Sending and receiving emails via a Track

Introduction

Tracks in pam can be used to send and receive messages to people outside the platform, this allows the Track to act like a ticketing system and manage requests from customers, end users or even members of the public.

For example, a MASH could directly receive safeguarding referrals from members of the public, or an organisation could collect ideas for improvement from its staff.

Setup

Before you start sending messages into your tracks you will need:

  1. A track in pam to use to receive and send emails from
  2. An email address that you control for end users to send message to (eg: referrals@midshire.gov.uk)
  3. To configure your email to forward messages into pam (either automatically or manually)

Receiving email into a track

How it works

To explain how it works let's use an example of a MASH that wants to receive referrals directly into pam from members of the public.

  • The MASH has an email address referrals@midshire-mash.gov.uk published as their contact address already, and the people are already using that email address to send them messages.
  • Claire, the MASH Co-ordinator, is already using a track called Midshire MASH in pam to manage their referral work in.
  • Claire checks in pam and finds out the unique email address of her Midshire MASH track is abc123@pam.gsi.gov.uk.
  • She then sets up a forwarding rule on the referrals@midshire-mash.gov.uk email address to forward all messages to abc123@pam.gsi.gov.uk.
  • Now when a member of the public emails referrals@midshire-mash.gov.uk that message is forwarded on to pam and a new item is created on the Midshire Mash track with all the details, including the sender’s name and email address, the content of the email, and any attachments.
  • Track Item's created in that way can then be managed like normal through their standard workflow.

Finding out the unique address for your track

To find the email address for a track contact support@pam-it.com with the URL of the track in question. We hope to make this information visible directly in pam in the future.

Manual forward vs Auto Forward

If you have your email account set up to auto forward mails you don’t need to take action in order for new items to be created on your track.

It may be the case though that you use one email address for a number of different areas of work and only want certain messages to be sent into pam.

To do this you will need to manually forward messages as an attachment. That last part is important, as that's how pam correctly detects the original senders email address and message to populate the new track item it creates.

Most systems make forwarding as an attachment easy, often right clicking on an email will give the option to forward as an attachment. In Outlook though it's a slightly hidden feature. With the message highlighted click the “More” drop down in the “Respond” section of the outlook Ribbon, then choose forward as an attachment, or if you like keyboard shortcuts it’s Ctrl + Alt + F.

Sending email from a Track

Using Notes

When a track is configured to use email you can send messages to recipients outside of pam using the notes area. In the "Show notification options" section below the text editor there is a new box called "Email address/es:". In that box you can type one or more addresses, separated by spaces.

When you post the notification those external addresses will be sent an email containing the contents of your note and any documents you attached to it.

When working in a secure environment make sure you only use email addresses you know and trust to be secure.


Need further help? Get in touch...

Message us via pam, email us at support@pam-it.com or call 01273 041 042.
  • Sam Peters
  • Roy Crombleholme
  • Stuart Johnson