Creating mail distribution rules

Ensure the right mail goes to the right people at the right time.

Mail Distribution Rules enable you to route mail to specific groups or individuals and determine mail process workflows based on type, field values and who originates the mail. 

They help maintain consistency and ensure the right people get the right communication based on specific criteria you set. This makes reporting much easier down the track and ensure that you meet any mandatory communications requirements in your contracts.

Before you begin

• You have to be a Project Administrator (of the organization that owns the project) and be granted Configure Mail Distribution Rules within User Role Configuration.

• Be sure to set up up your User Groups before you begin applying Mail Distribution Rules. See this post on creating groups for project roles.

• It’s important to consider which project processes you want to manage using Aconex Mail before you set up your Mail Distribution Rules. These should include processes where you may need specific mail types to be automatically sent to specific individuals or groups on the project. So, consider exactly who the rules should apply to as well. 

• Create a diagram to lay out the flow of information. Outlining project processes and groups, can be a useful way to visualize your Mail Distribution Rules before you begin work in Aconex.

Things to remember

Be aware of the following points when configuring distribution rules:

  • You cannot configure rules against transmittals.
  • Recipients added by rules cannot be removed by the mail sender from a mail distribution.
  • The sending user can view recipients added by rules by going to the Preview page.
  • A mail sender can manually add further recipients to the mail if they want.
  • Rules are additive - if you’ve configured multiple rules against a mail type, all true rules will run.
  • You can add both full Aconex users and guest users to a distribution rule. 

Creating distribution rules

  1. Select Setup from the Module Menu and choose Project Settings.
  1. Select the Mail Types tab.
  1. Beside each mail type you’ll see Edit Rules. Click on the relevant link for the mail type to which you want to add rules.
  1. You’ll see two tabs: General Rules and Distribution Rules. Click on Distribution Rules.
  1. Click Create New Rule.
  1. Configure the IF statements.
  1. Configure the THEN statements.
  1. Save the rule.

Here’s an example of a distribution rule:

  1. Repeat this process for all the relevant Mail Types.