67 User Messaging Preferences

67.1.1 Terminology

User Messaging Preferences defines the following terminology:

• Channel: the transport type, for example, email, voice, or SMS. Also, generally, a physical channel, such as a phone, or PDA.

• Channel address: one of the addresses that a channel can communicate with.

• Filters: a set of notification delivery preferences.

• System term: a pre-defined business term that cannot be extended by the administrator.

• Business term: a rule term defined and managed by the system administrator through Enterprise Manager. Business terms can be added, defined, or deleted.

• Rule term: a system term or a business term.

• Operators: comparison operators equals, does not equal, contains, or does not contain.

• Facts: data passed in from the message to be evaluated, such as time sent, or sender.

• Rules Engine: the User Messaging Preferences component that processes and evaluates filters.

• Comparison: a rule term and the associated comparison operator.

• Action: the action to be taken if the specified conditions in a rule are true, such as Broadcast to All, Failover, or Do not Send to Any Channel.

67.1.2 Configuration of Notification Delivery Preferences

User Messaging Preferences allows configuration of notification delivery preferences based on the following:

• a set of well-defined rule terms (system terms or business terms)

• a set of channel and the corresponding addresses supported by Oracle User Messaging Service

• a set of User Messaging Preferences filters that are transparently handled by a rules engine

One use case for notification delivery preference is for bugs entered into a bug tracking system. For example, user Alex wants to be notified through SMS and EMAIL channels for bugs filed against his product with priority = 1 by a customer type = Premium. For all other bugs with priority > 1, he only wants to be notified by EMAIL. Alex's preferences can be stated as follows:

Rule (1): if (Customer Type = Premium) AND (priority = 1) then notify [Alex] using
 SMS and EMAIL.

Rule (2): if (Customer Type = Premium) AND (priority > 1) then notify [Alex] using
EMAIL.
 

A runtime service, the Oracle Rules Engine, evaluates the filters to process the notification delivery of user requests.

67.1.3 Delivery Preference Rules

A delivery preference rule consists of rule comparisons and rule actions. A rule comparison consists of a rule term (a system term or a business term) and the associated comparison operators. A rule action is the action to be taken if the specified conditions in a rule are true.

67.1.4 Rule Actions

For a given rule, a User Messaging Preferences user can define one of the following actions:

• Broadcast to All: send a broadcast message to all channels in the broadcast address list.

• Failover: Send a message serially to channels in the address list until one successful message is sent. This action means performing a send to the next channel when the current channel returns a failure status. User Messaging Preferences does not allow a user to specify a channel-specific status code or expiration time.

• Do not send to Any Channel: Do not send a message to any channel.

  Tip:

  User Messaging Preferences does not provide a filter action that instructs "do not send to a specified channel." A best practice is to specify only positive actions, and not negative actions in rules.

• Default address: if no action is defined, a message is sent to a default address or addresses, as defined in the Messaging Channels page in Enterprise Manager.

67.2.1 Creating a Channel

To create a channel:

1. Click Create (Figure 67-2).

   Figure 67-2 The Create Icon

   
   Description of "Figure 67-2 The Create Icon"
   
   

2. Enter a name for the channel in the Name field (Figure 67-3).

3. Select the channel's transport type from the Type dropdown menu.

4. Enter the number or address appropriate to the transport type you selected.

5. Select the Default checkbox to set the channel as a default channel. You can have multiple default channels.

   Figure 67-3 Creating a Channel

   
   Description of "Figure 67-3 Creating a Channel"
   
   

6. Click OK to create the channel. The channel appears on the Channels page. The Channels page enables you to edit or delete the channel.

67.2.2 Editing a Channel

To edit a channel, select it from the Channels list and click Edit (Figure 67-4). The editing page appears for the channel, which enables you to change the channel properties described in Section 67.2.1, "Creating a Channel".

Figure 67-4 Edit a Channel

Description of "Figure 67-4 Edit a Channel"

Certain channels are based on information retrieved from your user profile in the identity store, and this address cannot be modified by User Messaging Preferences (Figure 67-5). The only operation that can be performed on such as channel is to make it the default.

Figure 67-5 Edit a Identity Store-Backed Channel

Description of "Figure 67-5 Edit a Identity Store-Backed Channel"

67.2.3 Deleting a Channel

To delete a channel, select it and click Delete (Figure 67-6).

Figure 67-6 The Delete Icon

Description of "Figure 67-6 The Delete Icon"

67.2.4 Setting a Default Channel

You can configure one or more channels as default channels. You can add or remove a channel as a default channel.

To set an additional channel as a default, select it, click Edit, and then click Set as default channel. A checkmark (Figure 67-7) appears next to the selected channel, designating it as a default means of receiving notifications. Repeat this procedure to add additional default channels, if required.

Figure 67-7 The Default Icon

Description of "Figure 67-7 The Default Icon"

67.3.1 Creating Filters

To create a filter:

1. Click Create (Figure 67-2). The Create Filter page appears (Figure 67-9).

2. Enter a name for the filter in the Filter Name field.

3. If needed, enter a description of the filter in the Description field.

4. Select whether notifications must meet all of the conditions or any of the conditions by selecting either the All of the following conditions or Any of the following conditions options.

5. Define the filter conditions using the lists and fields of the Condition section as follows:

   1. Select the notification's attributes. Refer to Table 67-3 for a list of these attributes.

   2. Combine the selected condition type with one of the comparison operators described in Table 67-1.

   3. Add appropriate values describing the attributes or operators.

   For instance, if you select the Date attribute, select one of the comparison operators and then select the appropriate dates from the date chooser.

6. Click Add (Figure 67-6) to add the attribute and the comparison operators to the table.

7. Repeat these steps to add more filter conditions. To delete a filter condition, click Delete (Figure 67-6).

8. Select one of the following delivery rules:

   • Send Messages to all Selected Channels -- Select this option to send messages to every listed channel.

   • Send to the First Available Channel (Failover in the order) -- Select this option to send messages matching the filter criteria to a preferred channel (set using the up and down arrows) or to the next available channel.

   • Send No Messages -- Select this option to block the receipt of any messages that meet the filter conditions.

9. To set the delivery channels, select a channel from the Add Notification Channel list and then click Add (Figure 67-6). To delete a channel, click Delete (Figure 67-6).

10. If needed, use the up and down arrows to prioritize channels. If available, the top-most channel receives messages meeting the filter criteria if you select Send to the First Available Channel.

11. Click OK to create the filter. Clicking Cancel discards the filter.

67.3.2 Editing a Filter

To edit a filter, first select it and then click Edit (Figure 67-9). The editing page appears for the filter, which enables you to add or change the filter properties described in Section 67.3.1, "Creating Filters".

67.3.3 Deleting a Filter

To delete a filter, first select it and then click Delete (Figure 67-6).