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How Do Trackable URLs 'Click on URL' in Siebel 8.1.x Work and How are They Structured?

It works in the following way: within the Siebel workflow, there is a step (Marketing Campaign Load Workflow>Get List Format System Data) that takes the body of the HTML and finds all the tags Trackable URL.The business service replaces that tag with a long URL that includes the target page concatenated with a bunch of internal IDs (see example below)

NOTE: In the 8.1.1.2 Fix pack we have a new feature that automatically scans the email body and does the URL formatting when the Email Treatment is saved. Currently the user has to manually add the URLs to the Advanced tab > Trackable URL list and then insert in the email editor.

ALSO NOTE that in 8.1.1.1 Fixpack we tried to include this new feature but there is a critical defect with it, so any customers on 8.1.1.1 FP build are going to need a patch for the 8.1.1.2 code.

How exactly are they structured?

Below is an example URL for google.com as the trackable URL. RID is the S_CAMP_CON row id, CON is contact, PRO is prospect, OID is offer, CID is campaign:

"http://ctdhostname:portnumber/ctd/lu?RID=1-XYZ&CON=1-XYZ&PRO=&AID=&OID=1..."

Which Web Server host redirects the receiver's Web Browser to the correct destination?

The HTTP traffic from the internet goes through the corporate web server, which would then route directly to the CTD host. The HTTP traffic for click throughs does not go through Siebel stack.

When a Clickable and Trackable URL is received by a recipient of an Email Offer, what exactly takes place? What information is sent to which server?

User clicks on the email. This sends the full HTTP string (see above example) from the browser to the company's web server (which is in the DMZ). The web server routes the traffic to the CTD (or through a proxy in front of the CTD machine if the company has set one up). The CTD parses the HTTP, logs a click through response in Siebel by calling the object manager, then strips the internal IDs off the URL and redirects the browser to the target page (e.g. www.google.com).

If the recipient receives an error message: Siebel eMarketing - Microsoft Internet Explorer Website not found! The site that you are trying to access cannot be found and the URL on the address line of the recipient's Web Browser is :
"http://s-abcdef-s01.besq.dsq.gbes/emarketing_enu/start.swe?SWECmd=Login&..."
Is this the CTD and its software not being able to find the Website?
Which Web Server is reporting the error message?

It depends on what kind of URL did the user originally click on to get this? The URL in the error is a SWE URL, which would not be a Trackable URL. Perhaps the link the user clicked on is one of the other response types (such as Request Unsubscribe....)

Has the URL being used been constructed correctly?

The domain does not look like a valid internet domain 's-abcdef-s01.besq.dsq.gbes'. The value that gets substituted in the URL string comes from the email server profile setup on Site Map > Administration - Marketing > Servers on the email marketing server parameters.

When the outgoing message is sent, the system uses the value for the parameter 'Web Server' as the domain name to substitute into the URL string for all the links (except Trackable URLs). Trackable URLs use the parameter value for 'Click through daemon (CTD)' therefore in the example above those values are setup incorrectly.