With the Automation Center, your agency can create workflows that will help automate manual tasks so that your agency can focus on what's really important - your customers!

Automation Center has different scenarios which are called triggers. When a trigger goes off the Automation Center then does an action. For example, if you create a customer account in EZLynx then Automation Center will send an email that contains a link to the Client Center portal on your agency website. With lots of triggers and actions, there are numerous workflows to create.

In this training article, we cover how to create a workflow from scratch. What's nice is that it's only 4 steps. Before we get started a few things to note: 

• By default, workflows are set to disabled, so you can work on them in phases if need be. Once you enable the workflow, it is live and the next time the scenario happens the workflow will trigger.
• Automation Center Basic Users can suggest workflows but only Automation Center Admins can enable workflows.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• How to access
• How it works
  • Select Trigger
  • Add Filters
  • Add Actions
  • Final Setup
    • Basic Users - Suggest to Admin
    • Admin Users - Approve Suggested Workflow
    • Admin Users - Save Workflow
• Workflows Tab
• Suggested Workflows Tab
• History Tab

Check out our video if you'd rather watch and follow along!

Did you know? - You can click on the images in our articles to make them bigger!

How to access

To suggest/create an Automation Center Workflow, you must have Automation Center access. To tell if you have the right access, hover over the Settings icon and look for Automation Center.

• If you do not see this option, you do not have Automation Center access. Please reach out to your Agency Admin to request access.
• If you do see this option, you have Automation Center access. Select Automation Center to be taken to the Automation Center product.

If you have Basic User access, you will land on the Workflows tab. This is where you can find a list of all the existing workflows, disabled or enabled.  You'll also find a Suggest New Workflow button. Select this button to start building an automation workflow.

If you have Admin User access, you will land on the Dashboard tab. On the Automation Center Dashboard page, select the Workflows tab. This is where you can find a list of all the existing workflows, disabled or enabled. We'll come back to this page, so more on this later. Now, select the Create Workflows button.

How it works

On the Workflow Editor page, you'll see we have 4 steps:

1. Select Trigger
2. Add Filters
3. Add Actions
4. Finish Setup

Please note, whether you are an Admin or Basic User the Workflow Editor steps are all the same. The only difference is on the Finish Setup step where Basic Users will find a Suggest Automation button instead of the Save Workflow button which only Admins can see. More on this later in the article.

For our example we will be making a workflow from scratch using the scenario of wanting to send New Customers a link to the customer portal after they have policy in the system. However, the overall steps of making a workflow are the same no matter the scenario so you can follow along. Now, let's take a look at the first step!

Select Trigger

On the Select Trigger step, you want to pick the scenario you want to automate. For our example, we'll stick with we want to send new customers a link to their client portal when they have a policy in the system. To search for a trigger, you can use the Search Triggers bar. If you aren't sure what you are looking for or what to automate, check out our recommended templates section! 

The recommended templates section gives EZLynx the opportunity to suggest best practices if you aren't sure where to start. The templates have been built keeping the most common business use cases in mind. The templates are preloaded with filters, checklists, and actions so all you have to do is tweak it to fit your needs and then enable it. Check out our Automation Center - Recommended Workflow Templates article to learn more about the recommended templates. 

For this article, we are going to be making a workflow from scratch, so we will not be using a template. Instead, we can check out the Select a Trigger from scratch section found at the bottom of the page. This section shows all the products available to your agency that can have certain scenarios automated. 

Select the arrow on the right-side to expand a section and see what triggers are available. Each card has a title and a short description of what it will do. For our example, we will expand the Management System section and choose New Customer. Once you select a trigger, you'll be taken to the next step - Add Filters.

Add Filters

On the Add Filters step, you can add filters which enable you to add specific requirements to your scenario. This step is normally optional, but it can be very useful if you only want this to happen for a specific scenario. 

For example, if you only wanted this workflow to happen for your Personal Lines customers you could add the applicant filter 'Type' and choose 'Personal'. By adding this filter, we've told the system to only trigger this workflow if a new customer and their applicant type is personal. The filters available will be different based on the trigger you chose in the Select Trigger step, so check out our Automation Center - List of all Triggers, Filters, Actions, and Templates article if you want to see everything that's available.

To add a filter, select the Add filter button. 

Then using the dropdowns select a filter that works for your agency's needs. You can even add multiple filters if you need to by selecting the And button. If you need to remove a filter, simply select the Delete icon next to the filter in question.

When you are ready to move to the next step, select the Next button or the Add Actions stepper.

Add Actions

On the Add Actions step, you can add an action that the system will take when your workflow triggers. This step is where you automate the tasks you want done. 

If we continue our example, I want to send the customer portal link to my new personal lines customers. Therefore, I would select the Send Client Center Link card where I can setup the specifics of that action. Once that action is setup, whenever this workflow triggers, it will send out a link to the customers I specified using the filters step. The actions available are different depending on the trigger you selected in the Select Trigger step, so check out our Automation Center - List of all Triggers, Filters, Actions, and Templates article if you want to see everything that's available.

To add an action, select one of the cards. This will take you to that action's setup page. The setup for the actions differs depending on which one you pick, but the functionality is all similar to how it works in other places of EZLynx. Follow the steps for your specific action. All actions will have the ability to determine when the action actually triggers. If you set the Day field to 0, the action will trigger immediately, but if you set it to anything other than 0, the action will be delayed that many days and go off later. When you are ready select the Save Action button which will bring you back to Add Actions page.

Once you've added your action, it will appear on the action sequencing section. This is where you can tell what actions you've setup and when they will happen. You can have multiple actions, so add as many as suits your agency's needs. When you are ready to move to the final step, select the Next button or the Final Setup stepper.

Attention! - If you chose the Text or Email action, your customer will not receive the text or email until after 10:00 AM CST. This is expected behavior to make sure your customers are not getting text or email notifications in the middle of the night.

Final Setup

On the Final Setup Step, whether you are an Admin or a Basic User, you can name and share your workflow with your branch locations if necessary. Input a name and description that is unique and something you'll remember to help you find this workflow in the future. If you have branches, you can use the Agency field to share this workflow to those locations.

Basic Users - Suggest to Admin

If you are a Basic User, you'll see a Suggest to Admin button instead of the Save Workflow button that only Admins can see.

When you select the Suggest to Admin button, a pop-up window will appear. You can select the admin from a drop-down menu. You can also include an optional message to highlight the benefits of creating the workflow. Then, select Submit Suggestion to finish process. This will send an email notification to your Agency Admin requesting approval for your suggestion.

Admin Users - Approve Suggested Workflow

Once an Automation Suggestion is sent to the Admin, the Admin will receive an email notification. The email will contain a workflow URL that, when clicked, will direct the Admin to Automation Center. The Admin can then create the workflow, with the ability to modify any parameters as needed.

Admin Users - Save Workflow

If you are an Admin User, you'll see a Disable/Enable toggle and the Save Workflow button that only Admins can see.

By default, the workflow is set to disabled so you can work on it in stages. If you are ready to enable the workflow, toggle the Disable/Enable option. To save the workflow, select the Save Workflow button. This will take you back to the Workflows tab where we started our journey.

Workflows Tab

Back on the Workflows tab, you'll see your workflow on the list of existing workflows. You can use the Search bar to search for a specific workflow or select the filters button to filter the list by the following options: 

If you are an Admin User, you have access to the full Actions menu under the Actions icon which has the following options: 

Attention! - Deleting a workflow that is in-progress will not stop it from being completed. It will only stop it from triggering in the future.

If you are a Basic User, you will only have the Duplicate option available under the Actions menu. 

Suggested Workflows Tab

Whether you are an Automation Center Basic User or Admin User, you will have access to the Suggested Workflows tab This page allows both Admin and Basic users to track the workflows they have received for approval and those they have sent for approval, respectively. 

If you are an Admin User, you can edit, disable, enable, duplicate, and delete workflows. 

If you are a Basic User, you can only view the workflow approval requests made to your agency's admin. 

History Tab

Please note, only Automation Center Admins have access to the History tab.

If you are ever curious if your workflows are working or not, you can check the History tab. This tab will show you all the workflows that have been triggered or are currently triggering. You can use the Search bar to find a specific workflow or select the Filter icon to use the filter dropdowns to help. The workflows can be filtered in the following ways: 

To check on the status of a workflow, select the expand arrow on the workflow instance to see the details of the trigger and whether it was successful, partially successful, or failed. 

We hope this training article helped you create an automation workflow to help automate some manual tasks and provide you some time to focus on more important tasks! Please let us know how we did by answering the question below. Check out our related articles on the right-side to learn more about mastering EZLynx!