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WelcoYour alerts, by text.

Alert routing rules that turn the right emails into texts

Alert routing rules read each alert email and decide two things: does it deserve a text, and whose phone gets it. You match on the sender, the subject, words in the message or the time of day. The real alarm reaches the on-call phone, and 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-7 RAT. State: Offnormal / Unacked at 2:16 AM. Reply STOP to opt out. Welco: Source: AHU-7 RAT. State: Normal at 2:31 AM. Reply STOP to opt out. Welco: Weekly trend report for Building 4 is ready. Reply STOP to opt out. With it on, it gets 1: Welco: [Building 4] AHU-7 return air temp off normal at 2:16 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 alert email

  • A night text means a real alarm

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

  • Each crew gets its own alarms

    Pump alarms go to 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 messy email and puts it in one line.

  • No guessing about a missing text

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

How to set up an alert routing rule in 3 parts

Every email that reaches your Welco address is checked against your rules, from the top down. Most of Welco's other alert features hang off a rule, so this is where setup starts.

  1. Say what to look for

    Pick one check or join 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.

  2. Say what to do

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

    • Text a list of phones. If a number is on the list twice, it is sent 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 undo.

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

A building alarm system sends one email when a point goes off normal and another when it comes back. One rule keeps the first email and drops the second.

Alert email from bas-alarms@facility.example.org, subject “Alarm: AHU-7 RAT Offnormal”. Welco trims it to one text of 89 characters: “Welco: [Building 4] AHU-7 return air temp off normal at 2:16 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: [Building 4] AHU-7 return air temp off normal at 2:16 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

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Animation: the alert email "Alarm: AHU-7 RAT Offnormal" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: [Building 4] AHU-7 return air temp off normal at 2:16 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

The rule says: 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 and point one system at your Welco address.

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Systems where one rule cuts the most noise

Any system that sends an alert email works with rules. These are the ones where a single rule tends to halve the texts.

Rules most teams write in their first week

Most teams start 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 wakes up for them.

  • Split by system

    One address can feed pump alarms to the plant crew and backup failures to the help desk.

  • Route by time

    Day 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+pumproom@welco.ai, or yourteam.pumproom@welco.ai if a system strips the plus sign. Each one 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 in the list caught the email first.
Fix
Move the rule, or narrow the drop rule's words.

No rule matched

Likely cause
The words differ 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, because they are easier to read later.

What happens when two alert rules match the same email?

Rules run from the top down, 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 an alert rule?

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

Can a rule put 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-301 Value: 2.1 ft becomes [LIT-301] 2.1 ft.

Do alert rules change the 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 the alarm was handled?

No. If someone replies to a text, the reply comes 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.

Send only the alarms that matter tonight

Write one rule, test it, and let the noise stay 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