Automations

What Are Automations?

Automations are time-based business rules in Zendesk that run hourly and check all tickets in your instance. Unlike triggers (which fire immediately on ticket events), automations operate on a schedule.

Automations are ideal for tasks like escalating unresponded tickets, closing solved tickets after a waiting period, or sending reminder emails.

What Configly Captures

For each automation, Configly stores:

• Basic Information

  • Automation name
  • Active/inactive status
  • Position (execution order)

• Conditions

  • All/any condition logic
  • Ticket state conditions (status, priority, assignee, etc.)
  • Time-based conditions (hours since created, updated, status changed)
  • Custom field conditions

• Actions

  • Field updates (status, priority, type, etc.)
  • Assignments (user, group)
  • Notifications (email to requester, assignee, etc.)
  • Tag additions/removals
  • Custom field updates

• Metadata

  • Created and updated timestamps

Viewing Automations

Navigate to Automations from your connection dashboard to see all your automations. You can:

• Filter by active/inactive status
• Search by name
• Sort by position or last updated
• View full condition and action details
• Compare automation configurations across connections

Hourly Execution

Remember that automations run once per hour. This means:

• Actions are not immediate - there can be up to a 60-minute delay
• Multiple automations can run in the same hourly cycle
• Position determines order of execution within that cycle

Common Dependencies

Automations frequently reference:

• Custom fields - In conditions (checking values) and actions (updating fields)
• Groups - For group assignment actions
• Tags - For adding/removing tags and tag-based conditions
• Brands - For brand-specific automation logic
• SLA policies - Time-based conditions often relate to SLA breach times
• Ticket status values - New, Open, Pending, Solved, Closed

Learn more about dependency tracking →

Tips for Admins

Time-Based Conditions

Automations excel at time-based logic:

• Hours since created - Escalate tickets that haven't been touched
• Hours since updated - Send reminders on stale tickets
• Hours since status changed - Auto-close tickets solved for 4 days
• Hours since last assignment - Reassign abandoned tickets

Before Making Changes

• Understand timing - Automations run hourly, not immediately
• Check dependencies - Verify what fields and values the automation uses
• Review position - Earlier automations can affect tickets that later ones check
• Test thoroughly - Automation changes affect all matching tickets system-wide

Common Patterns

• Auto-close workflow - Close tickets that have been solved for X days
• Escalation - Bump priority or reassign tickets that haven't been responded to
• Reminder notifications - Email assignees about pending tickets
• Tag cleanup - Remove temporary tags after a time period

Maintenance

• Inactive automations - Review and remove unused automations regularly
• Overlapping conditions - Multiple automations with similar conditions can conflict
• Performance impact - Each automation processes all tickets hourly. Keep conditions efficient.

Using Configly

• Diff automations - Compare configurations between environments
• Track changes - Understand what changed and when
• Identify dependencies - See what breaks if you remove a field or value
• Audit execution order - Review position to understand automation sequence

Example Use Cases

Auto-Close Solved Tickets

An automation that checks for tickets in "Solved" status for more than 96 hours (4 days), then sets them to "Closed".

Conditions:

• Ticket status is Solved
• Hours since status changed to Solved > 96

Actions:

• Set status to Closed

Dependencies to watch: Status field values

Escalate Unassigned Tickets

An automation that finds high-priority tickets that have been unassigned for 2+ hours and assigns them to a manager group.

Conditions:

• Ticket priority is High or Urgent
• Ticket assignee is empty
• Hours since created > 2

Actions:

• Set group to "Support Managers"

Dependencies to watch: Groups, priority field values

Pending Ticket Reminders

An automation that emails the assignee of tickets pending for 24 hours.

Conditions:

• Ticket status is Pending
• Hours since status changed > 24

Actions:

• Send email to assignee

Dependencies to watch: Status values, notification targets

Triggers vs Automations

Related Objects

• Triggers - Event-based business rules
• Macros - Manual actions for agents
• Custom Fields - Fields that automations read and update
• SLAs - Service level agreements that often work with automations