Flow triggers

Common trigger output details

Property	Description	Example
event.id	The unique identifier (UUID) of the event.	e930e32d-b863-4c55-a528-1d2829e3690e
event.eventId	ID assigned to this event by xMatters and used to track its progress through the system. (Also the number used to reference this event in the Events and Tracking reports.)	889003
event.status	The current status of the event.	ACTIVE
event.created	Date and time the event was created in xMatters in ISO-8601 format.	2019-01-15T18:03:16.580Z
event.priority	The priority assigned to the notification in xMatters (LOW, MEDIUM, or HIGH).	HIGH
event.targetedRecipients	The recipients targeted for notification.	bjones mmcbride|Work Email CustomerCare
event.initiator	The target name of the user who initiated the event.	integrationUser
event.properties	A JavaScript object containing the property names and values included in the event.	hierarchy property: "USA -> California -> Los Angeles" text property: "High-level summary" number property: 2346 combo box property: "Medium" password property: "password123" list property: "item A, item B"

Examples of when to use this trigger:

• Automatically update the record in your monitoring tool to add an annotation that the xMatters event ended.
• Post event creation and termination updates to your reporting repository for analytics and observability initiatives.
• Automatically close the ticket in the source system when the xMatters event ends.

Event status trigger outputs

Property	Description	Example
statusChanged.auditType	The change to the event status that triggered the flow. Can be one of: EVENT_ANNOTATED, EVENT_COMPLETED, EVENT_CREATED, EVENT_RESUMED, EVENT_SUSPENDED, or EVENT_TERMINATED	EVENT_TERMINATED
statusChanged.at	Date and time the event status changed in ISO-8601 format.	2019-01-15T18:03:16.580Z
statusChanged.by.id	The unique identifier (UUID) of the user who initiated the event or changed the event status, or null if it happened automatically (for example, by timeout).	e1e427bb-770f-4d47-aa4d-efdd8b64089c
statusChanged.by.targetName	The username of the user who initiated the event or changed the event status.	mmcbride
statusChanged.by.firstName	First name of the user who initiated the event or changed the event status.	Mary
statusChanged.by.lastName	Last name of the user who initiated the event or changed the event status.	McBride

Check out the payload for the equivalent trigger in the Integration Builder.

Examples of when to use this trigger:

• Post details about who was notified and when into a ticket, alert or chat application so the notification process is clearly visible (and documented).
• Post details about device notification failures to a list so you can follow up with users who seem to be experiencing delivery issues.

Device delivery trigger outputs

Property	Description	Example
notification.deliveryStatus	The delivery status: Delivered, Failed, or Unchanged.	Delivered
notification.recipient.id	The unique identifier (UUID) of the device the notification was sent to.	f51d0fa3-6712-4b4e-9da4- b8a631f8b8c1
notification.recipient.name	The name of the device the notification was sent to.	Work Email
notification.recipient.targetName	The target name of the device the notification was sent to.	mmbride | Work Email
notification.recipient.owner.id	Unique identifier (UUID) of the targeted user.	e1e427bb-770f-4d47-aa4d- efdd8b64089c
notification.recipient.owner.firstName	First name of the targeted user.	Mary
notification.recipient.owner.lastName	Last name of the targeted user.	McBride
notification.recipient.owner.targetName	Username of the device's owner.	mmcbride
deliveryStatusUpdated.at	Date and time the delivery status was updated in ISO-8601 format.	2019-01-15T18:03:16.580Z
deliveryStatusUpdated.auditType	The general category of the device delivery attempt that triggered the flow. Can be one of: NOTIFICATION_DELIVERED, NOTIFICATION_ESCALATED, NOTIFICATION_FAILED, NOTIFICATION_NO_RECIPIENT, or NOTIFICATION_UNCHANGED	NOTIFICATION_DELIVERED
deliveryStatusUpdated.delivery StatusType	The detailed result or status of the delivery attempt that triggered the flow. A detailed list of delivery status types is available.	LIVE_NOTIFICATION_ PROVIDER_DELIVERED
deliveryStatusUpdated.delivery StatusMessage	A description of the result of the delivery attempt, which may include error codes.	Notification delivered

Check out the payload for the equivalent trigger in the Integration Builder.

Examples of when to use this trigger:

• Automatically assign an incident when a recipient responds with Accept (or Assign to me or whatever response you have configure for this).
• Approve or reject change requests based on responses.

Responses trigger outputs

Property	Description	Example
response.response	The response the recipient selected.	Assign to me
response.deviceName	Name of the device the recipient used when responding to the notification.	Android Phone
response.comment	The annotation included with a response from the mobile app, or null if no annotation is included or if it was added using another method.	Investigating the root cause now.
respondedTo.at	Date and time the recipient responded to the notification in ISO-8601 format.	2019-01-15T18:03:16.580Z
respondedTo.by.targetName	Username of the person who responded.	asamara
respondedTo.by.id	The unique identifier (UUID) of the recipient who responded to the notification.	871d855c-1cce-45a2-97e7-f185f51ed753
respondedTo.by.firstName	First name of the person who responded.	Ali
respondedTo.by.lastName	Last name of the person who responded.	Samara
respondedTo.auditType	The system action that triggered the flow (RESPONSE_RECEIVED)	RESPONSE_RECEIVED

Check out the payload for the equivalent trigger in the Integration Builder.

To use the responses trigger, you need the individual responses that you want to trigger flows. If responses are already configured on the form, they appear under the parent trigger when you drop it on the canvas. If there are no responses, you can add them right from within Flow Designer.

1. Click Add Response (or double-click the Responses parent) to add, remove, or edit response options.

2. Configure the response options, drag them into the order you want them to appear on the canvas, then click Save. In our MIM scenario, we added "Create major incident" and moved it to the top of the list.

Each response appears as a step on the canvas. You can now connect the steps you want to run when a recipient selects that response.

A few things to know about existing integrations:

• If you have an outbound integration that uses the Notification Responses trigger, it appears on the canvas but doesn't have the response options delineated since any actions based on different responses are handled in the outbound integration script.
• Some integrations use response options that are determined at runtime. We've updated our built-in integrations but some packaged or custom integrations still use these. For the time being, you'll need to continue to use an outbound integration using the Notification Responses trigger.
• For built-in integrations, you are unable to modify or delete the default response options included in the configuration; although you can add additional ones. To modify or delete built-in responses, you'll need to first convert the configuration to a communication plan.

Examples of when to use this trigger:

• Post each comment to a Slack channel or other chatops application.
• Populate the free-form text closure details of a ticket or alert (in this case, you could actually perform your response logic in the Event Comment trigger instead of the response trigger!)
• Add the comments to a ticket or alert as annotations, recording the work performed on the event, either for the next person in the resolution chain or for post-incident analysis.

Event comments trigger output details

Property	Description	Example
annotation.comment	The value of the comment added to the event by the user.	Investigating the root cause now
annotated.at	Date and time the comment was added in ISO-8601 format.	2019-01-15T18:03:16.580Z
annotation.author.targetName	The username of the user who added the comment.	asamara
annotation.author.id	The unique identifier (UUID) of the user who added a comment to the event.	871d855c-1cce-45a2-97e7-f185f51ed753
annotation.author.firstName	First name of the user who added the comment.	Ali
annotation.author.lastName	Last name of the user who added the comment.	Samara
annotation.response.response	The response the user selected when they added a comment, or null if they commented without selecting a response.	Assign to me

Check out the payload for the equivalent trigger in the Integration Builder.

Examples of when to use this trigger:

• Automatically launch a new event that warns a manager when an event has escalated to the point where an SLA (service level agreement) is in jeopardy.
• Automatically update a chat room to warn team members when an event is escalated.

Escalation trigger outputs

Property	Description	Example
escalation.reason	Whether the escalation was triggered by an application or a person (ACTIVE) or by a timeout (PASSIVE).	ACTIVE
escalation.escalationType	The type of escalation: PEER, MANAGEMENT, or NONE	PEER
escalated.at	Date and time of the escalation in ISO-8601 format.	2019-01-15T18:03:16.580Z
escalated.by.id	For active escalations, the unique identifier (UUID) of the recipient whose response manually escalated the event.	e1e427bb-770f-4d47-aa4d-efdd8b64089c
escalated.by.targetName	For active escalations, the username of the recipient who manually escalated the event.	mmcbride
escalated.by.firstName	For active escalations, the first name of the recipient who manually escalated the event.	Mary
escalated.by.lastName	For active escalations, the last name of the recipient who manually escalated the event.	McBride
escalation.group.id	Unique identifier (UUID) of the group in which the escalation occurred.	afd56311-86cd-476f-a6ae-51e3d8cadbe0
escalation.group.targetName	The name of the group in which the escalation occurred.	Deneb Service Team
escalation.group.status	The status of the group in which the escalation occurred.	ACTIVE
escalation.from	An array containing the id (UUID), recipientType, status, and targetName of each recipient at the escalation level from which the escalation occurred. Devices are reported as a person recipient type, corresponding to the device's owner.	c68bfa2f-4539-40a9-9e96- 185b7ecde7ff mmcbride PERSON
escalation.to	An array containing the id (UUID), recipientType, status, and targetName of each recipient at the escalation level to which the escalation occurred. Devices are reported as a person recipient type, corresponding to the device's owner.	98555e21-b7ff-479e-a264- 3e96815fb03d NOC GROUP

Check out the payload for the equivalent trigger in the Integration Builder.

Examples of when to use this trigger:

• Automatically notify a chat room that an event isn’t currently routing to on-call resources.

Targeted recipient failures trigger output details

Property	Description	Example
targeted.triggerType	The type of targeting attempt for which no recipients could be notified: INITIAL_EVENT, TIMED_ESCALATION, or MANUAL_ESCALATION	TIMED_ESCALATION
targetingFailed.at	Date and time of the targeting failure in ISO-8601 format.	2019-01-15T18:03:16.580Z
targeted.totalRecipients	The total number of targeted recipients.	35
targeted.recipients	An array containing the id (UUID), recipientType, status, and targetName of each recipient (up to the first 100 targeted recipients). Invalid recipients are returned with a status of "INVALID".	f51d0fa3-6712-4b4e-9da4-b8a631f8b8c1 DEVICE ACTIVE mmcbride|Work Email

Check out the payload for the equivalent trigger in the Integration Builder.

What triggers it: xMatters receives an incoming HTTP request from an external system to the trigger's URL.

What information is in the outputs: Properties or information from the request mapped to outputs by the user that created the trigger.

Examples of when to use this trigger:

• To inject information into xMatters from any system capable of sending a POST request.

HTTP request trigger output details

HTTP triggers do not have a standard set of outputs because the outputs, and mapping of request properties to these outputs, are defined by the user that created the trigger.

Each HTTP trigger is authenticated independently, using an API key in the URL, which allows you to use it without storing the login credentials of your xMatters account in an external system.

When you configure an HTTP trigger, you select an authenticating user. xMatters generates an API key unique to the selected user and appends it to the integration URL. Any requests submitted using this URL have the same permissions in xMatters as the authenticating user. The user also needs access permissions on the communication plan; otherwise the request will fail.

To select a user as the authentication user in the HTTP trigger configuration screen, the user must have the REST Web Services function (for example, be assigned the REST Web Services Role) and they must be a user you supervise.

Step 1: Create the HTTP trigger

When you create a new custom HTTP trigger, the first thing to do is set up how it appears in the palette: the name, description, and icon.

1. On the Triggers tab of the palette, click Create HTTP Trigger. This opens the New HTTP Trigger dialog box.
2. On the Settings tab, give the trigger a name and description. These appear in the palette, and help people know what this trigger does and if it's something they should use. People can give the trigger a different label when they add it to the canvas.
3. To change the icon used for the trigger, click Select Image. This opens an image library with a selection of icons, including a few default ones and any icons you've already added for your xMatters company.
4. Click an icon in the library to select it. To add a new icon to the image library, click the Choose a file to upload link and browse to the file you want to use.
   1. For the best appearance on the canvas, we recommend using images that are 36 x 36 pixels. The maximum file size is 250 KB, and you can use a variety of common image formats: jpg, jpeg, gif, and png.
5. Once you've selected your image in the Image Library, click Select to go back to the step settings.

Step 2: Create the outputs

When you define the outputs, you're deciding what information this trigger should provide to steps further downstream. For properties from the request to be available to steps later in the flow, you need to use the script to map them to the outputs of the trigger (see the next step).

1. On the Outputs tab, click Add Step Output to create a new output.
2. Enter a name for the output. This name can be used to reference it in the script editor, and appears in the step setup screen where people can drag it into the input of a connected step.
3. Click Add Step Output for each additional output you'd like to create. To delete an output, click the 'x' icon next to the output.
4. When you're done adding outputs, click Save.

Step 3: Map the outputs

The Script tab is where you define the internal logic that takes the HTTP request from another application, transforms the incoming information, and maps it to the outputs. When you create a new HTTP trigger, the script only brings what is included in the payload. Properties of the form associated with your flow canvas are not available as outputs because HTTP triggers do not use the form to create an event in xMatters. You need to map properties from the request to outputs of the trigger to use these properties in steps in your flow.

The Script tab includes an example script showing how to parse the payload from an incoming HTTP request, then extract information from the payload and map it to outputs. You can use it as a template and customize it to work with your flow. The script's built-in request object enables you to access elements of the request, including the payload contained in the request body and any URL parameters.

The following instructions describe how to add and configure an HTTP trigger in your flow.

HTTP trigger authentication

Each HTTP trigger is authenticated independently, using an API key in the URL, which allows you to use it without storing the login credentials of your xMatters account in an external system.

When you configure the trigger, you select an authenticating user. xMatters generates an API key unique to the selected user and appends it to the integration URL. Any requests submitted using this URL have the same permissions in xMatters as the authenticating user. The user also needs access permissions on the communication plan; otherwise the request will fail.

To select a user, the user must have the REST Web Services function (for example, be assigned the REST Web Services Role) and they must be a user you supervise.

How to configure an HTTP trigger

1. On the Triggers tab of the palette, under HTTP Request, drag the custom HTTP trigger you'd like to use onto the canvas.
   • You can filter the HTTP triggers by triggers you own, triggers others have shared with you, or all triggers you have permission to use.
2. Double-click the trigger to open its configuration screen (or select it and click the pencil icon).
3. Change the Trigger Label if you'd like to customize the trigger's name for your flow.
4. Select an Authenticating User whose credentials you'd like to use to trigger the flow. Start typing a user name into the search field and select it when it appears (two characters are required). You can also type two spaces to view a list of all existing options and select a recipient from the list.
   • See HTTP trigger authentication for details on the authenticating user.
5. Click Copy to save the integration URL to your clipboard.
6. To trigger the integration, use web services to send a POST request to the integration URL.
   1. For instructions on how to trigger the flow, click View Instructions.

If you have permissions to edit a custom HTTP trigger, you can edit the configuration, share the trigger, or delete it (as long as it's not used in a flow). Click the settings menu for the trigger (the gear icon) and select Edit, Usage Permissions, or Delete.

Examples of when to use this trigger:

• To inject information from any external system capable of sending an email message to xMatters; this might include custom applications or almost any cloud-based application, monitoring system, social media platform, e-commerce platform, or customer relationship management tool.

Email trigger output details

Property	Description	Example
email.to	All the email addresses included in the To: field of the email that triggered the flow.	[0]: mmcbride@hq54b.mycompany.xmatters.com [1]: DatabaseAdmins@hq54b.mycompany.xmatters.com
email.sender	The user ID of the email initiator.	integrationUser
email.subject	The subject of the email message.	IT Alert: Database Unavailable
email.htmlBody	The content of the email sent as HTML.	<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> ... </html>
email.plaintextBody	The content of the email sent as plain text.	The Oracle Database is not available.
email.headers	A JavaScript object containing the headers of the email.	date: Wed, 5 Jun 2019 21:51:31 +0000 content-language: en-US from: admin <admin@xmatters.com> MIME-version: 1.0 etc.
email.senderIp	IP address of the email initiator.	192.0.2.132
email.recipients	Target names of users, groups, or dynamic teams included in the To: field of the email that triggered the flow.	mmcbride,DatabaseAdmins

If you want to pull out information from the email body to make the details available as inputs to steps downstream, you can create a custom email parser step. Check out the instructions on our support site.

The unique email address that you use to initiate a flow is created from a target name, the trigger ID, and hostname of your xMatters deployment in the following syntax:

<name>@<triggerID>.<hostname>

• <name>: The name can be the user ID of a specific user or the name of a group or dynamic team. For example, mmcbride@hr54b.mycompany.xmatters.com or DatabaseAdmins@hr54b.mycompany.xmatters.com.
• <triggerID>: By default, the trigger ID is a randomly generated combination of alphanumeric characters. You may want to change the trigger ID to be more readable, or you may want to change it to something hard to guess for security purposes. The trigger ID must be unique within your company.
• <hostname>: The URL that you use to access the xMatters web user interface without the "https://". For example, the hostname for https://mycompany.xmatters.com is mycompany.xmatters.com

You can find the target ID and sample email address for an email trigger on its configuration screen in Flow Designer.

Understanding how Flow Designer uses trigger email recipients

Email triggers in Flow Designer do not create an event in xMatters when they are initiated. The target name of the user, group, or dynamic team named in the initiation email is mapped to the email.recipients output of the trigger, which you can use as an input to later steps in your flow, such as for the recipients of a xMatters Create Event step. To include more than one target name in the email.recipients output, add multiple addresses to the To: line of the email (one for each user, group, or dynamic team), using the format described above.

For example, if the To: field of your trigger email includes the following user, group, and dynamic team:

To: mmcbride@hr54b.mycompany.xmatters.com; DatabaseAdmins@hr54b.mycompany.xmatters.com; AllEmployees@hr54b.mycompany.xmatters.com

Then the email.recipients output would include this comma-separated list of target names you could use directly as input to the recipient field of an xMatters event step:

mmcbride,DatabaseAdmins,AllEmployees

Be aware that even though spaces are allowed in email addresses, many popular email clients do not permit them. We recommend not using spaces in group or dynamic team names if you plan to include them on a trigger initiation email and use them as recipients inputs on another step in a flow.

xMatters accepts 9 and 10 character BATV-encoded email addresses.

1. Drag the trigger from the palette onto the canvas.
2. Double-click the trigger to open its configuration screen (or select it and click the pencil icon).
3. Change the Trigger Label if you'd like to customize the trigger's name for your flow.
4. Optionally, customize the Trigger ID. You may want to change the trigger ID to be more readable, or you may want to change it to something hard to guess for security reasons.
5. Click Copy Address to copy the trigger's email address to your clipboard, so that it's available when you're configuring an external system to email xMatters, or to share with other users who want to initiate the flow by email.
   1. The sample email address shows how to initiate the trigger with your target name. When you initiate the trigger by email, you can replace your user ID with a different user ID, group name, or dynamic team name.
6. If you'd like, you can also click Test Email to automatically open your default email program so that you can send a test email to your trigger's email address and see if it triggers your flow (as long as your default email is a valid sender address).
7. Click OK.

To give you the flexibility to trigger a flow without creating an event, the email doesn't automatically initiate an event in xMatters. If you want to create an event when the Email trigger is initiated, simply add a Create Event step to your flow, either right after the email trigger or after additional steps that gather more information to enrich the event notification.

For security reasons, trigger initiation emails are only accepted when they are sent from certain email addresses. For an email initiation trigger to be accepted, it must be sent from an email address configured as a device in xMatters for a user who has permission to initiate the flow (access permissions to the communication plan). For example, if Mary McBride has home and work email devices configured, she can trigger the flow by sending an email from her home or work email account (assuming she has permission to initiate the flow). She would not be able to trigger the flow from another email address that is not assigned to a device in xMatters.

Emails sent from users who don't have the correct permissions, or from random spammer accounts, will be rejected. Emails sent from a valid device that belongs to more than one user in xMatters are also rejected for security purposes.

How can I assign an external system a valid email address so it can trigger a flow in xMatters?

If you're injecting information into xMatters from an external system via email, the address that your external system uses to send requests must be recognized by xMatters or the request will be rejected. To enable xMatters to recognize emails from your external system, do one of the following:

• Add the external system email address as a device for a user that is already authorized to initiate the form.
• Create a new user in xMatters to represent the external system. Give this user permission to access to the flow, and create a device for the external system email address.
• Use a service that can receive an email message from your external system and resend it using an email address that is authorized to initiate the flow.

If your system does not have the ability to send email messages, check out services like Zapier, which can be used to send email messages from a wide range of popular applications.

How can I verify that the email address of the sender is considered valid by xMatters?

On the Devices screen in the web user interface, confirm that the email address that you are sending the initiation email from matches the address for one of your email devices.

What happens if I use the Cc: or Bcc: lines instead of the To: line?

The Cc: and Bcc: fields are treated the same as the To: field. You can initiate events by including email addresses in the Cc: and Bcc: fields. Users, groups, or dynamic teams added to the Cc: and Bcc: fields are also included in the email.recipients output.

The sample email address shows how to inject my own target name with the email. How can I add other uses, groups, or dynamic teams to the To: field so they're included in the email.recipients output?

• To add another user instead of yourself, use their user ID before the @ symbol in the trigger email address.
• To send to a group or dynamic team, use the group or team name before the @ symbol. (Spaces or quotation marks in the name of the group are not recommended.)
• To target multiple recipients, use multiple addresses on the To: line.

What happens if I put email addresses for different flows in the same email?

xMatters will trigger each flow that you provided a trigger email address for in the To: field of the email, as if you had emailed the trigger addresses separately.

What happens if you include "regular" (non-trigger) email addresses in the To: line?

If you include an additional email address not associated with a flow trigger in the To: line along with one or more trigger email addresses, you'll send that email address a copy of the email. The flow is triggered but that email is not be included in the trigger outputs. Email addresses must follow the trigger email initiation format to be included in outputs of the trigger.

What happens if my email server changes the To: address when sending?

Some email servers have a feature called "CNAME expansion" enabled that can alter the "To:" address of an email to include routing information. So an email sent to mmcbride@traveladvisory.example.xmatters.com might be changed during transit through your email server to something more like mmcbride@us1-west-1.mail_traveladvisory.example.xmatters.com.

To address this problem, you'll need to work with your IT team to disable the CNAME expansion feature or setting on your SMTP email server.