Inbound Mail

Every OMC has its own inbound email address — This can be configured on the OMC Settings Page. Anything sent to that address is processed automatically and turned into a request or a request update, so contacts and suppliers can simply reply to an email rather than logging into the portal.

This page explains how the system decides what to do with each incoming message.

Matching the sender

When an email arrives, the system first works out who sent it, by matching the From address against existing contacts — first on the OMC, then on its managing agent.

If no contact matches, a new one is created automatically:

If the From address matches a supplier (suppliers can carry an email address), the sender is added as a supplier contact on the agent, linked to that supplier.
Otherwise the sender is added as an unknown contact on the OMC, so the message is never lost — you can identify and tidy up the contact later.

Fresh requests

If the email is not a reply to anything we recognise, it opens a new request. The subject becomes the request title, the body becomes the description, and the sender is recorded as the contact who reported it and is added as a follower. If the sender is a known supplier, the new request is marked as a supplier request and linked to that supplier.

This also covers replies to post, ballot and mail-merge notification emails — these are sent from the OMC inbound address too. A reply to one is not tied to any existing request, so it is handled here and opens a new request.

Replies

We recognise a reply either from the original mail’s headers or from the request reference in the subject line (the request reference we add to every message we send). What happens next depends on who is replying:

Someone already involved — a follower of the request, or the supplier the request is already assigned to — has their reply logged as an update on that same request, so the conversation simply continues.
Anyone else gets a new child request linked back to the original, this ensure that for example.
- Supplier responses do not get fed back to the original requester unfiltered
- Supplier conversation and Requester conversation are kept completely seperate
- Someone who happens to know the request reference number sending an email does not automatically receive updated on the request Most of the details of the original request are copied over, the new child request is linked to the original request, and from the original request, you can see all of the linked requests that have been created.

Child requests

There are two kinds of child request:

A contact who is not following the request opens a plain child titled related: {original title}.
A supplier (matched by their email) opens a child titled Supplier Response: {original title}, assigned to that supplier and marked as a supplier request — even if they happened to be following the original. This keeps each supplier’s quote or response as its own trackable request.

Examples

An incoming mail creates a new request

If the system receives an incoming mail, it will automatically open a request and link it to the contact who sent the request. If the sender is not recognised, (an email address not on file) the system creates a new contact for the request. Any attachments that are received on the incoming mail will be automatically added to the request.

An email to the OMC address from a new sender opens a fresh request.
The request title comes from the email subject line
The description comes from the message body — signatures are stripped automatically
The contact on the request is set to the sender of the email
The request type is Case
The source is Email to system
The image the sender attached to their email has been saved against the request
Open the Mailings tab to see all emails related to this request
The original incoming mail is listed with class Inbound
Click on the subject to open a full copy of the mail
A copy of the original incoming mail opens, showing the message exactly as it was received
An automated acknowledgement (class SrCreated) was also sent to the requestor
Click on the subject to open a full copy of the mail
The automated acknowledgement opens, showing the message the system sent to confirm the request was received
Click the Person action button to open the auto-created contact record
The system created a new contact from the sender's email — not yet linked to any unit
The system attempts to populate first name and last name from the email sender information
Click the Mailings tab to see mails to and from this contact
All mails to and from this contact are linked here as well as on the request
Close the contact and return to the request

A follower’s reply is an update

When the original sender — who is automatically a follower — replies, their message is logged as an update on the same request rather than starting a new one.

A reply from the original sender, who already follows the request, is logged as an update on the same request.
The reply has been added to the conversation as a new comment, rather than opening a new request
Click the Mailings tab to see the emails related to this request
The reply is recorded as another inbound mail on the same request
The request owner was sent a notification that a new comment was added (class NewComment)

A reply from someone who is not following the request opens a related: child linked to the original.

Forward Requests to Suppliers

You can easily forward requests to one or more suppliers. Use the Mail Supplier action to send the request to one or more suppliers by email. The system dispatches the mail, tracks replies, and links all correspondence back to the request.

Open the original request to forward it to a supplier for a quote or assessment
Open the [Mail] action menu
Click Mail Supplier to open the supplier mailing dialog
Select BBB Maintenance Services Ltd as the first supplier to receive this request
BBB Maintenance Services Ltd is listed as a mail recipient
Click the add-supplier button to include a second supplier
Add AAA Maintenance Services Ltd as a second recipient for the mail
Click the Template button in the mail editor and choose the Supplier Request template
Attach the broken sign photo — it arrived with the original request and will help the supplier assess the job
Click 'Send Emails' button to send the email(s) to supplier(s)
Click OK to confirm and send the mails to the listed suppliers
Enter the date you expect the suppliers to have come back to you by
Click OK to raise a "Check for response" action for that date

Supplier Responses & Communications

You can have an ongoing conversation with the supplier — entirely by email — with everything recorded and visible in the system. When a supplier responds on a request that is already assigned to the request, the reply is shown as an update to the request. When a supplier responds to a request not assigned to the supplier, a fresh request is created.

Return to the original request — the supplier's email reply has created a child request
The supplier response is listed with the requests linked to this one
The supplier's reply has opened a "Supplier Response" child request
Click the reference number to open the supplier response request
The request type is Work Order — the system recognised the sender as a known supplier
Click the Mailings tab to see the supplier's incoming email recorded here
The supplier's reply is recorded as an inbound mail on this request
Click the home tab to return to the request details and its conversation
The full text of the supplier's email is shown in the conversation on the request
Click Add Comment to send a further message to the supplier on this request
Write the message that every follower will see
Click Send to post the reply on this request
Click Cancel - the supplier has just replied, so there is nothing to chase up

A supplier replying on their own request

Once a request is assigned to a supplier, that supplier’s further replies are logged as updates on it.

The reply the send suppliers sends here, should be in response to the message sent as a comment in the previous scenario
We should have validation steps as above, to show the suppliers message coming in.

The same supplier replying on the request already assigned to them is logged as an update, not another child.

A supplier replying again on the original thread

Even when a supplier replies on the original thread rather than their own child request, the update is logged on the child already opened for them — we do not open a second request for them automatically unless the original request created for them has been closed.

The reply here should be a reply to the first mail sent be “Send Supplier Mail above”

A supplier replying again on the original thread is logged as an update on the child already opened for them, not a second child.

Inbound Mail

Matching the sender

Fresh requests