Group email addresses can be used anywhere throughout ECS/integrated email, such as; electronic Outq's, Electronic Outbox, Message queue monitoring, Network Device Monitoring and Subsystem Monitoring.

When Group emails are used with an "Electronic Outbox", that is where labels are used to identify the email address within the body of an AS/400 spool file,  it is possible use business transaction related data instead of email addresses within the spool file. For example:  You may be generating Purchase Orders as AS/400 Spool files to Output queue "QGPL/PO" which will always contain the Value "Supplier Number:" followed by the related supplier number generated by your business application system, for example "242679" relates to supplier, "ABC Ltd"  and their email address is "orders@abc.com". The way you would configure ECS/ie in this example requires two steps. First define the Output queue "QGPL/PO" as an "Electronic Outbox" with a label of "Supplier Number:". Secondly, define a Group email address named "242679" that contains an email distribution list of  "orders@abc.com". The result of the set up would be that ECS/ie scans through all spool files in the Output queue "QGPL/PO" for the label "Supplier Number:". ECS/ie will extract the value following the label, which is the value "242679", this value is then translated and sent to email address "orders@abc.com". This example is useful when the spool file does not contain the required email address. 

• To add a Group email profile select "email Group Maintenance" from the ECS/ie "Settings" drop down menu. The "Settings" menu is located on the the main "ECS/integrated email" panel.

• The "email Group Maintenance" panel will now be displayed.

• Click the "Add Grp" (Add email Group) button to add a new Group email profile.

• The "Edit email Group" panel will now be displayed ready to enter the new Group email profile details.

• Enter the relevant Subsystem name and Library name. Enter a meaningful "email Group Description".

• Click "OK" to add the new email Group.

• To add an email recipient to the distribution list select the required email Group with a single left hand mouse click.

• Click the "Add email" button.

• The "Add email Address to email Group" panel should now be displayed.

• Enter the email address for the recipient then click the "OK" button.

• Repeat this for all recipients that you wish to add to the distribution list.

Note: A single email address can be added to the distribution list if "email Groups" is to be used as a one-to-one translation table.

There are five reserved email extensions used within ECS/ie that should be avoided when defining Group email addresses. They are:

• "SMS" - GSM Mobile Phone Short Messaging Service messages or messages to compatible pagers. The address format should be xxxxx@yyyyy.SMS where xxxxx is the GSM/Pager number, yyyyy is the messaging service centre followed by ".SMS". See the specific section for more information.
• "FTP" - File Transfer Protocol. Using the extension ".FTP" causes any attached spool files to be FTP'd to a local or remote server. Each server must be defined as an FTP Server. See the specific section for more information. 
• "OUTQ" - Spool file Management. Using the extension ".OUTQ" enables the automated transfer of spool files between output queues on the AS/400. The email format for moving spool files is OUTQ@LIBRARY.OUTQ.    
• "MSGQ" - Send AS/400 Message. Using the extension ".MSGQ" causes ECS/ie to send AS/400 text messages up to 512 characters long to an AS/400 based Message queue. The email format for AS/400 messaging is MSGQ@LIBRARY.MSGQ 
•  "BRKM" - Send an AS/400 Break Message using the command SNDBRKMSG. Using the extension ".BRKM" causes ECS/ie to send AS/400 text messages up to 512 characters long to an AS/400 green screen user that will break on their screen. The email format for AS/400 break messaging is;  USER@DELTYPE.BRKM. Where "USER" is the AS/400 User profile name, "DELTYPE" is the delivery type, permissible values are "INF" and "INQ". Setting the value to "INF" will send the message as an Information break message. Setting the value to "INQ" will send the message as an Inquiry break message, forcing the user to enter a reply.

Note:  Extensions  "FTP" and "OUTQ" are reserved for Spool file processing only. Extensions "SMS", "MSGQ" and "BRKM" can process  the body of email text only, not attachments. 

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