Getting Started with Notification Templates

This getting started article will help Administrators to learn about and modify Notification Templates using the TDAdmin interface. The user must have the TDAdmin access.

Overview

Notifications are important to the TeamDynamix application suite because they enable people to keep up with work progress via email delivery. Users can configure notification templates that change email content for their organization. This allows for administrators to notify others with useful information in a format that aligns with the organization's brand.

Where to Find This

This feature appears in the TDAdmin interface.

Navigate to Notification Templates following these paths:

• TDAdmin > Notification Templates > [choose type of template] > [select template]
• TDAdmin > Applications > [choose a Ticket application] > Notification Templates > [select template]

Where to Start

Notification Templates exist throughout the system for a variety of applications and components. This allows for custom email templates to be controlled on an action-by-action basis, where each action is already limited to the scope of an application. If the custom template is not enabled for a specific action, then the default template will be used for that action. 

When any of the below actions is taken on a work item, the page should display a Notification field where you can select who will receive an email. This list will be populated with entries for all users who are associated with the work item, such as responsible users or stakeholders.

Standard Applications

The following applications have notification templates, with each action listed underneath:

• Announcements
  • Announcement Created
• Briefcase
  • File Check In
  • File Check In Requested
  • File Comment Added
  • File Notification
  • File Workflow Completed
  • File Workflow Rejected
  • File Workflow Routed for Approval
• Expense
  • Expense Comment Added
  • Expense Status Changed
• Issues
  • Issue Comment Added
  • Issue Created
  • Issue Edited
  • Issue Updated
• Knowledge Base
  • Knowledge Base Article Comment Added
  • Knowledge Base Article Feedback Added
  • Knowledge Base Article Status Changed
• Links
  • Link Comment Added
  • Link Created
• Projects
  • Project Comment Added
  • Project Manager Changed
  • Project Staffed
  • Project Updated
  • Resource Added to Project
  • Resource Removed from Project
• Project Requests
  • Request Approved
  • Request Comment Added
  • Request Declined
  • Request Forwarded
  • Request Forwarding Completed
  • Request Returned to Requestor
  • Request Step Responsibility
  • Request Submission
  • Request Type Changed
  • Resource Added to Request
• Resource Request
  • Multiple Resources Assigned to Project
  • Resource Assigned to Project
  • Resource Assigned to Project Request
  • Resource Request Cancelled
  • Resource Request Created
  • Resource Request Edited
• Risks
  • Risk Comment Added
  • Risk Created
  • Risk Edited
  • Risk Updated
• Tasks
  • Task Comment Added
  • Task Updated
• Time Report
  • Time Report Due
  • Time Report Overdue

Standard Application Update Templates

For an update template to be used (as opposed to any other template, such as a comment template), certain criteria need to be met within the system.

• An issue update refers to a change in an issue's status, e.g., New to In Process.
• A project update refers to a change in the project's, health, overall % complete, or status.
• A risk update refers to a change in an risk's status, e.g., New to In Process.
• A project task update refers to a change in an task's % complete, e.g., 0% to 20%.

Ticketing Applications

Custom notification templates can be configured and enabled or disabled for individual ticketing applications. This action can be performed by an organizational administrator or a ticketing application's administrator. 

The following ticketing actions can be performed:

• Ticket Updated
• Task Updated
• Task Comment Added
• SLA Warning
• SLA Violation
• Ticket Moved
• Created
• Comment Added
• Ticket Workflow Step Assignment

For all templates except Ticket Moved and Ticket Workflow Step Assignment, there are two versions of the template. These two versions are the Requestor vs. Ticketing User notification templates.

Ticketing Application Update Templates

For an update template to be used (as opposed to any other template, such as a comment template), certain criteria need to be met within the system.

• A ticket update refers to a change in the ticket's status, e.g., New to In Process.
• A ticket task update would include a change to the task's overall % complete, e.g., 0% to 20%.

Surveys

Surveys are used in the TeamDynamix application suite to retrieve useful client feedback after a project or ticket has been completed. It is important that these survey notifications are consistent with an organization's brand since these emails are client-facing. Custom survey notification templates can be used to style these emails that are prompting clients for feedback.

To view or edit the surveys for a Ticketing Application or Projects:

1. Access TDNext > either Ticketing application or Projects.
2. Click the “gear” Settings button in the toolbar.
3. Select Surveys from the dropdown.
4. To edit the email notification template, click the name of the survey from the list.
5. Select the Request Notification tab.
6. Make modifications as needed then save.

To learn more about surveys, see Using Surveys in Ticketing Application and Projects.

Template Configuration

When editing a notification template, the available information is encapsulated by Template Tags. This changes on a per-application basis so that only relevant information can be included for an email. These tags can be used to include helpful information for both the email Subject and Body, and are of the format {{FieldName}}. All available fields for a notification template are present in the Template Tag dropdown. This uses the Mustache markup language, which has documentation available here: http://mustache.github.io/mustache.5.html.

Follow these steps to add a template tag to the Subject or Body fields:

1. Place your cursor in the Subject or Body field at the place where the template tag should be inserted.
2. Choose the appropriate field in the Insert Template Tag dropdown. It will be inserted where your cursor is.

Template tags can also be used to insert a section of HTML content that only displays when the section tag evaluates to True or a not empty value. A section starts with a tag with a pound sign and ends with one with a slash, as follows: 

{{#TemplateTag}} ... snippet ... {{/TemplateTag}}

As an example, the default Project Comment Added Template includes this section, which displays the old status and new status if the Description tag has a value: 

{{#Description}}
<!--Description-->
<tr>
  <td style="font-size: 17px; font-weight: bold; color: #515A61; padding-top: 10px; border-top: 1px solid #0072C6;">Description
  </td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td style="font-size: 16px; padding-top: 0px;">{{{Description}}}
  </td>
</tr>
{{/Description}}

Sections can also display when the opposite is true, by switching the pound sign for a caret. The following would include a message that no description is provided if the Description field is empty: 

{{^Description}}
<!--No Description-->
<tr>
  <td style="font-size: 17px; font-weight: bold; color: #515A61; padding-top: 10px; border-top: 1px solid #0072C6;">Description
  </td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td style="font-size: 16px; padding-top: 0px;">No Description was provided.
  </td>
</tr>
{{/Description}}

Custom Attribute Sections

A special type of section is available which allows you to include all the custom attributes on an item. For notifications that support custom attributes, the {{#CustomAttributes}} section will repeat once for each valid custom attribute on the item. Within this section, you can define how the HTML displays, and can include the attributes' Names and Values using the {{Name}} and {{Value}} tags. 

A custom attribute will be valid for including in the {{#CustomAttributes}} section if it:

• Has a value
• Is not a protected custom attribute
• Is marked as Client Visible (for custom attribute types that support this setting)
• Matches the project's current type (for project custom attributes only)

Individual Custom Attributes

Each individual custom attribute is also available as a section, which are available in the Insert Template Tag dropdown. These will insert a section with a tag based on the custom attribute's ID, with the name of the attribute in an HTML comment tag. 

{{#Attribute61902}}<!-- AttributeName -->{{Name}}: {{Value}}{{/Attribute61902}}

Inside the custom attribute you can use the same {{Name}} and {{Value}} tags to define exactly how you want the attribute to display.

Notification Footers

Notification footers allow additional customization for notifications. The current application components that support notification footers are:

• Briefcase
• Calendar
• Contact
• Issue
• Link
• Project
• Project Request
• Task
• Time/Expense

Notification footers include a text footer and an HTML footer, which will be included at the bottom of the email. The former is used when plain-text emails are delivered, while the latter is used for HTML-formatted emails. If an HTML-formatted email is being delivered and HTML footer information is not provided, then the text footer information will be used instead. Notification footers can also include a tracking pixel at the bottom of the email. If this is enabled, then a corresponding Read By entry is created for the item in TeamDynamix when the user reads the email.

Editing the Notifications Section in TDAdmin

If nothing is edited within this section of TDAdmin, or if these templates are turned off, then the system will pull the default layouts and content for that type of notification. However, if you wish to add some branding colors, or add to or subtract from what is there by default, you can do in this section. 

This is intended to be edited by people who are skilled and fluent in HTML. If a resource is not available internally, then contact your implementation consultant and they will assist with a solution. 

You can insert template tags from the dropdown, edit the HTML as needed, click the Save button, and then click the Show Preview button. Once you are satisfied with that type of notification, then you can click the Activate button. 

Please note that editing this section is not turning on or turning off system generated notifications of that type. Editing and enabling the notifications section will ensure that the system pulls from the newly created HTML version vs. using the system defaults. There is no way to globally turn off all notifications for your environment.

This section intentionally does not use an HTML generator, since clients use a variety of programs to read email that might allow or block certain HTML elements, and this might unintentionally impair the final product. An example of this is the div tag. Tables are currently the default tags for email layouts and inserting div tags might send out incoherent notifications. 

You may also manually type template tags into the template. The templates use Mustache template markup language, documented here: https://mustache.github.io/mustache.5.html.

Editing or Enabling Notification Templates in TDAdmin

There are notification templates geared towards the ITSM and PPM side of the house. Ticketing templates are found inside the ticketing apps. Project templates are found inside the notification templates section in the root of admin. 

If you’d like your project notification templates to look different from the TeamDynamix defaults, then you will have to do so under the Project Notification Templates section within TDAdmin > Notification Templates. If nothing is changed, then the system will pull the default layouts and content for that type of notification.

Note that this is intended to be edited by people who are skilled and fluent in HTML. If a resource is not available internally, then contact your implementation consultant and they will assist with a solution. 

To add a template tag to a template:

1. Navigate to the notification template desired by going to TDAdmin > Notification Templates > [select type of template] > [select template], or TDAdmin > Applications > [ticket app] > Notification Templates > [select template].
2. Click cursor to the location in the template or Subject line where you wish your template tag to be placed
3. Click Insert Template Tag dropdown, and select an option.
4. You can also edit the HTML as needed on this screen.  
5. Click the Save button.
6. Click the Show Preview button.
7. Once you are satisfied with your new notification, then you can click the Activate button. 

Please note that editing this section is not turning on or turning off system generated notifications of that type. Editing and enabling the notifications section will ensure that the system pulls from the newly created HTML version vs. using the system defaults. There is no way to globally turn off all notifications for your environment. 

This section intentionally does not use an HTML generator since clients use a variety of programs to read email that might allow or block certain HTML elements, and this might unintentionally impair the final product. An example of this is the div tag. Tables are currently the default tags for email layouts and inserting div tags might send out incoherent notifications. 

You may also manually type template tags into the template. The templates use Mustache template markup language, documented here: https://mustache.github.io/mustache.5.html.

Adding TDNext and TDClient Links to Project Notification Templates

Project notifications will either be triggered to auto-send or send to a user that is manually selected to be notified. For projects, the default design is not for the notification to include the URL that links to the project within both TDNext and/or TDClient. 

To include the links, you must modify the Project Notification template.

To add a link to a notification template:

1. In TDAdmin, click Notification Templates > Project Notification Templates in the left navigation.
2. Click the Name link of the Project Notification Template you'd like to modify.
3. Click in the Body field.
   The change is all made within the HTML code but is very simple. You only need remove two lines of code that are effectively hiding the TDNext and TDClient URL Links. 
   Delete:
   <code>{{#IncludeTeamDynamixLinks}}</code> and <code>{{/IncludeTeamDynamixLinks}}</code>
4. Click the Save button, then click the Activate button.

Ticketing User vs. Requestor Ticket Notification Templates

Notification templates can be configured for each Ticketing Application so that email notifications for specific ticketing actions can be customized. Each action's template has both requestor and ticketing user versions of the same template. Below is a description of how the system chooses which version of the template to send to each user.

The user will receive the ticketing user template if one of the following is true: 

• They are the ticket reviewer.
• They are the responsible resource for the ticket.
• They are the responsible resource for a ticket task on the ticket.
• They are the creator, requestor, or a contact on the ticket, AND they have access to the ticketing application. 

Otherwise, the user will receive the requestor template.

This will apply when one of the following is true:

• They do not have access to the ticketing application AND they are the creator, requestor, or a contact on the ticket. 
• The user is notified via the Notify Other People or Notify Other Email Addresses fields.

Managing Custom Notifications

This 4 minute video tip will show you how to manage notification templates and create custom notifications. This includes:

• The TDAdmin interface
• Categories of notification templates
• Enabling notifications
• Saving templates
• Applications (e.g. Facilities, HR, etc.)