Process Automation allows you to create multi-step procedures that are performed without further human intervention. They consist of activities that run at a scheduled date and time or on demand. Process Automations can be created using one activity or many activities, allowing you to streamline how your automations are built.
To create a Process automation, follow these steps:
- Click Automations under Automation in the left menu
- Enter the Automation name in the Create New Automatic Workflow field
- Choose Process Automation from the drop-down menu
- Click Create
The table below lists the Process Automation properties with their description.
| Field Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Name |
The name given to the automation. This is editable and can be changed as needed. |
| Description |
Allows you to enter a description for this automation. |
| Folder Location |
The name of the folder where the automation exists. You can click on the field to change the folder location for the automation. |
| Send success notifications to |
Insert an email address into this field if you would like to be notified when the automation has successfully completed. The email address entered must exist as a contact in your account. |
| Send error notifications to |
Insert an email address into this field if you would like to be notified if there is an error with the automation. This field will default with the email address from the Client Settings page. The email address entered must exist as a contact in your account. |
| Automation Type |
This will populate with Process Automation or Journey Automation depending on the type of automation created. |
| Schedule Type |
This will provide the current schedule for the automation. When initially creating the automation, it will default to Run Immediately until the schedule has been sent. |
| Created Date |
The date the automation was created. |
| Created By |
The name of the user who created the automation. |
Click Continue to move to the automation canvas.
The automation canvas is where you will add and configure the activities for the automation. An Activity is an action that will be performed as part of the automation. The Activities are listed on left side menu. The Automation Canvas is to the right of the Activities.
To add activities to your automation, select the activity and drag it onto the Automation Canvas. If you need to add additional activities, drag the next activity to the Automation Canvas; be sure to drag it over the existing activity until the green bar appears. Once you see the green bar, you can place the activity before or after the existing activity.
Once the activities are added to your canvas, you will need to configure each activity. Each activity requires different configuration information that is specific to the process you will be running with the automation.
To configure an activity, please follow these steps:
- Hover your mouse over the activity
- Click on the Edit icon to configure the activity
Configuring Activities
Activities need to be configured in order to run them in the Process Automation. Each activity requires different configuration information that is specific to the process you will be running with the automation.
To configure an activity, please follow these steps:
- Hover your mouse over the activity
- Click on the Edit icon to configure the activity
See Activities for more information regarding the type of activities available.
On the Schedule page, you can create a schedule for the automation. You also have the option to run the automation immediately. To schedule an automation, follow these steps:
- Check the Schedule option to show the scheduling options.
- Select a date from the Schedule Date field. This will either be the date the automation is set to run or the start date of a recurring automation.
- Select a time and time zone from the Schedule Time options. This will be the time that the automation will run for a one-time schedule or a recurring schedule. The time zone will default to the time zone in the settings page
- Recipient Local Time will allow you to schedule an automation with an email activity so that the email is sent at the same time in every time zone. In order to utilize this option, Timezone must be created as a data field in the Database page in Settings. This field must be populated with the contact's time zone in All Contacts. If no time zone is populated, the email will send at the scheduled time in the default time zone.
- Send Time Optimization will allow you to schedule an automation with an email activity so that the email is sent based on when the contact is most likely to open the email, which is deduced by their previous open times.
- Select Recurrence for the automation. The default is None (run once).
- Change the status of the Automation to Active to activate the automation. Otherwise, click Save to save the automation configuration.
An automation will only run if the status is Active even if a schedule has been defined.
A Process automation can be edited until it begins to run. The activities within a Process automation can only be edited if the automation status is either Stopped or Paused. The schedule of the automation can be edited regardless of the status. To edit an automation, go to the Automation manager and click on the name of the automation.
The Run Log contains details regarding each run of the automation. Once the automation run has completed, the page will populate with the following details.
- Name will display the name of the configured activity
- Status will display the status of the automation
- Started displays the date and time the automation run started
- Completed displays the date and time the automation run completed
- An activity icon will also be displayed with the name of the activity configured in the automation. If the automation has a status of error, hovering over the icon will provide a reason for the error.
- Restart From Here will allow you to restart a multi-step automation from the step that generated the error.