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Alert routing rules that text only the emails that count

Alert routing rules read every alert email and answer two questions: should it become a text, and whose phone should get it. You match on the sender, the subject, words in the message or the time of day. Real alarms reach the on-call cellphone, while status reports and all-clears stay in email.

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  • Set up in your browser
  • Test a rule before it goes live
  • No per-user fees

Works by email with

  • Metasys
  • Nagios
  • Ignition
  • PRTG

Alert rules

Try it: turn it off and on.

3

No rules: the phone buzzes for every email

1

One rule: only the off-normal alarm gets through

On. The phone gets 1 text.

With Alert rules off, the phone gets 3 texts: Welco: Source: AHU-2 RAT. State: Offnormal / Unacked at 1:52 AM. Reply STOP to opt out. Welco: Source: AHU-2 RAT. State: Normal at 2:09 AM. Reply STOP to opt out. Welco: Weekly trend report for Tower B is ready. Reply STOP to opt out. With it on, it gets 1: Welco: [Tower B] AHU-2 return air 27.4C off normal at 1:52 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.
Animation: Alert rules switched off and on. No rules: the phone buzzes for every email. One rule: only the off-normal alarm gets through.

What changes once rules sort your alarm email

  • A night text means a real alarm

    Reports, warnings and returns to normal stay in email. The phone buzzes only for the alarms you picked.

  • Each crew gets its own alarms

    Pump alarms go to the operators and server alerts go to IT, all from one Welco address.

  • Texts say what matters

    A rule pulls the site, the tag or the reading out of a cluttered email and puts it in one line.

  • No guessing about a missing text

    The feed lists every email and says, in plain English, why a rule texted it or dropped it.

How to build an alert routing rule in 3 parts

Every email that reaches your Welco address is checked against your rules, top to bottom. Most of Welco's other alert features hang off a rule, so setup starts here.

  1. Say what to look for

    Pick one check or combine several with AND, OR and NOT. For example: the subject has ALARM AND the sender is the SCADA server, but NOT the word Normal.

    • The sender: one exact address, part of an address, or a whole domain.
    • The subject or the body, such as CRITICAL, LOW LOW or Door Forced.
    • Any email header, the address the email was sent to, or whether it has an attachment.
    • The time and the day of the week, in your own time zone, whether that's ET, CT, MT, PT or AT.

  2. Say what to do

    Rules run in the order you set. When a rule matches, it can stop there or let the next rule run too.

    • Text a list of phones. A number that appears twice on the list is texted once.
    • Rewrite the text with a short template, such as [site] point state time.
    • Drop the email quietly, so it never becomes a text.
    • Turn a voicemail or PDF attachment into a tap-to-open link.

  3. Try it on a real email, then switch it on

    Every rule has a Test tab. Paste a real alert email or pick a sample to see what the rule would do, with nothing sent. Each change is saved as a version, so a bad edit is easy to roll back.

A worked example: text the alarm, skip the all-clear

A building automation system at an office tower in Toronto sends one email when a point goes off normal and another when it recovers. One rule keeps the first email and drops the second.

Alert email from bas-alarms@property.example.ca, subject “Alarm: AHU-2 RAT Offnormal”. Welco trims it to one text of 87 characters: “Welco: [Tower B] AHU-2 return air 27.4C off normal at 1:52 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: [Tower B] AHU-2 return air 27.4C off normal at 1:52 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

Characters214871 credit

Animation: the alert email "Alarm: AHU-2 RAT Offnormal" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: [Tower B] AHU-2 return air 27.4C off normal at 1:52 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

The rule says: the sender is the building system AND the body has Offnormal, so text the facilities on-call phone. A second rule drops any email with State: Normal.

Write your first rule in a few clicks

Sign up, verify your business with its BN and point one system at your Welco address.

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Systems where one rule cuts the most noise

Rules work with any system that sends an alert email. On these, a single rule tends to halve the texts. With a Delta Controls or Distech Controls front end, point its alarm emails at Welco the same way.

Rules most teams write in their first week

Most teams begin with one or two rules. They add more once they see which alerts matter at night.

  • Drop the good news

    Return-to-normal and recovery emails can stay in email, so nobody is woken for them.

  • Split by system

    One address can send pump alarms to the plant crew and failed backups to the help desk.

  • Route by time

    Daytime alarms go to the shift lead, and night alarms go to the on-call phone.

  • Pull out what matters

    A rule can capture up to 8 values, like a tag or an error code, and put them in the text.

  • Give each source its own address

    Use yourteam+boilerroom@welco.ai, or yourteam.boilerroom@welco.ai if a system strips the plus sign. Each address can have its own rules.

Why didn't my alert rule send a text?

Open the email in the feed first. It shows what happened to that email, and the fix is usually one of these.

Refused as an unknown sender

Likely cause
The system sends from an address you haven't approved, often after a mail server change.
Fix
Approve the new From address.

Dropped by another rule

Likely cause
A drop rule higher up the list caught the email first.
Fix
Move the rule, or narrow the drop rule's words.

No rule matched

Likely cause
The wording differs from what you expected, such as Alarm versus ALM.
Fix
Paste the real email into the rule's Test tab and adjust the check.

Arrived outside the time window

Likely cause
The email came in while the rule's time window was closed.
Fix
Check the window and your account's time zone.

Matched, but no text went out

Likely cause
Test mode is on, or nobody on the rule has replied YES yet.
Fix
Switch test mode off, or ask the person to finish joining.

Features that pair well with rules

Frequently asked questions

Can one rule send different alarms to different people?

Yes. A rule can use if, then and else steps. It can text the operators when the body says Pump and the electrician when it says MCC. Many teams write two simple rules instead, since they're easier to read six months later.

What happens when two of my rules match the same email?

Rules run top to bottom, in the order you set. A rule that matches can stop there or let the next one run too. If both rules text the same phone, that phone still gets one text for the email.

Do I need to know regular expressions to write a rule?

No. Most rules use plain checks, like the subject contains a word or the sender's domain is your plant's domain. Patterns are there if you want them. They're handy for pulling a site name or error code out of the email.

Can a rule copy a value from the email into the text?

Yes. A rule can capture up to 8 values from an email, such as the tag, the site or the reading. The text template then uses them, so a long line like Tag: LIT-204 Value: 0.6 m becomes [LIT-204] 0.6 m.

Do rules change the alarm emails my team already gets?

No. Welco is one more recipient on the alert email, so your inbox, your alarm summary and your logs stay as they are. Rules only decide what Welco texts. Nothing is sent back to your system.

Can a rule tell my system that the alarm was dealt with?

No. If someone replies to a text, the reply goes back to the alert's sender as an email. It does not acknowledge or clear the alarm. See replies by email for how that works.

Text only the alarms that matter, starting tonight

Write one rule, test it, and leave the noise in email.

Set up my alert rulesBook a demo

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing