Get Your Alerts in the Pub!
Back in December, my colleague Ginger Gatling wrote a great Innovative ways to use alerts about ways to take advantage of the alert framework. At the time, I commented about the ability to get an alert in the pub. (What’s that? Do my job in the pub?) This can be especially helpful, for example, when the World Cup is on and your team is playing (mine is out, partially thanks to the great refereeing in this Cup, but I digress…). So, tell me more you say. Thanks, glad you asked…
Quick Review
Before I explain, let’s quickly review what the alert framework is. Often I get questions, especially working the fabulous SAP Demo Pods at conferences, if SAP can email some sort of information. Can it ever! The alert framework is a feature of the application server that was first available with release 6.20. The alert framework allows “active” delivery of information in real-time, delivered to the appropriate person to take action on the alert plus a subscription mechanism for interested observers (such as managers). The most obvious forms of alerts to administrators come from the CCMS, but an alert can be literally anything that can raise some sort of event. Want to get notified when a customer cancels an order? No problem. Need to know when a delivery didn’t arrive on time? Got that covered, too. Read Ginger’s blog, it does a great job of illustrating how to set up and configure alerts.
Delivery
Now, on to the pub!
One of the features of the alert framework is personalized alert delivery: get messages via your preferred channel from email to SMS to Fax. And, on top of that, get messages via your preferred channel at your preferred time! This is empowered through personalization of the Alert Inbox. To access personalization, simply click on the Personalization link in the inbox:
Next, switch to Time-Dependent Delivery:
This brings up the Time-Dependent configuration:
Select your Factory Calendar:
Press the “Create” button a few times to add rows, and then just use the dropdowns to select your times and delivery methods:
Viola! Now, the way I have it configured above, I would receive my alerts from 8 AM-Noon – when I am at the office – in my email inbox. Then, from Noon to 6 PM – when I’m enjoying a Guinness at the Pub (watching my second favorite team advance farther in the Cup than the hosts to win my bet) – I would be alerted via SMS. Days off – when I’m at the beach – I also would get SMS alerts. Brilliant!
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