Overview
Let Tillor do something by itself when something happens, such as creating a task or sending a payment reminder
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With automations you let Tillor do something without a colleague having to remember it. You set a rule: when this happens, do that. A few examples:
- An occupancy on a static caravan ends, so Tillor creates a check task with subtasks and assigns it to the colleague who stopped the occupancy
- An invoice is overdue, so Tillor sends a payment reminder and, a week later, creates a task to call the customer if the invoice is still open
- A new reservation comes in, so Tillor sends the details to your own system
- Every Monday at 08:00 Tillor creates a task for the weekly check
- A new reservation comes in, so Tillor creates a QR code for the guest and sends it by e-mail
You build an automation yourself on a canvas, without code. You choose a starting moment, add steps and connect them with lines.
In plain words
An automation has three kinds of building blocks. You only need the technical details when you need them.
- The starting moment (trigger) is the "when". Something happens in Tillor, such as an occupancy ending, or it is a certain hour or a certain date. See Triggers
- The logic is the "if". Here the flow looks at the data and picks a route, or waits until something happens. An example: is the invoice still unpaid after a week? See Conditions, switches and delays
- The actions are the "then do". Create a task, send a message, book an invoice. See Actions
In addition, variables are the data of the moment itself, such as the name of the terrain or the customer. You put them between braces in a text, and Tillor fills in the real value. See Variables and templates.
Who can use it
Administrators only
Automations work with full permissions in your organisation. Viewing requires the permission View automations, building and changing requires Manage automations. Administrators with All permissions can do both. See Who can use automations?.
You find the page in the side menu under AdminAutomations.
How does this fit together?
Every automation consists of steps that you connect into a flow. An automation works together with tasks: it creates tasks, waits for a colleague to choose a button, or starts as soon as a task changes. See Tasks. Each time an automation starts, we call that a run. A run begins at the starting moment and follows the lines downwards.
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| When this happens (trigger) | The starting moment. An event in Tillor, a webhook, a chosen task action, an overdue invoice, a date such as a guest's arrival, a fixed hour or a schedule of your own. A flow can have several triggers. Each trigger starts a run of its own |
| Only when | A filter on the trigger. The automation only starts if the data matches, for example only for static caravans |
| If / else | Splits the flow into Yes and No based on one or more conditions |
| Switch | Splits the flow into several branches, depending on the value of a field |
| Delay and other wait steps | Make the flow wait for a time, a date, the opening hours, a condition, an event or a colleague's decision |
| Open now?, Look up a record, For each | Check whether you are open, fetch a record or run the steps after it for each item in a list |
| Actions | Really do something: tasks, messages to guests and colleagues, invoices, payments and mandates, access, meters and devices, webhooks and API requests |
Steps with several outputs, such as Yes and No, Done and Skipped or Succeeded and Failed, let you choose a different continuation per outcome. For every action you can also switch on an Error output, so the flow continues if the step fails.
Variables
Text fields in a step accept variables between braces, such as {occupation.terrain.name}. Tillor fills in the name of the terrain that belongs to the event. That way you make messages and tasks that differ per case. Read more at Variables and templates.
Getting started quickly
- Go to Admin > Automations and click New automation
- Choose a template or Start from scratch
- Set the trigger and the steps and click Save
- Try the flow on the Test run tab. Nothing is really sent or created then
- Switch on Active when you are happy
The new automation is paused until you switch it on yourself. A step-by-step explanation is at Getting started.
Good to know
- A new automation is paused until you switch it on yourself
- An automation has at most 100 steps. Notes and frames on the canvas count separately, at most 50
- A Switch has at most 8 branches, and Ask for a decision at most 8 options
- Schedules and dates are checked every minute. An event starts immediately
- Changes can take half a minute before they apply everywhere
- A failed run is e-mailed to whoever made the automation, at most once an hour
- The Runs tab shows the last 20 runs
- A flow cannot start itself or another flow through what it creates itself
Automations really do something
An automation that is switched on sends real reminders and creates real tasks. Use the Test run tab and check the first runs on the Runs tab before you are sure everything is right.
Parts
Getting started
The overview, the templates and the editor, and how to save and switch on an automation
Triggers
Events, dates, overdue invoices and schedules, plus filters and starting once
Conditions, switches and delays
Splitting and pausing the flow, looking up records, looping through lists and asking for a decision
Actions
Everything an automation can do, with all fields
Variables and templates
Using data of the event in your texts
Who runs an automation?
Why tasks and comments from an automation are in the name of a fixed system user
Testing and runs
Doing a test run and looking back at real runs
Problems and switching on
Why an automation cannot be switched on and what the messages mean
Example: holiday caravan check
Building a complete flow step by step
Frequently asked questions
Limits, an explanation of pausing and what to do when nothing happens
For developers
The API request, the webhook envelope, signing and management via the API
Terms
- Automation: a rule of "when this happens, do that", built as a flow
- Flow: the canvas of one automation, with steps and lines
- Trigger: the starting moment of a flow
- Run: one time an automation starts and goes through the flow
- Action: a step that really does something, such as creating a task
- Variable: a piece of data of the moment, between braces in a text
- Test run: a trial in which nothing is really sent or created
- Workflow: the user in whose name an automation works
More terms are in the glossary.