Automations

Automations reduce repetitive operational work by reacting to service and customer events or scheduled triggers. Open Automations to see every automation in one list, with search and status filters, or switch to the Execution history tab to see what has run.

How an automation is built

Each automation is a sequential workflow: one trigger followed by an ordered path of steps.

• Trigger: what starts the automation, such as a service being created, a status change, a service being scheduled for the first time, an SLA breach, a label added or removed, a file added, a note created, a task completed, a customer created, a measurement order changing status, or a one-time, daily, weekly or monthly schedule.
• Filters: narrow when the automation continues, for example by parent customer, service type, service status, service label, service schedule or file category. If a filter does not match, the run stops there and later steps do not happen.
• Actions: what the automation does, such as emailing a customer or technician, sending a text message, sending an app notification, creating or completing a task, applying or removing a service label, updating a service, adding a service contact, scheduling a service or creating a service note.
• Waits: pause the path for a fixed duration (minutes, hours or days, up to 365 days). A day means 24 hours, not a business day.
• Yes/No branches: check one or more conditions and send the run down a Yes path or a No path. Both paths can contain their own filters, waits and actions, and then rejoin.

Not every action is available for every trigger. The builder only offers combinations that are supported. Loops, parallel paths, business-hours waits and webhooks are not available.

Creating an automation

1. Open Automations and choose New automation.
2. Pick a trigger and add filters, actions, waits and branches in the order you want them to run.
3. Choose Save draft as often as you like. A draft can be edited freely and never runs.
4. Choose Publish when you are ready. Publishing locks in that version of the workflow. Each run keeps using the version that was live when its event happened, so later edits do not change runs already in progress.
5. Turn the automation on. A draft must be published before it can be activated.

Use the preview in the builder to test a draft against a real service or customer. Preview does not send messages, change records or start waits.

Pausing and deleting

Disable an automation to stop it. Disabling cancels runs that are queued or waiting, and re-enabling does not bring canceled runs back. A step that had already started may still finish.

Deleting an automation removes it from the list and cannot be undone, but its past runs stay in Execution history.

Run history and outcomes

The Execution history tab lists recent runs, newest first, with search and a status filter. Open a run to see each step, how many attempts it took, when it finished, and which branch path was chosen. Statuses include Completed, Failed, Queued, Running, Waiting, Filter stopped, Needs review, Canceled and Skipped.

• Waiting runs show when they will resume.
• Failed runs can be retried from the failed step if you can manage automations. Completed steps are not repeated.
• Needs review means an action may or may not have finished, for example an email was interrupted mid-delivery. Cloudflow does not retry these automatically, so you do not get a duplicate. Check the outcome (for example in your email provider or the measurement order) before doing anything further.
• Cancel run stops a queued, running or waiting run.

Ordering measurements automatically

Automations can order measurements without someone doing it by hand. These actions are only offered on triggers tied to a service.

• Order EagleView report: you choose the products and delivery options and set a maximum charge. The automation gets a quote first and does not place the order if the quote is over your maximum.
• Request Hover capture: sends a Hover capture link to the customer, a service contact with a chosen role, a technician or a crew. If no matching recipient with an email exists, the step fails and nothing is sent.
• If the service already has an active measurement order, the step is skipped.
• The Measurement order status changes trigger starts an automation when a Hover or EagleView order changes status (for example to Failed or Complete). You choose the provider and, optionally, one status. You can also filter or branch on the current Hover or EagleView order status.
• An automation cannot order from the same provider that triggered it, which prevents loops.

Only people with the matching measurement-ordering permission can create, edit or run these actions. Orders are placed as the person who published the automation, who must still be an active member of the organization. Automations published before this was tracked need to be published again.

Upgrading older rules

Older automation rules keep working. Eligible rules show Upgrade automation, which opens a draft in the newer builder. Related rules that differ only by parent customer can be merged with Combine related rules into one workflow with a Yes/No branch per rule. When you publish the upgraded workflow, you choose whether the old rules are disabled or deleted. Their history is kept either way.

Good automation design

Start with simple workflows, verify them with a small group, then broaden them. Keep automation names specific so admins can understand what each automation does at a glance. Use branches instead of duplicating near-identical automations.

For automatic notes written to services, see the Automated Notes page. For text message limits and merge fields, see the SMS Messaging page.