Working with others
Rules that act on their own
"When this happens, do that": automating without any coding.
A lot of repetitive work has the shape "when X happens, do Y": when the case completes, tell production; when insurance expires, open a task; when a document is missing, remind someone. That can be written down once.
The shape of a rule
| When this happens… | …do this |
|---|---|
| A case completes | Notify whoever has to act |
| Something mandatory expires | Create a task with an owner |
| A document is rejected | Notify whoever requested it |
| A missing document is detected | Open the reminder to the third party |
| It has been stuck X days | Create a task to phone them |
Important
A rule turns an intention into something that happens. That is also its risk: a badly set rule does its thing hundreds of times with nobody stopping it. Start with one, watch it for two weeks, then add the next.
What is worth automating
What is not
Anything with an "it depends". Approving, rejecting, blocking a supplier or accepting a document are decisions, and a rule does not answer for them if it goes wrong.
Watch out
Every action a rule triggers consumes, exactly as if a person did it. A rule firing a thousand times spends a thousand: check the breakdown in the first month.
Worth knowing
The rule that gives back most is nearly always the dullest: open a task when something has been stuck too long. It is what nobody does by hand and what prevents the most dead cases.
›Can I stop them?
Yes, and it is worth knowing how before you need to.
›Is what a rule did recorded?
Yes, the same as a person's actions.
›How many should I have?
Few and understood. Twenty rules nobody remembers is a system nobody controls.
A real case
The situation
A company accumulates stalled cases because nobody reviews which have not moved in weeks.
What you do
- Sets one rule: at 21 days stalled, open a task for the owner
What you get
Dead cases stop piling up without anyone having to remember to review them.
The situation
A rule launches onboarding when a supplier is created and nobody reviews what it triggers.
What you do
- Checks which rules are active and what each does
- Tests the rule on a real case before letting it run
- Reviews at four weeks whether it still makes sense
What you get
The system does known things rather than surprising somebody on a Tuesday.
The situation
Two rules fire on the same thing and the supplier gets two notices.
What you do
- Checks for overlap before adding a new one
What you get
The recipient receives one message, not two.
The situation
A rule fires on a case nobody anticipated.
What you do
- Narrows the condition as much as possible
What you get
The rule acts where it should.
The situation
The rule is a year old and the process changed six months ago.
What you do
- Reviews rules when the circuit changes
What you get
The system keeps up with the process.
The situation
A rule is switched off and nobody knows what stopped happening.
What you do
- Notes what it did before switching it off
What you get
The gap is visible rather than discovered.
The situation
Nobody knows who created a rule or why.
What you do
- Records the reason when creating it
What you get
The rule can be reviewed on a basis.
The situation
A rule sends emails in the middle of the night.
What you do
- Configures the sending window
What you get
The notice arrives when somebody can act.
This article answers
- automate actions when something happens
- create automatic tasks
- automatic workflow rules
- get warned automatically when a document is missing