Rule Wizard Walkthrough

The rule wizard is a two-step flow: Setup (where you configure everything) and Review (where you preview matches and save). This page walks through every option in order.

Start a new rule

From Settings > Automation, click New Rule in the top-right. The wizard opens on the Setup step.

Configure Setup

Fill in Basic Information, choose a Trigger, optionally add Conditions, and add at least one Action. See the sections below for each.

Review and save

Click Next to reach the Review step, run a test against live data, then click Create Rule to 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 on the list. Example: “Warranty 30-Day Alert”
Priority	Number from 1 to 100. When multiple rules match the same record, higher priority runs first. Default: 50
Scope	All Companies runs the rule tenant-wide. Specific Companies limits it to a selected list
Companies	Only shown when Scope is “Specific Companies”. Multi-select of client companies
Description	Optional free text explaining what the rule does. Shown on the list view

Use Specific Companies scope for customer-specific workflows (a VIP client’s custom SLA, a regulated industry compliance rule). Use All Companies for anything that applies across your book of business.

Trigger Configuration

The Trigger section is directly below Basic Information. Pick the Entity you want the rule to watch, then pick a Trigger type.

Entity Types

Entity	What it represents
Device	Hardware devices, workstations, servers, equipment
Company	Client companies and organizations
Compliance Control	Compliance controls, audits, certifications
Planner Task	Tasks and projects in the Planner module
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, client calls

The entity you choose determines which fields are available in conditions and as date fields for a Date Threshold trigger.

Trigger Types

There are two trigger types. Pick based on when the rule should evaluate.

Date Threshold
Scheduled

Fires when a date field on the entity is within (or past) a specified number of days.Configuration fields:

Field	What it does
Date Field	The field the threshold is measured against. Only date-typed fields show here (e.g., Warranty End Date, Due Date, Completion Date, Last Login)
Days	A number from 1 to 3650. The size of the window
Direction	Before date (approaching) fires as the date approaches. After date (past) fires once the date has passed
Match	Within X days (or X or more days when direction is “after”) fires every qualifying day. Exactly X days fires only on the single matching day

A Preview panel shows a plain-English description of what you configured, for example: “When warranty_end is within 30 days”.Date Threshold rules evaluate hourly so they pick up matching records within an hour of crossing the threshold.

Fires on a fixed frequency regardless of any date field.Configuration fields:

Field	What it does
Frequency	Every Hour, Every 6 Hours, Every 12 Hours, Daily, or Weekly
Time	Time of day the rule runs. Most relevant for Daily and Weekly frequencies; ignored for hourly schedules
Dedup	Once per entity (recommended) skips any entity that has already matched this rule on a previous run. Every run (may send duplicates) fires for every match every time; use for heartbeat-style alerts

Use Scheduled when you want to check some condition repeatedly (for example, “any ticket sitting in Resolved for more than 4 hours”) rather than waiting on a specific date. Pair it with Conditions to narrow down which records the rule acts on each run.Weekly frequency runs at the configured time on a fixed day determined by the system. There is no day-of-week picker in the UI.

Conditions (Optional)

Conditions filter which records the rule acts on. The Conditions section sits at the top right of the Setup step. A rule with no conditions matches every record of the chosen entity type within the rule’s scope.

Condition Groups

Each condition group is a set of conditions joined by either AND or OR logic. Click the AND/OR badge on a group to flip it. Click Add to add another group. Multiple groups are always joined by AND.

Fields Available

The field dropdown lists every field defined on the entity type, plus every custom field your tenant has defined for that entity. Custom field types (text, number, date, datetime, boolean, select, multiselect, currency, priority, impact, urgency) map to the correct operator list automatically. Options for select and multiselect custom fields come from the definition you set up in Settings > Custom 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, greater than, less than, ≥, ≤, is empty, is not empty
Date / Datetime	equals, does not equal, greater than, less than, ≥, ≤, is within (days), is older than (days), is empty, is not empty
Boolean	is true, is false
Select / Dropdown	equals, does not equal, is one of, is not one of, is empty, is not empty
UUID (Company, User)	equals, does not equal, is empty, is not empty

Value Input

The value input adapts to the field type:

Text and number fields show a text box
Date fields show a date picker (or a days input for “within days” / “older than days”)
Boolean fields have no value (the operator supplies it)
Dropdown fields show a select populated with real values from your tenant (for example, ticket statuses, priorities, device types, custom field options)
Is one of / is not one of operators show a multi-select

Dynamic dropdowns pull their options from your live data. If you add a new ticket status in your PSA or a new priority in Settings, it shows up in the rule builder automatically.

Actions (Required)

Every rule needs at least one action. The Actions section is below Conditions. Click Add to open the action type menu.

Action Types

There are seven action types. Each one has its own configuration form that opens in an accordion when you add it.

Add to Planner

Creates a planner task when the rule fires.

Field	Purpose
Task Title	Task title. Supports template variables (see below)
Business Value	Low, Medium, or High
Due Offset (days)	Days from the rule firing. Positive for future, negative for past

The created task defaults to “Not Started” status. Description, status, and estimated hours are not exposed in the action form today; use an Update Field action later in the rule or edit the task manually if you need to set them.

Update Field

Writes a new value to a field on the matched entity.

Field	Purpose
Field	The field key to update (text input). Example: `status`, `notes`, `tier`, `custom_fields.survey_sent`
Value	The new value (text input). For booleans use `true` / `false`; for JSON or numbers type the literal value

Writable fields depend on the entity type and are validated against a server-side allowlist when the rule is saved. If you enter a field that is not allowed for the entity, the save will fail with a validation error. Most entities allow notes, custom_fields, and their primary business columns (status, priority, tier, description, etc.). Tickets additionally allow resolution; training allows status, notes, and completed_at; meetings allow status, notes, summary, and custom_fields.

Send Email

Sends a templated email to one or more recipients.Subject is a text input and Body is a rich-text editor. Both support template variables.Recipients are picked using the Recipient Selector (shown as the Send To dropdown):

Recipient Type	Who receives the email
Specific Users	Internal MSP team members chosen one at a time
Company Teams	Team members assigned to the affected company in selected roles (for example, Account Manager, vCIO)
Client Contacts (PSA)	Contacts synced from the affected company’s PSA record, filterable by Primary, Technical, or Billing contact type
Meeting Attendees	All participants of the triggering meeting (Meeting entity only)
Custom Email	Type in any external email address

Require Approval (toggle, shown below the email fields) holds the email for review before sending. Approvers are notified and can approve or reject from the Approvals page. Meeting emails always require approval; the toggle is replaced with an enforced “Approval Required” notice for Meeting-entity rules.

In-App Alert

Creates a notification badge inside MSPortal for the chosen recipients.

Field	Purpose
Alert Type	Info, Warning, Error, or Success. Controls the badge color
Title Template	Short title shown in the notification list
Message Template	Longer body. Optional
Recipients	Same picker as Send Email (specific users, company teams, etc.)

Recipients see the alert in their notification bell. Great for “heads up” workflows that don’t need an email.

Open Ticket

Creates a ticket in your connected PSA. The configuration form adapts to your PSA integration.Common fields (all PSAs):

Field	Purpose
Ticket Summary	Ticket summary. Supports template variables
Description	Ticket body. Supports template variables
Include entity details in description	Checkbox, on by default. Appends a block of entity field values to the description
Use tenant default PSA settings	Checkbox, on by default. When on, the ticket uses the PSA defaults configured in Settings → Integrations. When off, the PSA-specific dropdowns below become visible
Due Date (days after triggered)	Optional offset in days. Leave empty for no due date

When Use tenant default PSA settings is off, the common PSA dropdowns appear (Board / Queue, Priority, Status, Ticket Type) populated from your PSA. Below those, PSA-specific fields render:

Halo PSA
Autotask
ConnectWise

Category (from your Halo categories)
Impact (from your Halo impact list)
Urgency (from your Halo urgency list)

Halo and Autotask dropdowns populate from your PSA automatically. ConnectWise issue-type IDs must be typed in manually.

Send Survey

Sends a survey invitation to matched recipients. Uses the same Recipient Selector as Send Email.

Field	Purpose
Send To	Same recipient picker as Send Email (Specific Users, Company Teams, Client Contacts (PSA), Meeting Attendees for Meeting rules, Custom Email)
Survey	Dropdown of active surveys in your tenant. Inactive surveys are hidden because the action would fail to send. If the list is empty, create a survey under Surveys first
Invite note (optional)	Short message shown above the survey link in the invite email. Max 2000 characters

AI Transform

Uses AI to generate content (summaries, agendas, drafts) that can then be passed to a Send Email or Open Ticket action in the same rule.

Field	Purpose
AI Template	Pick from a library of pre-built AI templates (meeting agenda, ticket summary, warranty renewal email, etc.). For Meeting-entity rules, the list is filtered to meeting-related templates

There is no inline prompt editor in the action form: the prompt comes from the selected template. The output is always stored in {{ai_output}} — the variable name is fixed, not user-configurable. Reference {{ai_output}} in any downstream Send Email, In-App Alert, or Open Ticket action to include the AI-generated content.Place AI Transform earlier in the actions list than any action that consumes its output.

Template Variables

Any text input that accepts template variables can reference fields on the matched entity. Click the Template Variables helper above the Actions section to expand the list of available variables for the current entity. Click any variable to insert it at the cursor in the last-focused input. The helper groups variables into four sections:

Fields — every field defined on the selected entity (for example, Device has {{entity.warranty_end}}, Meeting has {{entity.title}}, Ticket has {{entity.summary}}). The exact chips shown are derived from the entity’s field list, so they match the condition field dropdown.
Meeting Variables — only shown for Meeting-entity rules. Includes meeting-specific fields like attendees and agenda items.
AI Output — {{ai_output}} is populated by an upstream AI Transform action in the same rule.
Common Variables — {{entity.id}}, {{entity.company_name}}, {{rule.name}} are available on every entity type.

Examples:

{{entity.company_name}}   → The company name of the matched entity
{{entity.warranty_end}}   → A date field value (on Device)
{{entity.summary}}        → The summary of the matched ticket (on Ticket)
{{entity.title}}          → The title of the matched meeting (on Meeting)
{{rule.name}}             → The name of this rule
{{ai_output}}             → Output from an upstream AI Transform action

Not every entity has a {{entity.name}} variable — use the Template Variables helper to see the exact chips available for your selected entity.

Action Order

Actions run top-to-bottom. Drag is not supported, but you can remove and re-add actions to reorder. AI Transform should be earlier in the list than any action that uses {{ai_output}}.

Review Step

Click Next in the bottom-right to move to the Review step. This page has two sections.

Rule Summary

A plain-English summary of the rule: trigger, conditions, and actions. Verify this matches your intent before saving.

Test Rule

Click Run Test to dry-run the rule against live data. The test returns a table of every entity that currently matches, so you can confirm:

The conditions match the records you expected (and only those records)
The field values look right for templating
No unexpected matches slipped through

Run Test does not execute actions. It only evaluates the trigger and conditions to show what would match. Safe to run as many times as you need while tuning the rule.

Saving the Rule

When you are satisfied with the test results, click Create Rule in the bottom-right. The rule is saved and appears on the list. By default new rules are enabled, so they start firing on their next evaluation cycle. Click Run Now on the list view if you want to fire the rule once immediately rather than waiting for the schedule.

Example Rules

Concrete walkthroughs for warranty alerts, meeting agendas, and more.

Custom Fields

Define custom fields to use in automation conditions and updates.

Getting Started

Overview & Planning

MSP Tools

Service Delivery

Integrations

Administration

Basic Information

Trigger Configuration

Entity Types

Trigger Types

Conditions (Optional)

Condition Groups

Fields Available

Operators by Field Type

Value Input

Actions (Required)

Action Types

Template Variables

Action Order

Review Step

Rule Summary

Test Rule

Saving the Rule

Example Rules

Custom Fields

Getting Started

Overview & Planning

MSP Tools

Service Delivery

Integrations

Administration

​Basic Information

​Trigger Configuration

​Entity Types

​Trigger Types

​Conditions (Optional)

​Condition Groups

​Fields Available

​Operators by Field Type

​Value Input

​Actions (Required)

​Action Types

​Template Variables

​Action Order

​Review Step

​Rule Summary

​Test Rule

​Saving the Rule

​Related

Example Rules

Custom Fields

Basic Information

Trigger Configuration

Entity Types

Trigger Types

Conditions (Optional)

Condition Groups

Fields Available

Operators by Field Type

Value Input

Actions (Required)

Action Types

Template Variables

Action Order

Review Step

Rule Summary

Test Rule

Saving the Rule

Related