Failed to respond

Often, when a query to client has been sent, the client fails to respond to that query.  In order to provide an automatic way of managing requests where this occurs, this Failed to respond process can automatically send a reminder email if a Query to client has not been responded to, and automatically close the question if the query has still not been responded to, all within time frames that you supply.

This feature has been provided as a new system wide background process at System>Batch process menu>Background processing>Failed to respond.  Because it is system wide it will apply to all questions in “Referred to client” status in your system, no matter what Request type they are.

You set parameters as to when the reminder email should go out and when it should be closed.  When the background process runs it checks for any questions in your system in “Referred to client” status (as that is the status applied after a Query to client is sent), and if the Reminder time has expired it sends the Reminder email and changes the question’s status to “Referred to client (reminder)”.  It can also check for questions where a reminder has been sent and, if the Close time has expired and a response has still not been received, automatically closes the question with the closing status of “Closed – client failed to respond”.

Note that this process ONLY operates on questions in the “Referred to client” status set by the “Query to client” function.  If a Query is responded to in any other way than via the RefTracker client interface “Query to client response” function, such as by a reply email, the status of the question will have changed to something other than “Referred to client” (such as “Updated by client” when an email is imported from the client), and so only questions that truly are still waiting for a response to a “Query to client” will be captured by this process.

If you want to use this process you will need to set its Parameters and Schedule, and Enable it.

How to the use the Failed to respond process

To use this process you must set its Parameters and Schedule, and Enable it in System>Batch process menu>Background processing>Failed to respond.

There are two Parameters to set:

Send a reminder after: Tick this box to have a reminder email sent after your selected number of days/hours since the “Query to client” was sent.  The reminder will actually be sent the first time this Background process runs after that time (according to your Schedule setting).  When a reminder is sent it is recorded in the History.  With this process in place you can be confident that you no longer have to check on questions that remain in the “Referred to client” status for too long!
Here’s an example of the reminder email – it just adds reminder text to a resend of the original Query to client email.  This text is a literal that can be changed using System>Utilities>Administration utilities>Literal editor

If you tick the reminder email option but do not tick the Close option, a reminder will be sent, but the question will not be automatically closed.

This reminder email can also be sent manually by your Regular RefTracker operators.  The reminder email can be sent manually irrespective of whether this automatic process is running. Click here for details of how that is done.

Close after: Tick this box to have questions in “Referred to client” status automatically closed if the Query has still not been responded to after the additional amount of time that you specify here.  Set the number of days/hours since the “Query reminder” email was sent, that you want this automatic closure process to occur.  It will actually occur the first time this Background process runs after that time (according to your Schedule setting).
It is possible to have questions automatically closed without sending a reminder email by not ticking the “Send a reminder after” tick box, but if you do that, the question will be closed after just the period specified on the close parameter line has expired since the Query to client was sent, and the client will not receive a reminder or any notification that the question is being closed.
An email is NOT sent to the client when the question is automatically closed because the reminder email has already advised the client that the close will happen.

The Schedule should be set taking your Reminder timing parameters into account.  In most instances the default setting of Daily at your closing time e.g. 6pm (using the time zone of the default Location) should be appropriate, as that will ensure that all the Query to client status emails that should have had a response today, are send a reminder (or closed as appropriate).
To start this function operating, go to the Overview tab and set it to Enabled.

Note that when a question is reopened all Query to client actions from before the reopen are discounted in relation to any future “Failed to respond” reminders.  This also means that the outstanding Query to client message in the answer screen only shows Query to client messages sent since any reopen. 

Important implementation hints: 

RefTracker systems are distributed with this process turned of.  If you want to run this process you must follow these enabling instructions above first:
– Before first enabling this process, be sure to check that all questions currently in “Referred to client” status, are ones that should get reminders – in other words, close all questions in “Referred to client” status that should have already been closed. Use the Simple Search screen with “All status” groups set to the open status “Referred to client” to review questions that will be subject to this process.
– The reminder email is sent using the same refm501 email template as the Query to client function.  The reminder clause is ONLY inserted if it is a reminder being sent.