Time-based automations (TBAs) in Talkdesk Cases™ allow Administrators to configure a set of conditions, and the corresponding actions to be executed on cases that meet the conditions, such as updating case properties and notifying users. With TBAs, Agents are freed from repetitive tasks, as they focus on cases that require more attention. Thus, they play an important role in helping Agents automate their workflow with increased efficiency.
Understanding How Time-based Automations Work
After their creation, time-based automations run hourly, from top to bottom, as they are displayed on the “Time-based Automations” page, and fire on cases that meet their conditions.
The following four stages explain the general process of how time-based automations work in Talkdesk Cases.
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Administrators create time-based automations by setting conditions and actions. The following table lists some examples.
Conditions Actions Cases not assigned to the “Manager” group remain in the “Open” status for over 24 hours. - Send notifications to the “Manager” group.
- Assign the cases to the “Manager” group.
Cases remain in the “Resolved” status for over five days. Close cases. Cases with the “Normal” priority remain unchanged for 48 hours since their last update. Update the Priority value to “Urgent”. -
At some point of an hour (for example, 3:45 PM), all active time-based automations run in the order in which they are displayed on the “Time-based Automations” page (namely, from top to bottom).
Specifically, the first automation runs and then fires on cases that meet its predefined conditions, thus executing the corresponding action on them, one after another. Once this process is completed, the second automation runs and fires in the same way, as do the remaining automations. The total amount of time that all automations need to finish the entire process depends on the number of automations and applicable cases.
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At the same time point of the subsequent hour (for example, 4:45 PM), all active automations run and fire again, following the same procedures.
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Administrators can view the number of executions of each automation (namely, the number of cases where the automation has been applied) on the “Time-based Automations” page.
Notes:
- After cases are created or updated, time-based automations do not fire on them immediately, even if they might meet conditions. At some point of each hour, time-based automations begin to run and fire on applicable cases.
- How automations are ordered on the “Time-based Automations” page determines which automation runs first at that specific time point of an hour. This means that actions defined in an automation that runs first may affect the remaining automations that run afterward. For example, a case property is updated due to an automation and, as a result, the case meets (or does not meet) the conditions of subsequent automations.
- Time-based automations are inapplicable to deleted cases. However, if those cases are restored, automations can be executed again, if they meet the corresponding conditions.
- A time-based automation must contain a true-only-once condition or an action that cancels at least one of the conditions defined in the automation. Otherwise, the same automation would be executed continuously as its original conditions are always met.
- A time-based automation must contain at least one of the following properties in its conditions: Status, Type, Group, Assignee, and Requester. For more information, see Understanding Conditions and Actions in Time-based Automations.
- Each automation can run on a maximum of 1000 cases per hour. If there are over 1000 cases that meet conditions in an automation, the automation will only process 1000 cases in the first hour, and the remaining cases will be processed in the subsequent hour. If there are still cases meeting the conditions, the automation will run on these cases in the following hour until all applicable cases are processed.
For more information, see Creating and Managing Time-based Automations.