Email Alert Configuration in Provar Grid

This document details the steps required to enable email alert notifications to be sent once a Test Plan Schedule Job is completed in Provar Manager. Guiding the user through existing Salesforce email alert functionality to trigger, based on Test Plan Schedule job records changing to Complete, Failed, or Aborted.

The functionality described is not proprietary to Provar; it is all inherent in the Salesforce organization.

Create an Email Template

Email templates can be created either through the use of Lightning Templates or Classic Templates. Follow whichever steps are more appropriate for your company’s needs.

Lightning Email Templates

First, they must be enabled in the setup to utilize lightning email templates. To do this,

1. Launch Setup.
2. Quick Search for ‘Lightning Email Templates.’
3. Toggle the ‘Folders and Enhanced Sharing’ setting to ‘On’.

For the Test Plan Schedule Job to appear when creating a new lightning email template. First of all, the steps below must be followed to make the necessary custom objects available to the related entity types list.

1. Launch Setup.
2. Navigate to the Object Manager.
3. Quick find the ‘Test Plan Schedule Job’ custom object.
4. Edit the details.
5. Check the ‘Allow Activities’ checkbox and save.

6. Navigate to ‘Page Layouts.’
7. Open the ‘Test Plan Schedule Job’ layout.
8. Under the ‘Related Lists’ category, add ‘Open Activities’ and ‘Activity History’ to the Related Lists layout section.

9. Perform an ‘Empty Cache and Hard reload’ of your browser for these changes to take effect immediately.
10. Log out and back into your Salesforce organization.

Now that the Test Plan Schedule Job object will be available for us to reference in the Email template, follow the below instructions to set up a Lightning email template.

1. Go to the Apps Center.
2. Launch the ‘Email Templates’ application.
3. Select ‘New Email Template.’
4. Enter the following values:
   • Related Entity Type = Test Plan Schedule Job
   • Folder = Public Email Templates
   • All other fields can be entered as per your company’s requirements. Including merge fields in the email template can make the emails more meaningful. Provar recommends a Test Plan Schedule job, and you may want to include the Job Number and the status that the record has been changed to. Merge fields can be added by selecting the curly brackets in the bottom right of the template. See below for an example.

Dear User,

You’re receiving this email to notify you that Test plan schedule job – {{{provar__Test_Plan_Schedule_Job__c.Name}}}

Changed status at  {{{provar__Test_Plan_Schedule_Job__c.LastActivityDate}}} and now has a status of {{{provar__Test_Plan_Schedule_Job__c.provar__Status__c}}}.

Best Regards

Provar

Classic Email Templates

1. Launch Setup
2. Quick search for ‘Classic Email Templates.’
3. Select ‘New Template.’
4. Select the template type appropriate to your needs; for this document, we will select ‘Text.’
5. Enter an appropriate ‘Email Template Name’ and ‘Description.’
6. Enter your required Subject and Email body.

Note: The ‘Available Merge Fields’ can be used to add appropriate content to your email. By selecting the ‘Test Plan Schedule Job Field’ as the ‘Selected Field Type’ and the relevant fields, the returned value can be copied and pasted into your template. See the below example.

Dear User,

You’re receiving this email to notify you that Test plan schedule job – {provar__Test_Plan_Schedule_Job__c.Name}

Changed status at  {provar__Test_Plan_Schedule_Job__c.LastActivityDate} and now has a status of {provar__Test_Plan_Schedule_Job__c.provar__Status__c}.

Best Regards

Provar

7. Use the check box to set the email template to ‘Available for Use.’

Create an Email Alert

Once you have some email alerts to reference, the next step is to create an ‘Email alert’.

1. Launch Setup.
2. Quick search for ‘Email Alerts.’ 
3. Select ‘New Email Alert.’

4. Enter the ‘Object’ as ‘Test Plan Schedule Job.’
5. Enter the ‘Email Template’ as the template you created in the previous steps.

Note: there is a toggle to search for Classic or Lightning email templates.

6. Populate all other fields as per your company’s requirements
   • For recipients, include all users who want to receive email notifications.
   • If the recipients are not users in Salesforce, enter their email addresses in the ‘Additional Emails’ field.
7. Save the Email Alert.

Create Record Triggered Flow

1. Launch Setup.
2. Quick Search for ‘Flows.’
3. In ‘Flows,’ select ‘New Flow.’
4. Select ‘Record Triggered Flow.’

5. In the ‘Object,’ select ‘Test Plan Schedule Job.’
6. Select Trigger flow when: ‘A job is updated.’
7. Under ‘Conditional Requirements,’ select ‘Any Condition is Met (OR)
8. Set the following three conditions:
   • provar__Status__c equals Completed
   • provar__Status__c equals Failed
   • provar__Status__c equals Aborted

9. Select ‘When to run the flow for updated records’ to ‘Only when a record is updated to meet the condition requirements.’
10. Select ‘Optimize the Flow for Actions and related records.’

11. Save the changes to the ‘Record Triggered flow’. This will lead you to a flow diagram.
12. Select the + icon below the ‘Run Immediately’ text when you hover over the circle.

13. Add a ‘Send Email Alert’ element to your flow.
14. This will take you to a ‘New Action’ screen and allow you to select the Email Alert created in the previous steps.
15. Add a meaningful Label, API Name, and Description.
16. For the record ID, select $Record – provar_Test_Plan_Schedule_Job_c and then ‘Record ID.’

17. Click Done.

Your flow should look like this:

18. Save your Flow and provide a meaningful Label, API name, and Description.
19. Select ‘Activate.’
20. You can test if the email works as expected by navigating to an existing Test Plan Schedule Job record and changing its status to either ‘Complete,’ ‘Failed,’ or ‘Aborted.’

Conclusion

Email alerts are a fantastic way to stay updated with changes you’re interested in. As a Salesforce native application, Provar Manager benefits from all of the inbuilt functionality Salesforce offers, including notifications sent via Flows.

As a matter of good business practice, notifications are only effective when used in a targeted way for a specific audience. Otherwise, recipients may suffer notification fatigue, so please use them carefully.

Provar Grid jobs are designed to be scheduled at regular intervals or as part of the continuous development life cycle; the jobs run by Provar Grid will typically run with minimal manual intervention. Therefore, notifications when jobs are complete become an essential piece of the puzzle and will keep stakeholders informed effectively.

Provar plans to make email and Slack alerts a more integrated part of our services in coming releases. But in the meantime, we hope this documentation helps to solve this problem in the short term.