We've brought the Automation program statuses closer to each other to provide you with a unified experience and more flexibility to manage the status of your programs. You can find the most important changes on this page:
- Pausing: Introducing the pause status for Interactions to queue contacts
- Freezing: All contacts exit when programs are Frozen
- Reactivating Automation Center programs: You can now reactivate Finished programs
- Deleting: You can delete Automation Center and Interactions programs regardless of their status
- Aborting: No longer available in the Automation Center, nor via the API
- Fail-safe status in Interactions: Contacts are queued for 72 hours before exiting the program
- Fail-safe in the Automation Center: Contacts are queued for 30 days before exiting the program
- Summary of the program status changes
Related pages:
Watch the Autumn Release 2022 video about the Unified Status Across the Automation Solution:
Pausing: Introducing the pause status for Interactions to queue contacts
You can pause Interactions programs as well. This status was not available in Interactions previously.
When should I pause a program?
You can pause programs when you need to modify the campaigns used in them or make adjustments to external sources (e.g. your database or website).
Which programs can I pause?
You can pause Active programs.
What happens to contacts and events that would enter the program while it’s Paused?
When a program is Paused, contacts and events can enter, but they will be queued at the entry node. So you will not lose any contacts while the program is Paused.
What happens to contacts already in the program?
Contacts who have already entered the program are queued at their current position in the journey; Automation triggers the messages for those who have already arrived at message nodes when you paused the program and they will be queued at the next node.
What happens to Paused programs?
The status of Paused programs will automatically change to Frozen after 72 hours. When you pause a program, a countdown appears on the UI displaying the time left until the program will be Frozen.
You can reactivate, freeze or finish Paused programs. If you realize that you don’t need a Paused program anymore, you can also delete it.
Important:
- Queues can build up quickly at the entry nodes and at Wait nodes. When you resume the program, it tries to process all events at the same time which might slow down the program. Leaving a program Paused for a number of days can lead to a large volume of events being queued in Interactions. Please note that processing events will take time and our SLA does not apply to queued events that are processed after resuming Paused programs. As a general rule, we don’t recommend pausing programs for more than 120 minutes.
- If you want to suspend the program activity for more than 3 days, you should freeze the program instead.
What is the difference between Paused and Frozen programs?
- Paused: Contacts and events will be queued at the entry node and within the program. When you pause a program, queues can build quickly at the entry node and at Wait nodes. When you resume the program, it will try to process all the events at the same time which might result in slower event processing.
- Frozen: Contacts and events cannot enter the program. Contacts and events already in the program will exit immediately. There is no delay when you resume a Frozen program and it will not result in the build-up of contacts in the queue.
Freezing: All contacts exit when programs are Frozen
This is how it worked before July 2022:
- Automation Center: Contacts already in the program were queued at the next node.
- Interactions: Contacts already in the program exited immediately except for the ones who have already arrived at a Wait node.
This is how it works after the Summer Release:
All contacts exit after freezing programs. As described above, pausing programs is recommended for quick amendments. You should freeze your program if you wish to make bigger changes or put the program on hold for a longer period of time to avoid queues building up or if you want every contact to exit the program immediately.
You can also delete Frozen Automation Center programs.
Please note that when you freeze Interactions programs, contacts at Wait nodes will exit the program and appear on the Program Reporting page only after the wait period has expired. These contacts will exit the program after their wait period has expired even if you reactivate the program in the meantime. For example, when you freeze a program containing a Wait node that is set to wait for 2 days, then those contacts who arrived at this node when you froze the program will exit it and appear on the Program Reporting page after 2 days (contacts who had already arrived at this node before freezing the program will exit it when their wait period has expired).
Reactivating Automation Center programs: You can now reactivate Finished programs
From now on, you can reactivate Finished Automation Center programs as well, if the assets used in the programs (e.g. email campaigns) are still available.
Important:
- Please note that you cannot reactivate or freeze Automation Center programs that reached the Finished status before July 20, 2022.
- Please note that you cannot reactivate Frozen or Finished Automation Center programs starting with the Target segment entry point.
When should I finish a program?
You can finish a program when you would like to end it so that contacts or events cannot enter the program but contacts already in it can finish their journey. You can also finish programs to give you a peace of mind that those have concluded and will no longer need your attention.
Which programs can I finish?
You can finish In Testing, Active, Paused and Frozen programs.
What happens to contacts who would enter the program?
When you finish a program, contacts cannot enter it.
What happens to contacts already in the program?
Contacts who have already entered the program are allowed to continue their journey until they finish it.
What happens to Finished programs?
You can make small adjustments or change the structure of your programs, reactivate, freeze or delete Finished programs.
When should I freeze Finished programs?
You can freeze Finished programs when you want all contacts to exit the program, so they won’t finish their journey.
When can I reactivate already Finished programs?
Emarsys checks if the email campaigns exclusive to the program are still available in order to reactivate a Finished program. If they are still available, the program can be reactivated. However, if the required assets no longer exist or are used elsewhere, they need to be re-created, copied or removed from the programs using them.
Deleting: You can delete Automation Center and Interactions programs regardless of their status
To provide you with more flexibility, you can delete any programs regardless of their status.
What happens when you delete a program?
- New contacts cannot enter it.
- Contacts in the program will exit immediately.
- You cannot edit the program and it cannot be accessed anymore.
Aborting: No longer available in the Automation Center, nor via the API
The abort status is no longer available in Automation Center programs. We recommend freezing, finishing or deleting programs instead. Programs that are already Aborted will keep their status.
Please note that the Abort a Program API call has been deprecated. We recommend freezing or finishing the program or using the Delete a Program API endpoint instead.
What happened when you aborted a program?
- Contacts couldn't enter it.
- Contacts in the program exited immediately.
- All activity stopped in the program and the assets (except for email campaigns) were freed up and became available for selection in other programs.
- Aborted programs could not be edited or reactivated. You could only delete aborted programs.
Fail-safe status in Interactions: Contacts are queued for 72 hours before exiting the program
Interactions programs put into Fail-safe status are Frozen after 3 days.
What happens to contacts and events that would be eligible to enter the program?
Contacts and events are queued at the entry node while the program is in Fail-safe status.
What happens to contacts and events already in the program?
Contacts who have already entered the program are queued at their current position while the program is in Fail-safe status.
What can I do with programs in Fail-safe status?
You can reactivate Interactions programs after resolving the issue - if the problem still persists, then the program will be put into Fail-safe status again. If you need help with investigating the root cause, please contact Emarsys Support.
What happens to contacts when the program's status automatically changes to Fail-safe (Frozen)?
Contacts and events cannot enter the program. Contacts and events already in the program will exit immediately.
Fail-safe in the Automation Center: Contacts are queued for 30 days before exiting the program
Automation Center programs in Fail-safe status will be Frozen after 30 days.
What happens to contacts who would enter the program?
Contacts who would enter the program are queued at the entry node while the program is in Fail-safe status.
What happens to contacts already in the program?
Contacts who have already entered the program are queued at their current position while the program is in Fail-safe status.
What can I do with programs in Fail-safe status?
If you don’t know why your program was put into Fail-safe status, please contact Emarsys Support. Automation Center programs cannot be reactivated. If you can identify and resolve the issue, you can copy the program and reactivate the copy. Alternatively, we recommend contacting Emarsys Support to resolve the issues and reactivate the original program for you.
What happens to contacts when the program's status automatically changes to Fail-safe (Frozen)?
Contacts who would enter the program cannot enter it. Contacts already in the program will exit immediately.
Summary of the program status changes
You can see all the program status changes in the following table.