This page lists lessons learned and helpful guidelines to consider when creating Tempo events, system events, hazards, or comments for your users.
When using either the Post Comment to Feed Entry Smart Service or the Post Event to Feed Smart Service, choose a real, named user as the author for attribution instead of the Administrator account to generate the post.
The Administrator account should be reserved for administration. Collaboration in the Tempo feed should always be conducted by named users in the system.
When posting an event to Tempo, write messages with the goal of enabling your readers to instantly recognize the relevance and significance of the message.
See also: Populating Label Value Inputs
Example of Phrasing with Excessive Boilerplate:
A new Technical Support case, #100005 - Cannot connect to server: User John Doe.
Example of Phrasing Emphasizing Importance:
Priority 1 - Cannot connect to server: User John Doe. (Case #100005)
Don't overuse system-generated events or comments in the News feed. Too many system-generated events can drown out actual social collaboration. This devalues the feed and actually discourages ad-hoc collaboration.
The best model for interaction in the News feed is:
The News feed should not be used as an event log to track every status change. Instead, use reports and dashboards for displaying audit or activity history information.
When using the Post Hazard to Feed Entry Smart Service, make sure not to configure the node to repeat.
See also: Post Hazard to Feed Entry Smart Service and Starting an Activity on a Regular Interval
Assign a task to the necessary user related to the problem instead, such as a task to review the hazard.
See also: Assignment Tab
The limit for Tempo feed entries is 4,000 bytes.
When using a smart service to create a Tempo event, system event, hazard, or comment, the smart service will cancel by exception if the Message parameter evaluates to more than 4,000 bytes.
To ensure your value does not exceed 4,000 bytes, use the lenb()
function to check the length of your text in bytes. If you are using a process variable, rule, or constant that results in a value not of type Text, make sure to convert the value to text before it is evaluated by lenb()
.
See also: lenb()
Note: The len()
function returns the number of characters of a text, while the feed entry limit is based on bytes, and the leftb()
function does not support all UTF-8 characters, so Appian does not recommend using these functions to confirm the value's byte length.
Avoid creating new groups to manage viewing permissions for News feed entries and system events. Instead, choose from existing users and groups whenever possible to create the pool of viewers you need. This prevents the unnecessary accumulation of groups in the system.
Tempo Best Practices