On 2012-04-08 at 13:19 +0800, Noel Martin Llevares wrote:
> 1. My boss wants to set up our email system such that all outgoing
> emails coming from our agents to our clients will pass through a
> "moderation queue" before being actually sent to the client.
> 2. The "moderator" should be able read, review, edit, and send the
> messages from the "moderation queue" to the client.
> 3. The client should see the email as coming from the original sender
> (the agent) NOT the moderator.
>
> I have been reading the docs from Exim.org and searched for "Exim filters
> tutorial" from Google but still I can't make it do what I want. I am a
> developer with no experience with administering mail servers.
To do this, you'd need to:
* come up with criteria to identify the mails in question;
* write a Router which accepts mails for the recipients but, when not
coming from the approval queue, instead delivers the mails to the
holding system;
* write the holding system, which includes ability to edit, and to
re-inject the mail;
* make sure that these re-injected mails do not match the rules needed
for the Router mentioned above; eg, source IP for mail-server
connection, or added message-header (which you can strip off again
before delivery).
Each Router is tried in turn.
Using an email client with an IMAP/POP store for the holding system is
going to create many problems, because email clients add trace
information. You'd be better off writing your own web-based dispatch
software.
There are a number of pre-built solutions for this sort of helpdesk
ticketing system, including roles, rules matching people in various
roles, etc, so that you have have senior staff approve the responses of
junior staff for a trial period, etc. I've never run such a system
myself, so can't *recommend* one in particular. I can mention names and
point for further investigation, including whether they actually support
post-editing.
You don't say if these clients are external customers or internal folks
for whom you're a helpdesk.
The "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" solution is probably Remedy.
I believe (but am not certain) that it's Windows software.
The classic IT helpdesk software is Request Tracker, RT, written in
Perl. It's geared for email-based management. The other main open
source solution I see mentioned is OTRS.
Beyond those three, there are many helpdesk ticketing solutions
available, including cloud-based, internally hosted, and more. The
"Cerberus" one ... I think the name is familiar, don't recall who I know
that was using it.
Beware that there's "Issue Tracking" and "Helpdesk software" and there's
some overlap between the two; if you're dealing mostly with internal
customers, then the benefits of using one system for both may outweigh
the slight ugliness of systems designed mostly around web UIs which
expect accounts for each person accessing them. Take a look at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_issue-tracking_systems
On the more commercial side, I know folks who swear by Atlassian
products (Jira for issue tracking) and the integration (Crowd) and how
wonderful they are; I know people who swear *at* those products instead.
They're Java based. The Apache project uses Jira (it's free for
non-commercial use).
-Phil
