Does this article apply to you? This article covers Enhanced Automated Workflow features. To check if your account has access, go to Automated Workflow in AMS+. If you see a "Welcome to the New Automated Workflow" banner at the top of the page, you're all set.
This article covers what to know about Enhanced Automated Workflow behavior in AMS+. Understanding these behaviors will help you avoid common mistakes like duplicate actions, workflows running more than intended, or actions that don't fire when you expect them to.
Requirements
- Automated Workflow must be activated in your agency's AMS+ account.
- Only the Account Owner can activate it. Learn more.
- You must be logged into AMS+ as an Agency User.
- You must be assigned to a Security Group with the Manage Automated Workflow permission.
In this article
- Running Legacy and Enhanced Automated Workflows simultaneously
- Conditions that are too broad
- Thinking in anchor fields
- Activating a workflow when records already match
- Delayed actions and record changes
- Workflow loops
- Email spam and bounce thresholds
Running Legacy and Enhanced Automated Workflows simultaneously
If you have a Legacy Servicing or Legacy Sales Workflow and an equivalent Enhanced Automated Workflow both active at the same time, both can run for the same record — meaning the same contact could receive two emails, or two activities could be created, from two versions of the same workflow.
When you build an Enhanced Automated Workflow to replace a legacy one, deactivate the legacy workflow before turning on the Enhanced version. The Enhanced Automated Workflow won't replace it automatically.
Conditions that are too broad
A workflow runs when all of its conditions are met and at least one of those conditions just changed. If your conditions are broad, the workflow can run more often than you intended.
For example, a workflow that only checks for Type is Client will run any time any matching field on a Client record changes. Adding more specific conditions — like Status, Servicing Agent, or a tag — narrows the scope and helps ensure the workflow only runs when it should.
Before activating a workflow: Review your conditions and ask — would this run in situations I'm not planning for? If the answer is yes, add more conditions to narrow it down.
Thinking in anchor fields
Legacy Servicing Workflows are tied to a single field — the workflow only evaluates when that specific field updates to a specific value. Enhanced Automated Workflows don't work that way. Any condition field changing to a value that meets the condition can run the workflow.
If you're moving from a legacy workflow and want the Enhanced version to run only when a specific field changes — like a Status update — make sure your other conditions are already in place before that field is updated. That way, the field you care about will consistently be what runs the workflow.
For example: Your legacy workflow triggered when Status changed to Active. In your Enhanced Automated Workflow, you've added conditions for Status, Type, and Servicing Agent. If Type and Servicing Agent are already set correctly on your records before Status is updated, then the Status change will be what runs the workflow — just like before. But if Type or Servicing Agent happens to change last, that field will be what runs it instead.
For a deeper look at how Enhanced Automated Workflow triggering works, see How Enhanced Automated Workflows trigger.
Activating a workflow when records already match
When you turn on a workflow that uses a created or updated trigger, records that already meet all conditions won't run the workflow automatically. It only runs when one of the condition fields on a record actually changes.
For example: You build a workflow with conditions for Type is Client and Status is Active, then turn it on. You have 200 records that already meet both conditions. None of them will run the workflow right away — they'll only run it the next time one of those fields changes on their record.
If you need the workflow to act on those records right away, you'll need to update a condition field on them manually or through an import.
Using a date-based trigger? Records with an approaching date may run the workflow shortly after activation if their conditions are already met.
Delayed actions and record changes
When a workflow has delayed actions — for example, a follow-up email scheduled for several days after the workflow runs — AMS+ checks the record again before sending. If the record no longer meets the workflow's conditions at that point, the action is cancelled.
Other reasons a delayed action might not run:
- The workflow was turned off after it ran
- The specific action was deleted or turned off while waiting to execute
- The record was deleted
Action didn't run when you expected? Check whether the record's conditions changed between when the workflow ran and when the action was scheduled, or whether the workflow or action was modified in that window.
Workflow loops
It's possible to accidentally build workflows that keep triggering each other — or trigger themselves — over and over. A common example: a workflow runs when an activity is added to an Individual, and its action creates a new activity. That new activity runs the workflow again, which creates another activity, and so on.
AMS+ checks for this kind of loop when you save a workflow and will stop you from activating one that would trigger itself. If two or more workflows are looping with each other, AMS+ detects it automatically, turns off the workflow causing the loop, and sends an email notification to the Account Owner.
To avoid loops, be deliberate when building activity-triggered workflows that create activities. Make sure the activity your workflow creates won't match the conditions of the same workflow — or another active one.
Email spam and bounce thresholds
If too many recipients mark a workflow's emails as spam, or too many emails don't reach their recipients, AMS+ will automatically turn off the workflow.
When this happens, only the AgencyBloc Support Team can turn the workflow back on. Before doing so, review the email content and who it's being sent to.
Best prevention: Make sure your workflow conditions are specific enough that emails are only going to people who would expect to receive them.