Process automation

Process automation is a clever way for you to determine action on the board to be causing a reaction. For example, you can make tasks of a certain type (color) get assigned to a relevant team member, you can change card priority basing on a set due date, have tasks move to the next stage upon a chosen custom field being filled-in, or set a custom email notification for when a card meets a set of your requirements: task values, position in a given column or swimlane, and many more.

To add an automation rule to a Kanban board, please go to board Settings - Process Automation and use the widget provided. There are a few examples predefined for your convenience, but you are most welcome to create any rules possible on your own. It’s easier than it may seem!

Please note, all automation rules and trigger buttons are only available to users with project manager, account administrator or owner privileges.

Below are a few examples of great automation use cases (Click on the images to see full sizes):

• When a task is created in swimlane Project DYN, assign it to Francois:
• When a task is moved to the Today column, change assignment to Rick, add a due date for right now and give it a high priority:
• When a task receives a time estimate exceeding 20 hrs, send a notification to Aksel, the team supervisor:
• When a task is moved to Monitoring, change the card type to financial analysis.
  This is fantastic help especially, for when you have set up different card templates for different card colors:
• When any task on the board is updated in any way, send a notification to Jónsi.
  Note, that leaving a field blank is also recognized as a selection criteria, just like in this example:
• When a task is moved to Done, clear its due date field:

You may also create rules, which will run at regular time intervals, instead of executing on basis of a specified event only, for example:

• Archive red tasks in the Done column, that have not been updated for 7 days.
• Notify me of high priority tasks becoming due in 2 days.
• Notify Daria when there are tasks that have been worked on (timed) for more than 8 hours.

Also, it is possible to create automation rule trigger buttons, on clicking which, a specified set of changes will be applied, either to one task (when using task buttons or menu options) or to all tasks (when using board buttons).

• Create a button on the board, clicking which will check for overdue tasks in Production column, and send a notification about them to set users. Buttons like this are added to a board's side panel, under Process Automation.
• Create an in-task button, clicking which will send the task to Production column, and change multiple details of the task for you - assignment, due date, type, custom field selection, in this example.
• Add an extra task menu option, letting you move the task straight to Completed.

For detailed information on the syntax needed for own automation rules creation, be sure to view this page. Should you get stuck or come across any issues, feel free to contact us for help.

Process automation rules limitations

Kanban Tool Enterprise subscribers can use process automation with the following limitations:

• 10 rules per board, for accounts with up to 5 members
• twice as many rules, as the number of users, for accounts with more than 5 members
  (for example 20 rules per board for a 10-user account, 100 rules per board for a 50-user account)

During the free trial period you can define up to five automations on each board.

Please note, process automation is only available to the Enterprise plan subscribers.
You can change your service plan any time from Account Administration - Plan & Billing details.