CHES and Notifications

CHES & Email Notification Service

The Forests Client Management System uses the BC Government's Common Hosted Email Service (CHES) to dispatch transactional emails to applicants and ministry staff.

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What is CHES?

CHES is an enterprise microservice provided by the BC Ministry of Citizens' Services that provides reliable, rate-limited, and audited email delivery over standard REST endpoints.

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Authentication & Configuration

CHES endpoints require OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials authentication against a dedicated Keycloak realm. Configure connection details in your YAML profile:

ca:
  bc:
    gov:
      nrs:
        ches:
          uri: ${CHES_API_URL:https://ches-dev.api.gov.bc.ca/api/v1}
          tokenUrl: ${CHES_TOKEN_URL:https://loginproxy.gov.bc.ca/auth/realms/standard/protocol/openid-connect/token}
          clientId: ${CHES_CLIENT_ID:your-ches-client-id}
          clientSecret: ${CHES_CLIENT_SECRET:your-ches-secret}
          scope: openid

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Notification Triggers & Events

Emails are triggered at critical lifecycle milestones throughout the submission process:

1. Submission Received:
   • Sent to: External Applicant (BCeID or BCSC).
   • Content: Acknowledges receipt of application and provides reference tracking number.
2. Staff Review Alert:
   • Sent to: Ministry Administrator Distribution List.
   • Triggered by: Processor Channel #5 when potential duplicate matches require manual adjudication.
3. Application Approved:
   • Sent to: External Applicant.
   • Content: Confirms approval and delivers the official 8-digit Forest Client Number.
4. Application Rejected:
   • Sent to: External Applicant.
   • Content: Informs applicant of rejection, detailing reviewer notes and next steps.

For complete HTML and text template formatting specifications, refer to Mail Format Templates.