Automation Plans
Important
Information and features vary according to the roles to which you belong and the permissions associated with those roles. For more information, contact your module manager or your campus support team.
Note
Starting with version 2023.2, interaction sets were enhanced and renamed automation plans.
Use this page to view, create, edit, and delete automation plans. An automation plan is a group interactions/communications you can send within a particular timeframe. They let your school identify processes that require multiple communications (e.g., freshman admissions, student registration, donor receipts, etc.) and group them together and associate them with a schedule that determines when they'll go out.
Notice
When a student is accepted, you might send out an automated congratulatory email. Then, two months before the semester begins, you may send a text letting them know the registration period is about to open. You may send another text inviting incoming freshman who've indicated an interest in a Computer Science major to the Computer Science Department mixer.
Similar to Notepad's action lists, automation plans send timed communications in sequence to individuals and groups based on details you define. However, there are some key differences between action lists and automation plans.
Notepad Action Lists | Communication Management Automation Plans |
|---|---|
Once an action list is configured, you cannot modify it. | You can add or remove interactions from an automation plan at any time. |
Daily procedures are specific to an action list and cannot be reused by another action list. | Schedules determine when interactions in a plan are sent, and the same schedule can be applied to multiple automation plans. |
Recipients must be manually removed from the action list if they shouldn't receive communications. | Queries determine who receives a specific communication. When an individual no longer meets the criteria, they won't receive the communication. |
Delay options let you stagger delivery if you don't them to ensure they don’t all go out at once.
Tip
Example: New Student Welcome Automation Plan
Welcome to Jenzabar University (Email Day 1)
Resident Student Housing Policy (Email Day 2)
Commuter Student Policy (Email Day 2)
Missing Financial Aid Information (Text Day 5)
New Student Orientation Details (Email Day 6)
Thanks for Attending Orientation (Text Day 10)
After plans are defined, they are added to the list of plans with an Inactive status. Incomplete plans remain inactive until all steps of the define set process are complete.
Note
Inactive plans are skipped at the next scheduled date until reactivated.
The "Run Automation Plan Now" option manually runs a plan outside of its regular schedule. Manually running a plans kicks off a new instance that is evaluated in parallel to any other running instances of the plan.
Define the basics.
Add a descriptive name, create a unique code to identify the plan, and determine what initiates communications in the set. There are three options for initiating the plan.
Kickoff Date lets you select a specific date and time when the first interaction in the communication plan should be sent. This is good for communication plans that are sent repeatedly but at varying times.
Recurring Schedule repeat at regular intervals over time and are useful for communication plans that are sent regularly, such as fall communications for the start of the semester. The first interaction in the plan will be sent out based on a schedule you defined (e.g., 30 days before Fall term).
System Event sends the first interaction based on an event (e.g., when a donation is processed).
Note
If you select this option, you'll add all of the system event information on the Basics page and go directly to adding interactions.
Select a schedule.
Choose a schedule to determine when the first interaction will be sent. Once the first interaction is sent, you can determine when subsequent interactions will be sent.
Only one schedule can be associated with an automation plan. After the schedule is selected, enter schedule details that allow the recipient queries to run for a certain number of days after the first interaction is sent. This ensures anyone who meets the criteria receives the communication. It also keeps recipients who no longer meet the criteria do no receive the communication.
Add interaction tasks.
Select the interaction tasks to be included in the plan. You can select as many interactions as you need and put them in the order that they should be sent. The schedule is applied to the first interaction, and subsequent interactions can be delayed a number of days after the first is sent.
Rules let you further refine your recipient list. For example, you can add a rule that skips an interaction if the recipient has not submitted part of an application. The options to apply rules are based on the data merge queries associated with the interaction.
Add recipients.
Use a query to select recipients, or add people or organizations individually. Queries are uploaded when interactions are defined or on the Data Sets page.
Tip
After you create the plan, it appears on the Automation Plans page. New plans are inactive, so you'll need to find the it and make it active.
Recipients can be selected individually or determined by system events and data sets. Recipients determined by data sets and system events are evaluated when the interaction plan kicks off and are continuously evaluated for the duration of the plan.
When an automation plan starts, all the interaction recipients qualified to receive communications are ‘unpacked’ and viewable in the interaction feed and interaction inventory.
Once the automation plan kicks off, it is re-evaluated hourly, and future interactions that are no longer relevant are removed.
If the current date is less than the automation plan’s start date and number of days to add, new recipients that meet the criteria are added to the plan.
During the automation plan's timeframe, recipients that no longer meet specified criteria are removed.
If filter options aren’t appearing, click the No filters applied link. You can filter in several ways:
Search by specific word using the Keyword filter
Use a filter or combination of filters to view by code, interactions in the plan, date range, progress, schedule name, status, and system event
Sort by the column headings
Tip
To save filter criteria for reuse, click Save as. Enter a name for the filter and click Save. Set as default reuses the filter every time you access the page.
Access the Communication Management, Automation Plan page.
Use the filter options to find an automation plan.
To activate, click the Inactive option.
To deactivate, click the Active option.
Caution
When an automation plan is deactivated, all new communications and workflows are halted. Scheduled communications and workflows may be impacted.
Select View details from the Actions drop-down to see the list of interactions in the plan.
Note
Once an automation plan starts, it runs until one of the following occurs:
Communication recipients have dropped out.
All communications were sent/added to their record. (This doesn’t necessarily mean all communications were successful.)
They no longer qualified to receive the communications because the interaction was defined as ‘Do not allow duplicates’ and the recipient already received it or rules were evaluated and the recipient no longer met the criteria.
Click Define automation plan.
In the Name/Description field, enter a recognizable name or description for the automation plan.
In the Code field, enter a unique code.
From Initiated By drop-down select Kickoff Date, Recurring Schedule , System Event, or Workflow.
If you select Kickoff Date:
When you use a kickoff date, the automation plan will be sent on the date you specify, but will not recur. For example, your school might be remodeling the student center and you may need to set up a communication plan with communications that make students, faculty, and staff aware of impacts and timelines.
Click Save and continue. The Interactions Step appears.
Select the date and time you want the automation plan to start.
Select the last date recipients can be added to the set.
Click Apply kickoff date.
Proceed to Step 9.
If you select Recurring Schedule:
Automation plans based on a schedule start sending communications in the set when a particular date is reached. The timeframe it takes for the whole set to run depends on how many interactions are included and if you stagger/delay sending them. For example, a set might start April 1st and include 10 interactions with each being delayed by 3 days. That means it will take the set won't be sent in its entirety until April 30th.
Each time the schedule runs, a new instance of the set begins and the first communication is sent again.
Note
You can set a time frame for the recipient query to run and add recipients to the plan. During this time, the query checks to see if recipients have been added or if individuals now meet the criteria required to receive the interaction.
Click Save and continue. Automation Tasks step appears.
In the Select Schedule field, start typing and select the schedule you want to associate with the automation plan.
In the Last date the recipients can be added to the plan field, enter a number between 0 and 365. This defines when you no longer want new recipients to receive the communications.
Notice
Last date new recipients may be added to the list is the Start Date + Number of Days. For example August 15, 2024 Start Date + 30 days = September 21, 2024 for the last date recipients can be added.
To specify a date when the interaction plan will no longer run, select it from the Cutoff Date field.
Click Apply Schedule.
Proceed to Step 9.
If you select System Event:
This option means the system will start sending communications in the plan when something occurs in J1. For example, when a prospective student emails, you might send them a response with information about the school, assign a task to an admissions counselor to reach out, and text the student advocates president to have them reach out as well.
Note
The module, process, and event are dependent on your school's licenses and system version. New processes are available with more recent releases.
Select a Module.
Select the Process associated with the set's communication.
Select the Event in the process that initiates the interaction.
Click Save and continue. The Add Automation Tasks step appears.
If you select Workflow:
From the Add section, select:
Tip
You can add as many interaction as you need.
Interaction to choose the interactions you want to include in the plan. Start typing and select the interactions you want and click Add to plan. Only active interactions are available.
Note
Indicators let you know an interaction is being used in another set. You can still include it in the set being created, but consider the recipients to ensure the same interaction is sent to them multiple times.
Rules Based Update to choose a rules based update you want to run as a part of the plan. Click in the field and select from the list then select the Year and Term. Click Add to plan.
Workflow to choose a workflow you want to include in the plan.
Use the up and down icon
to drag and drop items in the order you want them to be sent and/or occur. The first item will be sent/applied on the first date the plan is scheduled to run.Note
If a rule excludes an item, the second item in the list will be sent/applied.
Because the first item in the plan is the first to be sent/applied, the Schedule and Days to Delay options aren’t available.
Use Days to Delay to specify the number of days after the initial item is sent or applied before sending or applying the subsequent items. Interactions and tasks are kicked off at the same time every day. If the first item is an interaction that runs at 9am and you delay the third item by 2 days, it will run at 9am 48 hours later.
Note
This option is not available for Daily schedules. Daily schedules limit you to the Send with previous or Delay by 1-day options.
To add rules:
Rules let you configure exceptions. For example, you can specify recipient groups and send tailored interactions to specific groups like biology majors and English majors.
Note
Use rules to account for variations as opposed to building multiple plans.
From the Rules column, click Edit & view to see rule options.
Click Add Rule.
For interactions you can specify what actions are performed such as skipping other interactions or stopping the plan all together.
Skip Interaction means the recipient won't receive the specified interaction. Instead, they will receive the next communication in the set, and the Days to Delay setting will calculate when to send based on when the previous communication was sent.
Stop Set indicates the recipient will not receive this communication or any other communication following it.
Note
If the recipient’s condition changes before the set completes, the recipient will pick back up where the communication was stopped.
Select if Any or All of the following conditions are met.
From the Variable field, select from the query data fields.
Note
The data fields vary based on the query selected when the interaction was defined. For example, if you create an email interaction that uses the Student Details query, variables might be student name and major.
You can add as many rules as you want, and each rule can have multiple conditions.
If ANY is selected, the OR operation determines if the condition is true.
If ALL is selected, the AND operation is used.
Interactions, updates, and workflows are evaluated against the rules applied to them and if the conditions are met, the specified action is applied.
From the Operator drop-down, select a conditional operator (e.g., is not, greater than, equals, etc.).
In the Enter Condition field, type the condition that applies the rule (e.g., biology to check for biology majors).
To add additional rules, click Add Another Condition and repeat steps c - g.
Click Done.
Click Save. to close the Edit & View Rules section.
Click Save and continue. The Recipients step appears.
To make the set ready for sending, click the Status option to make it active.
From the Recipients options, select one of the following:
If Data Setis selected:
Note
If you use a data set, the system automatically adds and removes recipients from the automation plan based on the data set criteria on an hourly basis.
Recipients removed from the list do not receive future communications in the set. If recipients are based on a specific major and the recipient changes majors.
Individuals/organizations that didn’t meet the criteria when the set started, but do later are added to the set (e.g., waitlisted applicants that get a spot or students that drop out).
Tip
Click Preview query to see a sample query result.
In the Select Existing Data Set, start typing a query name and select it from the options.
Click Preview data set to see recipients at this point in time.
If People or Organizations is selected, start typing the name of the individual or organization and select it from the drop-down.
Click View Recipients to preview the list of recipients that will receive the interactions in the set. This is a dynamic list that may change due to recipient changes in status or contact information or criteria.
Click Save & finish. The automation plan is created and available from the Automation Plans page. If you made the set active, it will start sending communications according to the kickoff date, schedule, or system event you selected.
Note
Plans can only be deleted if they are inactive and have never been used. Once an automation plan has been processed, it cannot be removed from the system.
Access the Communication Management, Automation Plans page.
Use the filter option to find the plan being deleted.
Select the checkbox for the set you want to delete.
From the Options drop-down, select Delete.
Click Yes, delete in the confirmation pop-up.
Note
The Name / Description and Code cannot be changed from the Edit Set wizard.
Access the Communication Management, Automation Plans page.
Use the filter options to find a plan.
From the Actions drop-down, click Edit.
If the plan is active, click Yes, edit set in the confirmation pop-up.
Make the desired changes to the Basics, Schedule, Interactions, and Recipients sections of the wizard.
Tip
For full details about updating the different sections, see How to Define an Automation Plan.
Click Save & finish .
Access the Communication Management, Automation Plans page.
Use the filter options to find a plan.
From the Actions drop-down, click Run plan now.
Click Yes, run now in the confirmation pop-up.
Access the Communication Management, Automation Plans page.
Use the filter options to find the set you want to view more information about.
From the Actions drop-down, select View Summary. The Summary window appears.
Links access information about the interactions in the set and interaction recipients.
View information about the schedule associated with the set and when it will next run.
Click the Close button to close the Summary window.
Automation plans must have an inactive status and be tied to an inactive schedule before they can be deleted. When a plan is deleted, it is permanently removed from the system.