You can send emails to create new Time+Expense items, acquire information from the system or attach receipts, etc.
For setup, see Email Time+Expense
Prerequisite: the email you sent information from needs to be the Salesforce User email address, user name, or the Resource Authorization Name.
Once the resource is recognized, you have the following options:
Inquiry
Specific T+E Item or Report status
In the email subject, enter the T+E Item name (e.g. TE-YY-0000001) or T+E Report name (TE=YY-0000001) with an optional question mark and an empty message. Alternatively, the T+E Item/Report name can be in the first line of the email.
You will receive an email with the report and/or item details.
Subject: TE=YY-0000001?
Recent T+E Items and Reports
In the email subject, enter "status?". You will receive a list of the recent 10 T+E Reports with status, etc. If you have not submitted items, they are listed here too.
Subject: Status?
List of Projects and Activity Types
In the subject, include " Projects?" or "Activity?" to get the list of available projects or activity types.
Subject: projects?
Creating TE Items
Create new T+E Items by adding tags to the message. The tags are case-insensitive.
The tag can be any label of a field (e.g., Hours) or the API name (e.g., Hours__c) of any field - including custom fields - of the T+E Item followed by a "=". The tag is case-insensitive.
You can create a new message or forward a receipt.
Note that one email = one T+E Item. For multiple items, use the Import options.
| Tag Example | Tag Alternatives | Value | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hours | Hours__c | decimal hours | hours=3.5 |
| Minutes | Minutes__c | minutes (converted to hours) | minutes=90 |
| Date | TE_Date__c | T+E Date | date=1/1/2023 |
| Description | Description__c | string - delimiter: Line End; for multiline, put the text in "double quotes"; If you only have one starting double quote, the remainder of the email text is saved as the description. | description="multi line" |
| Activity | ActivityType__c | Activity Type Name | activity=Meeting |
| Amount/Quantity | Amt/Qty, TempAQ__c | Receipt Amount or Receipt Quantity (Mileage, PerDiem, ...) | Amt/Qty=100 |
| Amount | Receipt_Amount__c | Receipt Amount | Amount=100 |
| Expense | Financial_Account__c | Name of the Fin.Account or Code | Expense=Travel |
You can define your own synonyms for various columns in Custom Settings: Accorto Import Parameters with the name of 'Base'
There are some special tags:
| Special Tag | Value | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Attachment | attachment name (in body) | attachment=hotel receipt (the following lines are then attached to the item) |
Example
hours=3.5 project=joe's implementation description=initial site survey attachment=title of the attachment content of attachment until the end of the email.
The standard delimiters are: ' ' (space), ';' (semicolon), and the EndOfLine.
The delimiter for strings is just the EndOfLine. If the string value is in quotes, it can be multiple lines, If there is no end quote, all the text until the end of the email is used.
hours=2; billable=true description="multi line" reason=the reason comes here
You can also add spaces between the tag, "=", and value:
hours = 2; billable= true description ="multi line" reason = the reason comes here
Amt/Qty = 100 Expense = Mileage Account = Joe's Wholesale
Amount = 123 Expense = Travel
Importing T+E Items (csv)
When you attach a file name ending with ".csv" the file is processed/imported - unless you include in the subject or first line of the body: "No Import" (e.g. some attachment for a T+E Item or Report).
Create and submit a T+E Report
After creating T+E Items, you can create and submit a T+E Report. In the subject, include "create report".
Note that if items are created in the report, only these items are submitted - otherwise, all not submitted items are submitted.
Subject: my time today - create report Body: hours=2
Delete T+E Item or T+E Report
You can delete an Item or Report by adding "DELETE!" (case sensitive) after the T+E Item or Report name.
Note that when you delete a report, the items are NOT deleted.
Managing Emails for others
If the 'Manager' flag in the resource who sends the email is set, you can manage emails for others.
In the subject or the message, include a line indicating the resource:
resource=theEmail@mycompany.com
you can reference the email, code, employee number of the other resource.