The Automation Programs page
To open the Automation Programs overview page, navigate to Automation > Automation. You can see all your Interactions, Automation Center and Product catalog updates programs on this page along with the following information:
Here you can:
Creating a program
To create an Interactions program, proceed as follows:
1. Click the Create Program button and select Behavior-focused journeys (Interactions) from the dialog.
2. Select the trigger you would like to use. Your program will be triggered by the chosen event source.
You can choose from the following options:
One program can only have one trigger source, however, one event can trigger multiple programs.
This will open the program editor canvas. You can see all the available Channel and Action nodes in the menu on the left.
- To change your program's name, click the title (the default name is New Program).
- Hover your mouse over the nodes to get more information on what they do.
3. Set up the trigger event timeout value if required (the default value is 6 hours).
4. Add the required nodes to your program and set them as needed.
Canvas Actions bar
On the canvas Actions bar, you can:
Saving a program
Interactions validates the program before saving, but it does not have to pass the validation check in order to be saved.
To save a program, click Save in the top-right corner of the workspace.
Please consider the following:
- You should never navigate away from a program before saving it. Remember that for more complex programs, it may take up to a minute to save.
- If you work on a complex program, save frequently.
Validating a program
For a program to be activated, it must fulfill a number of conditions. For example, all nodes must have the mandatory settings defined.
Validation errors are displayed above the affected nodes. Hover your mouse over the icon for details of the error.
Scheduling a program
To schedule a program, proceed as follows:
1. Click the Set Schedule button in the top right corner.
2. Choose from the following options:
Please consider the following:
- If you schedule your program to start in the past, then after activating it, it will start immediately.
- You must specify an end date in the future.
- One-time (with end date) - The program will start at the specified date and will run until the end date you set.
- Ongoing (running indefinitely) - The program will start at the specified date and it will run indefinitely (without an end date).
If you selected this option, then you can Freeze or Finish your program manually or you can select the One-time (with end date) option and select an end date later.
- Recurring - The program will run on the selected days between the specified starting and ending time.
The program’s status changes to Active while it’s running and it reverts to Scheduled after the specified end date.
A typical use case - geofencing:
For example, you can send push messages encouraging your customers to visit your store while it’s open (e.g. from Monday to Sunday between 08:00 and 18:30). In this case, your program will be scheduled to run as follows:
3. When you are ready, click Set Schedule.
4. To activate your program, click the Program Status button in the top right corner, select Activate the scheduled program, then click Activate.
- Programs are scheduled based on your account’s time zone. If your admin’s and account’s time zones are different, then a notification will be displayed. Programs do not take the time zone of your contacts into consideration.
- Trigger events can only enter Active programs.
- The name of the Program Status button depends on the status of your program.
Activating a program
To activate a program, click the Program Status button in the top right corner and select Activate.
Please consider the following:
- The Activate button is disabled until the validation errors are resolved.
- You can only make limited changes to Active programs. For more information, see Program status.
The name of the Program Status button depends on the status of your program.
Disabling or enabling Interactions nodes
You can easily disable channel nodes regardless of the program’s status. As a result, contacts will skip the deactivatxed nodes without triggering a message. You can reactivate disabled nodes anytime.
To disable or enable a channel node, proceed as follows:
1. Double-click the channel node you would like to disable or enable.
2. Click the node status button in the top-right corner, then select the required action.
3. Click OK, select Save to finalize the changes, then confirm the updates if your program’s status is Scheduled, Active or Finished by clicking Save & Apply.
If you do not save your program, then the changes will be lost.
Result
Disabled nodes will become light-blue:
- on the canvas.
- on the Program Summary page and the “This node is disabled” message is displayed when you hover your mouse over the node.
