AUTOMATED NOTIFICATION GENERATION SYSTEMRequirements

Users should be able to set and manage Notification Generators for a record being edited:

Available for any record of any type (objects, entities, etc)

Available to all users (dependent on access to the parent record)

Any number of different users may create any number of Notification Generators for any number of different records

For each Notification Generator:

The user may enter:

Subject (text; required)

Notes (multi-line text; optional)

Rules (see below for structure; required; multiple)

Active (boolean flag)

Receive email notification (boolean flag; required if "Receive on-screen notification" is false)

Receive on-screen notification (boolean flag; required if "Receive email notification" is false)

Additional fields maintained internally:

Owner (reference to the user who created it)

Creation Date (generated on insert)

Modification Date (generated on update)

Notification Generators generate Notifications based on configurable Rules:

Rule types:

Scheduled: Based on actual time (e.g. "notify me at 1pm every Wednesday"):

Date+time (of first instance)

Repeat Duration (daily/weekly/monthly)

Number of Repeats OR Last Repeat date+time

Responsive: Based on changed to the database (e.g. "notify me if there is ever a loan on this object"):

Field name

Type of match (exact, case insensitive, one-of, regular expression)

Field value / value list / pattern to match against

All Rules for a Notification Generator must be matched for the Notification to be generated (i.e. combinations are always logical "and" operations)

A logical "or" can be simulated by creating a second rule on the same object

Rules may be inverted (i.e. logical "not"), for example a Rule could be created which matches "when field X does not have value Y"

Users should be able to view and manage all of their Notification Generators as a combined list:

As a widget on the home page (quick summary, read-only)

As a page, linked from the main menu, which shows all reminders and provides actions for editing

Include number of times each Notification Generator has generated a Notification (optional requirement)

Users should receive generated Notifications:

Notifications should provide the Subject and Notes from the Reminder Generator

Notifications should indicate the Rules that were matched to be generated

Notifications should provide action buttons to dismiss the Notification and (optionally) disable the Notification Generator responsible ("I don't want any more of these")

Ensure wording clearly describes to users what each button does

Email notifications should be sent whether logged in or not logged in

Notifications should provide links to manage Notification Generators (i.e. a link to the implementation of Requirement 4B)

Performance Expectations

Automated notification generation should not impact on performance of the system as a whole

Email notifications should be received within 2 minutes of the expected time, assuming connectivity

On-screen notifications should be visible on every page load starting from the expected time, until actioned by the user

Future Requirement Considerations

Reports (usage stats per record type, per [record-type] type, per user, number of Notification Generators, number of generated Notifications, etc)

Administrator functions (search for and archive/action Notification Generators for other users)

Send generated Notifications to other users (i.e. "CC" for Notifications)

Calendar view

More available match types (e.g. mathematical comparisons - greater than, less than)