The following is an example of a Custom Process designed to automatically send a series of emails to applicable clients requesting quarterly reporting information. This automation is based on Job States for your clients, therefore it is important to keep Job States up-to-date so that the reminder emails are only sent to those clients who have not yet complied.
This custom automation has been created by the FYI team, ready to be imported to use in your practice. To download our quick reference guide, click here (or download the file from the bottom of this article).
Importing this Custom Automation
Click here to download the file used to import this example Custom Process, ready for you to test and activate or customise to suit your practice (or download the file from the bottom of this article).
Note: If you are using Chrome as your browser, the link may not automatically download the zip file. You need to right-click on the download link above, select Copy link address and paste it into a new browser tab in the browser's URL field.
When you have downloaded the file you can import the Custom Process. Refer to Importing Custom Processes and Importing Custom Processes using Drag and Drop.
Creating the Custom Process
The following sections detail how to create this Custom Process directly, without using the Import feature.
- Setup the Templates used in the Process
- Create a View or Determine the View to use
- Add the Custom Process
- Add the Step to Create the Email
- Add the Step to Create a Delay
- Add the Step to Create a Stop
- Add the Steps for the Additional Reminders
- Testing a Scheduled Custom Process
- Reviewing the Process History
- Set the Status of the Process to "Active"
- Scheduled Process runs Automatically
- Download Files
Watch the video walkthrough to learn how to customise this Custom Process.
Setup the Templates used in the Process
This example is sending an email. The emails that are created by the process needs Templates to be first set up.
This example Custom Process uses three Email Templates:
- Quarterly Report Reminder
- Another Quarterly Report Reminder
- Final Reminder for Quarterly Report Information.
Refer to the section Templates and Signatures for Email.
Create a View or Determine the View to use
To run the Process for Quarterly Management Jobs, this example needs a view to be created that will be used to trigger the Custom Process. Refer to Saving Changes to the View Layout, Modifying and Deleting Views.
In the Jobs list:
- Include the State column in the view.
- Filter the State column to include "Planned" Jobs only.
- Type "quarterly management" in the Search jobs field. This will search the Job Name and only include jobs that match.
- Save the view, in this example as "Quarterly Management Reporting Jobs". If required, this view can be saved as "Automations only" so it is not included in the available views for standard users.
Add the Custom Process
- In Automation - Processes, click Add Custom Process.
- Add the Name of the Process, in this example this is "Quarterly Reports Reminder".
- If required, add any additional description of the Process in the Description.
- In this example, the process will run regularly therefore the custom process has the Trigger set to "Schedule".
Define the schedule according to how often the Process should run.
In this example, this is set to run every 3 months, starting from a specific date (19 Oct 2021). This means it will run 19 days after the end of a quarter. - The Filter Type is set as "Job - View Filters" to filter jobs based on the pre-defined, saved Job view. In this example, the view is selected as the "Quarterly Management Reporting Jobs" view.
- Ensure Run Only Once Per Job is selected for the automation to run once per job.
The following is an example of the Custom Process.
Add the Step to Create the Email
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- Click Add Step and select Create Email.
- Select the email Template, in this example "Quarterly Report Reminder".
- Select the Sender as required.
- Select whether to send the email immediately, or to create Draft emails.
- Review the Filing details and rename the subject of the email if required.
- Click Save.
Add the Step to Create a Delay
This step creates a time delay for when the process should be run. This delays the next step in the process from running until that delay period is over.
- Click Add Step.
- Select Delay.
- Add the Delay Length to the number, in this example, the number of days.
- Set the Delay Type to the required interval of days, hours or weeks. In this example the delay will be 14 days.
Add the Step to Create a Stop
Stop is used to stop a process that is running using a filter or a view and where it no longer matches the required filter in the view.
In this example, if the Job State has been changed from "Planned" to anything else, the Process will stop and any remaining steps in the process will not be run.
- Click Add Step.
- Select Stop.
- The Action is automatically set to “Stop the automation if the filter no longer matches”.
- Click Save.
Add the Steps for the Additional Reminders
The Email, Delay and Stop steps described above are then repeated to the process continues automatically, sending a reminder email after 14 further days and a final reminder after a further 7 days if the Job State is still "Planned". Separate email templates are used for each step.
You can add the steps as above.
You can also use the Clone Step and Edit functions to add the repeated steps.
- Click Clone Step on each of the steps you want to duplicate.
- Move the duplicated step down so it is in the correct sequence.
- Click Edit for the duplicated step and update the details to change these as relevant. For example for the duplicated Email steps, update these to the relevant email template.
Refer below to the sequence of the steps.
Testing a Scheduled Custom Process
When setting up a Custom Process, it is very important to test it to ensure it is working as expected.
You can test a Scheduled Custom Process directly from the Process itself and this can be done while the Process is still "Draft".
- Click Test.
- The Select Test pop-up displays a list of the Jobs and the associated Clients based on the Filter that has been set up in the process.
Note: A Test Client is handy for testing scheduled automations. - From the Select Test, search and select a specific Job to run the test for and click Run Test.
Reviewing the Process History
When a Process has run (from a Test run or at any other time) you can review the status and check what was processed. The Process can be reviewed from the History tab from the Process itself, or from the Client workspace for the relevant client.
The History for that Process displays. The following is an example where the first email has been sent, and after the Delay period, the second email has been sent for two of the clients. During the delay period, the Status for one of the Jobs has been updated so the Process has stopped for that Client.
Displaying the Process History Checklist from the Client Workspace
In the following example, the first and the second emails have been sent and the Process is now in "Progress" due to the Delay step after sending the second reminder.
For the relevant client, go to the Client - Process History.
Click on the Process to display the Process History Checklist for that specific Process.
In the next example, the first email has been sent. During the delay period, the Status of the Job has been changed, for example because the client sent their Quarterly reports.
After the Delay, the Process runs the Stop, checks the view again and for this Job the Process is "Stopped".
Clicking on the Process displays the details. This shows that the second reminder has not been sent.
Click on any of the entries in the Process History Checklist to display further details of what was created or actioned. Refer to Client Process History Checklist.
Set the Status of the Process to "Active"
When you are ready, set the Status of the process to "Active".
Scheduled Process runs Automatically
This example is a Scheduled Process. Once the Status is set as "Active", the Process will run automatically according to the schedule that was set. In this example the process has been scheduled to run every quarter.
For details of the different ways to run a Custom Process, refer to Running Custom Processes.
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