Triggers and actions – changes from 23.4 to 23.5

To make Scoro’s Triggers and actions more dynamic and allow more complex rules, we are updating the user interface and the rule setup logic with version 23.5. As a result, you can start building much more targeted rules as you will have greater control over fields that should be monitored for any specific changes.

What changes?

The new and advanced Triggers and actions 2.0 will include:

1. New user interface, which improves the overall usability of the feature
2. Advanced triggering logic, which gives you more control over conditions to create more complex automations
3. Dynamic notifications, which let you assign dynamic roles (owner, responsible user, assignee, etc.) as notification recipients

User interface in 23.4:

User interface in 23.5:

All your current rules will continue to work as we are migrating them over. However, since we’re also changing the rule setup logic, you may need to adjust some rules to ensure they continue to work exactly the way you’ve intended. Below you can find more detailed descriptions about what changes and how it might affect your current rules.

Filters

How filters worked until 23.4

Previously you could only define preconditions for your rules, meaning that you could only define the items that had to be monitored for changes. For example: “Any task assigned to me”. Whenever that item was then modified in a particular way, the rule was triggered. You could not define which field values or which conditions the item had to match after the modification.

Example rule: “When the deadline of any task assigned to me is changed, notify me in Scoro”. Below you can see how that rule was set up in 23.4. The system monitored all tasks assigned to you for changes. As soon as the deadline of any of those tasks was changed, you were notified.

How filters work from 23.5

Now you have much more control over filters (i.e. conditions) to narrow down criteria and get notified of only very specific changes. However, to allow greater flexibility, filters now act as postconditions – meaning you now primarily define the conditions that the item has to meet after the change in order to trigger the rule. 

Let’s return to our example rule: “When the deadline of any task assigned to me is changed, notify me in Scoro”. Below you can see how that same rule looks like when the site is updated to version 23.5. With the new logic, the system will monitor any task for deadline changes. When it detects a deadline change, it will check if you are the assignee of that task. If that’s true, you get notified.

As you can see, the “assigned to me” part is now automatically converted into a postcondition – so the rule will run only if you are still the assignee after the task deadline is modified. In other words, if a task is assigned to someone else in the course of the modification, you will no longer get a notification with this old rule. If you still wish to receive notifications whenever anyone assigns your task to someone else, you can simply create a new additional rule for this. That rule would look like this (me = Sophie Smith):

You can find more info on the new rule setup logic here.

As that last example already illustrates, you can now also go more granular with your rules and define what the item value was before and what it should be after in order to trigger the rule. For example: “Task status was changed from ‘planned’ to ‘in progress’”. This gives you almost limitless new possibilities.

Bookmarks

How bookmarks worked until 23.4

Bookmark items themselves were monitored for changes and a change in a bookmark item acted as the trigger event. Whenever an item within the bookmark was modified, the rule was triggered. When some item was added to that bookmark, the rule didn’t trigger.

Example rule: “When a confirmed quote is modified, notify me in Scoro”. Below you can see how that rule was set up in 23.4 using bookmarks. The system monitored the items under the ‘Confirmed quotes’ bookmark and when any of those items was modified, you were notified.

How bookmarks work from 23.5

Bookmark items are now monitored for changes only after the trigger event itself has already taken place. This means bookmarks act as postconditions now. When an item moves under the bookmark as a result of the change (i.e. the trigger event), the rule is triggered. When an item is removed from the bookmark as a result of the change, the rule is not triggered.

Let’s return to our example rule: “When a confirmed quote is modified, notify me in Scoro”. Below you can see how that same rule looks like when the site is updated to version 23.5. With the new logic, the system will monitor all quotes for modifications. Whenever a quote is modified, the system will then check if this quote is also under the ‘Confirmed quotes’ bookmark. If this is true, then you get notified. Additionally, this means:

• If a quote that’s under ‘Confirmed quotes’ is modified in a way that removes it from the bookmark, then you will not get notified as the postcondition is not met. 
• If a quote is modified in a way that moves it under the ‘Confirmed quotes’ bookmark, you get notified as the postcondition is met.

We recommend you review the rules with bookmarks once your site is updated to 23.5 to ensure your main use case remains covered after the migration and the logic change. If you feel like some use case is not covered anymore, you can simply set up additional rules to cover all your needs. You can find more info on the rule setup logic here.

If you need any further help understanding how the changes might affect your rules, contact our Support team.

We will also be holding a live webinar on May 25th to introduce the possibilities that new ‘Triggers and actions’ unlock, so if you’re interested in learning more about it, sign up today!