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Alerts overview

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About alerts

Alerts form a notification system for critical events in the system. You can use alerts to stay informed about events that you want to track during the workday. You can easily create your own set of alert rules so that you're alerted about deliveries that are overdue, orders that are deleted, prices that change, or other events that you must respond to.

In enterprise resource planning (ERP), there are several typical scenarios where the alerts feature can be used. Here are some examples.

Scenario 1: Create an alert rule for new sales orders

  1. Open the All sales orders page.
  2. On the Action Pane, on the Options tab, in the Share group, select Create a custom alert.
  3. In the Create alert rule dialog box, on the Alert me when FastTab, in the Event field, select Record has been created.

Scenario 2: Create an alert rule for postponement of a delivery date

  1. Open the All purchase orders page.
  2. Select a purchase order ID to access the purchase order details.
  3. Expand the Purchase order header FastTab.
  4. On the Action Pane, on the Options tab, in the Share group, select Create a custom alert.
  5. In the Create alert rule dialog box, on the Alert me when FastTab, in the Field field, select Delivery date.
  6. In the Event field, select has been postponed.

After you close the Create alert rule dialog box, your rule appears on the Manage alert rules page. You can use the Manage alert rules page to update your existing alert rules. For example, you can modify event triggers, update event notifications, and update expiration dates. To open the Manage alert rules page, use the Alert me button on the Options tab of the Action Pane.

What occurs when an alert rule is created?

When you create alert rules, you can associate a predefined event with a specific field. For example, the date that is specified in the field arrives, or the contents of the field change. Alternatively, you can associate an event with the records on a specific page. For example, a record is created, or a record is deleted.

When the selected event occurs for the field or for a record on the page, an alert is sent to you. For example, you create a rule where you associate the Delivery date field on a specific purchase order line with the was due this amount of time ago event. You set the time frame to five days. In this case, an alert is sent five days after the delivery date of that purchase order line.

Additionally, you can refine alert rules by setting conditions. For example, you can be alerted about new purchase orders that are created for specific vendor accounts.

Preparing for an alert

Before you set up an alert rule, decide when or in what situations you want to receive alerts. When you know which event you want to be notified about, find the page where the data that causes that event appears. The event can be a date that arrives or a specific change that occurs. Therefore, you must find the page where the date is specified, or where the field that changes or the new record that is created appears. After you have this information, you can create the alert rule.

Components of an alert rule

An alert rule has five components:

  • Event – The event that triggers an alert rule can be a date that arrives or a specific change that occurs. You define events on the Send email alerts for job status changes FastTab of the Create alert rule dialog box.

  • Condition – On the Alert me for FastTab of the Create alert rule dialog box, you can select the scope of the condition, to control when you're alerted about events. You can apply the rule either to the current record only or to all visible records on the page. If the rule applies across legal entities, you can set the Organization-wide option to Yes.

  • Expiry of rule – On the Alert me until FastTab of the Create alert rule dialog box, you can specify how long the alert rule should be active.

  • Contents – On the Alert me with FastTab of the Create alert rule dialog box, you can specify the subject text and message text that the alert messages should use.

  • User – On the Alert who FastTab of the Create alert rule dialog box, you can specify which user should receive the alert messages. By default, your user ID is selected.

    Note

    This option is restricted to organization administrators.

Videos

How to use alerts to monitor filtered data

The How to use alerts to monitor filtered data video (shown above) is included in the finance and operations playlist available on YouTube.

Alert rule options

The Alert rule options video (shown above) is included in the finance and operations playlist available on YouTube.