What is an Automation and how do they work

Understanding and Using Automations in Zendesk

Automations are time-based events that run every hour on non-closed tickets to see if conditions are met. They execute, or fire, on tickets where conditions are met. Automations help to manage workflow and improve performance and customer satisfaction.

Key Functionality

• Automations take action when a time-event occurs, not immediately after a ticket is created or updated.
• They run every hour, but not necessarily at the top of the hour; they will start at some point during the hour.
• Each automation can act on a maximum of 1,000 tickets each hour.
• Automations do not run or fire on closed tickets.
• Each ticket can be updated a maximum of 100 times by automations.
• An automation must contain a condition that is true only once or an action that nullifies at least one of the conditions so they do not loop and run every hour.
• All active automations must be unique. They can have some overlapping conditions, but they can't be identical.
• A maximum of 500 active automations can exist at a time.

Creating Automations

Here's a step-by-step guide to creating automations:

1. In Admin Center, click Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Business rules > Automations.
2. Select Add Automation.
3. Enter a title for the automation.
4. Add the conditions and actions for the automation.
   • Conditions to be met for the automation to run
   • Actions to perform when the conditions are met
   • At least one of the following: one action that cancels a condition after the conditions are met or a condition that can only be true once
5. Test the automation by clicking Preview match for the conditions to preview tickets that match the specified conditions.
6. Save the new automation by clicking Create automation.

Editing and Cloning Automations

• To edit an automation:

  1. In Admin Center, click Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Business rules > Automations.
  2. Locate the automation to be edited.
  3. Hover the mouse over the automation to display the options menu icon, then click the icon and select Edit from the options menu.
  4. Modify the title, conditions, and actions as needed.
  5. Select Update and Submit the changes.

• To clone an automation:

  1. In Admin Center, click Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Business rules > Automations.
  2. Locate the automation to be cloned.
  3. Hover the mouse over the automation to display the options menu icon, then click the icon and select Clone from the options menu.
  4. Enter a new name for the automation and modify the conditions and actions as needed. Note that all active automations can have some overlapping conditions, but they can't be identical.
  5. Click Create automation.

Ensuring Automations Only Run Once

Automations check every hour to see if their conditions are met. Therefore, an automation must include one of the following:

• An action that nullifies at least one of the conditions
• A condition that can be true only once

If there is no nullifying action or true-only-once condition, the unmodified conditions will continue to be met, and the automation will continue to fire in an endless loop.

Standard Automations

Zendesk Support provides a standard set of automations that are best practices in a typical ticket workflow.

Examples of standard automations:

• Close ticket 4 days after status is set to solved: This automation automatically closes a ticket four days after it is set to solved. The amount of time can be edited, up to 28 days, but this automation cannot be disabled or deleted.
• Pending notification 24 hours (inactive at signup): This automation sends an email notification to a ticket requester when a ticket has been in pending for 24 hours. This automation is inactive unless it is made active.
• Pending notification 5 days (inactive at signup): This automation sends email notification to a ticket requester when a ticket has been in pending for five days. This automation is inactive unless it is made active.
• Request customer satisfaction rating (system automation): On Suite Growth and above or Support Professional and Enterprise, if customer satisfaction ratings have been enabled, this automation was added to the account to automatically send the customer satisfaction survey.

Custom Automations

You can create custom automations to meet specific business needs.

Examples of uses for automations:

• Notifying agents when an assigned ticket remains unresolved for x number of hours
• Notifying agent groups when a new ticket remains unassigned for x number of hours
• Notifying the assigned agent after x number of hours when a pending ticket has been updated by the requester
• Closing tickets x number of days after they have been set to solved
• Finding "abandoned" tickets that haven't been updated for a certain number of days
• Sending an SMS text message when an urgent ticket has been unattended for more than 48 hours (using a target with an automation)