Hi there!
This article is the second of three episodes about creating a seminar reception system with no code.
In the first episode I showed you how to publish an application form for a seminar. I also showed you how to send an acceptance email to the applicant when the application is submitted through the form.
In this second episode we will add a function that automatically sends a reminder email to applicants when the seminar date is approaching. Reminder emails are sent in the hope of increasing the attendance rate of the seminar. Automatically sending reminder emails not only saves time and effort, but also prevents us from forgetting to send them and delays.
As in the first episode, let’s start by organizing the Process flow and Data Items in order to add a function that will send a reminder email.
Organize the Process and Data Items for Sending Reminder Emails
This time we will add a function that will send a reminder email when the date of the seminar is approaching. To sum up, the flow will be as follows.
- Accept applications for seminar participation.
- A member of the seminar team will review the information received and accept the application if it is not inappropriate (a competitor, anti-social, etc.).
- An acceptance email will be sent to the applicant.
- A reminder email will be sent to the applicant (when the event date is approaching).
1, 2, and 3 are functions that you will have already created in the first episode. This time we will add number 4.
Let’s continue with the Data Items that will be used. We will create a function that will send an email when the event date is approaching.
- Name
- Company name / Affiliation
- Email address
- Phone number
- Questions
- Internal communication memo
- Seminar date
Add the seventh Data Item, “Seminar date”. The first six items were prepared in the first episode.
Add the Ability to Send a Reminder Email with No Code
Application for Questetra BPM Suite Free Version
For codeless development we will use Questetra BPM Suite, a platform for building systems by drawing workflow diagrams. If you would like to build a seminar reception system as described in this article, please apply for the 60-day free Trial. You only need your email address to apply.
Click here to apply for Questetra BPM Suite Free Trial. (Note: please apply for either Professional or Advanced.)
The seminar reception system we will build in this article can be easily run on the Questetra BPM Suite platform you are using. All you need to do is to download the seminar registration file from the following page and import it.
If you want to check it right away, please consider using this service.
Modify the Workflow Diagram and Add Data Items
Log-in to Questetra BPM Suite as a user with App Creator Authorization and proceed with the system development using the App Settings function.
For the workflow diagram, add the items from which a reminder email is to be sent to the workflow diagram created in episode 1 as per the Process flow organized in “Organize the Process and Data Items”.
Add items 1 and 2 (both circled) to the workflow diagram above. Their roles are as follows:
- The item “3 Days Before Event” is for when the event date is approaching. The system will wait here until the set date and time is reached. (In the modeler this icon is called a [Timer Intermediate Event].)
- The “Send Reminder Email” option will automatically send a reminder email.
Next, add a Date-type Data Item called “Seminar date”.” The value of this Data Item is not entered by the applicant or seminar team members, but is predetermined, so set the initial value.
Set the initial value of the Seminar date Data Item to a specific value. If the date of the seminar is October 10, 2021, enter the value “2021-10-10“.
Event Date Set Up
We will use an item called a [Timer Intermediate Event]. The round-shaped icon named “3 Days Before Event” in the workflow diagram is a [Timer Intermediate Event]. If you use this item the Process will wait at the icon until the set date and time, at which point the next item will be used to process the event (in this case, sending a reminder email).
Set the [Timer Start Event] so that it will wait until 3 days before the Seminar date. That setting can be made by writing the following text like in the above figure.
#q_workshop_date.addDays(-3)
#q_workshop_date has a # added at the beginning of the characters set in the field name of the Data Item “Seminar Date”. This will be automatically inserted when you select “Seminar date” from the list displayed by clicking “Insert reference” in the lower right corner of the settings screen. If you don’t change the date, it will remain in the waiting state until the seminar date, so you need to add .addDays(-3) to convert it to the date 3 days before the seminar. If you want to make it wait until 2 days before the seminar, use .addDays(-2).
Setting Up a Reminder Email
In the workflow diagram, the round “Send Reminder Email” icon will send an email according to the settings. The values entered in the Data Items can be set to be automatically inserted into the sent email.
In this figure the date is not displayed as it is, but is displayed in various ways with a little twist. This can be achieved by writing something like the following
#{#dateFormatter.format( ＜code to indicate display format＞,＜field name of data item＞)}
For example, yyyy is the year in 4 digits, MM is the month in 2 digits, and dd is the day in 2 digits. The following is an example of the settings and display results.
If the date is 2021-09-25 (always enclose the date in single quotation marks).
- ‘MM/dd’ → 09/25
- ‘MM/dd/yyyy’ → 09/25/2021
Write the field name specified in the Data Item with a # prefix. In this case the field name for the “Seminar date” is q_workshop_date, so to display the date as 21/10, 2021, we would write
#{#dateFormatter.format('MM/dd, yyyy', #q_workshop_date)}
Release the System with Added Reminder Emails
Once you have done this, you will need to do a release to enable the reminder email function.
Operation Check
When an application is submitted through the seminar application form and is accepted in the Application Confirmation Process, an acceptance e-mail is sent to the applicant. Then, as shown in the workflow diagram, the Process will wait at an item named “3 Days Before Event”.
As you can see in the diagram, the Process will be waiting at [Timer Intermediate Event] “3 Days Before Event” and will stay there until 3 days before the seminar date, October 25. On October 22 the next item “Send Reminder Email” will be processed according to the flow, and the reminder email will be sent automatically.
Summary
In this article I introduced a codeless method to build a system that automatically sends a reminder email three days prior to a seminar date. I hope you can understand that no code is required to simply send a reminder email.
I also showed you how to insert date data in various formats in the text of a reminder email with just a little bit of code. This code is not that difficult to write, so please try other ways of outputting the data.
In the next episode the Seminar Reception System will finally be completed. After the seminar we will add a function that will send an email to seminar participants requesting them to answer a questionnaire. We will not only add the ability to send emails, but also to accept survey responses.
The Seminar Reception System with the function of sending reminder e-mails introduced here is available as a file that can be immediately imported into Questetra BPM Suite. If you want to try it right away, or if you want to use it by changing the existing settings, please access [Seminar Registration 2]. Import the file that can be downloaded from the [Download] section on that page into the Questetra BPM Suite environment you are using.
That’s all for now!
