How to Automatically Notify Groups of Users
Updated: May 13, 2016
Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Service Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Service Manager, System Center 2012 - Service Manager
In some scenarios, you may want to use a group rather than an individual user in System Center 2012 – Service Manager as a work item stakeholder. For example, you might want to assign an incident to a team of people, such as an initial response team that routes incidents, and then notify everyone in the initial response team that an incident has been assigned to their team.
Messaging-enabled universal security groups in Microsoft Exchange Server are the key to this task. Although you can create these groups in Exchange Server 2007, this topic describes how to accomplish this using the Exchange Server 2010 Exchange Management console for incidents. You can use the following procedures to create a messaging-enabled universal security group, create a workflow to notify stakeholders when an incident is created, and then test for success.
In Exchange Server 2007 and later versions, the Require that all senders are authenticated setting is enabled by default for mail-enabled universal security groups. You can modify the setting in the distribution group properties, in Mail-Flow settings, in the Message Delivery Restrictions dialog box. If your outgoing Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server specified in the Service Manager settings (Under Administration>Notifications Channels>Edit) is using Anonymous as the Authentication Method (either in Service Manager or the SMTP settings), then given the above default setting in exchange, the email would not be sent out. If you have Anonymous Access configured on the SMTP side, it is necessary either to clear the Require that all senders are authenticated setting in exchange for the Mail Enabled Universal Security Group, or change the SMTP authentication settings (in Service Manager or the outgoing SMTP Server settings) from anonymous to Windows Integrated, so that the user is authenticated, allowing the email to be sent.
As an alternative, you can avoid using Assigned to and instead use Support Group changing as a triggering field. To set this up, create a new email notification subscription, and under additional criteria, use the following:
Changed from: [incident] Support Group Does not equal Tier 1
Changed to: [incident] Support Group equals Tier 1
Use whatever template you want, and add the recipient of the mailing distribution list for Tier 1. Now Tier 1 is notified whenever a ticket is set to them, even if it is done by means of a template at portal ticket creation.
Setting up one of these for each support group will ensure that all your groups are informed of incoming incidents that require their attention.
To create a messaging-enabled universal security group
In the Exchange Management Console, navigate to Recipient Configuration, right-click Distribution Group, and then click New Distribution Group.
On the Introduction page, either choose an existing universal group or create a new group.
On the Group Information page, select the Security group type.
Complete the creation of the group.
Add members to the group by right-clicking them, clicking Properties, and accessing the Members tab.
Wait for Service Manager to sync with Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), or perform a manual Synchronization from Administration>Connectors. (Click AD Connector, and then click the Synchronize Now task on the right-hand side).
Once the Active Directory synchronization has completed, the newly created group will be available as a configuration item in Service Manager, and it can be selected in the user picker fields, such as Affected User and Assigned To.
To create a workflow to notify stakeholders when an incident is created
Navigate to Administration>Workflows>Configuration.
Double-click Incident Event Workflow Configuration.
Click Add, and then click Next on the Before you Begin page.
Give the workflow a name, such as “Incident Created – Email Stakeholders”.
Leave the default of When an incident is created in the Check for Events drop-down list.
Select one of your custom management packs (or create one) to store the workflow in, and then click Next.
Click Next on the Specify Incident Criteria page. (We want this workflow to run when any new incident is created.)
Optionally, apply a template. (In this case we are creating the workflow for notification only, so we choose Do not apply a template.)
In the Select People to Notify dialog box, select the Enable notification check box. Add the appropriate users you want to notify with the appropriate templates.
Click Next, and then click Create to complete creation of the workflow.
To test the workflow and mail the enabled universal security group
- Create an incident and assign it to the messaging-enabled universal security group that you created earlier.
See Also