Creating Database Triggers

About Database Triggers

Database triggers monitor the Campus Cafe platform for user-defined changes. When a change occurs, an activity can be triggered, such as sending an email.

Note that to ensure system performance, not all fields are available for database triggers.

Understanding Tables and Fields

When a record in Campus Cafe is changed, the system behind the scenes updates a table and field. You can think of this as adjusting a cell in a spreadsheet.

Actions (triggers) can occur when a field on a specific table is added or changed. A database trigger references the specific table and field.

To identify what table and field is changed by an action, Campus Cafe recommends triggering the action on a test individual and then reviewing the audit log (Person Selected > Audit Log), which will show the table updated and the field changed.

In the example below, the prospect's admissions progress code was changed from applied to accepted. The audit log indicates the table STBIOS (1) was updated and the value of the field ADM_PROGRESS_CODE (2) changed from Y (3) to A (4).

Create a Trigger

1. Navigate to Admin > Database Triggers Maintenance
2. Click New Record

Trigger Group: A name to identify the trigger

Description: Text that describes the trigger

Table Name: The record that holds the field that when updated will trigger the activity

Field Name: The field that when updated will trigger the activity 

From Operator: The boolean operator for the initial value

From Value: The initial value (enter * for any value)

To Operator: The boolean operator for the new value (enter * for any value) 

To Value: The new value

Trigger On Event: Specifies whether the trigger will occur when the value is added, changed or both

Template: The activity template to trigger

3. Click Create

4. Refresh the cache by navigating to Admin > Refresh Data Cache > reload data

Example: Notification to Staff on Applicant Acceptance

In the below example, the activity tracking template "Notify Financial Aid of Accept" is configured to be added to a prospect's record when the prospect's admissions progress code changes from any status (any value is denoted by *) to the admissions progress code of A (accepted). The activity, in turn, could contain a workflow that emails the prospect or a staff member.

Example: Notification to Instructor on Student Drop

In the below example, the activity tracking template "Notify Instructor of Drop" is configured to send to the instructor of a class the student drops. 

For the email to send, the workflow must have Email Faculty checked and the instructor must have an email on his or her Campus Cafe record.

Example: Notification of Exit Counseling

In the below example, the activity tracking template "EXIT COUNSELING" is configured to be added to a student's record when the student's degree status code changes from any status (any value is denoted by *) to one of a list of values separated by a comma. The activity, in turn, could contain a workflow that emails the prospect or a staff member letting them know of that Exit Counseling is required after Withdrawing or Completing a program.