Automations

An automation is one sentence: when something happens, for which brands, do one thing, only if a few things are true. For example: “When a task enters Client review, for every brand, notify the brand’s internal channel, only if the work type is Campaign.”

Open Automations in the sidebar (under More) to see the ones you can read, or open a brand’s Automations tab to see the ones that run for that brand.

Set one up

Click New automation. The wizard asks one question at a time:

1. When. On a schedule (days of the week or month, at one or more times on the hour or half hour), when a task event happens, when a task enters a status, when a brand is created, when a task is overdue a number of days, or when a form is completed.
2. For. The whole organization, every brand except some, or brands you name.
3. Do.
   • Notify a brand’s internal or client Slack channel, a pod channel, the person holding the task, the next phase owner, a brand role such as the account manager, or people and channels you pick. You can write the message yourself, with details like {task}, {brand} and {due} filled in.
   • Add a task from a Work template.
   • Send a form to the brand’s client contacts or to teammates, with reminders.
   • Have MX run a skill. MX runs fast unless the work is writing.
4. Only if (optional). Facts about the task: work type, phase, status, who holds it, the brand’s account manager, days overdue, due date, launch date, pod and more. Choose whether all of them or any of them must be true.

The last step, Check, shows the whole sentence, how often it would have fired in the last 14 days, the next few runs, and how a message will look. Click Turn it on, or Save, keep it off to finish later.

A brand page’s New automation starts the wizard on that brand.

Change one

Open an automation to see its sentence. Click any part to change it; each change saves on its own. If something does not fit (for example, a status condition on a “task enters a status” automation), the part shows what is wrong and how to fix it.

From the same panel you can Run now, turn it off or on, Duplicate it, copy its link, or move it to Trash. History lists each run: what it did, who it reached, and whether its Slack post went out.

If the person who set it up leaves the organization, the automation turns off and says why. Anyone who can change it turns it back on with its switch, and becomes its owner.

Who can see and change automations

Everyone who can chat with MX can open Automations.

• You read every automation for the whole organization or every brand, and any that names a brand you can see.
• You change an automation for brands you name if you can see all of them.
• Automations for the whole organization or every brand need an admin to set up or change.

Ask MX

You can ask MX in chat to set one up, change it, preview it, run it now or turn it off. MX shows the sentence and what it reaches before anything changes, and you can undo its change.

Turn them all off

The Automations switch under What MX does on its own turns every automation off: an org admin sets it for the organization in Settings > Organization, and a brand’s managers set it for one brand in the brand’s Advanced settings.