Automation

With the automation rules, you can automate your opportunity and task scenarios and avoid doing repetitive manual actions. The automation rules allow you to automate actions based on criteria that you set. When an opportunity stage or task status changes, this triggers the execution of a rule, such as assigning tasks to the teammate, sending notification or planning a meeting with the client. 

How to Create Automation for Opportunities 

To create an automation rule for the opportunities, go to CRM → Automation. Select the pipeline you need to create automation rules.

There are pipeline stages at the top of the board. You may add one or more automation rules under each stage. You can also create your own automation rules on two additional stages — "Closed Lost" and "Closed Won". For example, send a notification to the head of the department if the opportunity is lost.

How to Create Automation for Tasks

Go to the Portal Settings → Tasks → Workflows. Select a specific workflow. 

There are task statuses at the top of the board. You may add one or more automation rules under each status.

You can also set up the task workflow as the default one. It means that this task workflow will be automatically assigned as the default while creating a task or a project. In the case of projects, a task workflow will be assigned to all the tasks inside this project. To mark the workflow as default, fill in the checkmark in the list of task workflows.

How to Create Automation for Agile Projects

In Flowlu, you can add automation to both agile workflows and specific Agile projects.

How to add automation to a particular project

Navigate to a specific agile project → Automation Rules. Add automation rules under each issue stage you need.

How to add automation to an agile workflow

Navigate to Agile Projects → Settings → Workflows. Click to any workflow to edit it. Navigate to Advanced Editing to add automation rules. 

How to Create Automation for Invoices

Go to Finance → Invoices and click Automation in the top right corner. 

There are invoice statuses at the top of the board. You may add one or more automation rules under each status.

These statuses include Not Paid, Void, Approval Requested, Approved, Partially Paid, Overpaid, Paid. 

Please note that you will see the approval-related statuses only if you enabled this option in the Portal Settings. 

Some statuses contain Send Invoice/Reminder automation rule. They include Approved, Paid, Partially Paid, Overpaid statuses. The invoice or invoice reminder can be emailed by using this rule. It depends on whether the invoice was already emailed. 

There are several types of automatic actions available in Flowlu:

• Create a notification
• Create a task
• Create an event
• Create a project
• Send an email
• Update item's fields
• Publish a comment
• Create an activity feed post
• Send message to Slack channel
• Create a webhook
• Move to Archive (only for Agile issues)
  
• Send Invoice or Reminer (only for Invoices)

You can learn more about each of them by clicking on the corresponding automation.

How to Manage Automation Rules

Once your rule is created, you can change its details at any time by clicking on Edit. 

You can also delete the rule from its page or by clicking on the X sign from the board.

All automation rules can be easily moved between stages, as well as within one stage to change the sequence of rules.

Where to View Automation Rules for a Specific Task/Opportunity 

Each opportunity record comprises the "Automation" tab, where you can see planned and finished automation rules.

To view the automation for a specific task, go to a task page and click on the three-dot button → Workflow.

You can view the status of an automation rule here to identify whether it was executed or not:

A green check mark means that the automation rule was successfully completed.

A yellow hourglass means that the automation is to be finished when the previous task is completed.

Blue "gear" sign means that the action is scheduled to be performed.

If you see a red cross, it indicates that an error has occurred, so the automation rule will not be executed.

Use Cases

In Flowlu, you can create an unlimited number of automation rules, for example:

• When you move an opportunity to the "Closed Won" stage, set the "Create new project" task.
• When moving an opportunity to the "Closed Lost" stage, send an automatic notification to the head of the sales department: " The X opportunity to the amount of Y is lost".
• When moving to the "Consideration" stage, create an event with the "Call" type. Run: 3 days after Current time. Event name: "Call the X client".
• When moving an opportunity to the first stage, e.g. "New", create a task for the assignee: "Contact the Y customer".
• When moving to the last stage of the opportunity, create a notification that will notify the assignee 3 days before the end date of the opportunity.
• If the deadline is approaching, send the notification to the task owner and assignee at the "In Progress" status. 

Permissions 

Editing and creating automation is available only to the CRM module administrators. Viewing the automation is available to all users with the ‘Employee’ access to the module.

See also: Business Automation Tips to Streamline Sales Processes