How to use Automations

Insightly Service Automations are used to evaluate criteria on Tickets and Ticket Comments, then take action if the criteria is met.

In this Article

• How do they work?
  • Automation Triggers
  • Immediate Trigger Automations
  • Time-triggered Automations
  • Ticket Automation Log
• Use cases
• How to create a new Automation
  • How to add Criteria
  • How to add Actions

How do they work?

Automations in the Service App work similarly to our Workflow Automation feature in CRM and Marketing, however Automations are used specifically for Tickets and Ticket Comments. 

Automations should be built for repeatable activities that take place to complete a specific task on a regular basis. Use Automations to manage your workflow, improve performance, and customer satisfaction.

For example, an Automation could be configured to alert an agent of Tickets that remain unresolved after x days that may need to be escalated.

Automations are comprised of:

• A name, description, and active/inactive status
• When to execute (upon ticket creation, ticket update, or time trigger)
• Criteria to be evaluated
• Actions that will run if the criteria is met

Service App Automations can only have one set of criteria and cannot have actions that execute in the future.

To prevent unnecessary activity, Automations will not run on accounts that haven't had any users sign in within the last 14 days.

Automation Triggers

When to run the Automation cannot be changed after the Automation has been created. An Automation can be triggered in one of three ways:

• When a Ticket is first created
• When a Ticket is edited
• Scheduled every hour

Immediate Trigger Automations

These Automations will run as soon as a Ticket is created or edited. Ticket Created and Ticket Updated Automations will run in the order they appear on their respective automation tabs. Once a ticket meets the specified criteria, it cannot be affected by any subsequent criteria.

Time-triggered Automations

All trigger Automations that are scheduled every hour will run on all non-closed tickets to see if conditions are met. That does not necessarily mean right at the start of the hour. Automations can start running at some point during the hour, for example, five minutes after the hour or thirty-eight minutes after the hour.

If a Ticket has already had more than 100 Automations occur during the life of the Ticket, they are excluded from the hourly Automations run, even if they have not been closed.

There is one default time-trigger automation, Close solved tickets after 4 days. It is will close any Tickets marked as Solved after 96 hours. This automation can be edited, but not deleted.

Ticket Automation Log

When automations are run on individual tickets, the automation and the ticket will be recorded and timestamped in the Automation Log. The log is used to identify which automations were run, how many automations have been run on a ticket, and the time they were run at. The log can be found in any automation under Ticket Creation, Ticket Updates, and Ticket Triggers. 

The following fields are present in the Automation Log:

• Criteria Name

  • Clicking the hyperlink under the Criteria column will open the edit page of the associated criteria in a new browser.

• Action

  • Clicking the hyperlink under the Action column will open the edit page of the associated criteria in a new browser. 

• Object

  • Clicking the hyperlink under the Object column will open the associated ticket record in a new browser.

• Result

• Execution Date

• Execution Time

• Execution Errors

Use cases

• Set up a webhook that will look for Tickets submitted by customers in a certain region
• Closing Tickets x number of days after they have been set to solved
• Finding "abandoned" Tickets that haven't been updated for a certain number of days
• Sending a delayed notification for Ticket comments added outside of your business hours
• Sending an email when an urgent ticket has been unattended for more than 48 hours
• Email agents when an assigned Ticket remains unresolved for x number of hours
• Add “Solved” tag to Tickets that a customer has not responded to after 14 days
• Email agent groups when a new Ticket remains unassigned for x number of hours
• Email the assigned agent after x number of hours when a pending Ticket has been updated by the requester

How to create a new Automation

1. Go to System Settings > Automations.
2. Click Add Automation.
3. Enter a Process Name and Description. This should briefly outline your criteria and the automated actions.
4. The Active checkbox will be checked by default. Uncheck this box if you do not want the Automation to be Active.
5. Select when the Automation will run:
   • After a ticket is created
   • After a ticket is updated
   • On a time trigger
6. Click Save.

How to add Criteria

1. Go to System Settings > Automations. Select an Automation.
2. Under Evaluation Criteria, click Add a Filter Row.
3. Select the field and an operator, then enter a value for the criteria that will trigger the process. Use the search box on the Filter by dropdown to find filters quickly.
4. If there's more than one part to your triggering rule, click Add Filter Row and select the AND or OR operator. Use AND to narrow the number of matching records, and use OR to broaden the list of matches.
5. Click Save Criteria.

How to add Actions

1. Go to System Settings > Automations. Select an Automation.
2. In the Actions section, click the Actions dropdown. Select an action:
   • Send An Email - Sends an email to an address specified when creating the action.
   • Add New Webhook - Sets up a webhook to send information to an external application.
   • Run Lambda Function - Triggers a Lambda function to check, monitor, and update Insightly and other systems.
   • Update This Record - Updates the selected fields in the triggered record.
   • Add/Remove Tags - Adds or removes tags from the triggered record.
   • Delete Ticket - Deletes the triggered record.
3. Enter the information required for the action you've selected. This will vary based on the action selected.
4. Click Save.

How to use Criteria and Actions efficiently

1. Criteria and Actions are executed sequentially. Once a Criteria meets the filtering rule, it triggers the Action and stops progression to the next criteria. 
2. An "Always Criteria" is a Criteria without any filter, and it is always evaluated. It functions as a breakpoint; Simply put, criteria following an "Always Criteria" will not evaluate. 
3. A Criteria without an action operates similarly to an "Always Criteria." This means that the Criteria meets the filtering rule, and with no associated action, automation stops the evaluation of other criteria.