Automation feedback request

Automation feedback request overview

Starting simple is the key to effective automation.

So, what’s one universal concept every MSP can embrace, regardless of their RMM, PSA, or integrations? A centralized system for automation feedback is an essential step toward fostering a culture of automation across your organization.

This quickstart guide walks you through creating your very first automation: a system to track and manage those requests effortlessly. By leveraging the core principles that will shape your future automations, this tool will collect all automation ideas directly into your inbox for easy access.

By the end of this guide, you’ll not only have your first automation up and running, but also a streamlined process for gathering automation requests from your entire team.

Let’s get cracking!

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Step 1: Create a form

Creating a form is a good way to collect information that you will use in your automation. By adding a Field Name for each field, you can easily use the data from each field in your automation. The Field Label and Field Descriptions on the other hand, will help you coach your form user on the type of information you are looking for.

In this case, we want to make sure they know the automation request should be a process that already exists, how much time this automation would save, and how often the automation should run.

1. Log in to the Rewst platform.

2. Navigate to Automations > Forms in the left side menu.

3. Click + to create a new form.

4. Enter Automation Intake Form into the Form Name field.

5. Click Submit.

6. Add the following fields by dragging the relevant elements into your form builder, with the values specified below:

   • Multi-Line Input:

     • Field Name: process_automation

     • Field Label: What process should we automate?

     • Field Description: We can't automate a process that doesn't exist. Please explain the process you would like automated.

     • Field Required: Yes

   • Number Input:

     • Field Name: time_saved

     • Field Label: Time (In minutes)

     • Field Description: How much time does this process take to do manually?

     • Field Required: Yes

   • Text Input:

     • Field Name: frequency

     • Field Label: Frequency

     • Field Description: How often does this task get done?

     • Field Required: Yes

   
7. Click the Save icon at the top right of the form.

8. Click Submit.

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Step 2: Build the workflow

A workflow is like the piping that your data will flow through. By setting up this workflow, we're telling Rewst to take the information from the form, format it, and send it in an email to you.

Create a new workflow

1. Navigate to Automations > Workflows.

2. Click Create to create a new workflow.

1. Enter Automation Intake in the Name field.

2. Add any Tags you'd like, to stay organized.

3. Click Submit.

Add the trigger

• Click the Trigger button, denoted by a blue lightning bolt, in the top menu. Your load time to establish the trigger may take a moment.

  
• Enter Intake Form in the Name field.

• Toggle Enabled to on to activate this trigger.

  • With the trigger active, every form submission will start our new workflow.

• Choose the Core - Form Submission from the Trigger Type drop down menu field. You can type in this menu field to jump to your desired trigger type instead of scrolling through the long list.

• Select the Automation Intake Form you created under Trigger Parameters.

• Click Submit at the bottom.

Add the starting noop action to the canvas

1. Open the Core section in the left Actions menu.
2. Drag and drop the noop action to the workflow canvas.

3. Replace the default core_noop name with send_message.

4. Type "This action starts the workflow" for the Description.

   

Add a sendmail action to send the message

1. Open the Core section in the left Actions menu, if it's not already open.

2. Drag and drop the sendmail action to the workflow canvas.

3. Replace the default core_sendmail name with to_email.

4. Fill in the following for the next several fields:

   1. Sender: [e-mail]

   2. Recipient: Your own email

   3. Subject: Automation Request

   4. Title: You have a new automation request

Add basic Jinja to reference the form input:

1. Click on the View in Task Editor button next to the message field to open up the Jinja editor.

   
2. Type the following to reference what we type in the form:

   • Requestor: {{ CTX.user.username }}

   • Automation Idea: {{ CTX.process_automation }}

   • Time Saved: {{ CTX.time_saved }} minutes

   • Frequency: {{ CTX.frequency }}

3. Close the editor.

Create a transition

1. Click and drag the transition from the noop action to the sendmail action.

   • To do this, you'll need to hover over the gray circle under the On Success section of the noop action.

Publish to save the workflow

1. Enter a Change Summary and Changes Description.

2. Click Publish to save the workflow.

3. Click Submit on the pop-up to confirm.

Step 3: Test the workflow

View the form URL

1. Click the View Direct URLs button next to Dynamic Form URL.

   • If the trigger isn't open, click Edit Trigger at the top menu next to our Form Trigger.

2. Click on the link.

Submit an automation idea

1. Type your automation idea into the form fields.

2. Click Submit.

3. Check your email.

What’s next?

Share the direct link with your colleagues. They'll have to have a role of form-users in Rewst, and they can submit their automation ideas.

As your company develops a culture of automation, you'll likely want to make changes to this form to better calculate ROI. Ensure you document your workflows internally, and your team can iterate and build as your processes evolve.