Automation Worksheet

Thinking through these questions before opening the automations wizard will help guide you in how to respond to the wizard's prompts.

WHAT task would you like your automation to perform? 

In the automations wizard, this question is answered on the ACTION tab.

Usually, when we begin to think about adding an automation, there is a specific task in eCoordinator that we no longer wish to do manually. This will end up being the automation action. Frequently used automation actions include sending an email or text, updating a field, or referring and placing volunteers into opportunities and shifts. Before you open the automation wizard, you should have a solid idea of which actions you are going to add.

Depending on which action is selected, the automation wizard may have follow up questions:

• Emails: Is there a template for the email you wish to save already created?
  If you have already created your template, the wizard gives you the option to search available templates and attach the one you want to your automation. If not, the wizard will prompt you to create a new template specifically for this purpose. 
• Updates: Which field would you like to update?
  The automation will need to know which field you would like to update, and what you would like the new value to be.
• Refer/place: Which opp or shift do you want to refer/place the volunteer into?
  You must select an existing shift or opp to refer/place a volunteer into.

WHEN would you like your automation to perform this task?

In the automations wizard, this question is answered on the TRIGGER tab.

At this point, we have established what your automation is going to do, in the form of the automation action. Next, think about when you would like your automation to complete this task. This is the automation trigger.

You can trigger your automation to run at a specific day or time (on schedule), because something else in a profile just changed (on save), when you tell it to run (on demand), or when a volunteer is referred or placed.* For detailed information on different types of automation triggers, click HERE. 

Just like with the action, the automation wizard may have some follow up questions for you, depending on what type of trigger you have selected:

• On Schedule: What date(s) and time(s) would you like the automation to run?
  Scheduling automations is just like creating a reoccurring meeting invitation on any calendar app, except instead of a scheduling a meeting, you are scheduling the time for the automation to run. Once a schedule is created, you can use it on multiple automations. On the trigger tab of the automation wizard, you have the option to select an existing schedule, or create a new one.

• On Save: Do you want to run this automation when a new record is created, or when an existing record is updated in a certain way?
  You will have the option to choose between "on create/register" for new, or "on update" for existing. If you select "on update", you can then select the specific field you would like to trigger the automation. You can narrow it down even further by providing more details about the update. For example, you can trigger an automation to run any time an activity status is updated, or specifically when it is updated from pending to active.

*Triggers related to referral and placement are exclusively supported by the refer/place automation types. If you intend to use a referral or placement based automation trigger, be sure to sure to select a refer/place automation type. See the WHERE section of this worksheet for additional information.

WHO (which records) would you like your automation to perform the task on?

In the automations wizard, this question is answered on the APPLY TO tab.

Once you have determined the task your automation will perform (action) and when it will be executed (trigger), the next step is to decide if the automation will apply to every record in the profile type or only specific records. This is done in the apply to section, where you can attach an existing grid/filter or create a new one.

Think about how you would manually complete the task you are automating. In eCoordinator, you would likely start by configuring a grid/filter to display only the relevant records for the task at hand. If you have been performing the task manually for some time, you may already have a grid that accomplishes this.

For example, let's say you are setting up an automation to send an email to a volunteer when their activity status changes to active, but only for volunteers under 18. The action would be to send the email with the template attached, and the trigger would be set to run when the activity status updates to active. However, it is the grid you attach in the apply to section that will limit the automation to only volunteers under 18.

If you do not wish to further restrict the automation, simply select "any records" on the apply to tab in the automation wizard to bypass this step.

WHERE in eCoordinator is this task to be performed?

In the automations wizard, this question is answered on the TYPE tab.

The first thing the automation wizard asks for when begin creating a new automation is the automation type, but sometimes the type can be difficult to determine before the automation is fully thought out. 

However, now that we have answered the above questions, the type should be more clear. If you are still not sure, these two follow up questions should pull everything together:

• If we were to manually perform this task, which module in eCoordinator would we need to work with?
• If we intend to use pre-existing grids, filters, and emails in our automation, where in eCoordinator are these components located?