Rule Wizard Walkthrough

The rule editor has two steps. Setup is where you configure everything and test the rule. Review is where you check the summary, choose whether the rule is active and save it. This page is for MSP staff who build automation rules.

Before you start

You need the Automation Rules write or manage permission to create or edit rules. Without it you see Access Restricted when you try to create a rule, and existing rules open in View Only Mode. Deleting a rule needs the manage permission.
To email client contacts, open tickets or add Planner items for tickets, the matching integration (PSA) or data must exist first.
To use Specific Companies scope, at least one company must exist.

Create a rule

Open Automation Rules

Go to Settings > Platform > Automation Rules and click Add Rule in the page header.

Fill in Basic Information

Enter the rule name, scope and optional description. See Basic Information.

Configure the trigger

Choose the Entity and the Trigger, then fill in the trigger settings. See Trigger Configuration.

Add conditions (optional)

Narrow the records the rule acts on. See Conditions.

Add at least one action

Click Add in the Actions section and choose an action. See Actions.

Test the rule

At the bottom of Setup, click Run Test in the Test Rule section to see which records match. See Test the rule.

Review and save

Click Next. Check the summary, decide whether to turn on Enable this rule, then click Create Rule. See Review and save.

You can also describe the rule in plain language. Click the floating AI Rule Designer button, describe what you want, review the suggested changes, accept the ones you want and apply them. Check every field before you save.

Basic Information

The Basic Information section is at the top left of the Setup step.

Field	Purpose
Rule Name (required)	A short name shown in the rules list. Example: “Warranty 30-Day Alert”
Priority	A number from 1 to 100. The default is 50
Scope	All Companies runs the rule for every company. Specific Companies limits it to the companies you pick
Companies	Shown when Scope is Specific Companies. Pick one or more companies. At least one is required
Description	Optional text that explains the rule. It shows under the rule name in the list

Use Specific Companies for client-specific workflows, such as a VIP client’s custom SLA. Use All Companies for anything that applies to your whole client base.

Trigger Configuration

The Trigger Configuration section is below Basic Information. Pick an Entity (what the rule watches) and a Trigger (when it checks).

Entities

Entity	What it covers
Device	Hardware devices, workstations, servers and equipment
Company	Client companies and organizations
Compliance	Compliance controls, audits and certifications
Planner	Tasks and projects in the Planner
User	User accounts and team members
Goal	Business goals and objectives
Training	Training courses and assignments
Ticket	Support tickets from your PSA integration
Meeting	Calendar meetings, QBRs and client calls
Survey Response	Completed survey responses (CSAT, NPS and others)
Microsoft 365 Subscription	Microsoft 365 subscriptions and their renewal dates
DNSimple Domain	DNSimple domains and their registration and expiration dates
CIPP finding	Microsoft 365 findings and SharePoint capacity synced from CIPP
Onboarding	Onboarding portal events, tasks, forms, email steps and reports

The entity decides which fields you can use in conditions and as the date field in a Date Threshold trigger.

Triggers

The Trigger list depends on the entity.

Survey Response only offers Survey Response Received.
Onboarding only offers Onboarding Event.
CIPP finding only offers Scheduled.
All other entities offer Date Threshold and Scheduled.

Date Threshold
Scheduled
Survey Response Received
Onboarding Event

Acts on records whose date field is near, or past, a date.

Field	What it does
Date Field (required)	The date the rule measures. Only date fields for the entity appear, for example Warranty End Date, Due Date, Completion Date or Last Login. Custom date fields appear too
Days (required)	A number from 0 to 3650
Direction	Upcoming acts before the date. Expired acts after the date has passed
Mode	Within N days (N+ days ago when Direction is Expired) matches every record inside the window. Exactly N days matches only records that are exactly N days from the date

The Preview box shows the rule in plain language, for example “Triggers within 30 days before Warranty End Date”.A record is acted on once for each value of its date field. If the date changes, for example after a warranty renewal, the rule can act on the record again.

Checks on a repeating schedule, whatever the dates on the records are.

Field	What it does
Frequency	Every Hour, Every 6 Hours, Every 12 Hours, Daily or Weekly
Time	Time of day to run. Shown for Daily and Weekly
Day of the week	Shown for Weekly. The default is Monday
Timezone	Timezone for Time. Shown for Daily and Weekly. The default is UTC
Deduplication	Once per entity skips records the rule already handled on an earlier run. Every run acts on every match on every run, which can send repeats

A line under the fields describes the schedule, for example “Daily at 08:00 (UTC)”.Use Scheduled to check a state repeatedly, such as “tickets sitting in Resolved”. Add Conditions to narrow which records the rule acts on.

To act on a group of matches at once instead of one at a time, see Bundling automation matches.

Conditions (optional)

The Conditions section is at the top right of Setup. Conditions narrow the records the trigger selects. A rule with no conditions acts on every record the trigger selects, within the rule’s scope.

Add a condition group

Click Add in the Conditions header. A Group 1 box appears.

Add a condition to the group

Click + Add condition (or the + icon in the group header).

Pick the field, operator and value

Choose a Field, then an Operator, then enter or pick a Value.

Choose AND or OR inside the group

When a group has two or more conditions, an AND or OR badge appears. Click it to switch. AND needs every condition to match. OR needs any one.

Add more groups if needed

Click Add again. Groups are separated by OR, so a record matches if it matches any one group. Use the trash icon on a group to remove it.

Fields

The Field list shows every condition field for the entity. It also shows your custom fields, marked (Custom), and for tickets any PSA user-defined fields, marked with the provider name, such as [Autotask UDF]. Where an entity links to a company, company custom fields appear as Company > field name (Custom). Define custom fields in Settings > Customization > Fields.

Operators by field type

Field type	Operators
Text	equals, does not equal, contains, does not contain, starts with, ends with, is empty, is not empty
Number	equals, does not equal, is greater than, is less than, is greater than or equal to, is less than or equal to, is empty, is not empty
Date and date-time	The number operators, plus is within (days) and is older than (days)
Yes/no	is true, is false
Dropdown	equals, does not equal, is one of, is not one of, is empty, is not empty
Company and user IDs	equals, does not equal, is empty, is not empty

Values

Text, number and date fields show a Value box. For is within (days) and is older than (days), type a number of days.
Yes/no operators and is empty / is not empty have no value.
Dropdown fields show a list filled from your own data, such as ticket statuses, priorities and device types.
is one of and is not one of let you pick several values.

PSA options such as ticket statuses come from your last sync. If a value is missing, finish the PSA sync, then reopen the list.

Actions (required)

Every rule needs at least one action. Click Add in the Actions section and choose an action type. Each action opens a form in an accordion. Click Remove at the bottom of an action to delete it. Actions run from top to bottom. To reorder them, remove an action and add it again. Which actions appear depends on the entity. Update Field and Set Relative Date only appear for entities that have fields they may change.

Action types

Add to Planner

Creates a Planner item for the company.

Field	Purpose
Task Title (required)	Title of the Planner item. Supports template variables
Description	Body of the Planner item. Supports template variables. Use `{{entity_list}}` for bundled rules
Planner Type	Use planner default, or one of your Planner item types
Business Value	Low, Medium or High. The default is Medium
Due Offset (days)	Days added to the date the item is based on. A negative number moves it earlier
Only create future-dated items	Skips the item when its due date is today or earlier
Use current period for past dates	When the due date has passed, puts a bundled item in the current period instead. Turning this on turns off Only create future-dated items

The item starts in Not Started. An Update Field action in the same rule changes the matched record, not the Planner item.

Set Relative Date

Sets one date on the matched record from another date.

Field	Purpose
Source date	A date to start from. Choose Today, Now or Trigger date under Special, or one of the entity’s date fields
Target date field	The date field to write. Only writable date fields appear
Offset (negative = before)	A whole number. Negative moves the date earlier
Offset unit	Days, Weeks, Months or Years

This changes the record when the rule runs. Use Run Test first.

Update Field

Writes a value to a field on the matched record.

Field	Purpose
Field	Pick from the fields rules may change for this entity
Value	The new value, typed as text

The fields you can change are:

Entity	Fields
Device	Warranty start date, warranty end date
Company	Industry
Planner	Title, description, status, business value, hours, due date
User	Display name, title, department, timezone
Goal	Title, description
Training	Status, completed at
Meeting	Status, notes

Other entities, including Ticket and Compliance, do not offer Update Field.

Send Email

Sends an email.

Field	Purpose
Send To (required)	Who receives it. See the table below
Subject (required)	Subject line. Supports template variables
Body (required)	Rich-text body. Supports template variables
Require Approval	Holds the email until someone approves it

Send To options:

Option	Who receives the email
Specific Users	Team members you pick
Role Members	Team members with the roles you pick who belong to the affected company
Client Contacts (PSA)	Contacts from the affected company’s PSA record. Check Primary Contact, Technical Contact or Billing Contact
Assigned user	The Planner assignee, the training enrollee or the matched user. Shown for Planner, Training and User rules
Meeting Attendees	Everyone on the meeting. Shown for Meeting rules
Ticket Contact, Ticket Assignee, Email from Ticket UDF	The ticket’s contact, its assigned user, or an email address stored in a ticket user-defined field. Shown for Ticket rules
Custom Email	Any email address. Separate several with commas

When Send To is Role Members, a Fallback recipient list appears. Choose MSPortal team member and pick a person, or choose Email address and type one address. The fallback receives the email only when no active member of the chosen roles has a valid email for the company, or the record has no company. The team member list shows active staff who have an email address.Require Approval holds the email until an approver acts on it. Approvers handle it in the Pending Approvals tab on the Notifications page. Meeting emails always require approval, and the switch is replaced by an Approval Required notice.

In-App Alert

Shows a notification in MSPortal.

Field	Purpose
Alert Type (required)	Info, Warning, Error or Success
Send To	The same choices as Send Email, except Custom Email
Title (required)	Short title in the notification list
Message	Optional longer text

Open Ticket

Creates a ticket in your connected PSA.

Field	Purpose
Ticket Summary (required)	Summary line. Supports template variables
Description (required)	Ticket body. Supports template variables
Include entity details in description	On by default. Adds the matched record’s field values to the description
Use tenant default PSA settings	On by default. The ticket uses the PSA defaults from your integration settings
Due Date (days after triggered)	Optional. Leave it empty for no due date

Turn off Use tenant default PSA settings to choose the ticket details yourself. The lists fill from your PSA.

PSA	Fields
All	The board list (Service Board in ConnectWise, Queue in Autotask, Team in Halo), Priority, Status, Ticket Type
Halo	Category, Impact, Urgency
Autotask	Issue Type, Sub-Issue Type (limited to children of the chosen issue type)
ConnectWise	Issue Type, Sub-Issue Type (searchable, limited to the chosen board)

If no PSA is connected, the form tells you to set one up in Settings > Integrations.

Send Survey

Sends a survey invitation.

Field	Purpose
Send To	The same choices as Send Email
Survey (required)	Pick from your active surveys. Create a survey first if the list is empty
Invite note (optional)	A short message added to the invitation. Supports entity variables such as `{{entity.title}}`. Up to 2000 characters

For Ticket rules, the invitation names the ticket. The default survey email adds a line such as “This survey is about ticket T20260918.0022: Printer offline” under the greeting. Custom survey email templates can use {{ticket_reference}}, {{ticket_number}} and {{ticket_title}}. They are listed under Available Variables when you edit a template in Surveys > Settings > Email Templates. Surveys sent without a ticket leave them blank.

AI Transform

Uses AI to write content, such as a meeting agenda, that later actions can use.

Field	Purpose
AI Template (required)	Pick a template. For Meeting rules the list shows meeting templates

The template supplies the prompt. The result is stored in {{ai_output}}. Put AI Transform above any action that uses {{ai_output}}.

Add team members and Remove team members

Changes who is on the team of the company the matched record belongs to. Records without a company are skipped.

Field	Purpose
Select a team role	The team role to change
Select staff members	The staff to add or remove
Remove everyone in this team role	Remove only. Removes every member of the role instead of the staff you picked

The action changes only that company’s team. It never makes anyone a Global member. Removing someone who is a Global member creates an exception for that company, so later syncs do not add them back. See Global team roles. These actions have no approval hold.

Template variables

Click Template Variables above the actions to open the list of variables. Click a variable to insert it at the cursor in the last text box you used. The list has these groups.

Entity fields (named after the entity). Every field of the entity, written as {{entity.field_key}}. Examples are {{entity.warranty_end}} for a device and {{entity.summary}} for a ticket.
Meeting Variables. Shown for Meeting rules. Examples are {{meeting.title}} and {{meeting.attendees}}.
AI Output. {{ai_output}} holds the result of an earlier AI Transform action.
Bundle Variables. {{entity_count}}, {{entity_list}} and {{group_period}} for bundled rules.
Common Variables. {{entity.company_name}} and {{rule.name}}.

Not every entity has {{entity.name}}. Use the list to see the exact variables for your entity.

Test the rule

The Test Rule section sits at the bottom of Setup.

Click Run Test

The test shows how many records match and a table of the matches (Name and Company), up to a sample size.

Check the results

Confirm the rule matches the records you expect and no others. Change the trigger, conditions or scope and test again.

Run Test does not run actions. It only checks which records match, so you can run it as often as you need.

Review and save

Click Next

The Review step shows the rule name, priority, scope, trigger, conditions and actions. Fix anything wrong before you continue. You can click Setup in the step bar at any time to go back.

Choose whether the rule is active

The Enable this rule switch is off by default. An active rule runs on its trigger as soon as you save it. Save it inactive first if you want to check it again before it runs.

Save the rule

Click Create Rule (or Save Changes on an existing rule). The rule appears in the list.

Manage a rule from the list

On Settings > Platform > Automation Rules, each row has an Enabled switch and a row menu (…).

Action	What it does
Enabled switch	Turns the rule on or off
Run Now	Starts the rule once, right away. Available only for enabled rules. Check the result in Execution Log
Edit	Opens the rule editor
Duplicate	Creates a copy
Delete	Deletes the rule and stops its scheduled runs. Needs the manage permission

Click Execution Log in the page header to see each run, its status, how many records matched and how many actions succeeded or failed.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to do
Create Rule shows an error list	Fix each item listed. Common causes are a missing Rule Name, no Date Field, no action, or Specific Companies with no companies picked
An action type is missing	The entity does not support it. Update Field and Set Relative Date only appear for entities with fields rules may change
The Trigger list is short	Survey Response, Onboarding and CIPP finding each support one trigger
A dropdown value is missing in a condition	Finish the related sync (for example your PSA), then reopen the dropdown
Run Test shows fewer rows than the match count	The table shows a sample. The line above it says how many rows it shows out of the total
Run Now is disabled	Turn the rule on first. You also need the write permission
An email did not go out	Check Execution Log for the run. If Require Approval is on, approve it in the Pending Approvals tab on the Notifications page

Frequently asked questions

Will Run Test send my email or open a ticket?

No. It only checks which records match. It does not run actions.

Does Update Field change the Planner item created above it?

No. It changes the matched record. Edit the Planner item itself, or use the Add to Planner fields.

What happens when I save an active rule?

It runs automatically from then on. Check the scope, recipients, action order and approval settings first, or save it inactive.

How do I stop a Scheduled rule from repeating work?

Leave Deduplication on Once per entity. The rule then acts on each record once. Choose Every run only when you want repeats.

How many records does one run handle?

A run acts on up to 100 matching records. A rule with Combine matching records turned on handles up to 5,000.

Can I run a rule more than once for the same record?

A Date Threshold rule acts again when the record’s date changes. A Scheduled rule acts again when Deduplication is Every run. Otherwise a record is handled once.

Getting Started

Service Delivery

Overview & Planning

MSP Tools

Administration

Connect your tools

Before you start

Create a rule

Basic Information

Trigger Configuration

Entities

Triggers

Conditions (optional)

Fields

Operators by field type

Values

Actions (required)

Action types

Template variables

Test the rule

Review and save

Manage a rule from the list

Troubleshooting

Frequently asked questions

​Before you start

​Create a rule

​Basic Information

​Trigger Configuration

​Entities

​Triggers

​Conditions (optional)

​Fields

​Operators by field type

​Values

​Actions (required)

​Action types

​Template variables

​Test the rule

​Review and save

​Manage a rule from the list

​Troubleshooting

​Frequently asked questions

​Related guides

Before you start

Create a rule

Basic Information

Trigger Configuration

Entities

Triggers

Conditions (optional)

Fields

Operators by field type

Values

Actions (required)

Action types

Template variables

Test the rule

Review and save

Manage a rule from the list

Troubleshooting

Frequently asked questions

Related guides