External Request Scenarios that Create Excel-Initiated Requests

While an external request scenario can be configured to simply create a request when an email is received, templates may also be configured to accept an Excel file attached to the email. The Excel file provides data for the first Data Entry role in the workflow. In this case, not only will the request be created, but the worksheet data from the Excel file will be inserted into the table used by the first Data Entry role (after certain conditions are met).

This type of request is called an Excel-initiated request.

NOTE: For templates that use scenarios that create Excel-initiated requests, emails can have an Excel file attached that contains more than one worksheet so that more than one template external request scenario can be processed with one email. The subject line for external emails for Excel-initiated requests must include the text entered in the SUBJECT ALIAS field for at least one of the Sheet Names that match a worksheet in the email. dspCompose creates a request for every worksheet name that matches a sheet name for an External Request Scenario.

An external request scenario that creates an Excel-initiated request requires the same configuration as an external request scenario. Refer to Configure settings for an External Request Scenario for more information.

This type of scenario also requires additional configuration. Refer to Configure settings for an External Request Scenario that creates Excel-initiated Requests for more information.

To use an external request scenario that creates an Excel-initiated request:

  1. An external contact sends a request by email to an external data email account set up in dspCompose™. Refer to Set up an External Data Email Account for more information.

  2. The email poller runs, locates the email, and checks the email for an alias in the subject line that corresponds to a subject alias saved for an external request scenario that creates Excel-initiate requests. Refer to Create an External Request Scenario for an Excel-initiated Request for more information about aliases.

    NOTE: If the email’s subject line does not contain the alias, processing stops and the external contact receives a message that the email’s subject line is not valid. The external contact must correct the error and resubmit the email.

  3. If an email’s subject line contains an alias that has been configured for an external request scenario, dspCompose™ compares the sender’s email address to the list of email addresses on the Template (External Request Scenario Email Address) page for the scenario. Refer to Add Email Addresses for a Scenario for more information.

    NOTE: If the email’s subject line does not contain a valid alias, processing stops and the external contact receives a message that the email’s alias is not valid. The external contact must correct the error and resubmit the email.

  4. If the sender’s email address has been added to the external request scenario, the name of the worksheet in the Excel file is compared to the Sheet Name (entered on the Template (External Request Scenario) page’s Vertical View on the Advanced tab) for the external request scenario.

    NOTE: If the sender’s email address has not been added to the external request scenario, processing stops and the external contact receives a message that the email address is not valid. The external contact must resubmit the email from a valid email address.

  5. If there is a match between the worksheet name in the Excel file and the name entered in Sheet Name, dspCompose™ copies the request data to a staging table for the external request scenario’s template.

    NOTE: If the Excel file contains worksheets for which no matching Sheet Name is found, those worksheets are ignored. Other worksheets with valid names are processed.

  6. dspCompose™ maps the data in the columns in the worksheet to the template columns according to mappings created on the Template (External Request Scenario Columns) page. Refer to Map Columns from the Template to Columns from the Spreadsheet  for more information.

  7. If custom rules have been registered as template-level events, dspCompose™ runs those rules on the data. Refer to Create Custom Rules for Excel-initiated Requests  for more information.

  8. Once the mapping and rules are complete, the request data is moved from the staging table to the data entry table for the lowest priority Data Entry role for that template.

NOTE: When an External Contact for an external request scenario that creates an Excel-initiated request submits an Excel file as an attachment to an email, if any of the worksheets fail an email validation, none of the worksheets in the Excel file will be processed. The external contact will receive a message from the first validation that fails.  The external contact must correct and resubmit the Excel file. Refer to Set Up Email Validations for more information.

NOTE: The email poller is scheduled to run every 10 minutes. This value is configurable in System Administration.

NOTE: Once the request is created, the workflow for processing the request is the same as any other request. Refer to Process Requests for more information.

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