Automation

Automation takes over the routine: it writes to the client, creates tasks, and opens deals on its own whenever something you described in advance happens in the database. Employees get more time for the work that nobody else can do for them.

Automation works in every service of the database: clients, tasks, deals, documents, finance, projects. Scenarios are created separately for each section, but you can view them across the entire database at once.

Automation has three screens, and the icons for switching between them are in the blue bar on the left: the All actions scenario map, the funnel of stages, and the log of what was executed.

What you can doWhat you can do

• Choose the kind of automation: Reaction or Initiative
• Run the Insider agent on a schedule
• Process every company the agent added with a reaction
• Continue the work of the Insider agent
• Set a trigger
• Set up an email, SMS, task, or deal
• Understand who receives the email
• Choose the responsible person and the execution time
• View the map of all actions
• Build a funnel of stages for each deal type
• Check what was executed
• Turn automation on or off

What automation can doWhat automation can do

Action	What happens
Send email	An email to the client based on a previously created template, immediately or after a few days
Send SMS	A message of up to 110 characters via the connected provider
Create a new task	A task of the selected type and status assigned to the selected employee
Create a new deal	A deal with the specified name, type, status, and responsible person
Change company type	The client is assigned a different type from the directory
Change company status	The client is assigned a different status from the directory

In preparation, and still grayed out in the selection window: messages in WhatsApp and Telegram, "Send an assignment...".

Two kinds of automation: Reaction and InitiativeTwo kinds of automation: Reaction and Initiative

Every scenario is one of two kinds. The kind is chosen at the first step of the wizard and is shown in the Type column of the All actions list.

	Reaction	Initiative
What starts it	An event in the database: a record was added or changed	The system itself, on a schedule
Trigger	Section, event, record type and status	None: no event in a card is needed
What it executes	A chain of actions: email, SMS, task, deal, change of type or status	An assignment for an AI agent, a ready-made agent work scenario, followed by a chain of actions for the records the agent added
Wizard steps	Kind → Condition → Summary	Kind → Scenario → Parameters → Schedule → Assignment
Hint in the list	"Reacting to changes or additions"	"Started by the system, usually a prompt to an AI agent"

ReactionReaction

Waits for an event in the database, a record with the right type and status being added or changed, and responds to it with a chain of actions: email, SMS, task, deal, change of type or status. The wizard, the trigger, and the canvas are described on the Reaction page.

InitiativeInitiative

Starts on its own on a schedule and sends an assignment to an AI agent, for example, asks the Insider agent to find and add potential clients. The companies the agent added are then processed by reactions with the same type and status. The wizard, the schedule, the agent work scenario, and the link to reactions are described on the Initiative page.

Working together with the Insider agentWorking together with the Insider agent

The AI agent Insider finds companies that match your ideal client profile and adds them to the CRM on its own, on a schedule, through an Initiative. Reactions pick up the work from there, see How a Reaction continues the work of an Initiative: the agent takes the part that requires thinking (searching, checking, choosing), while your scenarios handle the emails, tasks, and status changes.

To make scenarios fire only for companies that come from the agent, those companies are assigned a separate client type, for example Found by Insider. Two scenarios are usually enough:

Scenario	Trigger	Action
First email	Clients, Add, type Found by Insider, the same one as in the initiative's New company type parameter	Send email based on the outreach template
Client reply	The client replied to the email or clicked a reaction button	Change the type and status, for example to Client in progress, and create a task for the manager

Don't use the Found by Insider type anywhere else, otherwise the outreach emails will also go to your existing clients. The whole scenario, step by step, is described in Outreach together with the Insider agent.

TriggersTriggers

A scenario consists of two parts: when to start and what to execute. First, the condition is set.

1. Select the database section in which automation will watch for changes: clients, tasks, deals, documents, finance.

2. Specify what triggers the scenario:

   Condition	When it fires
   Add	Only when a new record appears
   Change	Only when an existing record is changed
   Any	In both cases

3. Set the record type and status, the combination that starts the scenario. For example, in finance this is type "Income" and status "Paid": the scenario fires when the client's payment has arrived. The status is required; the type can be left out, in which case the condition fires for any type.

The saved condition opens on the canvas: the Trigger block with the section, type, and status, the Will execute connector, and the action block below it. The analyzer immediately shows what is already defined for this type and status pair, so you don't create a duplicate scenario.

Canvas element	What it does
Label in the header of the trigger block	Reminds you what the scenario reacts to: add, change, or any
Details	Opens the trigger: section, type, status, event
The Will execute connector	Leads from the trigger to the action; you can attach several actions to one branch
Set up	Opens the action settings panel on the right
Trash icon in the header of the action block	Removes the action from the branch
The ← arrow above the canvas	Returns you to the All actions list

No action is a placeholder: the branch has been created, but what exactly to execute has not been chosen yet. Open it and select an action, and the placeholder turns into, for example, sending an email.

Related actions is a label on a block: this action will pull in others, defined in neighboring branches or in other sections. For example, automation creates a deal of a certain type, and that type already has its own scenarios in the deals section. The label lets you see them without leaving the branch, so you don't have to remember what you have already set up.

What was actually executed is shown in the log: date, time, client, address or phone number, and the action itself.

Setting up actionsSetting up actions

An empty branch opens the Execute action window, with tiles showing what automation can do. Select a tile, and a panel with the settings for that action opens. Grayed-out tiles can't be selected yet.

Send emailSend email

The Set up button in the action block opens a panel on the right; you can see it in the canvas screenshot.

• Email subject: what the client sees in their inbox list.
• Email template: a ready-made template created in advance. The icons on the right open the list of templates and a preview of the selected one.
• The line with an address: the mailbox the email is sent from; the refresh icon reloads the list of connected accounts.
• Send after days: the toggle turns on the delay, and you enter the number of days in the field. When it is off, the email goes out immediately.

The settings are written to the scenario with the Save button at the bottom of the panel.

Connecting an email account

Who receives the emailWho receives the email

The system picks the recipient itself, following the "from specific to general" rule. Let's look at a task alert as an example: automation tracks the task's finish date (by default it matches the start date) and, when the trigger fires, looks for whom to write to.

What the records contain	Who receives the email
A contact is selected in the task card	That contact
There is no contact in the task	The primary contact from the client card
No contact in the task and no primary contact in the card	All the client's contacts who have an email filled in

How the contact's birthday alert works is described in the Contacts section.

Send SMSSend SMS

• Provider: the provider through which the message is sent; it is connected in advance.
• Message text: no more than 110 characters.
• Delay: the SMS goes out immediately or after the specified number of days.

Target SMS provider

Create a new taskCreate a new task

• Task type: from the directory of types.
• Status: the status the task is created with.
• Task subject: this is a good place to write a note for whoever sees this task.
• Responsible: the employee who will handle the automatic tasks; this person can also be taken from the client card, see Who becomes responsible.
• Delay: the task is created immediately or after the specified number of days.

Tasks

Create a new dealCreate a new deal

• Name: the name the automatic deals are created with.
• Deal type and status: from the directories.
• Comment: a note on the deal.
• Responsible: who manages the automatic deal; this person can also be taken from the client card.

Deals

Change company type and statusChange company type and status

These are two separate actions. In each one, you select from the directory the value that automation will replace the current one with: the company type or its status.

Clients

Responsible person and execution dateResponsible person and execution date

Two more settings are available throughout the event branch and work in automatic tasks and deals. Each has two options; choose the one that fits the scenario.

Who becomes responsibleWho becomes responsible

Option	Who gets the record
Select an employee	The same employee in all records created by this scenario
Take from the client card	The person who manages the client: each record has its own responsible person

The first option is convenient when one person handles automatic tasks, for example the manager on duty. The second is for when clients are assigned to different employees and the task should stay with the person managing the client.

When to executeWhen to execute

Option	When the action fires
The Execute on task date toggle is off	Immediately, as soon as the record enters the database
The toggle is on	On the task date, its second date, the finish date

For example, a task is scheduled for next week. With the toggle off, the email goes out today; with it on, on the day the task is scheduled for.

The toggle appears only where the action is linked to a task: if the scenario is attached to a task, the system itself will offer to execute the action on its date.

All actionsAll actions

All actions is the map of all scenarios in your WorkZeal subscription: a single table that shows both the trigger and what follows it.

On the left is the Sections tree: the number next to each item shows how many scenarios are set up in clients, tasks, deals, documents, finance, and projects. Select a section, and the table keeps only its scenarios; "All sections" brings back the full list. The Add button on the right creates a new scenario, and the icon next to it reloads the list.

Table rowTable row

Column	What it shows
Name	The scenario name; if none was given, there is a dash
Type	The kind of scenario: a Reaction to an event in the database or an Initiative on a schedule, see Two kinds of automation
Section	The module the scenario watches
If type	The record type in the trigger
If status	The record status in the trigger
Action	What will be executed: email, SMS, task, deal, change of type or status
Active	The toggle turns this one scenario on and off

Clicking a row opens the scenario on the canvas. The trash icon at the end of the row deletes the entire scenario.

FiltersFilters

Filter	What it selects
Active / All	Only running scenarios, or together with the ones turned off
Green chip with the section name	The section selected in the tree on the left
Which actions	By the action itself: SMS, email, task, deal, change of client type or status
For types	By the record types of the section you are in
For statuses	By the record statuses of the same section

You can create a scenario in advance and leave it off until the right moment: the All switch also shows these rows that have not been activated yet.

What appears in For types and For statuses depends on the selected section:

Section	Types	Statuses
Clients	Archive, client, competitor...	Active, regular...
Tasks	Call, meeting, site visit...	Planned, in progress, completed
Deals	Sale, service...	Sales funnel stages
Documents	Quote, invoice, contract, act, delivery note...	In progress, approved, signed...
Finance	Income, expense, transfer	Paid, partially paid...

Funnel of stagesFunnel of stages

The second view of automation is the funnel: record types and transitions from status to status, with actions attached to them. You can choose any module: clients, deals, tasks, finance, documents. If your company has several deal types and each has its own sequence of stages, a separate funnel is built for each type.

What to think through before setting up:

• the scenario of automatic actions for each line of business;
• what exactly happens at which stage: an SMS to the client, an email based on a specific template, showing ads on social networks, and so on;
• how often the actions repeat, once or as a sequence, and after how many days.

Automatic action logAutomatic action log

The Log on the All events tab shows what automation actually executed. Each row has its own status: Done means everything is fine, Error means something went wrong.

The period is selected at the top: a preset interval in the list on the left (day, week, month) or your own dates in the fields next to it. The button with arrows on the right reloads the log.

Column	What it shows
Action	What was executed: email, SMS, task, deal, change of type or status
Scenario	The name of the scenario that fired
Status	Done or Error
System section	The module in which the trigger fired
Date	The date and time of execution
Client	The client whose record made the scenario fire
Phone, Email	Where the message was sent; for failed rows, the error text appears here

Columns are sorted with the arrows in the header, and the icon next to them filters by the values you need. The Which actions filter leaves a single kind of action in the log.

ErrorError

The specified string is not in the form required for an e-mail address.

This message means that the email address of the contact who was supposed to receive the automatic email is incorrect:

• there is a space before or after the address;
• there is a typo in it;
• or there is no address at all.

On/off toggleOn/off toggle

The green toggle at the bottom of the blue menu bar, above the gear icon, shows whether automation is running or idle.

• Turned off: all automatic actions stop; the scenarios stay in place but don't fire.
• Turned on: automation starts, and actions resume in about a minute.

The toggle applies to automation as a whole, not to a single scenario: an individual scenario is turned off with its own toggle in the Active column, see All actions.