Automations

Automations can help you and your organization do more, automatically. You can use them to:

• Assign Work
• Do Work Automatically
• Integrate FreeAgent to other systems or processes.

User Permissions: Only Administrators can create automations. 

In this tutorial, we will cover the following topics:

1. Navigate to Automations
2. Create a New Automation
3. Start
   • Name
   • App
   • Trigger
   • Fields
4. Conditions
   • Triggers and the available conditions
5. Add Actions
   • Action Types
   • Action Settings
6. Automation History

Navigate to Automations

Go to Settings > Advanced > Automations. 

Create a New Automation

To get started, click the 'Add Automation' button.

Let's go through all of the fields in the Automation creation panel. 

Start

When you create a new automation it starts with the settings for the "Start" panel. 

1. Name

Give your automation a name. 

2. App

Choose the application you'd like to apply the automation to. 

3. Trigger

Now you will specify when this automation should be triggered.  The following table describes each trigger option available in this step.

To learn more about App Actions, please visit the following tutorial:
App Actions

4. Fields

For all triggers that include an 'Update', you will need to select one more multiple fields that will be used to trigger the automation if they are updated and match the conditions (if available). The fields available will be from the application you chose earlier. 

Conditions

As mentioned above Conditions can be added depending on the Trigger you've chosen. 

In the example below I've chosen "After Create/Update" as my Trigger and that allows me to create conditions that have to be met before the Automation can run.

You can also create conditions that will stop the automation from running. Click on the "End" action in the left pane to create the conditions.

Triggers and the available conditions

These rules are inclusive, meaning that all the rules you specify need to occur for the automation to be triggered or ended. Just click 'Add Conditions' to create your own set of rules.

The operators will vary according to the type of field selected. Here is the list of those available:

Add Actions

Now we need to add some Actions to our Automation. Click on the plus sign in the right-hand pane. This will open the Actions drop-down menu.

The next section is where you specify the Actions for your automation. This will allow you to define what will happen when the conditions you set up before occur. 

There are numerous different Action types available. 

Your automation can have either a single action or multiple ones.

Note: The actions will always run in order from top to bottom.

Action Types

Here are the types of actions you can choose from:

Email Task

creates a task to send an email.

Note: When creating an automation to send an email, the App you are applying the automation to must have a Primary Contact Reference Field and Contact Email Reference Join Field. This allows the automation to know what Contact and email address to send the email to. 

For example, if you want to create an automation that sends an email to a customer after a Project in the Projects App has been moved to Completed, the Projects App must have a Primary Contact Reference Field (this links Projects to existing customers) and Contact Email must be a Reference Join Field in the Projects App.

Phone Task

Create a task to make a phone call.

Text Task

Create a task to send a text message.

Todo

Create a record on a to-do list. 

Wait

If you're using multiple actions, Wait lets you specify an amount of time before the next action is performed.

Create Record

Create a record in an application of your choosing.

Update Record

Update a record in an application of your choosing.

Custom Code

Add custom code to create more complex actions within your automation.

Send Email

Send an email automatically by choosing from an existing email template. 

Send Text

Send a text message automatically by choosing an existing template. You will also need to choose a sender and a recipient's phone number. 

Assign Record

You can quickly assign Leads, Contacts, Accounts, Deals, Tickets, and more using the "Assign Record" automation. 

First, select Assign Record as your action and then select the Rules button to create your assignments and conditions (you can create multiple conditions and assignments).

You can also automate App record assignments using Round Robin rules. First, select Assign Record as your action and then select the Round Robin button and pick the members you want the Round Robin to use. 

Email WebForm

You can email any saved webforms you've created in FreeAgent. To learn more about webforms see the following article.

Action Settings

When you select an action in the left pane the settings for that action will appear in the right.

The settings will be different depending on the type of actions you've selected. In the above example, I've chosen the "Send Email" action. In the settings, I have the following options:

• Select an email template to use.
• Decide who the email will be sent from (this is dictated by the app you're creating the automation for).
• Who the email is being sent to (this requires an email field is present in the app the automation is for).

Automation History