Testing and activating an automation

A workflow does nothing until it’s active. Before you get there, two gates.

1. Complete every node

Any node missing required configuration is flagged as incomplete. The builder tracks these and tells you which ones need attention, re-checking as you edit.

Common causes: an action with no recipient, a condition with no value, a Send Survey step with no survey selected, a Wait step with no duration.

A workflow with incomplete nodes can’t be relied on. Clear them all first.

2. Test it

Workflows record whether they’ve been tested, and you should treat that as mandatory rather than advisory.

A test run shows you what actually happens — including what your messages look like once placeholders are substituted, which is the failure you most want to catch before a customer does.

Test to yourself. Use an internal email address or your own number. Never test against a real customer record.

What to check in a test:

• Did the flow take the branch you expected?
• Do the messages read correctly, with no raw placeholder names?
• Is the tone right?
• Did every step complete?
• For SMS, is it still one message after substitution?

3. Activate

Flip the workflow active. From that point the trigger is armed.

Activate at a time you’re around. Switching on a review-response workflow at 6pm on a Friday means any surprise plays out over the weekend with nobody watching.

The first week

Check the workflow’s run history daily for the first few days. You’re looking for three things:

1. Runs that failed — something errored
2. Runs that completed but did the wrong thing — usually a conditions problem
3. Events that didn’t produce a run at all — usually a condition filtering more aggressively than intended

The trigger’s event history is separate from the workflow’s run history, which is what lets you tell “nothing happened” apart from “nothing arrived”.

Turning one off

Deactivate rather than delete. A deactivated workflow keeps its configuration and its history, so you can inspect what it used to do and switch it back on. Deleting loses both.

Know where the off switch is before you activate. It matters at 9pm on a Saturday.

Changing a live workflow

Editing an active workflow changes behaviour immediately for anything triggering after the change. For a significant restructure, export a copy first, or deactivate while you work.

Runs already in flight — sitting in a Wait step, for instance — follow the flow as it was when they started.