Inbound Mail

Every OMC has its own inbound email address — This can be configured on the OMC Settings Page. Anything sent to that address is processed automatically and turned into a request or a request update, so contacts and suppliers can simply reply to an email rather than logging into the portal.

This page explains how the system decides what to do with each incoming message.

Matching the sender

When an email arrives, the system first works out who sent it, by matching the From address against existing contacts — first on the OMC, then on its managing agent.

If no contact matches, a new one is created automatically:

• If the From address matches a supplier (suppliers can carry an email address), the sender is added as a supplier contact on the agent, linked to that supplier.
• Otherwise the sender is added as an unknown contact on the OMC, so the message is never lost — you can identify and tidy up the contact later.

Note

Out-of-office and other automatic replies are detected from their mail headers and ignored, so they never create requests.

Fresh requests

If the email is not a reply to anything we recognise, it opens a new request. The subject becomes the request title, the body becomes the description, and the sender is recorded as the contact who reported it and is added as a follower. If the sender is a known supplier, the new request is marked as a supplier request and linked to that supplier.

This also covers replies to post, ballot and mail-merge notification emails — these are sent from the OMC inbound address too. A reply to one is not tied to any existing request, so it is handled here and opens a new request.

Replies

We recognise a reply either from the original mail’s headers or from the request reference in the subject line (the request reference we add to every message we send). What happens next depends on who is replying:

• Someone already involved — a follower of the request, or the supplier the request is already assigned to — has their reply logged as an update on that same request, so the conversation simply continues.
• Anyone else gets a new child request linked back to the original, this ensure that for example.
  • Supplier responses do not get fed back to the original requester unfiltered
  • Supplier conversation and Requester conversation are kept completely seperate
  • Someone who happens to know the request reference number sending an email does not automatically receive updated on the request Most of the details of the original request are copied over, the new child request is linked to the original request, and from the original request, you can see all of the linked requests that have been created.

Child requests

There are two kinds of child request:

• A contact who is not following the request opens a plain child titled related: {original title}.
• A supplier (matched by their email) opens a child titled Supplier Response: {original title}, assigned to that supplier and marked as a supplier request — even if they happened to be following the original. This keeps each supplier’s quote or response as its own trackable request.

Tip

A supplier usually only gets one child request per original request. Their first reply opens the child; every later reply — whether it lands on that child or back on the original thread — is logged as an update on the same child rather than spawning yet another one. All incoming messages from the supplier company stay linked to that one request, and all supplier senders are added as followers to receive any further updates.

Examples

An incoming mail creates a new request

If the system receives an incoming mail, it will automatically open a request and link it to the contact who sent the request. If the sender is not recognised, (an email address not on file) the system creates a new contact for the request. Any attachments that are received on the incoming mail will be automatically added to the request.

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1. 1An email to the OMC address from a new sender opens a fresh request.
2. 2The request title comes from the email subject line
3. 3The description comes from the message body — signatures are stripped automatically
4. 4The contact on the request is set to the sender of the email
5. 5The request type is Standard
6. 6The source is Email to system
7. 7Click the Attached Files tab to see any files that arrived with the email
8. 8The image the sender attached to their email has been saved against the request
9. 9Open the Mailings tab to see all emails related to this request
10. 10The original incoming mail is listed with class Inbound
11. 11Click on the subject to open a full copy of the mail
12. 12A copy of the original incoming mail opens, showing the message exactly as it was received
13. 13An automated acknowledgement (class SrCreated) was also sent to the requestor
14. 14Click on the subject to open a full copy of the mail
15. 15The automated acknowledgement opens, showing the message the system sent to confirm the request was received
16. 16Click the Person action button to open the auto-created contact record
17. 17The system created a new contact from the sender's email — not yet linked to any unit
18. 18The system attempts to populate first name and last name from the email sender information
19. 19Click the Mailings tab to see mails to and from this contact
20. 20All mails to and from this contact are linked here as well as on the request
21. 21Close the contact and return to the request

Note

We do not add very small attachments, 99.999% of the time these are logos etc. people use in their auto signature files, but may in rare instance cause a small attachment to go missing.

A follower’s reply is an update

When the original sender — who is automatically a follower — replies, their message is logged as an update on the same request rather than starting a new one.

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1. 1A reply from the original sender, who already follows the request, is logged as an update on the same request.
2. 2Click the Conversation tab to see the comments on the request
3. 3The reply has been added to the conversation as a new comment, rather than opening a new request
4. 4Click the Mailings tab to see the emails related to this request
5. 5The reply is recorded as another inbound mail on the same request
6. 6The request owner was sent a notification that a new comment was added (class NewComment)

A different contact opens a related request

A reply from someone who is not following the request opens a related: child linked to the original.

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1. 1A reply from someone not already following opens a related child request linked to the original.
2. 2The reply has opened a brand-new request with its own reference number
3. 3The new request is linked to the contact who sent the mail
4. 4The request type is Standard
5. 5The new request is also linked back to the original request it relates to
6. 6Click the Parent link to open the original request this one is linked to
7. 7The original request opens — the reply has been recorded against it as a child
8. 8Click the Child Requests tab to see the requests linked to this one
9. 9The newly created related request is listed here, linked back to the original

Forward Requests to Suppliers

You can easily forward requests to one or more suppliers. Use the Mail Supplier action to send the request to one or more suppliers by email. The system dispatches the mail, tracks replies, and links all correspondence back to the request.

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1. 1Open the original request to forward it to a supplier for a quote or assessment
2. 2Open the [send] action menu
3. 3Click Mail Supplier to open the supplier mailing dialog
4. 4Select BBB Maintenance Services Ltd as the first supplier to receive this request
5. 5BBB Maintenance Services Ltd is listed as a mail recipient
6. 6Click the add-supplier button to include a second supplier
7. 7Add AAA Maintenance Services Ltd as a second recipient for the mail
8. 8Click the Template button in the mail editor and choose the Supplier Request template
9. 9Attach the broken sign photo — it arrived with the original request and will help the supplier assess the job
10. 10Click 'Send Emails' button to send the email(s) to supplier(s)
11. 11Click OK to confirm and send the mails to the listed suppliers

Supplier Responses & Communications

You can have an ongoing conversation with the supplier — entirely by email — with everything recorded and visible in the system. When a supplier responds on a request that is already assigned to the request, the reply is shown as an update to the request. When a supplier responds to a request not assigned to the supplier, a fresh request is created.

Note

Supplier interactions are on a seperate request. This keeps the conversation between OMC and Agent seperate from the conversation between OMC and requestor. The original request is typically closed when the work has been done. The supplier request is usually left open until all billing etc. has been handled with the supplier.

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1. 1Return to the original request — the supplier's email reply has created a child request
2. 2Click the Child Requests tab to see the supplier response listed here
3. 3The supplier's reply has opened a "Supplier Response" child request
4. 4Click the reference number to open the supplier response request
5. 5The request type is Supplier — the system recognised the sender as a known supplier
6. 6Click the Mailings tab to see the supplier's incoming email recorded here
7. 7The supplier's reply is recorded as an inbound mail on this request
8. 8Click the Conversation tab to read the supplier's message and continue the dialogue
9. 9The full text of the supplier's email is shown here in the conversation thread
10. 10Click Add Comment to send a further message to the supplier on this request
11. 11Type the reply message
12. 12Click Send to post the reply on this request
13. 13Leave the request status unchanged while awaiting the supplier's response

A supplier replying on their own request

Once a request is assigned to a supplier, that supplier’s further replies are logged as updates on it.

• The reply the send suppliers sends here, should be in response to the message sent as a comment in the previous scenario
• We should have validation steps as above, to show the suppliers message coming in.

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1. 1The same supplier replying on the request already assigned to them is logged as an update, not another child.

A supplier replying again on the original thread

Even when a supplier replies on the original thread rather than their own child request, the update is logged on the child already opened for them — we do not open a second request for them automatically unless the original request created for them has been closed.

• The reply here should be a reply to the first mail sent be “Send Supplier Mail above”

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1. 1A supplier replying again on the original thread is logged as an update on the child already opened for them, not a second child.