Introduction to Email Notifications

Benefits

For many organizations, it's imperative to send out email notifications for assignments due. 

ZenGRC answers this need by providing three action items that send email notifications throughout their workflows as users complete their assignments and the items transition to the next status. Those items include:

• Tasks
• Assessments
• Requests

In addition, administrators can control the email cadence by configuring two communication options that include:

• Daily Digest - A daily email that provides a listing of a user's current assignments in a single email. It can be configured to be sent every day or only on selected days, and it can enabled/disabled for each of the three assigned item types. It is sent out at 10 UTC on the days you select.
• Instant Notifications - Real-time email notifications that are sent to users when certain trigger events occur in ZenGRC. While instant notifications are configured separately from the Daily Digest, both can be enabled simultaneously.

Overview

The following are general rules surrounding email notifications:                     

• The Daily Digest email includes action items currently in a user’s To-Do List. Items are only included on their start date and are in a workflow that is currently actionable by that user. (e.g. an item will not appear on a reviewer’s Daily Digest until an assignee submits evidence).
• All notifications include links to the individual items in the To-Do List, with the Daily Digest also providing a link to the To-Do List home page.
• Fields in which to place users so they receive email notifications include:
  • Assignees
  • Assessors (assessments only)
  • Verifiers

  • Reviewers

• Any comments using @mentions for action items will be included in the daily digest for all users playing a role on the item.
  • @mentions will send instant email notifications in addition to the daily digest notices. This is regardless of whether instant notifications have been enabled in Email Settings. For more information on comments, please see Actions on the Details Page.
  • These notifications are triggered for all ZenGRC items (not just action items). 
• Questionnaires also generate email notifications to the assigned respondent. For more information, please see Questionnaires.

Getting Started

To start the journey, please consider the following roadmap:

• Review how email plays a part in workflows in: 
  • Workflow for Requests and Tasks
  • Workflow for Assessments
• Then, manage notification settings in Configuring Email Settings. This is where you enable instant notifications and customize the Daily Digest.

What Doesn't Trigger Instant Notifications?

• Comments on any items other than the three assignable items (request, assessment, or task) that do not target specific users with the @mention.
• Status changes on any object other than the three assignable items (request, assessment, or task).
• Any recurrence that generates an assignable item in an Open status but whose Start Date has not yet arrived.
• Any object created in an Open status during import (unless the Notify Assignee column has been explicitly set to True during the import).
• Initial auto-generation of assessments based on scoped controls generated via the Audit Setup Wizard.
• In case there are no reviewers or verifiers, no notification will be sent when the assignee/assessor submits the assignment.