Overview
The Workflow Builder is a powerful tool designed to automate and streamline various processes within your system. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of the functions within the Workflow Builder.
1. Triggers
Triggers are events that initiate automated actions within a system when certain conditions are met. Currently, only "Absence" is available as a record type for these triggers, with the potential for Overtime, Carry-over, and Entitlement requests to be added in the future. There are currently 7 different triggers available.
A record is booked - triggers a number of calendar days after a record is submitted.
- You can use this to send pending absence authorisation reminders a number of days after they are booked. The user who receives the email needs to be a primary authoriser or alternative authoriser for the absence type for them to be able to action it.
A record starts/ends - triggers on the first or last day of a record, or a number of days before or after this.
- You can use this to either remind authorisers to schedule a handover, or to remind of Keeping in Touch days for Maternity leave.
A record status changes - triggers when a pending record is authorised or declined. This event triggers within a few minutes of a status change.
- You can use this to send an email when an absence becomes a fact (is authorised).
A timesheet is submitted - triggers when a timesheet within the Time Tracking module is submitted
- You can use this to send an email to a manager or HR once a new timesheet has been submitted.
After a record is booked - triggers a number of calendar days after a record is submitted.
- You can use this to send pending absence authorisation reminders a number of days after they are booked. The user who receives the email needs to be a primary authoriser or alternative authoriser for the absence type for them to be able to action it.
Date-based trigger - triggers on a specified date or recurrence schedule, e.g. every Monday or every 1st of the month.
- You can use this to send birthday or anniversary emails, entitlement reminders, unsubmitted timesheet reminders, or clocking-in reminders.
User status changes - triggers when a user is created, marked as a leaver or deleted.
- You can use this to perform actions for new users who have been created by integrations, such as setting their template, or you can also send an alert when a user becomes a leaver.
2. Conditions
Conditions are criteria that filter records and users to determine whether certain actions or workflows should be triggered. They help refine and target automation within the system. There are currently 11 different conditions available.
Record date is - filters records by the date of the record, by a fixed date or notice period.
- You can use this to automatically authorise records when they meet a certain notice period, or to automatically reject records when they fall within a certain time frame.
Record duration is - filters records by length of time booked. This divides into "Calendar days" which looks at the number of days which take place in the record (e.g Monday full day - AM on Wednesday is counted as 3 days), and "Working days" which looks at the duration of the record (e.g Monday full day - AM on Wednesday is counted as 2.5 days)
- You can use this to automatically authorise records of a certain length.
Record is open - filters absences by whether or not they are open.
- You can use this for alerting on open absences. For example, after 3 days of the start of the open absence, it would send a reminder email.
Record reason is - filters absences by the defined reason associated with them.
- You can use this to send alerts or automatically authorise based on certain defined reasons.
Record status is - filters absences by their authorisation status.
- You can use this to send pending absence alerts to remind of the absence still requiring action.
Staffing level is - filters users by the staffing level of absent users within a group or template, over the dates of all days which comprise the records.
- You can use this to automatically authorise or alert based on staffing levels being breached or are close to being breached
Timesheet property is - proceeds based on a timesheet property, such as its submission status or duration
- You can use this to build various alerts, for example to remind users to submit their timesheet at the end of the week if it's still unsubmitted, or automatically approve a timesheet if the hours are within a specific range.
Total record durations - proceeds if the total length of durations across a period is above or below a level.
- You can use this to send alerts when more than x days of a certain absence type or reason are recorded, in the last 3 or 12 months.
Total record occurrences - proceeds if the total number of occurrences across a period is above or below a level.
- You can use this to send alerts when more than x occurrences of a certain absence type or reason are recorded in the last 3 or 12 months.
User is a member of - filters users by a certain group or template, or by the individual list.
- You can use this in almost any workflow. This is useful for ensuring workflows only trigger for certain templates or groups.
User's entitlement is - proceeds if the user's entitlement is above or below a level. This looks at the remaining value in the entitlement pot across all elements. Ongoing and Rolling Twelve Months pots are not presented as options in this condition.
- You can use this to send remaining entitlement alerts or to alert if entitlement on an open absence has been used up.
3. Actions
Actions automated tasks that occur when specific triggers and conditions are met within the system. They facilitate the workflow by executing predefined responses to various events. There are currently 3 different actions available.
Change record status - changes the status of the record, e.g. automatically authorise or decline it.
- You can use it to automatically authorise or decline records under certain circumstances.
Change user property - changes a property associated with the user - currently just their template.
- You can use this to automate assignments to templates provided that specific group criteria have been filled when a user is created via an integration.
Send an email - sends a customisable email to the user, their authoriser, or to a custom email address.
- You can use this in almost any workflow to help automate alerts from the edays system.
Related guides
Overview | Building a new workflow | Creating a new folder and moving existing workflows to folders