I helped several clients resolve this exact issue after the 2023.2 update. Here’s the complete solution addressing all three configuration areas.
Email Template Mapping Fix:
The update reset your custom template mappings to default. Navigate to Workflow Administration > Procurement Workflows > Purchase Requisition Approval. For each approval step, click Edit and go to the Notifications tab. Change the email template from “Default Template” to “PR Approval Notification”. Verify that the template variables are correctly mapped - specifically check that ${approverName}, ${requisitionNumber}, and ${requesterName} are properly defined in your custom template.
After remapping, test by submitting a test requisition. If emails still don’t send, the template itself might need updating. Open the email template editor and verify the template has a valid subject line and body content. In 2023.2, empty template fields will cause silent email failures.
SMTP Server Configuration Validation:
Even though system test emails work, check the workflow-specific SMTP settings. Go to System Configuration > Workflow Engine > Email Settings. Verify these parameters:
- SMTP Host: Should match your email server
- SMTP Port: Usually 587 for TLS or 465 for SSL
- Authentication: Enable if your server requires it
- From Address: Must be a valid, authorized sender address
The 2023.2 update introduced stricter SMTP authentication. If your server requires authentication, you must now provide valid credentials. The workflow engine no longer falls back to anonymous SMTP even if the system test function does. Add your SMTP username and password in the configuration, then restart the workflow service.
User Email Validation Update:
Run the User Email Validation Report from User Management > Reports. This will identify users whose email addresses fail the new RFC 5322 compliance checks in 2023.2. Common issues include:
- Email addresses with consecutive dots (user..name@domain.com)
- Special characters in local part that are no longer allowed
- Missing or invalid domain extensions
For each flagged user, update their email address to a valid format. If you have many users affected, you can temporarily disable strict email validation by setting email.validation.strict=false in system properties, but this isn’t recommended for production.
Workflow Event Trigger Verification:
After fixing templates and SMTP config, verify that email notifications are enabled at the workflow event level. In the workflow definition XML, check that each approval step has sendEmailNotification="true" attribute. The update might have changed this to false for custom workflows.
Testing and Monitoring:
After implementing these fixes, test thoroughly:
- Submit a test requisition and verify email is sent at each approval step
- Check the email delivery logs in System Logs > Workflow Email Log
- Verify that email content includes all expected variables and formatting
- Test with multiple approvers to ensure all receive notifications
Set up monitoring for email delivery failures. Configure alerts when email notifications fail to send so you can address issues immediately rather than discovering them through user complaints.
Once all three areas are properly configured, your approval notifications should resume working correctly.