Overview

Automations in LeanIX are an easy-configurable and no code feature, that allows admins to set up Automation flows, which react to concise events and thereby trigger sequential actions - either user interactions or system operations.
They make LeanIX more actionable, enhance collaboration and engagement with the tool and fulfil the need for easy configuration.

The following table gives an understanding of triggers, conditions, and actions available to build the first Automation.

Trigger

Conditions

Actions

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Information

In case an Automation is configured to remove/overwrite information (a tag, a field, a subscription) but fails e.g. due to the attributes being mandatory or workspace settings, not allowing more subscriptions of the same user on a Fact Sheet, not more than one Accountable or a required role associated with a subscription type, it will retry finite but not execute the operation.

More triggers, actions, and functionality will be implemented subsequently.

Automations are enabled per default on all workspaces under module-based pricing and can be accessed by admins only.

Key Features

The feature is accessible under Administration > Automations. The “Automations” tab gives an overview of all existing Automations of the respective workspace as well as the opportunity to create new Automations.

The “Statistics” tab gives an indication of the quota of Automations used.

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Information

The current monthly Automation limit depends on the type of workspace. Demo and Sandbox workspaces have a capacity of 10,000 Automations/month, whereas Production/Live workspace Automations correlate with the application limit. Next to the current usage, the statistics tab also indicates how many Automations are generally available on this workspace.
In case you reach 80% of your monthly quota, a notification will be sent out to all administrators of the workspace, to react if necessary. Another notification is sent once the limit is reached.

Automation Overview

The Automations tab gives you an overview of all the existing Automations as a list and on hover, the opportunity to activate or set the Automation to copy, edit, draft or delete it.
With a click on "View Best Practices" you are directed to this documentation and the currently possible recommended best practices to use with Automations.

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Important

Deleted Automations cannot be recovered.

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Information

Activating Automations indicates, that as soon as it is active, matching triggers would initiate the defined actions. Setting Automation to draft indicates that no further Automation will be created and triggered from now on - but existing and running Automation will remain and not be canceled.

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Information

Good to know: Copying an existing Automation template is an easy way to create similar Automations that just differ in minor details.

Create (and edit) Automations

Creating and editing Automations can be achieved by following these steps:

• Either create a new Automation by clicking “New Automation” on the overview - or edit an existing one by clicking the “Edit” button hovering an Automation template in the list.
• Fill in the metadata of the Automation. Give it a speaking name and description and also define the owner.

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Information

The owner of Automation can be any workspace user. The owner is the fallback assignee of any “orphaned” To-Do that is created by an Automation but also the fallback user subscribed to a Fact Sheet by an Automation, when the desired user is not available (e.g. not existing anymore).

They serve as a general fallback solution for Automations and are expected to be able to re-assign To-Dos or change subscriptions pointed to them on behalf.

• Fill in the first step of the Automation - “When”
  Define the trigger. In the first drop-down decide on what Fact Sheet type the automation should be triggered. Then choose between the available “Events” what should trigger the automation. Depending on the trigger, you might also need to insert the actual value that should trigger the automation (e.g. “Quality State changes to” → “Broken”).
• Fill in the second step of the Automation - “If”
  Here you can add one or multiple conditions that need to be present for an Automation to be executed. The condition on whether to ignore or include technical users (e.g. the iAPI, the Reference Catalogs, but also custom technical users) as triggering users needs to be set for every Automation. This could be helpful, when automatic, mass changes should not trigger Automations (e.g. when the SaaS Catalog creates an IT Component, this should not trigger an approval).
  Additionally, you can add more conditions using the “Plus” button.

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Information

The separate conditions are connected by AND - for tags, if there are multiple options within a single condition, they are connected by AND, for single-select field values, they are connected by OR.

• Fill in the third step of the Automation - “Then”
  Here you can add one action to be performed by the Automation. Choose one of the available actions from the list and furthermore fill in the required fields, e.g. select the tags or subscriptions, or fill in the Action item details for the To-Do that should be created.
• Save the Automation by clicking “Save Automation”

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Information

The Automation is automatically active when clicking "Save and run Automation" - to save the Automation template in the inactive draft state, use the dropdown next to the button and choose "Save in Draft State" instead.

Automations Best Practices

Currently, the following use cases are covered with our set of functionality and easily set up on each workspace. The following best practices give insights on how to combine the triggers and actions to get the most value out of the feature.

Of course, all triggers, conditions, and actions can be also combined for individual Automations besides these best practices.

The following recommendations are clustered by their triggering event.

On Fact Sheet creation

Add default fixed users as subscriptions

This can be helpful, in case certain fixed users, e.g. all EAs, should be assigned as soon as new Applications are added to a workspace.

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Fact Sheet is created”
• Decide on whether to include or ignore Fact Sheets that are created by technical users in the second step
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type
• Choose the “Add subscription” in the third step (“Set subscription” also works)
• Choose “User” as the “New Subscriber” and select the user afterwards
• Choose the “Subscription Type” and subsequently but optionally one or more “Subscription roles” to apply
• Save the Automation

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Information

To assign more than just one user to new Fact Sheets per default, please set up the same automation multiple times as long as multi-step Automations are not (yet) supported. Use the copy function for Automations in the Automations list to easily accomplish this.

Add Fact Sheet creator as subscription

To avoid orphaned Fact Sheets in the workspace and have the Fact Sheet creator documented besides the Audit log, it is helpful to assign the creator of a Fact Sheet as a first subscription, e.g. “Observer - Creator”.

This also discloses the opportunity to automatically send a (running) survey to that automatically assigned Fact Sheet creator, e.g. in combination with an automatically set tag “New” (see below).

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Fact Sheet is created”
• Decide on whether to include or ignore Fact Sheets that are created by technical users in the second step
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type
• Choose the “Add subscription” in the third step (“Set subscription” also works)
• Choose “Fact Sheet creator” as the “New Subscriber” and select the user afterwards
• Choose the “Subscription Type” and subsequently but optionally one or more “Subscription roles” to apply
• Save the Automation

Create Action item for Fact Sheet creator for newly created Fact Sheets

By automatically creating an Action item with detailed information about what to do, e.g. filling the mandatory fields and approving, finding the Application Owner, Fact Sheet creators can be guided through the approval process of new Fact Sheets.

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Fact Sheet is created”
• Decide on whether to include or ignore Fact Sheets that are created by technical users in the second step
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type
• Choose the “Create Action item” action in the third step and subsequently define a title, description and due date - and choose “Fact Sheet creator” to assign the To-Do to
• Save Automation

Add default tags or single selects to newly created Fact Sheets

Using this Automation newly created Fact Sheets can be pre-filled with first tags or single-select to increase data quality and avoid manual effort - or clearly marked as “New” Fact Sheets.
Default values can also be set by our customer support team, Automations offer a way though to adapt it yourself and also have the benefit that the user creating the Fact Sheet does not necessarily have to have the rights to set the default field (or tag).

Or:

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Fact Sheet is created”
• Decide on whether to include or ignore Fact Sheets that are created by technical users in the second step
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type
• Choose the “Add tag” or “Set field”action in the third step and subsequently the tag/field and value to add on creation
• Save the Automation

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Information

To assign more than just one tag to new Fact Sheets per default, please set up the same automation multiple times as long as multi-step Automations are not (yet) supported. Use the copy function for Automations in the Automations list to easily accomplish this.

On Field changes

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Information

Currently just single-select fields are supported. Please note that also hidden fields can be used in Automations, but the Obsolescence Risk fields technically needed for the risk calculation are not functional in Automations.

Change a field based on one other field value

This can be helpful, to set the value of one (e.g. read-only) field based on one or many other fields, e.g. if one of many single-selects regarding personal data of employees, suppliers or customers is filled with "Yes", set the read-only field "Compliance relevance" to yes as well and avoid data inconsistency and manual data clean-up efforts.

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Field changes”, choose the field and the triggering values "from" and "to", incl. options for "anything" or "empty"
• Decide on whether to include or ignore Fact Sheets that are created by technical users in the second step
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type, or on Fact Sheets with certain tags or single-select values
• Choose the “Set field” action in the third step and subsequently the field and value to set based on the previous field change
• Save the Automation

Create Action item based on a field change

This can be valuable if a) the presence of a critical value is altered, to create To-Dos for relevant users (fixed or subscriptions) to check if the change was rightful or b) a new critical value is added to create a check, to see if further necessary steps need to be taken. For example to create an Action item for the EA team if the Business criticality of an Application is set to mission-critical or if a mission-critical app is downgraded in its criticality.

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Field changes”, choose the field and the triggering values "from" and "to", incl. options for "anything" or "empty"
• Decide on whether to include or ignore Fact Sheets that are created by technical users in the second step
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type, or on Fact Sheets with certain tags or single-select values
• Choose the “Create Action item” action in the third step and subsequently define a title, description and due date - and choose “Fact Sheet subscriptions” or “Fixed user(s)” to assign the To-Do to
• Save the Automation

On Lifecycle phase change

Assign Action item to subscriptions/fixed users on Lifecycle phase changes

Reacting to the realization of a lifecycle phase - next to the OOTB notifications offered - especially to assign To-Dos to relevant users increases the actionability of LeanIX immensely. Furthermore, to define individually which amount of days after or before the lifecycle date of a specific lifecycle state, incl. custom lifecycles, gives you the freedom to adapt to your processes and check in relative to milestones, such as End of life dates. E.g., assign To-Dos to your EA team or the Application Owners as soon as an End of life date is approaching.
Within Application Rationalization efforts, this automation can help you check in with relevant stakeholders, creating To-Dos 90 or 30 days before a phase change is anticipated and planned.

How to set up:

• Define the name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Lifecycle phase changes”, choose the Lifecycle field (OOTB vs. custom) and the exact state end the automation should be considering
• Optionally decide via the toggle whether to trigger the Automation X days before or after the actual phase change date
• Decide on whether to include or ignore Fact Sheets that are created by technical users in the second step
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type or on Fact Sheets with certain tags or single-select values
• Choose the “Create Action item” action in the third step and subsequently define a title, description, and due date - and choose “Fact Sheet subscriptions” or “Fixed user(s)” to assign the To-Do to
• Save the Automation

Add tag on Lifecycle phase changes

To be able to react to the realization of a lifecycle phase - next to the OOTB notifications offered - e.g., with automatic data changes, such as adding a tag "End of life reached" or "Archive" - or removing a certain tag once a phase is reached, removes manual data maintenance efforts and increases data quality.

How to set up:

• Define the name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Lifecycle phase changes”, choose the Lifecycle field (OOTB vs. custom), and the exact state end the automation should be considering
• Optionally decide via the toggle whether to trigger the Automation X days before or after the actual phase change date
• Decide on whether to include or ignore Fact Sheets that are created by technical users in the second step
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type or on Fact Sheets with certain tags or single-select values
• Choose the “Add tag” or “Set field” action in the third step, and subsequently, the corresponding tag or single-select field and values to the chosen state change trigger
• Save Automation

Set single-select field on Lifecycle phase changes

To be able to react to the realization of a lifecycle phase - next to the OOTB notifications offered - e.g. with automatic data changes, such as maintaining a (read-only) field with the current lifecycle phase active, can help to increase the visibility of the current actual state, and facilitate filtering. It is also possible to map the lifecycle states to other categories, e.g. "inactive" vs. "active" on individual terms. These single-select fields could also be used then as conditions in Automations.

How to set up:

• Set up a new single-select field to represent the lifecycle states or custom categories in the meta model configuration
• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Lifecycle phase changes”, choose the Lifecycle field (OOTB vs. custom) and the exact state end the automation should be considering
• Optionally decide via the toggle whether to trigger the Automation X days before or after the actual phase change date
• Decide on whether to include or ignore Fact Sheets that are created by technical users in the second step
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type, or on Fact Sheets with certain tags or single-select values
• Choose the “Set field” action in the third step and subsequently the field and value to set based on the previous field change
• Save the Automation

On Quality State change

Assign Action item to subscriptions on Quality State changes

If a Quality Seal of a certain Fact Sheet type breaks, it is useful to automatically assign a dedicated To-Do to the subscriptions, e.g. Application Owner and Business Owner, for checking the changes in the Audit log and re-applying the Quality Seal afterward. This is easily possible with the following Automation.

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Quality State changes to” and subsequently decide on the actual state that should trigger the Automation, e.g. “Broken”
• Decide on whether to include or ignore Fact Sheets Quality State changes that were caused by technical users (in this case not recommended!)
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type, or on Fact Sheets with certain tags or single-select values
• Choose the “Create Action item” action in the third step and subsequently define a title, description and due date - and choose “Fact Sheet subscription(s)” as the assignee and subsequently the actual role(s) and type(s) to assign the To-Do to
• Save Automation

Assign Action item to fixed users on Quality State changes

If a Quality Seal of a certain Fact Sheet type breaks, optionally with a certain tag or category, it is useful to automatically assign a dedicated To-Do to fixed users (that are potentially not subscribed) to make them aware, e.g. inform the EA(s) or Solution Architect(s) that the Quality Seal of a “mission critical” Application broke.

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Quality State changes to” and subsequently decide on the actual state that should trigger the Automation, e.g. “Broken”
• Decide on whether to include or ignore Fact Sheets Quality State changes that were caused by technical users (in this case not recommended!)
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type, or on Fact Sheets with certain tags or single-select values
• Choose the “Create Action item” action in the third step and subsequently define a title, description and due date - and choose “Users” as the assignee and subsequently the fixed user(s) to add as assignees
• Save Automation

Assign tag or single-select field value on Quality State change

Whereas the Quality State is a field on a Fact Sheet by itself and can be used for many things, assigning a tag (from a designated tag group, single select, with all states as tags) based on the Quality State changes from the field unlocks certain functionalities, such as using the value for pie and bar charts in KPIs.
Alternatively, also a single-select field can be used to represent the Quality state changes.

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Quality State changes to” and subsequently decide on the actual state that should trigger the Automation, e.g. “Broken”
• Decide on whether to include or ignore Fact Sheets Quality State changes that were caused by technical users (in this case not recommended!)
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type, or on Fact Sheets with certain tags or single-select values
• Choose the “Add tag” or “Set field” action in the third step and subsequently the corresponding tag or single-select field and values to the chosen state change trigger
• Save Automation
• Repeat creating this Automation for every Quality State to have them all covered - easily use the copy function for Automations in the Automations list for this

On tag added/removed

Create Action Item for subscriptions on tag added/removed

As tags are an integral part of a Fact Sheet to cluster and categorize, changes to them often bring the necessity for certain users to act on it, e.g. when an "Eliminate" tag is added to an Application, the Application Owner has to make sure to follow a checklist. For that reason it is beneficial to notify them with a To-Do.

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Tag is added” or "Tag is removed" and subsequently decide on the actual tag
• Decide on whether to include or ignore tag changes that were caused by technical users
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type, or on Fact Sheets with certain tags or single-select values
• Choose the “Create Action item” action in the third step and subsequently define a title, description and due date - and choose “Fact Sheet subscription(s)” as the assignee and subsequently the actual role(s) and type(s) to assign the To-Do to
• Save Automation

Create Action Item for fixed users on tag added/removed

Another use case where tag changes require users' attention is for example when an "Eliminate" tag is added to an Application and the Enterprise Architect(s) have to be prepared for retiring it. For that reason, it is beneficial to notify them, a fixed list of users, with a To-Do as well.

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Tag is added” or "Tag is removed" and subsequently decide on the actual tag
• Decide on whether to include or ignore tag changes that were caused by technical users
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type, or on Fact Sheets with certain tags or single-select values
• Choose the “Create Action item” action in the third step and subsequently define a title, description and due date - and choose “Users” as the assignee and subsequently the fixed user(s) to add as assignees
• Save Automation

Add subscription on tag added/removed

Some tags might also require even more visibility, e.g. Applications that are marked as "Mission critical". As notifications on changes on Fact Sheets are mostly targeted to subscribers, it is useful to assign a main responsible, e.g. the Security Officer, as a subscription to those Fact Sheets that get marked with "Mission critical".

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Tag is added” or "Tag is removed" and subsequently decide on the actual tag
• Decide on whether to include or ignore tag changes that were caused by technical users
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type, or on Fact Sheets with certain tags or single-select values
• Choose the “Add subscription” in the third step (“Set subscription” also works)
• Choose “User” as the “New Subscriber” and select the user afterwards
• Choose the “Subscription Type” and subsequently but optionally one or more “Subscription roles” to apply
• Save the Automation

Conditional tagging

Tags can also be dependant on each other. Trigger on tag removal or adding - especially in combination with the tag condition - can be used to ensure data consistency for these cases. For example, whenever a tag from the "region" tag group is applied, that is subject to GDPR, add the tag "GDPR relevant" to it.

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Tag is added” or "Tag is removed" and subsequently decide on the actual tag
• Decide on whether to include or ignore tag changes that were caused by technical users
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type, or on Fact Sheets with certain tags or single-select values
• Choose the “Add tag” (or alternatively “Remove tag” action) in the third step
• Save Automation

On subscription added/removed

Create Action Item for subscriptions on subscription added/removed

As subscriptions are an integral part of a Fact Sheet to engage users, collaborate and thereby increase data quality, changes to them often bring the necessity for certain other users to act on it, e.g. when an "Accountable" or "Responsible" of a certain role is removed or added to an Application, the other subscriptions have to make sure to find a replacement or check why that person was removed. For that reason, it is beneficial to notify them with a To-Do.

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Subscription is added” or "Subscription is removed" and subsequently decide on the actual type of subscription, as well as optionally the role
• Decide on whether to include or ignore subscription changes that were caused by technical users
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type, or on Fact Sheets with certain tags or single-select values
• Choose the “Create Action item” action in the third step and subsequently define a title, description and due date - and choose (other) “Fact Sheet subscription(s)” as the assignee and subsequently the actual role(s) and type(s) to assign the To-Do to
• Save Automation

Create Action Item for fixed users on tag added/removed

Another use case on where subscription changes require attention is for a specific set of users, e.g. Enterprise Architect(s), to be informed when an Accountable is removed. For that reason, it is beneficial to notify them with a To-Do as well.

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Subscription is added” or "Subscription is removed" and subsequently decide on the actual type of subscription, as well as optionally the role
• Decide on whether to include or ignore subscription changes that were caused by technical users
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type, or on Fact Sheets with certain tags or single-select values
• Choose the “Create Action item” action in the third step and subsequently define a title, description and due date - and choose “Users” as the assignee and subsequently the fixed user(s) to add as assignees
• Save Automation

Add subscription on subscription added/removed

Some subscription changes, especially removals, might also require even more visibility, e.g. Applications that are marked as "Mission critical". As notifications on changes on Fact Sheets are mostly targeted to subscribers, it is useful to assign a further user, e.g. the Enterprise Architects themselves, as a subscription to those Fact Sheets that are marked with "Mission critical" and where the Accountable or Responsible is removed, to search for a replacement or just have an eye on in the meantime.

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Subscription is added” or "Subscription is removed" and subsequently decide on the actual type of subscription, as well as optionally the role
• Decide on whether to include or ignore subscription changes that were caused by technical users
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type, or on Fact Sheets with certain tags or single-select values
• Choose the “Add subscription” in the third step (“Set subscription” also works)
• Choose “User” as the “New Subscriber” and select the user afterwards
• Choose the “Subscription Type” and subsequently but optionally one or more “Subscription roles” to apply
• Save the Automation

Tagging on subscription changes

Especially missing or removed subscriptions are, as mentioned before, a reason to act on. One way to highlight those Fact Sheets is to apply a certain tag (e.g. "Application Owner missing") once this subscription is removed. It makes it easy to filter for those Fact Sheets as a result.

How to set up:

• Define name, optionally description, and Owner of the Automation
• Define which Fact Sheet type the Automation should be running on in the first step
• As the trigger in the first step, use “Subscription is added” or "Subscription is removed" and subsequently decide on the actual type of subscription, as well as optionally the role
• Decide on whether to include or ignore tag changes that were caused by technical users
• Optionally decide whether the Automation should just be triggered on a certain category of the Fact Sheet type, or on Fact Sheets with certain tags or single-select values
• Choose the “Add tag” (or alternatively “Remove tag” action) in the third step
• Save Automation