Automations

LeanIX Automations User Guide

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 fulfill the need for easy configuration.

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

Trigger

TriggerValuesAdditional Information
Fact Sheet is created
Field is changedCurrently: every single-select value configured, also unused fieldschoose the triggering values, incl. "from" and "to", with option "empty" and "anything
Lifecycle phase changeField: all available lifecycle fields, incl. custom lifecycles
States: all defined phases of the lifecycle field
choose optionally whether the Automation should be triggered x days before or after the Lifecycle phase end date using the toggle and subsequently available fields
Quality Seal changes toDraft, Broken, Approved, Rejected
Tag is addedevery Tag configured
Tag is removedevery Tag configured
Subscription is addedevery Subscription (type only, and type+role)regardless of whether a new user has been added or an existing one changed - before and after will be compared for this trigger
Subscription is removedevery Subscription (type only, and type+role)regardless of whether a subscription has been removed or an existing one changed - before and after will be compared for this trigger

📘

Information

Please note that the Obsolescence Risk related field are present on the Meta Model, but only calculated at runtime in report views. Therefore Automations also cannot react and be used for triggering on Obsolescence Risk related fields yet.

Conditions

ConditionsValuesAdditional Information
Fact Sheet typeall Fact Sheet types defined in the Meta modelsingle-select
is defined initially as part of the trigger
Technical userincluded, ignoreddefines whether state changes initiated by technical users should be included or ignored as triggering events
Tagall tags defined for the chosen Fact Sheet typemulti-select (but one per tag single mode tag group)
Categoryall categories defined for the chosen Fact Sheet typesingle-select
Single selectAll single-select fields of the respective Fact Sheet type - and subsequently all of their valuessingle-select for the field itself - but multiple conditions can be added to one automation
multi-select for the values of a field - connected by OR

Actions

ActionsValuesAdditional Information
Create Action itemTitle, Description, Assignees (Fact Sheet creator, Fact Sheet subscriptions, Fixed Fact Sheet subscriptions, Users), Due date
Appendix: Toggle to dis-/enable the option to "Pause until marked as complete"
Assigning to subscriptions of a "Fixed Fact Sheet" as a reference, e.g. a User group or a separate "Teams" Fact Sheet type allows for dynamic assignment groups and less maintenance efforts on Automations.

The appended toggle allows to pause the execution of the following action in sequence when enabled. Any Automation run that is not completed within 180 days, will be stopped.
Set fieldField value that should be set, incl. "Empty" optionCurrently: Just for single-selects
Set Quality StateDraft, Broken, Approved, RejectedAutomations can only set the Quality State to approved when all mandatory attributes are set
Add Tagall tags defined for the chosen Fact Sheet typesingle-select

Multiple mode tags will be added additionally, and single mode tags will be added as a replacement, if another tag is set already.
Remove Tagall tags defined for the chosen Fact Sheet typesingle-select

Will remove the tag regardless of the tag mode.
Add SubscriptionUser (Fact Sheet creator, fixed user), Subscription type, and role(s)single-select for who to add and for subscription type, multi-select for subscription role

Adds a subscription only if the settings of the workflow and already existing subscriptions allow it.
Set SubscriptionUser (Fact Sheet creator, fixed user), Subscription type, and role(s)single-select for who to add and for subscription type, multi-select for subscription role

Sets a subscription and overwrites all existing subscriptions of the chosen user.

📘

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.

📘

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.

Important

Deleted Automations cannot be recovered.

📘

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.

📘

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:

1674
  • 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.

📘

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.

📘

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 at least one or up to 100 actions to be sequentially 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. Choose "Add action" again to select another one. You can easily move actions up and down, copy or delete them via the buttons on hover.
  • Save the Automation by clicking “Save Automation”

📘

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.

Best Practices for Automations

The Automations Best Practices page is available for you as a comprehensive documentation that captures and presents the most effective and up-to-date best practices related to Automations. By following these guidelines, you can optimize your processes, streamline workflows, and maximize the potential of your automation efforts.