Author: Gary Sherman

Chief Technology Officer, Vice President of Products

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Invoking custom actions in Dovetail Carrier without using Task Manager

June 13, 2016 In my last post, I demonstrated how to create a custom action for Dovetail Task Manager – namely a GetStockQuote action.Now, let's see how we can invoke a custom action without using Task Manager at all.We’ll invoke the same GetStockQuote code within Carrier, but, this has nothing to do with Task Manager. It’s simply a way to get Carrier to execute some custom code.To invoke it, we’ll create a business rule, and have Rulemanager send this message into Carrier. (Recall that Dovetail Rulemanager version 2.0 added Carrier Message as a business rule action message type) ProcessHere’s the overall process: A New Carrier Message TypeOut of the box, Dovetail Task Manager fires a business rule with an action of Carrier Message.The business rule action message content looks like:type=RunTaskSet caseId=12345 taskSetName=Do Something Cool Task Set Rulemanager turns this into an actual message, and sends…

Creating custom tasks for Dovetail Task Manager

June 8, 2016 Out of the box, Dovetail Task Manager supports one action - Create Subcase. (See this post for a primer on Task Manager) But because Task Manager is extensible, we can add our own custom actions that can do almost anything. For this example, we’ll walk through how to add an action named Get Stock Quote, that will call an external web service to get a stock quote. The quote will then be logged as a note to the case. Just for testing, we’ll use Alternate Phone Number field on the case to store the stock symbol. Setup Add the custom Task Action Using Dovetail Admin, edit the Task Action user-defined list. Add an element named Get Stock Quote Add the custom Task Action parameters Using Dovetail Admin, add a new user-defined list named Get Stock Quote Params Add an…

Dovetail Task Manager Introduction

June 6, 2016 Dovetail Task Manager is an optional module that allows actions to occur automatically when a task set is selected from a case.The most common action is creating a subcase. For example, when the New Employee Task Set is run: Create a General subcase for setting up the employee's network account and dispatch to the Network queue. Create an Administrative subcase for ordering business cards and assign to a specific employee. Create a General subcase for creating the user's account in the CRM system, and dispatch to a queue based on auto-destination rules. Dovetail Task Manager is also extensible using customization, allowing it to perform other actions, within the Clarify/Dovetail system itself, or even as a mechanism for integrating with other systems. Dovetail Task Manager replaces the old Clarify Task Manager module. But it also opens up a whole new avenue…

What’s New in Dovetail Agent 10

June 1, 2016 We recently released Dovetail Agent version 10. Or Dovetail Agent X, for you roman-numeral types.Here’s a quick rundown of the major changes. Dovetail Task ManagerDovetail Task Manager is a new optional module that allows actions to occur automatically when a task set is selected from a case.The most common action is creating a subcase.For example, when the New Employee Task Set is run:Create a General subcase for setting up the employee's network account and dispatch to the Network queue.Create an Administrative subcase for ordering business cards and assign to a specific employee.Create a General subcase for creating the user's account in the CRM system, and dispatch to a queue based on auto-destination rules.Dovetail Agent can work with either Clarify Task Manager or Dovetail Task Manager. No surprise, we recommend using Dovetail Task Manager!Dovetail Task Manager is also extensible using customization, allowing…

What’s New in Dovetail Agent 9

January 19, 2016 Dovetail Agent ReleaseWe recently released Dovetail Agent version 9. Here’s a quick rundown of the major changes.Recent Cases tabs on the Create Case pageWhen creating a new case, a user can now easily see recent cases for both the contact and the site. By default, it shows cases created in the last 30 days, and the available filters button makes it easy to change this if needed. Calendar SharingUsers can share their calendar using a standard ICS format. This allows calendar data to be pulled into other calendar applications, such as Microsoft Outlook.Clicking the Share button on My Calendar:and this exposes a public URL for your calendar. Copy this URL and give it to the people you wish to share your calendar data with. Create TagA user can now create a tag on the My Tags page. This makes it easy to…

Improving our Slack integration

December 10, 2015 SlackLast year I posted about Integrating Clarify/Dovetail with your group chat app. That post was around the time we started using Slack for our group chat.At that time, I was using Slack’s simple webservice to post messages about cases. OriginalFor example, case dispatch notifications looked like:Simple. But not very detailed. ImprovedRather than just using Slack’s simple web service, I’m now using their Attachments, which allow for more richly formatted messages.Notice there’s now much more information available, including:Top-level message (In this case, “Case Dispatch Notification”)Case IDContact and Site NameCase title (which links to the case in Dovetail Agent)SeverityQueueLink to the case in Dovetail Mobile And it’s easy to add whatever other relevant information in there that I would like. Business Rule ActionThe business rule that fires on case dispatch now calls the CaseMessage.bat file, like so:C:\Dovetail\RuleManagerActions\slack\casemessage.bat [Object ID] dovetail "Case Dispatch Notification"To that BAT file,…

Using Broadcasts to Share App Tips

December 8, 2015 BroadcastsOne of the features in Dovetail Agent is Broadcasts. I described them in a previous post.A broadcast is used to communicate a message to all users.Broadcasts appear in the user’s notification drawer – along with Notifier messages (such as from business rules).Notice the megaphone icon which helps identify it as a broadcast.Tip of the weekOne of the ways I’ve been using broadcasts here at Dovetail is to share application tips.I do it once a week, on Mondays, so my users get a Tip of the Week.Collection of TipsNotice the broadcast also includes a link to View Past Tips. This is a link to a solution within Agent that contains the collection of tips.So when I add a new tip, I create it as a broadcast, and update the solution with the new tip.SummaryThere you go – a tip about using…

Improving Log Emails

December 7, 2015 Even with today’s prevalence of web applications, a lot of service and support operation interactions are still done by email.With some recent updates to Dovetail Agent and Dovetail Rulemanager, these emails can step into modern times.A simple link in your outgoing emailIn a previous post on encouraging selfservice use, I showed how to automatically include a link to the case within Selfservice in outgoing emails:Whenever we send an email out from a case using our Dovetail apps (Dovetail Agent, Dovetail Mobile), we include a footer in the email, like so:Notice the footer of that email:Check the status and update your case online at our SelfService site:http://support.company.com/cases/show/C12345HTML emails, including imagesMore recently, I showed how users can send rich emails using Dovetail Agent 8, such as: Better togetherCombining these 2 ideas together means we can make our outgoing emails even nicer, with headers,…

What’s New in Dovetail Agent 8

November 13, 2015 This week we released Dovetail Agent version 8. Here’s a quick rundown of the major changes. Rich Text in Logs Agent now support rich text (using Markdown) on case/subcase logs (email, notes, research) and commitments. For example, creating a richly formatted Log Email: And the received email looks like: Convert Markdown to HTML for rendering rich text These rich text logs and images now render as expected in the Case History: And in the Preview Pane: Rich text is also supported within Broadcasts: within business rule notifications: and even within commitment messages: Multiple count badges in tab headers Subcases tab on Case page - show open and total # of Subcases Part Request tab on Part Request Header page - show open and total # of Part Requests Contracts tab on Site page - show…

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