Notifying a user that an Urgent Change Request has been Approved, or Denied

Question

Trying to figure out the best way to have an email go back to a user after a Change Request has been updated with either an Approved or Deny
What we do now is after a user creates an Urgent Change Request, and email goes out to all of our Managers. One of them will reply all to the email with either an [approval] or [deny] in the message body so Service Manager gets the email and acts on
it and the other Managers know it was acted on.
Problem is, if the Manager forgets to add in the Change Requester in the email, they don't know it was acted on. I tried using WorkFlows for Change Request to update the Change Requester of an update but there is nothing in there for  Approval or Deny.
I then resorted to subscriptions but can't figure out how to configure the subscription so that only the Change Requester gets the email. We can configure different email templates based on the whether the change was approved or denied. Just need to figure
out how to configure the Recipient.

Answer 1

I suggest you read this
which is very close to what you want to do.
I've checked the link and found it working. Of course, it works only if the RA is a direct child of work item itself (so for RAs encapsulated in SA or PA it doesn't work).
Below the XML code of the management pack I used. You can engage that, just copy to Notepad and save as ManagementPack.ef9b0adf354c4afe92ede323c9427879.xml
It might require to customize a mail template cause I made a very simple one.
<ManagementPack ContentReadable="true" SchemaVersion="2.0" OriginalSchemaVersion="1.1" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<Manifest>
<Identity>
<ID>ManagementPack.ef9b0adf354c4afe92ede323c9427879</ID>
<Version>7.5.2905.0</Version>
</Identity>
<Name>RA notify affected user MP</Name>
<References>
<Reference Alias="EnterpriseManagement">
<ID>Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.ServiceManager.UI.Console</ID>
<Version>7.5.2905.179</Version>
<PublicKeyToken>31bf3856ad364e35</PublicKeyToken>
</Reference>
<Reference Alias="CustomSystem_Notifications_Library">
<ID>System.Notifications.Library</ID>
<Version>7.5.2905.0</Version>
<PublicKeyToken>31bf3856ad364e35</PublicKeyToken>
</Reference>
<Reference Alias="CustomSystem_WorkItem_Library">
<ID>System.WorkItem.Library</ID>
<Version>7.5.2905.0</Version>
<PublicKeyToken>31bf3856ad364e35</PublicKeyToken>
</Reference>
<Reference Alias="CustomSystem_WorkItem_Activity_Library">
<ID>System.WorkItem.Activity.Library</ID>
<Version>7.5.2905.0</Version>
<PublicKeyToken>31bf3856ad364e35</PublicKeyToken>
</Reference>
<Reference Alias="CustomSystem_Library">
<ID>System.Library</ID>
<Version>7.5.8501.0</Version>
<PublicKeyToken>31bf3856ad364e35</PublicKeyToken>
</Reference>
<Reference Alias="SystemCenter">
<ID>Microsoft.SystemCenter.Library</ID>
<Version>7.0.8432.0</Version>
<PublicKeyToken>31bf3856ad364e35</PublicKeyToken>
</Reference>
<Reference Alias="SystemCenter1">
<ID>Microsoft.SystemCenter.Subscriptions</ID>
<Version>7.5.2905.0</Version>
<PublicKeyToken>31bf3856ad364e35</PublicKeyToken>
</Reference>
<Reference Alias="EnterpriseManagement1">
<ID>Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.ServiceManager.UI.Administration</ID>
<Version>7.5.2905.179</Version>
<PublicKeyToken>31bf3856ad364e35</PublicKeyToken>
</Reference>
</References>
</Manifest>
<Categories>
<Category ID="Category.6f4a3832d9c3488fa2c31d1d662dceef" Value="EnterpriseManagement!Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.ServiceManager.ManagementPack">
<ManagementPackName>ManagementPack.ef9b0adf354c4afe92ede323c9427879</ManagementPackName>
<ManagementPackVersion>7.5.2905.0</ManagementPackVersion>
</Category>
<Category ID="ServiceManager.Console.NotificationManagement.NotificationTemplates.Enumeration6fce0865_32d8_435d_ad64_7c48439649ab.Category" Target="Template_50a8eac21da94bb2a340858b71c931d3" Value="EnterpriseManagement1!ServiceManager.Console.NotificationManagement.NotificationTemplates.Enumeration" />
<Category ID="Category.804f621f7a2b4e0490c82413cd6479d9" Target="NotificationSubscription_da1aa98f_40c3_4dd5_a227_de3e7f20601e" Value="EnterpriseManagement1!Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.ServiceManager.Rules.WorkflowSubscriptions" />
</Categories>
<Monitoring>
<Rules>
<Rule ID="NotificationSubscription_da1aa98f_40c3_4dd5_a227_de3e7f20601e" Enabled="true" Target="SystemCenter!Microsoft.SystemCenter.SubscriptionWorkflowTarget" ConfirmDelivery="true" Remotable="true" Priority="Normal" DiscardLevel="100">
<Category>System</Category>
<DataSources>
<DataSource ID="DS" TypeID="SystemCenter1!Microsoft.SystemCenter.CmdbInstanceSubscription.DataSourceModule">
<Subscription>
<InstanceSubscription Type="bfd90aaa-80dd-0fbb-6eaf-65d92c1d8e36">
<UpdateInstance>
<Criteria>
<Expression>
<And>
<Expression>
<Or>
<Expression>
<SimpleExpression>
<ValueExpression>
<Property State="Pre">$Context/Property[Type='CustomSystem_WorkItem_Activity_Library!System.WorkItem.Activity']/Status$</Property>
</ValueExpression>
<Operator>NotEqual</Operator>
<ValueExpression>
<Value>{9de908a1-d8f1-477e-c6a2-62697042b8d9}</Value>
</ValueExpression>
</SimpleExpression>
</Expression>
<Expression>
<SimpleExpression>
<ValueExpression>
<Property State="Pre">$Context/Property[Type='CustomSystem_WorkItem_Activity_Library!System.WorkItem.Activity']/Status$</Property>
</ValueExpression>
<Operator>NotEqual</Operator>
<ValueExpression>
<Value>{144bcd52-a710-2778-2a6e-c62e0c8aae74}</Value>
</ValueExpression>
</SimpleExpression>
</Expression>
</Or>
</Expression>
<Expression>
<Or>
<Expression>
<SimpleExpression>
<ValueExpression>
<Property State="Post">$Context/Property[Type='CustomSystem_WorkItem_Activity_Library!System.WorkItem.Activity']/Status$</Property>
</ValueExpression>
<Operator>Equal</Operator>
<ValueExpression>
<Value>{9de908a1-d8f1-477e-c6a2-62697042b8d9}</Value>
</ValueExpression>
</SimpleExpression>
</Expression>
<Expression>
<SimpleExpression>
<ValueExpression>
<Property State="Post">$Context/Property[Type='CustomSystem_WorkItem_Activity_Library!System.WorkItem.Activity']/Status$</Property>
</ValueExpression>
<Operator>Equal</Operator>
<ValueExpression>
<Value>{144bcd52-a710-2778-2a6e-c62e0c8aae74}</Value>
</ValueExpression>
</SimpleExpression>
</Expression>
</Or>
</Expression>
</And>
</Expression>
</Criteria>
</UpdateInstance>
</InstanceSubscription>
<PollingIntervalInSeconds>60</PollingIntervalInSeconds>
<BatchSize>100</BatchSize>
</Subscription>
</DataSource>
</DataSources>
<WriteActions>
<WriteAction ID="WA" TypeID="SystemCenter1!Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.SystemCenter.Subscription.WindowsWorkflowTaskWriteAction">
<Subscription>
<VisibleWorkflowStatusUi>true</VisibleWorkflowStatusUi>
<EnableBatchProcessing>true</EnableBatchProcessing>
<WindowsWorkflowConfiguration>
<AssemblyName>Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Notifications.Workflows</AssemblyName>
<WorkflowTypeName>Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Notifications.Workflows.SendNotificationsActivity</WorkflowTypeName>
<WorkflowParameters>
<WorkflowParameter Name="SubscriptionId" Type="guid">$MPElement$</WorkflowParameter>
<WorkflowArrayParameter Name="DataItems" Type="string">
<Item>$Data/.$</Item>
</WorkflowArrayParameter>
<WorkflowArrayParameter Name="InstanceIds" Type="string">
<Item>$Data/BaseManagedEntityId$</Item>
</WorkflowArrayParameter>
<WorkflowArrayParameter Name="TemplateIds" Type="string">
<Item>f7785299-c026-a870-e350-d02b65a1f3b3</Item>
</WorkflowArrayParameter>
<WorkflowArrayParameter Name="PrimaryUserRelationships" Type="string">
<Item>$Context/Path[Relationship='CustomSystem_WorkItem_Activity_Library!System.WorkItemContainsActivity' SeedRole='Target' TypeConstraint='CustomSystem_WorkItem_Library!System.WorkItem']/Path[Relationship='CustomSystem_WorkItem_Library!System.WorkItemAffectedUser' TypeConstraint='CustomSystem_Library!System.User']$</Item>
</WorkflowArrayParameter>
</WorkflowParameters>
<RetryExceptions />
<RetryDelaySeconds>60</RetryDelaySeconds>
<MaximumRunningTimeSeconds>7200</MaximumRunningTimeSeconds>
</WindowsWorkflowConfiguration>
</Subscription>
</WriteAction>
</WriteActions>
</Rule>
</Rules>
</Monitoring>
<Templates>
<ObjectTemplate ID="Template_50a8eac21da94bb2a340858b71c931d3" TypeID="CustomSystem_Notifications_Library!System.Notification.Template.SMTP">
<Property Path="$Context/Property[Type='CustomSystem_Notifications_Library!System.Notification.Template.SMTP']/Subject$">&lt;1033&gt;$Context/Property[Type='CustomSystem_WorkItem_Library!System.WorkItem']/Id$ is completed&lt;/1033&gt;</Property>
<Property Path="$Context/Property[Type='CustomSystem_Notifications_Library!System.Notification.Template.SMTP']/Priority$">2</Property>
<Property Path="$Context/Property[Type='CustomSystem_Notifications_Library!System.Notification.Template.SMTP']/IsBodyHtml$">False</Property>
<Property Path="$Context/Property[Type='CustomSystem_Notifications_Library!System.Notification.Template']/Content$">&lt;1033&gt;$Context/Property[Type='CustomSystem_WorkItem_Library!System.WorkItem']/Id$ is completed&lt;/1033&gt;</Property>
<Property Path="$Context/Property[Type='CustomSystem_Notifications_Library!System.Notification.Template']/Encoding$">utf-8</Property>
<Property Path="$Context/Property[Type='CustomSystem_Notifications_Library!System.Notification.Template']/SeedClass$">System.WorkItem.Activity.ReviewActivity$bfd90aaa-80dd-0fbb-6eaf-65d92c1d8e36</Property>
<Property Path="$Context/Property[Type='CustomSystem_Notifications_Library!System.Notification.Template']/Protocol$">SMTP</Property>
</ObjectTemplate>
</Templates>
<LanguagePacks>
<LanguagePack ID="ENU" IsDefault="true">
<DisplayStrings>
<DisplayString ElementID="ManagementPack.ef9b0adf354c4afe92ede323c9427879">
<Name>RA notify affected user MP</Name>
</DisplayString>
<DisplayString ElementID="Template_50a8eac21da94bb2a340858b71c931d3">
<Name>RA notify affected user mail template</Name>
</DisplayString>
<DisplayString ElementID="NotificationSubscription_da1aa98f_40c3_4dd5_a227_de3e7f20601e">
<Name>RA notify affected user</Name>
</DisplayString>
</DisplayStrings>
</LanguagePack>
</LanguagePacks>
</ManagementPack>
Cheers,
Marat
Site: www.scutils.com 
Twitter: LinkedIn:
Graveyard:
It does work even if it is within a PA or SA or even deeper, you "just" have to follow the path to the CR from there. But then you would need a subscription for each RA depending on where it is in the flow. Try to make your users understand that :D
http://codebeaver.blogspot.dk/