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Using email notifications in 10.1.1 IBM Cognos TM1 Applications

Product Documentation


Abstract

In 10.1.1, you can send automated email to users when you take certain actions on your applications.

Content

Email notifications

You can add workflow email notifications to IBM® Cognos® TM1® applications.

To use email notifications

  • The Cognos TM1 servers must be Cognos Access Management (CAM)-authenticated using Mode 5 authentication.
  • Human Task Services
  • Notifications are processed using the Human Task Service and Mail Delivery Service from the Cognos platform. These services are installed either as part of the Cognos Business Intelligence (BI) Server install which C10 BI users have, or as part of the Cognos BI Runtime install which Cognos TM1 customers with no Cognos BI license are entitled to. These platform services must be at 10.1.1 or newer.
Attention: If you install Cognos TM1 the Cognos BI Runtime solely in support of workflow email notifications, you must provide a supported RDBMS instance, for example DB2, SQL Server or Oracle, to use as a Content Store. Alternatively, the Cognos Content Store based on Apache Derby may be used as a test environment. Apache Derby is not provided with the Cognos BI Runtime that Cognos TM1 users can access, and should not be used for Production systems.

Prerequisites for using email notifications
  • An installed Cognos BI Server or Cognos BI Runtime with the Human Task Service and Mail Delivery Service.
  • The Cognos TM1 Application Server installed and configured against Cognos Access Management (CAM)-authenticated Cognos TM1 servers.
  • The relevant Cognos TM1 Applications gateway components installed on the Cognos BI Server, and configured correctly, as described in the IBM Cognos TM1 Installation and Configuration Guide. Edit the planning.html file in c10_install_location\webcontent to point to the location of the Cognos TM1 Application Server, for example, http://machinename.com:9510.
  • A Cognos TM1 Application deployed from Cognos Cognos TM1 Performance Modeler and with appropriate Rights assigned.
Configuring email notifications

1. Ensure that the Cognos TM1 instance of Cognos Configuration is set to point to a valid Cognos C10 BI server.
2. If you want to have workflow email notifications sent by email in addition to the notifications that will be sent to the user Inbox in Cognos Connection, ensure that a mail server is configured in the Cognos C10 instance of Cognos Configuration:
3. Stop the TM1 Applications Server.
4. Enter the following tag in the pmpsvc_config.xml file for the Cognos TM1 Application Server:

<notifications emailProvider="HTS"/>

so that it looks like the following example.

Replace the specific names here with your system names and do not break the lines when entering them:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<pmpsvc_config xmlns:xsi="http:// www.YourServer.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance&quot;
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="pmpsvc_config.xsd">
<fpm_service>
<config class="com.ibm.cognos.pmpsvc.PMPSVCConfig"/>
<service name="PMPService">
<method name="setClients" sessionOptional="true"/>
</service>
</fpm_service>
<service>
<!-- Uncomment the line below to change the location of the
planning service application files -->
<!--appdef path="Location of
planning service application files" /-->
</service>
<service>
<notifications emailProvider="HTS">
</notifications>
</service>
<clients>
<client id="thinClient" type="html-new" uri="http:// YourServer.com/TM1Web/contributor.aspx">
<name>
<localeText default="true" locale="en_US" text="TM1 Application Web"/>
</name>
</client>
<client id="desktopClient" type="cognos-rcp"
uri="servlet/CogrcpServlet?applicationId=CognosInsight">
<name>
<localeText default="true" locale="en_US" text="Cognos Insight - Connected"/>
</name>
</client>
<client id="distributedClient" type="cognos-rcp" uri="servlet/CogrcpServlet">
<name>
<localeText default="true" locale="en_US" text="Cognos Insight - Distributed"/>
</name>
</client>
</clients>
</pmpsvc_config>
5. Re-start the Cognos TM1 Application Server.
6. To see the notifications setting, use Cognos TM1 Performance Modeler on the application.

The notification settings display near the bottom of the list of Properties. By default, notifications are configured for the Submit and Reject workflow actions.

Changing the notifications

To change a notification setting:

1. Click the Notifications row in the Properties file then click the ellipses. The Notifications Setting dialog lists the actions and the current values for each kind of Notification.

  • To enable or disable notifications on particular actions, enter either True or False in the Enable Notification column.
  • To have the notification recipients changed, or to alter the content of the notifications, click in the relevant row for the Advanced Notification Settings column:

  • In this dialog, you may change the recipients and construct different Subject and Body text, and use preset parameters in the notification content.

2. Re-deploy the Application for changes to the notification settings to take effect.


Remember: Authentication sources such as Active Directory or LDAP will likely have the email address field populated automatically. It is possible to use an authentication source such as NTLM that has no native email field, and to add the email address from the user’s preferences in Cognos Connection.

Users without email addresses will still receive notifications via the Inbox.

Depending on the settings you chose, an action taken on the application such as Reject or Submit, will now generate an email notification to the appropriate owners of the nodes affected by that action.

Reading the notifications


  • If you have configured the HTS system, users will receive appropriate email notifications in their own email inboxes.
  • Users may also read the notifications through the Inbox that can be accessed from both Cognos Connection and the Cognos TM1 Applications portal.
  • From Cognos Connection, click the Inbox found on the "My Area Options" menu.


However it is accessed, it is the same underlying Inbox. This is also the Inbox where any Cognos BI-related notifications are sent.




Changing the language used for the notification

You can change the language used for the notification by identifying the language and the translated text in the Applications Properties page.


1. In the Cognos TM1 Applications page, select the Application to use.
2. Click the Properties icon.
3. Click the workflow action you want to use. Only the actions that can use notifications are available.



4. On the Notifications tab, change the language setting, the subject, and the text of the notification to use translated text here. Then copy and paste the translated notifications message into the message area.

CAUTION: Do not alter or remove the metadata tags such as <Current Owner> or <Application Link>. Do not translate those tags.

[{"Product":{"code":"SS9RXT","label":"Cognos TM1"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU053","label":"Cloud & Data Platform"},"Component":"TM1","Platform":[{"code":"PF033","label":"Windows"}],"Version":"10.1.1","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB10","label":"Data and AI"}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
17 June 2018

UID

swg27035837