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 T+E Items
Create new T+E Items by adding tags to the message. A tag is the label of a field (e.g., Hours) or its API name (e.g., Hours__c), followed by "=". Tags are 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.
A mail can set the fields of the time and expense entry forms:
| Purpose | Fields (label / API name) |
|---|---|
| Dates | Date / TE_Date__c, Receipt Date / Receipt_Date__c, Start / Time_Start__c, End / Time_End__c |
| Time | Hours / Hours__c, Minutes / Minutes__c |
| Amounts | Amt/Qty / TempAQ__c, Amount / Receipt_Amount__c, Quantity / Receipt_Quantity__c, Document Amount / Document_Amount__c, Tax Amount / Tax_Amount__c, Currency |
| Text | Description / Description__c, Description (long) / DescriptionLong__c, Reason / Reason__c |
| What the entry is for | Project / Project__c, Project Phase / Project_Phase__c, Project Line / Project_Line__c, Activity / ActivityType__c, Expenditure Type / ExpenditureType__c, Expense (Financial Account) / Financial_Account__c, Financial Organization / Financial_Organization__c, Tax / Tax__c, Account / Account__c, Contact / Contact__c |
| Flags | Billable / Invoiced__c, IsInvoiced__c, Reimbursable / Reimbursable__c, Waiting / IsWaiting__c |
A tag for any other field - the status of the item, rates and prices, references, and custom fields - is ignored; the reply mail lists the ignored lines ("Ignored: ... - not a field of the entry forms"). These fields are set by the application or by the forms in Salesforce.
Common tags:
| 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 these 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).
The file is imported for your own resource: the rows become your T+E Items. A row that names another resource or owner, or that refers to an item or a report of another resource, is refused - and with it the whole file ("Resource not allowed"). If the 'Manager' flag is set on your resource, you can import for other resources as well (see "Managing Emails for others").
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.