Give Infor feedback on IPA email based approvals

All,

First, thanks to everyone for participating in this forum! It's been great to see this online community of IPA users grow.

Second, I'd like to give you all an opportunity to provide feedback on a popular feature of IPA: Email Based Approvals. This feature of the User Action activity sends an email to a user letting them know they must take action (Approve, Reject, etc.) on a workflow. The email ALSO includes links (sometimes formatted as buttons) to take action directly from the email. The user does not have to navigate to the Infor portal and then into the Inbasket. Instead, they can click directly on the "Accept" or "Reject" links (or whatever actions you have designed). A browser then opens, asks the user to authenticate, and provides feedback that the action was completed. This feature is popular, especially among casual users as they don't have to learn how to navigate through the Portal or the Inbasket just to complete a task. They can stay in their email application where they are comfortable.

The feedback I'd like from this community is:

1. Do you use this feature today in production?

2. Do you require the authentication step in the browser in your environment?

3. Do you hear feedback from users that the authentication step is a hindrance? Meaning, do they have problems with it (forgetting their password, browser not displaying the form correctly, mistyping user id or password, etc.)

4. Here is the big question...Would asking the user to simply reply to the email with the action they want to take help with automated workflow adoption? This means that the user would NOT have to authenticate, and would NOT click on a link to open a browser. Instead, they would click Reply in their email client, type "Approve" as the first word in the reply (or whatever action they want to take), and then click send. Infor would be monitoring the replied-to email account for the response via SMTP, verify it came from the email address of the correct user, parse the response for an action word, and complete the user action. If no valid action word was found, an error email would be sent back to the user and they would have a chance to reply again. Of course, they could always navigate to the Inbasket as well and take action manually if the email method did not work for some reason.

5. Any other questions or comments you would like to add regarding your experience with email based approvals.

Thanks for providing feedback on this IPA feature. We are always looking to improve our products, so your feedback is important to us!

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Comments

jreese

1. Yes we use it today for Requisition Approval

2. Yes we require authentication. I believe the version we are on made it mandatory, but we always have required authentication.

3. I have never heard of this being an issue.

4. If this would allow individuals that are off-site, and not connected to the network, to be able to respond and have the action taken then I believe they would be all for it. Otherwise, all they want to have to do is click on one of the buttons.

5. Having the ability to take action through emails made Requisition Approval so much easier to get acceptance by most people since they didn't have to be at their computer to do approvals. Still wish Infor had an easier solution to allow approvals from outside our firewalls but perhaps the email reply will be that solution.

plancor

Keith, thank you for seeking input regarding usability of proposed changes.

1. Yes

2. Yes

3. We are bound to AD and most Approvers frequently log into the network so remembering passwords doesn’t seem to be a problem. For power users and dashboard users who are already authenticated, the email buttons use their current browser connection, and therefore, it doesn’t require another log on.

4. The automated workflow adoption here has been good. Users like the email buttons. I’m not sure they would think that creating a Reply and typing a word is an improvement over clicking a button. Most approvals are done while within the network (ie no additional VPN connection required), so even though they need to authenticate, I don’t see this as a huge need for us.

5. Our users seem to be happy with the current configuration – at least I haven’t heard complaints. We previously used Mobile Inbasket, but once we implemented the email reply buttons the need for MIB was removed.

Just curious…are there security concerns with this solution? Can email From addresses be spoofed? Are there security concerns allowing Infor software to monitor email traffic?

KML US States, Canadian Provinces, PR&VI (3).zip

pam-gallahar

1. We receive e-mails that tell us the are requisitions that need approved and there is a link to the in-basket. However, we do not have the button option on our e-mails to approve from there. Having the buttons on the original e-mail would be beneficial.

2. No

3. N/A

4. I would think the "Reply" option would be very convenient since you would not have to Authenticate.

bhillz

There is (usually) an inverse correspondence between ease of use and security.

With the Approve/Reject/etc button(s) that does not require authentication, the benefits of ease of use are apparent.

Suppose someone forwarded (or intercepted) the email to another asking questions or forwarded several times. They (forwarded recipient) selects a button. Do they have the authority to take the action? Does the transaction get recorded as the original person or as the forwarded recipient?

Email, by default, is not secure nor guaranteed transmission protocol. It is very reliable and when used by internal servers, a certain level of security is assured.

By authenticating, you do ensure that the authorized person is taking the action.

unknown

1. Yes, we are currently using approvals via email in recently implemented personnel action approvals, requisition approval, and job posting approvals.

2. Yes, we require the authentication step in the browser.

3. We have only been using the approvals in production for about 2 months now, but so far there have been no complaints other than we do not have it setup where they can access the server outside of the network, so they have to process these on site. Which would lead to the next question.

4. Allowing the capability to approve by replying to an email would help us a great deal since we don't allow them to access the network to authenticate outside of it. This would make it easier for our supervisors that are out in the field to simply reply to an email and get their approval processed. I know we would make great use of this method if it were available. - I do think allowing the buttons to trigger the email would make it more accurate to keep from something being keyed incorrectly.

unknown

Hello.

1. We use email approvals in a couple of our process flows.

2. We do not require authentication as they can only be used on our intranet. In addition, a significant number of our users are not desk bound and enjoy the easy of not logging in for every requisition, which can be upward to 20 a day.

3. We do agree the authentication is a hindrance, per answer 2. In addition, a number of our users use email on their PDAs and the smaller screen will not allow for a practical logon. In addition, asking them to switch over to the mobile app would add multiple steps and further slow them down.

4. Typing in an action would not be useful. It is better to have the appropriate button choices displayed . This controls the choices and removes any room for error.

5. One point to the email approvals which we do want to see addressed is the placement of the buttons. Currently, there is not ability to customize the location of the buttons. They are always at the bottom of the email. We were able to provide better spacing and enlarge by wrapping them in a table. However, it would be great to be able to move freely place them anywhere.

0912140849182145.pdf

clin

1- Yes

2- Yes

3- Yes, they prefer if authentication is automated based on windows login

4- I think it is better if both options available (Actions buttons and email replay). our IPA server is inside the firewall, they could replay Approved/Rejected by email if they are outside the company.

5- More control of the actions buttons position and format in the email

unknown

Thank you all! Your feedback has been helpful.

As at least one of you noted the "email reply" option is a benefit because the user does not need a VPN or another connection to the Landmark web server.

It is also important to note that Email security has come a long way in the last decade. MS Exchange and other platforms have pretty advanced methods for identifying spoofed emails and rejecting them.

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