Sym_wizard..
You can NOT automatically do this for a specific valid event. You can create a manually Response rule that will become a button on the screen and make this easier.
You then have it do multiple things in cluding changing the status and then updating a field in a single click.
In order to have a policy fire per group, you can either do this based on the username (sender) or create a AD based group.
Policy > User Groups
Then apply the policy to that user group (Sender) etc..
If you do this then you can create a policy that is ONLY specific to a group of users and setup an Automated Response rule to change the status and update a filed.
Then create another policy that has the Group if Users as an exception to the rule. Then create any other repsone rule if needed..
Good Luck
Ronak