Rules
A rule acts by itself when something happens. It reads as one sentence: When a work order's status changes, if its priority is high, then send a notification.
Starting a rule
On a category or a connection, open ⋯ › New rule here. What should happen automatically? offers that category's recipes, such as:
- notify someone when a work order is completed;
- open an incident on the nearest watermain when a resident reports a break;
- email a team when a report is submitted;
- create a recurring maintenance work order;
- start a response timer when a work order is created;
- create a work order from an inspection form.
Pick one to start from it, or Start from scratch. Either way, everything stays editable before you save.
The sentence
The rule's window shows its Name, whether it is On, its Priority and its sentence. Press a part of the sentence, or the ⋯ beside it, to edit that part.
When
- Happens when: the event that starts the rule. Events come from every area: a record created, changed, completed or reassigned, a status change, a report validated, stock running low, a payment received, a reading arriving from a sensor, an alarm raised, a timer running out, a file uploaded, a version committed, a person invited, or a schedule coming round.
- Applies to: the kind of record, for events that apply to several.
- Repeats: Every time, Once per record, Once until it clears, or At most once per a number of minutes.
A schedule runs daily, weekly, monthly or on a custom pattern: a day of the month, or a weekday such as the first Monday, at a time you set. A scheduled rule can run once for each record of a kind.
A threshold watches a number or a date on your assets and fires when it is crossed: Once, when it passes a value, or Every time it advances by an amount, with Days before to fire early on a date.
If
Condition adds a check on the record or the event: a Field, a Comparison and a Value. Comparisons read as words: is, is not, is more than, is at least, is any of, is none of, contains, matches. From the second condition on, Joins with joins it to the one before with and or or.
Then
Action adds what the rule does. Actions come in groups:
- Communication: Send email, Send notification, Raise a help request;
- Create record: Create work order, Create incident, Create assignment;
- Update data: Update field, Run calculation, Log a reading;
- Integration: Call webhook, Write to Postgres, Write to SQL Server, Deliver artifact;
- Timer: Start SLA timer.
Each area adds its own actions, such as issuing a charge or sending an order to its supplier.
Changes that wait for approval
A rule can check a change before it lands. Pick the Record type, the Field it watches, and optionally the values From and To. Before it lands sets what the change needs:
- Someone approves it: the change waits for one of the People who approve or Roles that approve;
- A form is filled: the change is refused until the record carries the Form you name.
The rest of the save lands. An approver sees the waiting change under Approvals in the bell and decides it there.
Testing a rule
Run test fires the rule's actions with sample data. Calls to other systems run for real and show in Activity marked as a test. Emails are checked and not sent. Actions that would change records are skipped.
History
A rule's ⋯ holds History, every run of the rule, and Changes, every edit to it. Its window shows the runs and errors so far.
A record that a rule created says so at the top of its form, with a link to the rule.
Rules on other pages
Map, Assets and inventory, Charges, Permits and Service portal each hold a Rules window in their ⋯ More. It lists the rules that touch that area, in two groups: Listens to this and Acts on this. Filters narrows by On or off, Included or Written here, and With errors. These are the same rules as on the Automations page.