Automations

Overview

Automations are a no-code feature that enables you to establish workflows triggered by specific events on fact sheets. As an admin user, you can configure automations to eliminate manual tasks, enrich user engagement, facilitate collaboration, and ensure data quality within your workspace.

Only admin users can manage automations. To view and configure automations, in the administration area, navigate to Automations.

The following image shows the overall logic of automations.

The processing times for automations are as follows:

• 95% of automations complete within 5 minutes under normal conditions.
• In scenarios that trigger multiple automations (for example, bulk updates or integrations), processing may take up to 30 minutes.
• Delays exceeding 1 hour trigger automatic escalations.

Automation Parameters

Each automation includes the following key parameters:

• Trigger
• Conditions
• Actions

Triggers

The following table lists the available triggering events for automations. When a triggering event occurs, the conditions are checked, and if met, actions are initiated.

A trigger is configured for a specific fact sheet type. The Fact Sheet Type list contains all fact sheet types defined in the meta model configuration. You can only select one fact sheet type.

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Note

The fields related to Obsolescence Risk are included in the meta model. However, these fields are calculated only at runtime in report views, and currently, automations cannot respond or trigger based on Obsolescence Risk related fields.

Conditions

The following table lists the available conditions for initiating automations. An automation is initiated only if all the specified conditions are met.

Actions

The following table lists the available actions that are initiated by an automation.

Creating an Automation

To create an automation, follow these steps:

1. In the administration area, navigate to Automations. You land on the Automations page.
2. Click New Automation.
3. Enter a name and, optionally, a description for the automation.
4. Select an owner for the automation.
   Any workspace user can be an automation owner. They serve as a default assignee for "orphaned" to-dos created by an automation and as a default subscriber to a fact sheet when the intended user is unavailable (for example, when the user no longer exists). As a fallback solution for automations, owners are expected to reassign to-dos or modify subscriptions directed to them as needed.
5. In the When section, specify the trigger for the automation:
   1. In the Fact Sheet Type list, select a fact sheet type.
   2. In the Event list, select an event for which the automation is triggered.
   3. Depending on the event that you selected, specify the required values.
6. In the If section, specify conditions for the automation.
   1. Decide whether you want to include or exclude events initiated by technical users.
      Technical users are used in integrations, the reference catalog, and more. Excluding events initiated by technical users is beneficial when you want to prevent triggering automations from mass changes to your workspace. For example, you might not want an approval to be triggered when a fact sheet is created from the catalog.
   2. Optional: Specify one or more additional conditions: fact sheet category, assigned tags, or single-select field values. An automation is initiated only if all the specified conditions are met.
      You can add multiple conditions for single-select fields to an automation. Within a condition, the OR logical operator is used, which means that any of the specified field values is included.
      For tags, the AND logical operator is used within a condition, which means that all of the specified tags must be included.
7. In the Then section, specify actions for the automation.
   You can add up to 100 actions for an automation. Actions are initiated sequentially in the order that you specify.
8. Decide whether you want to activate the automation after saving it or only save it in draft state:
   • To activate the automation after saving it, click Save and Run Automation.
   • To save the automation in draft state, click the arrow button, then click Save in Draft State.

Creating an Automation by Copying an Existing Automation

You can copy an existing automation, which enables you to create another automation with similar configuration parameters without having to configure them from scratch.

To copy an automation, on the Automations page, hover over an automation, then click the copy button that appears.

When you copy an automation, the copy is created in draft state. Before you activate the copied automation, edit the configuration parameters to ensure that you don't have two duplicate automations.

Sending a Webhook from an Automation

You can create automations where the action is sending a webhook to a target URL. With no-code automations that trigger a webhook, you get the following benefits:

• You can trigger external workflows from automations. To set up workflows, you can use an automation platform of your choice, such as SAP Integration Suite, Microsoft Power Automate, and more. You can also use any alternative method for processing webhook payloads and initiating event-based actions. Depending on your requirements, you can configure workflows for a wide range of scenarios: from updating your workspace data to sending notifications to users.
• You don't need to create a callback to manipulate the webhook payload. Instead, you can select an event that triggers the automation and specify additional conditions in the automation configuration. This allows you to set up granular notifications for specific fact sheet events through webhooks.
• You can configure a trigger for single-select fields that change from value A to B, which is not possible with standard webhooks. This enables you to compare values and initiate workflows for specific field changes.

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Note

The purpose of sending a webhook from an automation is not to provide a payload with comprehensive fact sheet data, but rather to send notifications once the specified conditions are met. This enables you to configure granular event-based workflows. For an example webhook payload, see AUTOMATION_TRIGGERED.

To view best practices for automations with a webhook action, see Best Practices and Use Cases for Automations with Webhooks.

Creating an Automation with a Webhook Action

To create an automation with a webhook action, first create an automation, then create a PUSH webhook for the AUTOMATION_TRIGGERED event, as described in the following instructions.

Step 1: Create an Automation

For detailed information on each configuration parameter, see Creating an Automation.

Follow these steps:

1. On the Automations page in the administration area, click New Automation.
2. Specify general automation parameters: name, description (optional), and owner.
3. In the When section, specify the trigger for the automation.
4. In the If section, specify conditions for triggering the automation.
5. In the Then section, specify actions for the automation. Click Add Action, then select Send Webhook. In the Webhook Tag field, enter a webhook tag that serves as the automation identifier.
   If needed, add more actions. Actions are initiated sequentially in the order that you specify.
6. Save the automation.

Step 2: Create a Webhook

Create a PUSH webhook for the AUTOMATION_TRIGGERED event. You can do it in one of the following ways:

• In the application UI, in the Webhooks section of the administration area
• Through the Webhooks API

To learn more about webhooks, see Webhooks.

Option 1: Create a Webhook in the Application UI

Follow these steps:

1. In the administration area, navigate to Webhooks, then click New Webhook. A page for configuring a webhook opens.
2. In the Triggering Events list, select AUTOMATION_TRIGGERED.
3. Optional: Enter a name for the webhook.
4. Select a managing user for the webhook. We recommend selecting a Technical User.
5. In the Type list, select PUSH.
6. Optional: Add an authorization header.
7. In the Target URL list, enter a URL for delivering webhook events. To test the automation, you can use a test target URL first.
8. In the Callback field, enter a callback that contains the webhook tag that you specified in the automation configuration, as shown in the following code snippet. INSERT_AUTOMATION_WEBHOOK_TAG is the webhook tag that you specified in the automation configuration. Replace this placeholder with your value.
   JavaScript

   var payload = delivery.payload; if (payload.tag === 'INSERT_AUTOMATION_WEBHOOK_TAG') { delivery.active = true; } else { delivery.active = false; }
   

   The tag binds the webhook to the automation that you created in the previous step. If you don’t provide a callback with a tag, the webhook will be triggered for all automations where the action is Send Webhook.
9. Optional: Decide whether you want to skip events that cannot be delivered to the target URL by selecting the Ignore Errors checkbox.
10. Optional: Decide whether you want to activate the webhook after creation by selecting or deselecting the checkbox next to Status.
11. Click Create.

Option 2: Create a Webhook Subscription Through the API

To create a webhook subscription through the Webhooks API, make a POST request to the following endpoint:

https://{SUBDOMAIN}.leanix.net/services/webhooks/v1/subscriptions

Replace {SUBDOMAIN} with your value. You can copy your subdomain value from the workspace URL.

In the request body, provide the event type AUTOMATION_TRIGGERED and your webhook tag in tagSets, as shown in the following example. INSERT_AUTOMATION_WEBHOOK_TAG is the webhook tag that you specified in the automation configuration. Replace this placeholder with your value.

Enter your target URL in targetUrl, specify your workspaceId , and set deliveryType to PUSH. To get your workspaceId, in the administration area, navigate to API Tokens. Modify other parameters if needed.

Example request body:

{
    "identifier": "Webhook for automation",
    "targetUrl": "<your target URL>",
    "targetMethod": "POST",
    "authorizationHeader": null,
    "workspaceId": "<your workspaceId>",
    "callback": null,
    "tagSets": [
        [
            "automations",
            "AUTOMATION_TRIGGERED",
            "INSERT_AUTOMATION_WEBHOOK_TAG"
        ]
    ],
    "deliveryType": "PUSH",
    "ignoreError": false,
    "active": true
}

Once you've created an automation with a webhook action, you can set up workflows using an automation platform of your choice or any alternative method. You can use SAP LeanIX APIs to retrieve and update your workspace data. For more information, see SAP LeanIX APIs.

Managing Automations

Once you've created automations, you can edit, duplicate, deactivate (if active), activate (if inactive), or delete them. To perform these actions, on the Automations page, hover over an automation, click the three-dot button that appears, then select the option that you need.

• When you deactivate an automation, further actions will not be initiated, but actions in progress are not canceled.
• When you delete an automation, this action cannot be undone. Instead of deleting an automation, consider deactivating it first.

You can filter automations by owner, status, and fact sheet types. To apply filters, click Add Filter, then select filtering criteria.

Viewing Statistics for Automations

To view the limit and quota of automations used in the current month, navigate to the Statistics tab on the Automations page. Every execution of an automation increases the quota by one.

The monthly automation limit varies by workspace type:

• Demo and sandbox workspaces allow up to 10,000 automations per month.
• Production (live) workspace limits correlate with the application limit.

Administrators receive notifications when usage reaches 80% of the monthly quota and when the limit is reached, ensuring timely responses if needed.

Best Practices

To view best practices and use cases for automations, see Automations Best Practices.