I set up a filter for all "Past Due Date" Task.  When I run the report I get results.  I have tried it at the "Project" level as well as the individual task level.  I know the SMTP server is correct because it is sending out the notifications.  Please help!

Try editing one of the Tasks (but don't change the Due Date). You should get an Alert.

It seems that Alerts are only sent for records that are modified since the last time the Alert was processed. This makes little sense as the most likely use of Alerts is to find records that are past their Due Date, and these (by definition) are probably the records that have not been modified for a long time.

Alerts were one of the features we were really pleased to see in OnTIme 2007. It's a shame they turned out to be useless for us.

Hello Jason,

Let us know exactly what you're trying to set up. If you're getting Notifications without any problems, then you're right, your SMTP server settings are correct.

What is it that you expect to cause an email to be sent out- an Alert?

Send us some more details about your situation. If possible send step-by-step descriptions of what you're trying to do, and any error messages you're getting.

Thanks,

Tom Harder
Axosoft Support
 

I am trying to have an alert be triggered (whatever this means) when the due date for a particular task is past.  I have a filter setup that gives me the results I want on the screen and I based the alert on that filter.  I am not sure what action would trigger the event but definitely having OnTime2007 open does not alert me in any way.  I have set it up on the "All Projects", "Project" and individual task level and I do not get any results through email.

 Thanks.

 Jason

Hello Jason,

Let's go over a few basic things to see if I'm following you correctly.

You're setting up an Alert on a Project that will use a filter instead of a value change, right?

Within the "Add Alert" window you have 3 tabs at the top.

    - Under the 'Alert Information' Tab, below the description field, you need to have 'Filter' selected.

    - Under 'Trigger Details', you'll select the desired Filter, as well as how often you want it checked.

    - Under 'Alert Actions', make sure you have the correct users selected for the Alert.

If those steps have been taken and you still don't receive any Alerts, you should make sure you've started the Alert service.

You can download the Services package from our download page: http://www.axosoft.com/products/downloads.aspx.

Run the utility, check the database, and then start the Alert, Email, and Email Queue Services. Then check for your Alerts again.

If you've done all of that and the problem still persists, check the filter one more time to make sure it's set up properly.

Let us know how it goes. 

Thanks,

Tom Harder
Axosoft Support 

Hello Tom,

Can you confirm that the Alert that Jason is trying to create should actually work ?

It has been our experience that Filter Alerts only work when entries are changed. For example, if you have a Filter Alert set to run once each day and a Filter that returns entries that are Overdue, it will only send an Alert for entries that were modified in he previous 24 hours (ie since the last time the Alert was processed). Of course, most entries that are Overdue were not modified in the last 24 hours, and are not returned.

We spent hours trying to get this to work. We found that if we manually modified the Last Run Time in the Alerts table we could force it work (by setting the Last Run Time to something very old).

Bottom line is, we don't think Alerts will do what Jason is asking for, even if they are configured correctly.

(Alert Filters are also affected by the bug in non-US dates, which makes them even less useful).

Regards,

Brian

Just a thought: Could the problem be due to the fact that the alert was defined after the items were created?

I believe I've had this problem before: A date-based filter alert ignored items that had already existed at the time the alert was created. But after the alert was defined, it worked for all new items that were created, as soon as they met the filter criteria.

So the problem should only be temporary, since it won't affect any items created in the future.

Of course, it would be nice if such alerts also found items that were last modified before the alert was created.

jhunt,

 I tested this and it still does not send an alert.

Thanks.

 Jason

I have been trying to set filtered alerts up all day and nothing seems to work.

If it matters, I have my alerts at the topmost level "All Projects".   

I am using a Hosted account and according to the account area I do have the Alerts Service turned on.

We are trying to accomplish the following:

• We set up a user named "All Developers" to act as a pool.  We also have an email list that matches that so we are all notified when a new item is created.  
  
• To make sure items that have a priority do not sit in the pool too long, I put an alert at the topmost project (All Projects) that matches a filter.   I tested the filter visually and it works.  I set the alert to watch for all items (defects in this case) that match the filter and assigned the emails that need to get the alert. 
  

• Email notifications are working fine.
  
• I've set the trigger to various settings:  15 min, 1 min, 5 min.  Nothing seems to work.
• "Send one email for all items that match this filter" is NOT checked.
• Other people suggested that it is not working on items that are older than the filter - not true.  I've added items after and they still do not send off alerts.
• I've modified entries after 15 minutes and the alert still does not fire.
• I've toggled the Priority and "Assigned To" fields to see if things are field sensitive - still does not work.
• I receive email notifications fine from every other area of the app - just not project level alerts.
  

This is the same result as I am getting except:

• Doesn't work on "All projects", Project level or tem level
• I am NOT a hosted solution

Hello dharbour and Jason,

I know this will sound redundant, but neither of you have mentioned whether or not all 3 of the email services have been started. In order for Alerts to work correctly you must have all 3 services started.

dharbour, you mentioned that you have your Alerts service started, but do you have the Email and Email Queue services started?

Jason, I never got a response from you saying whether or not you had all 3 services started. Have you checked this yet?

Thanks,

Tom Harder
Axosoft Support 

Hello Tom,

I will restate a question I asked earlier in this thread....can you confirm that the type of Alert that Jason is trying to use should actually work?

In our experience, we could not get Alerts to return items that were past their due date. Other Alerts do work, although we have no use for them.

Here is a simple test. Create an Alert to return all Defects for which the Due Date is before today, and set it to process every 5 minutes, Next, enter a Defect and set it's Due Date to sometime last week. We expected we should then get an Alert EVERY 5 MINUTES until the user opens the Defect and changes the Due Date.

At best, we get 1 Alert only. Sometimes none.

(Obviously, we would intend an Alert like this to run once per day, but the 5 minute test is faster).

Regards,

Brian

Hi Brian,

You scenario is currently not possible in ontime. Our logic for filter based alerts only occur is the items in the filters have changed. We set the date in the field to today (when the alert has been created) and if the items have not changed  then no trigger happens. We would need to add logic (check box) to send alert if they are past due date (like your scenario) no matter if item has changed or not.

I hope this answers your question.

Thanks,

Arash

Hello Arash,

Thankyou, someone has finally confirmed that Alerts cannot be used to identify items that are past their Due Date. This was the question that started this thread about 10 days ago.

It is also the most "obvious" reason for using Alerts and I am sure many many users have tried to configure Alerts to do this, only to give up in frustration.

Ontime has a fundamental flaw in that items can be forgotten by users and no notifications or alerts are ever sent unless an item is edited. Unless someone specifically looks for overdue items, they can be hidden forever.

I think this is a "Bug" in the Alerts system in that it does not function in the way a typical user would expect it to. Whether you want to call this a bug fix or an enhancement, could you please fix this soon.

Regards,

Brian

Found this post via search, but I've got to agree with the previous poster. I too assumed (wrongly?) that I could use alerts to, um, alert me about forgotten items (specifically incidents). I setup 3 filters, one for items that are "new" for more than 2 days, another for items not touched in 2 days (alert assigned) and a third for items not touched for 3 days (alert bosses) and never got any emails, now perhaps I understand why. Is it still correct that alerts won't process old items (still == Ver 7.1.1)

-Walden