Create automations

Overview

Deploying OKRs across different business units, departments, and thousands of employees can be a challenge. With Robotic Process Automation (RPA), you can deploy and manage OKRs at scale, have control over the process, and ensure consistency.

You use RPA to save time by automating repetitive tasks. For example, instead of manually checking if someone is compliant with your organization's OKR policies, automation helps you streamline the process. This boosts productivity, while reducing human errors.

RPA can help you with:

• Process consistency

• Information organization

• Anomaly detection

• Transparency

Components of an RPA

To set up an automation rule, you have to define:

• Trigger
  The trigger specifies the invocation of the rule

• Condition
  The condition is a logical test

• Action
  The action is what is performed, if the conditions are satisfied

In other words, when something happens and the conditions are met, Gtmhub will do something.

Example

In this example, Gtmhub will create and assign a task for OKR owners who have defined less than three key results for an OKR.

1. Create the automation

To create an automation, perform the following:

1. In the navigation pane, click Automation.

2. In the toolbar, click Create new automation.

3. Enter a name for the automation rule.
   In this example, enter Define more key results

4. Describe the automation rule.
   In this example, enter Create and assign a task to OKR owners who have defined two or less key results

5. Click Create automation.
   The automation editor appears.

2. Create the trigger

A trigger is what engages the automation to perform the defined action.
Automation rules can be triggered by the following:

• An event

• Manually

• On schedule
  The time for the schedule is in your local timezone.

In the automation editor, perform the following:

1. Click Create new trigger.
   In this example, select It will be triggered manually.

2. Click Create trigger.
   The automation rule will be triggered manually on objectives.

3. Define the conditions

The conditions are certain criteria that have to be met, before the action is performed.

To define conditions, perform the following:

1. Click Add condition.

2. In the first dropdown box, select the property of the objective that will be evaluated by the condition.
   In this example, select Session.

3. In the second dropdown box, select the operator.
   In this example, select is.

4. In the third field, select the value against which the property will be evaluated.
   In this example, select Q1 2020.

5. To add another condition, click + Add a condition.

6. Select the logical operator between AND and OR.
   Whether all conditions must be met or whether any of the conditions must be met.
   In this example, select AND.

7. In the first dropdown box, select Number of Key results.

8. In the second dropdown box, select is lower than.

9. In the third field, enter 3

10. Click Save condition.

* For Session conditions it is possible to select specific sessions from the list or apply dynamic conditions:

• Active sessions - Sessions happening in the current timeframe

• Past sessions - The previous sessions, based on the timeframe

• Upcoming sessions - The upcoming sessions, based on the timeframe

• Open - Sessions with the status “Open”

• In progress - Sessions with the status “In Progress”

• Not set - There are no OKRs created in the session yet

4. Create the action

Gtmhub supports internal - within Gtmhub, and external actions. When the trigger is engaged and the conditions are met, Gtmhub can:

• Add tasks to objectives

• Tag objectives

• Delete objectives

• Send emails

• Post Slack notifications

To define an action, perform the following:

1. Click Add an action.

2. In the dropdown box, select the action to perform.
   In this example, select Add task to.

3. Enter the name of the task you want to create.
   In this example, enter Define more key results

4. To provide additional context, enter a Description.
   In this example, enter Your OKR may not fully represent everything that is needed to achieve the objective. Ensure your OKR has at least three key results defined

5. In Owner, select an assignee for the task.
   You can assign a task to: The OKR creators, The OKR owners, or Other user.
   In this example, select The OKR owner.

6. Select the objective where the task will be added.
   In this example, select Add to this objective.
   If you choose Add to this objective, the task will be created in all OKRs where the conditions are met.
   If you choose Choose other objective, you can attach the task to a specific objective, if it meets the conditions.
   If you select Do not attach to objective, the task will be assigned to the owner of the objectives that meet the conditions, but will not be attached to a specific objective.

7. Click Create action.
   The automation is created and defined.

5. Execute the automation

To view all automations and execute them, in the navigation pane click Automation.

An automation can be in the following statuses:

• Draft
  The automation is not completely defined – it misses a trigger, conditions, or an action.

• enabled or disabled
  The automation is triggered by an event or on schedule.
  When you create such an automation, by default, its status is disabled. To engage an automation, click the status. The automation is now enabled and will execute according to its definition.
  
  NOTE: If the automation is scheduled, you can execute it manually before the scheduled time. To do this, in the list of automations, expand its menu and click Execute.
  

• execute
  The automation is triggered manually. To trigger such an automation, click execute.

In this example, the automation is manual. To execute in, click its execute button in the Status column.

Result

After clicking execute, Gtmhub creates tasks for all OKR owners in session Q1 2020 who have less than 3 key results defined for each objective.

See also

For more examples of automations, see Example: Automations.