In this video:

Automation is applied to Tasks, Subtasks or Client Requests (within a Task). You can add it in the Task Workspace after creating a Task or Subtask.

Automation is set up with conditions and actions or you can think of it as “if-then statements”.

You likely learned Apollo Root Cause Analysis methodology in math class. (If you haven’t, where have you been?) Anyway, it states that conditions and actions must coexist for something to happen. Well, that’s exactly what automation is!

For example, we could create an automation for when a task reaches a certain status (Ready), to assign the task to a member of your team.

So as you can see the condition or if is "When the task has a status of Ready ”. This is followed by the action or then is "Set assignee to Angela Martin."

Let’s build out an example of managing hand-offs between team members.

We will start by selecting an existing task and adding a due date.

Then let’s set up the automation.

Next, you’ll decide on two things:

Remember: Conditions are “if” statements. Think “if” or “when this happens”...And Actions are “then” statements - what should happen next?

You’ll start with Conditions first. Click on the first dropdown. Some examples include:

Select Condition as “When the task is approaching a date”

Then you’ll pick what should happen when the condition is met as your action:

Once you’ve set your condition and action, go ahead and click Add Automation. Automations require both the condition and action before doing this (just like ice cream and a cone).

When you’ve added your automation, you’ll see a summary of your if-then statement under Automation. You’re all set!

To edit automation, simply click on the three dots icon to the right of the if-then statement.

Then you can make any edits.

You can use this process to add automation to any task, subtask or client request either when you create the task or after it is created. You can continue to add additional automation steps as desired.

It’s worth noting that Canopy automatically chooses actions that are compatible with your chosen condition. In other words, actions are the consequence of your conditions! This reduces some mental load, thankfully!

For example, say you are setting up automation with a condition as a date approaches, an email should be sent to a contact. If that contact doesn’t have an email, then the option for email action does not appear! But adding an email to that account makes the option appear.

One thing to watch out for with automation is deleting elements of your conditions and actions. This might happen with a Custom Date that is used as part of the condition, but then later on, is deleted. Simply add a new date to fix the issue!