Creating notifications using Triggers
You can use triggers to setup recurring or event-specific notifications and alerts, based on various activity occurring within Operandio.
Trigger types
There are two different types of triggers that you can create, scheduled and event-based triggers.
- Scheduled triggers: Scheduled triggers will run based on a certain time and date. You can specify when, where and at what time to run this trigger, for example, "every week at 11:00AM".
- Event-based triggers: Event-based triggers will run when an event occurs in Operandio, such as a job being completed. For example, you might set up a event-based trigger to send out an email when a particular job becomes overdue.
Get started on creating a scheduled or event-based trigger.
Creating a scheduled trigger
To create a scheduled trigger:
- Go to the Settings area for your organization. This can be accessed by clicking your profile on the right side of the top navigation bar.
- On the left hand navigation menu, select Triggers
- Click the Create Trigger button
- A dialog window will show similar to the below:
Enter a schedule expression
Scheduled triggers use a cron expression to determine when they should run. This is an expression made up of several fields that translate into a schedule that Operandio can use to run the trigger. These fields are shown in the table below:
Field | Values | Wildcards |
---|---|---|
Minutes | 0-59 | , - * / |
Hours | 0-23 | , - * / |
Day-of-month | 1-31 | , - * ? / L W |
Month | 1-12 or JAN-DEC | , - * / |
Day-of-week | 1-7 or SUN-SAT | , - * ? L # |
Year | 1970-2199 | , - * / |
An example cron expression might look like 0 11 * * MON,THU which translates into a trigger running at 11:00 AM, only on Monday and Thursday.
Using the example above (0 11 * * MON,THU), let's break it down:
- Minute (0): This specifies the minute of the hour when the job should run. In this case, it is set to 0, meaning the job will run at the start of the hour.
- Hour (11): This specifies the hour of the day when the job should run. Here, it is set to 11, meaning the job will run at 11:00 AM.
- Day of the Month (*): The * symbol means "any value." This field specifies the day of the month when the job should run. Since it's set to *, the job will run on any day of the month.
- Month (*): Again, the * symbol means "any value." This field specifies the month when the job should run. With *, the job will run every month.
- Day of the Week (MON,THU): This field specifies the days of the week when the job should run. In this case, MON,THU means the job will run only on Mondays and Thursdays.
Cron expressions can look a bit confusing at first, but don't worry, we have a few examples to help get you started. If you click the text field you'll see these sample cron expressions that you can use as a base to modify and create your own. You'll also see a summary of what schedule the expression will create below the text field.
![](http://d33v4339jhl8k0.cloudfront.net/docs/assets/651e1d4317267470d3915a61/images/6524db4fdfdf44337125dbeb/file-u0OtbGA7Yt.png)
Select your timezone
Once your cron expression is done, select the timezone that you want the trigger to use.
What should the trigger do?
Your schedule is set up, time to move onto the defining your trigger content section.
Creating an event-based trigger
To create an event-based trigger:
- Go to the Settings area for your organization. This can be accessed by clicking your profile avatar on the right side of the top navigation bar.
- On the left hand navigation menu, select Triggers
- Click the Create Trigger button
- In the dialog window that shows, click the Event based button
Which event(s) should this trigger respond to?
There are 6 event options to choose from for event-based triggers.
- User Training Course Completed: When a user completes a training course
- User Training Module Completed: When a user completes a training module
- Job Created: When a process or audit is created and available to complete
- Job Completed: When a process is completed (all steps are either completed or skipped)
- Job Submitted: When an audit is submitted (the user has submitted and and locked in all responses)
- Job Overdue: When a process or audit becomes overdue based on its "Due" time
You can also set multiple events for a single trigger.
Select a job template
If you've selected Job Completed, Job Submitted or Job Overdue as your event, you'll then need to select the job template that you want to use. The list of templates available to you will be shown in the dropdown list.
What should the trigger do?
Once the event is set up, move onto the defining your trigger content section.
Defining your trigger content
It's time to define what your trigger will actually do. There are two options that can be selected here:
- Send a communication to Operandio users: This will allow you to send notifications to users with an active profile within your Operandio account.
- Send a communication to external email address(es): This will send to external email addresses such as Gmail, Outlook etc..., and is useful for people who might be outside of your Operandio account but still want to receive notifications.
Sending to Operandio users
If you're sending to Operandio users, you can choose from either In-application, Email or Push notifications to be sent.
Note that Operandio users must be part of the location that the trigger is active at to receive any communications.
- For which locations?: Select the locations you want to make the trigger active at. You can select a single location or multiple locations.
- Who should be notified?: Select the Operandio users who you want to receive the notifications.
![](http://d33v4339jhl8k0.cloudfront.net/docs/assets/651e1d4317267470d3915a61/images/65252d76ed8c6d2f1cffe3f1/file-ZUZC3AbOIl.png)
Sending to external email addresses
If you're sending to external email addresses, you'll only be able to send email notifications.
- For which locations?: Select the locations you want to make the trigger active at. You can select a single location or multiple locations.
- Email address(es): Enter each of the email addresses you want to send to here and press enter. You can add multiple email addresses to this field.
Save your trigger
Once everything is set up, click Save trigger. The trigger will be active straight away, but you can always Edit, Pause and Delete it if required by clicking the More Options icon on the appropriate trigger:
Wrapping up
Triggers are a great way to set up automation on your Operandio account so you can get tailored notifications for important jobs that you want to keep an eye on.