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Overview
Rules containing this step, must have a sister rule with a Create Future Events step to create the timers
This is the only rule type that does not start with a Real Time Input Step
When the timer expires, a following action can be implemented in the rule
The Process Future Event task can add many entries for the same Key
To ensure that the latest entry is valid, a filter condition should immediately follow the task
Plugin Configuration
General
Within the General tab:
The following settings can be configured:
Setting | Description |
|---|---|
Server names(s) | The name of the cache server(s) you are using. If the rule is running in DDE then this |
will automatically be populated and the value will be ignored. | |
KeySpace | Tables exist in Keyspace (similar to a database). If the rule is running in DDE then this |
will automatically be populated with the client name within DDE and the value will be ignored. | |
Table | The name of the table which will be created in Cassandra. If left blank this will be the same as the key field name. |
Key | The field that contains the unique key (primary key) which identify items in the cache. e.g. Customer ID or Order ID |
Event loop count limit | Set the maximum amount of times that the same record (based on the Key) can be processed. For example you may want to limit the |
number of abandoned basket emails being sent |
to 1 individual to 3 |
separate emails. If an event is processed more than this number of times then the data is sent to the error output. The rule should therefore have an error handling step to cater for events that exceed the event loop limit. e.g.  If an error handling step is not configured, any event exceeding the limit will be discarded. |
Within the Test Data tab:
Setting | Description |
|---|---|
Use Test Data | Do you want to use the test data from the Process Future event step |
Delay Time (ms) | A delay can be set between the test data going through defaulting to 500ms. |
Table | Where you can add the test data. Add a key, the message you want to use. timebox and latest. |
Best practise
The Process Future Event task can add many entries for the same Key. For example, the same customer over a period of time can add many products to a shopping cart on a website. The Create Future Events will write many entry's entries to the Cassandra table, but only the latest basket status would be valid for an abandoned cart email.
To ensure that the event being processed is the latest, a filter condition should immediately follow the Process Future events step:
Example
Scenario
A Sofa company wants to send a confirmation email once a product has been purchased, detailing when the product will be delivered. A followup follow-up email will be sent 1 day before the delivery date reminding the customer of the delivery date-timedatetime.
Solution
A rule is created that receives booking and delivery details once a purchase has been made. This |
rule is called from the order confirmation page on the website. The rule does the following:
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A rule is created that receives booking and delivery details once a purchase has been made. This is rule is called from the order confirmation page on the website. The rule does the following:
Receives the data from the website e.g.
Order Date: 14/01/2020
Delivery Date-Time: 16/01/2020 10:30:00
Work out how many minutes in the future 1 day before the delivery date is for the reminder email to be sent
1440 (1 day = 1440)
Sends a confirmation email to the customer
Creates a future event for the reminder email, storing the order and delivery details
Sets the event to expire at 15/01/2020 10:30:00
A sister rule is created that runs the process future event. The rule does the following:
Processes any event data in the cache that has expired e.g.
The current date-time matches the expiry time of 15/01/2020 10:30:00
Check that the event is the latest
If the order details or delivery date is change, then we only want to send a reminder using the latest update
Sends a reminder email to the customer 1 day before the delivery
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A sister rule is created that runs the process future event. The rule does the following:
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