Automations

An Automation

does work for you: it watches for something to happen, then runs one or more actions in response. Instead of remembering to create a follow-up Task

Task

Something that needs to be done, created against a record and optionally assigned to a colleague with a due date.

, send an email, or update a Record

Record

An individual entry within a Collection, like a row in a database table, representing one item or entity such as a customer or an order.

, you set the rule once and Kinabase does it every time.

For example: when a new record is added to your Maintenance collection, then create a task for the on-call engineer. Or: when a deal changes Stage

to Won, then send a Notification

Notification

A message from Kinabase that alerts you to events such as a task being assigned, a due date approaching, or an Automation completing, delivered in-app, by email or as a desktop notification.

to the account owner and generate a PDF summary.

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1. The anatomy of an automation

Every automation is built from three parts. Understanding them makes the rest of this section straightforward.

Trigger - the "when"

The event that starts the automation. Every automation has exactly one trigger, such as a record being added, a field being updated, or a record changing stage. See Triggers.

Conditions - the optional filter

Rules that decide whether the automation actually runs for a given record - for example, only if Priority is High. Conditions refine a trigger so an automation runs only when it should.

Steps - the "then"

The actions Kinabase performs, in order. An automation can run several steps in sequence: add a task, then send an email, then update the record. See Automation Steps.

You build all three in one editor: When to trigger ("Whenever…") sets the trigger and conditions; What to do ("Then…") holds the steps.

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2. Where automations live

Automations are managed centrally by your System admin under Settings → Operations → Automations. From there you create, edit, enable, disable, and review the run history of every automation in your organisation. See Managing Automations.

The number of automations you can create depends on your plan. Some steps are also plan- or feature-dependent - each is flagged where it's described.

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3. Explore this section

Triggers

The six events that can start an automation, when to use each, and how to filter with conditions.

Automation steps

Every action an automation can perform - from adding a task to sending an email or making an API call - with a worked example each.

Making an API call

Configure the Make an API call step in detail - method, URL, headers, request body, and using the values the other system sends back.

Managing automations

Find, edit and enable automations, read the run history and statuses, and troubleshoot when something doesn't fire.

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4. Related features

Automations underpin several other features you may already be using:

• Workflows run automations automatically on a stage change - see Workflows.
• Forms are an automation whose first step opens a form to collect input - see Forms.
• Integrations can be driven from an automation with the Make an API call step - see Making an API Call and The Kinabase API.

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Need more help? Ask your System admin, or contact our support team via Help & Support.