Manage Email Templates
Email notifications are one of the most flexible options for notifying team members and external tools of incidents in BigPanda. Email customization enables you to adjust the information and format of the emails sent, giving you the flexibility you need to meet variable downstream needs.
Key Features
Select a template at share configuration
Adjustable email settings include recipients, subject, and body content
Start from a preset template or an empty configuration
Preview email content with real-time updates
Use dynamic incident variables to customize email content
Relevant Permissions
Roles with the following permissions can access Email Templates. Integrations or AutoShare permissions are required to create or edit templates.
Role Name | Description |
|---|---|
Incident Actions | View and share incidents from at least one environment. |
AutoShare | View, add, edit, and delete AutoShare Rules in the BigPanda Settings. |
Integrations | View, install, and edit collaboration integrations in the Integrations tab. |
Permission access levels can be adjusted by selecting either View or Full Access. To learn more about how BigPanda's permissions work, see the Roles Management guide.
Select an Email Template
Email templates can be selected for both manual shares and AutoShares as part of share configuration.
To select a message template for an email:
In the Share via dropdown, select Email.
Under Email template, select the template you want to use. This will populate all fields with your configured template.
(Optional) Click Preview if you want to preview the generated email message.
(Optional) Click Edit email template to edit the email subject and body. To edit an existing email template, use the dropdown menu under Select template and choose the template you want to modify.
After making changes, you’ll have the option to Save as new template, or Save email template.
In the Recipients field, add the email address(es) that should receive the message. If the selected template has recipients defined, they will be prepopulated in this field.
(Optional) In the Annotation field, add a message or note. This annotation will be added at the top of the email body for this share or AutoShare rule.
When satisfied with the share settings and rules, click Save.
Default template
The system will default to BigPanda’s basic template. The default template contains the incident status, start time, source system, environment, the primary and secondary properties of the primary alert, and a list of alerts correlated into the incident. It also includes links to the incident and the incident timeline in BigPanda for logged in users, and a preview link for access outside of BigPanda.
Create or Update an Email Template
Email templates can be configured from the Edit email template button during a share, or from the Email integration on the Integrations tab.
Adjustable at time of share
All email template settings will apply to any manual or AutoShare using the template. These settings can be changed at the time of the share for that individual share.
When sharing an incident via email or creating an AutoShare, click Edit email template to open the Configure template details screen.
After making changes to an existing template, you will have the option to Save as new template, or Update template.
Once you've saved your changes, you’ll be redirected back to the Edit share window. If you saved the edits as a new template, the new template will be populated in the share.
Configure custom email templates
Create new templates from the Integrations tab
To create a new email template from the Integrations tab:
Navigate to the Integrations tab.
Select the Email integration. This integration is pinned to the top of your integration list and cannot be deleted.
Click Configuration to access all your email templates. This will open the default email template.
Use the default template as the base for your new template, then click Save as new template when you're finished.
(Optional) To edit an existing email template, use the dropdown menu under Select template and choose the template you want to modify.
Default email template cannot be changed
The Save email template button is disabled when editing the default email template, as this template cannot be updated. You will have to save any changes as a new template.
Preview template settings
The Email preview screen shows you what the email will look like for recipients. After incidents are populated in your organization, this dynamic preview uses a random recent incident from the all incidents environment to give realistic previews.
Preview Data
Because preview incidents are live, the data in the incident may change over time. If the incident is resolved, a new incident will be selected for the preview.
Email template previews use a generic data sample if there are no active incidents available.
Email Field Options
You are able to predefine email settings and draft a custom message using plain text, variables using curly brace format {{field_category.field_name}}, markdown formatting, or the rich text editor in the message body.
Template name: Select the template to populate starting fields. The Default and Start from scratch templates are available, and you may have additional saved templates.
To & CC: Add email addresses that should receive shares to this template in plaintext, BigPanda Contact IDs, or an array of both. All addresses will be automatically added to manual and AutoShares using this template.
Subject: Use plain text or incident variables to populate the email subject.
Content: Use plain text, incident variables, or HTML to build an email body. A rich text editor is available to assist with formatting.
Reset: Click Reset to revert the content back to the last saved state.
Individual Share Annotations
Custom annotations included in individual share configurations will appear at the top of the email message body.
While editing template settings, a preview in the right pane can show you how the message will appear using sample data. Click Refresh to generate or refresh the preview.
When satisfied with your template settings, click Save email configuration.
You will be prompted to enter a name for your new template. We recommend a clear, descriptive name so that you can easily reference it in the future. (Max character limit 200.)
Descriptive Name
Email Templates are shared across your organization. A short, meaningful name will help you find your template faster and prevent confusion with colleagues on different teams.
Variable syntax
You can add incident properties and incident tags as variables to customize email templates.
Message Helper
Variables can be entered manually, or selected from the helper list.
To open the helper, enter or select {{. A list of available categories and fields will appear. Select the desired field, or enter the category or field name to filter the list.
Available fields
Dynamic variable message tags can include alert fields, incident data, incident metadata, incident tags, and preview links.
Primary Alert Fields
The primary alert is the oldest, most severe alert correlated into an incident.
Field name | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|
primaryAlert.id | System-generated unique identifier for the alert. | String |
primaryAlert.status | The most severe status the alert triggered Possible returns are: [critical, warning, unknown, ok] | String |
primaryAlert.is_active | Whether the alert is active and has not been resolved. | Boolean |
primaryAlert.primary_property | Name of the main object that triggered the alert. | String |
primaryAlert.secondary_property | Name of the secondary object or sub-item that triggered the alert. | String |
primaryAlert.source_system | Integrated monitoring system(s) that sent the alert to BigPanda. | Array of strings |
primaryAlert.incident_key | Deduplication rule for the primary alert, usually primary_secondary values. | String |
primaryAlert.description | Brief summary (max. 2048 characters) of the alert included by certain monitoring tools | String |
primaryAlert.primary | Value of primary property. | String |
primaryAlert.secondary | Value of the secondary property. | String |
primaryAlert.maintenance | Whether the alert is currently suppressed through a maintenance plan. | Boolean |
primaryAlert.tags.<tagname> | The tag value associated with the alert for a given tag. | String |
Incident Data
Field name | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|
incident.id | System-generated unique identifier for the incident. | String |
incident.status | Current incident status, which is determined by the most severe status of the correlated alerts. Possible statuses: [critical, warning, unknown, ok]. | String |
incident.is_active | Whether the incident contains at least one active alert and has not been manually resolved. An incident is automatically resolved when all the alerts are resolved. | Boolean |
incident.severity | The highest status reached by any alert in the incident at any time. | String |
incident.flapping | Whether at least one correlated alert has changed states frequently enough to be treated as flapping. | Boolean |
incident.updated_at | Time of last change to incident, in Unix epochs. | Timestamp (in seconds) |
incident.last_change | Time of the last change to the incident that triggered applicable sharing updates, in Unix epochs. | Timestamp (in seconds) |
incident.start | Time when the earliest correlated alert was received, in Unix epochs. | Timestamp (in seconds) |
incident.end | Time when the incident status was set to ok, in Unix epochs. | Timestamp (in seconds) |
incident.alert_table | A list of the alert objects correlated to the incident. | Array of Objects |
Incident Metadata
Field name | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|
metadata.environment_name | Name of the environment in BigPanda where the incident was shared from. | String |
metadata.environment_id | Name of the environment group in BigPanda where the incident was shared from. | String |
metadata.sender_name | The name of the user who initiated the share. Autoshares will list BigPanda as the sender. | String |
metadata.sender_email | The name of the user who initiated the share. Autoshares will list BigPanda as the sender. | String |
Incident Tags
Field name | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|
incident_tag.itd_ai_reasoning_1 | Explanation of the logical path the AI traveled to suggest the root cause. | String |
incidentTags.<tag_id> | The value(s) of the specified incident tag as related to the incident. | Array of Strings? |
AI Processing delay
AI tags are generated at a 1-3 minute delay after initial incident processing. To include AI tags in static messages such as email, ensure the AutoShare is configured at a 3 minute delay.
Links
Field Name | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|
links.preview | The url where the incident preview can be accessed. The URL does not require BigPanda login. | String |
links.console | A direct link to the incident in BigPanda. This URL requires BigPanda login. | String |
links.timeline | A direct link to the incident’s timeline view in BigPanda. This URL requires BigPanda login | String |
Next Steps
Learn more about Sharing Incidents
View the list of Collaboration integrations
Learn to navigate the BigPanda Settings page