Creating an automation

Building an automation, with the nullifying condition that stops it firing every hour for the rest of the ticket's life.

Building an automation, with the nullifying condition that stops it firing every hour for the rest of the ticket's life.

Create an automation

1. Open Admin Center, then Objects and rules, then Automations.
2. Click Add automation and name it.
3. Add a time condition, such as hours since the ticket was set to pending.
4. Add conditions narrowing which tickets it applies to.
5. Add the nullifying condition. See below.
6. Add the actions, including the thing that satisfies the nullifying condition.
7. Save and activate.

The nullifying condition

Every automation needs something in its conditions that its own actions make false. Without it the ticket keeps matching, and the rule runs again next hour, and the hour after.

The usual pattern is a tag. Condition: tags do not contain chased-once. Action: add the tag chased-once. First run fires, adds the tag, and the ticket no longer matches.

Changing the status can serve the same purpose, where the action moves the ticket out of the state the condition tests.

Time conditions

The useful ones measure since something specific: since created, since the status was set, since the last update from the customer. Pick the one that describes the situation you are reacting to, not just elapsed time.

Test on one ticket

Set a short interval, watch a test ticket through one cycle, then set the real interval. Automations are hard to reason about and easy to observe, so observe.

See also

• Making sure an automation runs only once
• Using the hours since condition
• Why my automation runs again every day