Automation Processes

The Processes tab on the Automation dashboard is where an FYI administrator, or a user in a User Group that has Permissions enabled for Automations, can manage and run the Automation processes for your practice.

This article contains the following sections:

• Sample Processes
• Custom Processes
• Displaying the Automation Dashboard
  • Trigger Icons
  • Draft Processes
• Using the Filters on the Processes Tab
• List View
• Opening and Editing a Process
• Copying a Process using the Clone Function on the List View

Sample Processes

FYI is shipped with Sample Processes which can be modified to reflect the requirements of your practice. The sample processes available will depend on the FYI plan your practice has subscribed to, Starter, Intermediate or Pro (refer to Subscribing to an FYI Plan). The List View displays the Plan that each process is available to.

The sample processes use a trigger and a filter to control what is processed. These processes include one or more steps to control what the action done by the process.

Note: Some sample processes are set to run with specific settings, for example to run when a New Document arrives. You will therefore not be able to change when they trigger or change the filter. You can however make modifications to the steps in these processes. You can also use these as examples when setting up your own Custom Processes.

Refer to Setting up Automation Processes.

Custom Processes

You can also set up Custom Processes for your practice. Custom Processes use a trigger and a filter and you set up the steps for the actions that the process does. Refer to Setting up Custom Processes.

Displaying the Automation Dashboard

To display the Automation Dashboard:

1. From FYI, click the Automation menu option.

2. Display the Processes tab.

• If the User Group you belong to has Permissions enabled for Automations, you will be able to add, change and delete Processes and Apps and you will see the Process History tab. Refer to Managing User Groups.
• If the User Group you belong to does not have Permissions enabled for Automations, you will only see the Processes and Apps tabs and the Edit tool displays as unavailable.
  
• Archived processes are hidden by default. To show these, click the Archived button on the Automation dashboard.

Trigger Icons

Custom Processes display with an icon in the Processes Grid View and the List View to indicate if the Trigger for the process is "Scheduled" or "Manual". The Person icon is for when it is a Manual Trigger, and the Clock icon is Schedule. Refer to Setting up Custom Processes.

Sample Processes display without any Trigger icons.

Draft Processes

Any Sample or Custom Processes that have a Status of "Draft" show in the Automation Dashboard with a grey background. A Draft process that has the Trigger set as "Scheduled" will not run automatically. A Draft process that has a Trigger set as "Manual" is not available to users to run.

Using the Filters on the Processes Tab

You can use the filters on the Processes tab to select which processes are shown in the tab.

• Filter by Status ("Active" or "Draft").
• Filter by Plan can be used to display which processes are available for each subscription plan to FYI ("Starter", "Intermediate" or "Pro").
• Filter by App to display the process that have been set up for a specific App, for example, FYI, Outlook. Xero Ledger, Xero Tax.

List View

To display your automation processes as a list, click the List View button. By default, this displays the processes in alphabetic order.

You can use the List View to search for processes, filter by App, and you can select one or more processes and delete or copy them. For Custom Processes, an icon and the Trigger column display to indicate if the Trigger for the process is "Scheduled", "Manual" (and can be run when required) or "New Document".

You can add a Custom Process from the Processes List View.

This displays the All view by default which displays "Active" and "Draft" processes. To display "Archived" processes, use the filter for Status.

An FYI administrator, or a user in a User Group that has Permissions enabled for Views, can save and modify views in the List View. Refer to Saving Changes to the View Layout, Modifying and Deleting Views.

Click the Grid View button to re-display the process as icons in the grid layout.

Opening and Editing a Process

For the relevant process, click the cog icon to edit it.

Note: If you update the definition or steps in a Custom Process while that process is executing, any changes will not be taken into effect for the executing process. It continues with the settings as when the process started.

Copying a Process using the Clone Function on the List View

From the List View, you can use the Clone function to copy a Process.

1. Click the List button to display the processes as a list.
2. Click the Select button and checkmark the process you want to copy.
3. Click Clone and  confirm the action.

An exact copy of the process is created with "- Copy" appended to the name. You can then edit this copy and make any changes as required.

Note: If you Clone a Sample Process, this will clone it exactly and no changes can be made to the Trigger or Filter in the copy.