Enabling Out of Office option

Sometimes you have to be out of the office, and you need someone to follow up on items that you may be assigned. The Enable Out of Office option allows you to specify a back up user while you are away. The back up user will receive notifications from Dataforms, Org and Activity notifications, Email Template notifications, and the Task Manager. The Out of Office functionality initiates when notifications are sent. Notifications are sent to your ClientSpace Inbox and can also be sent as an email to your external mailbox. You can utilize both methods or choose to only receive notifications in the ClientSpace Inbox.

When the Send Email process is run, the backup user will be identified and the notification will be sent to that user.

Note: The Reassign During Out Of Office feature, an optional enhancement to the Enable Out of Office feature, can be set in the PEO Configuration so that in addition to the Back Up User receiving notifications of new cases and tasks, new cases are reassigned to them while you are away. If the assigned OOO backup user is also marked "out of office" or is expired, inactive, or lacks appropriate case type access, ClientSpace then evaluates Case Type default backup assignment settings to determine an appropriate reassignment path.

Out of Office - Back Up User "Introduction" Email Template

The Out of Office option uses the OOOBackUpUser: Back Up User - Out of Office Notification email template. The system uses this template to notify a user when they have been assigned as a backup user for another user who is out of the office. This template includes:

  • Subject: Back Up User for User Name

  • Body: You have been set as the Back Up User for User Name. Notifications for this user will be sent to you while they are Out of Office from x/xx/xxxx (Start Date) to x/xx/xxxx (End Date).

 

 

Sending notifications to the ClientSpace Inbox

To send notification to the ClientSpace Inbox, the primary user only needs to enable the option Enable Out of Office in their user profile and select a Back Up User. That is all there is to it!

When the back up user receives a ClientSpace Inbox Notification, the subject line of the notification includes the first and last name of the user to back up.

To enable out of office notifications to the ClientSpace Inbox:

  1. Go to My Profile.
    The User Details form opens.
  2. Select the Enable Out of Office option.
    The Back Up User, Start Date, and End Date fields become available.
  3. In Back Up User, select a user to receive your notifications.
  4. Select a Start Date and End Date for the notifications.
  5. Click Save.

In the banner bar, the user profile icon turns red during the time you specified Out of Office and displays ZZ, symbolizing that this user is out of the office and unavailable.

Sending notifications to an external Email mailbox

To send a notification to an external email mailbox, the recipients must have the option Enable Email for this account enabled. However, if you only want one of the recipients to receive the external email notifications, then you only need to enable the option for one, for example, the primary user.

If you want both the primary and back up user to receive external email notifications, then both must have the option Enable Email for this account enabled. The back up user’s email does not display on the record in the Email Admin dashboard. Instead, when the Send Mail scheduled process runs, it checks the recipients of the unsent email.

To enable out of office to an external Email mailbox:

  1. Go to My Profile.
    The User Details form opens.
  2. Ensure that Enable Email for this account is selected.
  3. Select the Enable Out of Office option.
    The Back Up User, Start Date, and End Date fields become available.
  4. In Back Up User, select a user to receive your notifications. Note: If you want the back up user to receive an email in their external mailbox, then ensure that the designated Back Up User also has Enable Email for this account enabled in their User Profile. The back up user always receives a ClientSpace Inbox notification.
  5. Select a Start Date and End Date for the notifications.
  6. Click Save.

In the banner bar, the user profile icon turns red during the time you specified Out of Office and displays a ZZ, symbolizing that this user is out of the office and unavailable.

What happens next

If a system event occurs that sends a notification to you, such as a case or task assigned to you, the notification is forwarded to the user you selected in Back Up User. Both the primary and back up user receive the notifications in their ClientSpace Inbox. The subject is pre-pended with Out of Office.

Let's say that you select John Smith as your Back Up User. When a notification is issued that is meant for you, John Smith receives a ClientSpace Inbox notification from you. If you enable notifications to an external mailbox, email notifications are also sent to the users that have the option Enable Email for this account enabled.

Disabling out of office

When you return to the office and are ready to disable the out of office function, you can disable the option or allow the expiration to complete, based on the end date.

To disable out of office notifications:

  1. Go to My Profile.
    The User Details form opens.
  2. Clear the Enable Out of Office option.
  3. Click Save.

To watch a video about enabling Out of Office, see Learning how: Enabling Out of Office option.