Effects: Automate Event Types with Conditions and Actions
Build effects on an event type that send notifications, create activities, fill attributes and roles, and change tracking when an event's answers or values meet your conditions.
An effect is a rule on an event type: when its conditions are met on an event, it carries out one or more actions. Effects are how a type does the follow-up work your team would otherwise do by hand after every new job, such as telling project management a PM is needed, putting the show dates on the schedule, or making sure an open role shows up as a task.
Each effect has a name, a When part made of conditions, and a Then part made of actions. It applies to every event of its type. Effects live on the type editor's Effects tab: from within your organization, open Settings, select Events, open a type from the Types tab, and select Effects.
When effects run
Nothing runs while an event is a draft. Effects act when the event is created, and after that whenever a field one of its conditions looks at changes. An effect that looks at an intake answer and a role wakes up when either of those changes, and not when someone edits an unrelated attribute.
Some actions can act while the event is being created, so the event is shaped before anyone opens it. Others act only once the event exists. Each action's timing is listed in the actions table below. An effect whose actions all act only during creation shows On events being created at the bottom of its card, and runs once. Every other effect shows On events.
Effects run in the order they are listed on the tab. Within one effect, notifications go out after the other actions, so the message describes changes that have already happened.
Create an effect
Start a new effect
Name it
Set the conditions
Add actions
Under Then, select Add something for this effect to do, pick an action, and fill in its settings. Add as many actions as the effect needs.
Save
A new effect is turned on as soon as it is saved. It needs a name, at least one condition, and at least one action.
Build conditions
Conditions sit in groups. Each group has its own logic:
- AND: every condition in the group must be met.
- OR: any one condition in the group is enough.
- At least: at least the number you enter must be met, such as two of three.
Use Add condition to add a condition to a group, and Add condition group to start another group. When an effect has more than one group, the dropdown beside When decides whether all groups or any group must match.
Each condition picks a field, an operator, and usually a value. The field picker lists everything on the type, grouped as:
- Event fields: Event name and Location name
- Attributes: every attribute placed on the type
- Roles: every role placed on the type
- Intake answers: every question on the type's intake form
The operators offered depend on the field:
| Field | Operators |
|---|---|
| Text, Rich Text, Link, Event name, Location name | is, is not, contains, is empty, is not empty, changed |
| Number, Date, Date & time | is, is not, is after, is before, is on or after, is on or before, is empty, is not empty, changed |
| Checkbox | is, is empty, is not empty, changed |
| Select, Crew, Collaborator | is, is not, is any of, is none of, is empty, is not empty, changed |
| Multi Select, Multi Crew, Multi Collaborator | contains, is any of, is none of, is empty, is not empty, changed |
| A role | is filled, is not filled, is (a specific person), changed |
| An attribute or a role's tracking | is required, is not required, is task tracked, is not task tracked, required changed, task tracked changed |
Intake answers use the same operators as an attribute of the same type. changed is met when that field is the one that just changed, which makes it the operator to use when an effect should respond to every edit of a field.
Actions an effect can take
| Action | What it does | When it acts |
|---|---|---|
| Add occupant to the event | Adds the people who fill a role to the event. Unfilling the role leaves them on the event. | Once the event is created |
| Send a notification | Sends a message you write to the people or roles you choose. | Once the event is created |
| Create an activity | Builds an activity from two date attributes and keeps it in step with them. | Once the event is created |
| Don't build part of the template | Skips one part of the base template. | Only while the event is being created |
| Require a role | Makes a role required on the event, or stops requiring it. | During creation and after |
| Track a role as a task | Turns a role's task tracking on or off for the event. | During creation and after |
| Change how an attribute is tracked | Sets an attribute's Required, Task tracked, and Needs review settings for the event. | During creation and after |
| Fill in an attribute | Sets an attribute from an intake answer, a fixed value, or whoever holds a role. | During creation and after |
| Fill a role | Puts someone into a role from an intake answer or a fixed value. | During creation and after |
Add occupant to the event. In Add occupants of, pick a role. In Into, choose the collaborator crew members are added under: The event's default collaborator, or one of the collaborators the base template builds. A role filled by a collaborator adds that collaborator to the event. People stay on the event if the role is later unfilled, because people are on an event for many reasons. Remove them from the event yourself when they should go.
Send a notification. Under Recipients, select Add recipient for each person or role to notify, and choose In-app or Email for each. A Person must be a crew member with a connected account. A Role notifies every crew member with a connected account who fills it on that event, and is skipped when the role is empty. Write a Subject and Body, and use Insert token to add values from the event, such as {{event.name}}, an attribute, a role, or an intake answer. Preview shows the message with tokens left blank. When an effect looks at a role, each person who fills that role triggers the message once, so saving the event again does not send it again.
Create an activity. Enter a Title, which can include tokens, and choose the Date or Date & time attributes it Starts and Ends on. Optionally choose Participants from a crew or collaborator attribute, or a role, and turn on All day. The activity appears on the event's schedule once both dates are filled in, and moves whenever they change. Its title and dates cannot be edited on the event: change the values behind them instead. Clearing either date removes the activity.
Don't build part of the template. In Don't build, choose a part of the type's base template, such as a collaborator or a task. It is skipped when the event is created. Changing the effect later does not add or remove anything on events that already exist. The action needs a base template; see Base Templates.
Require a role, Track a role as a task, and Change how an attribute is tracked. Pick the role or attribute and set its switches. A required role must be filled before the event can be created. Requiring a role does not change its task tracking. On Change how an attribute is tracked, Needs review is only available while Task tracked is on.
Fill in an attribute and Fill a role. Pick the attribute in Set or the role in Fill, then choose where the value comes From: an intake answer, a fixed value, or, for an attribute, a role's occupant. Filling from a role's occupant only works on a crew or collaborator attribute, and a role that holds several people needs an attribute that accepts more than one. Intake answers only reach an event's attributes and roles through these two actions.
The tracking and fill actions apply again each time their effect runs and its conditions are met. If someone changed that role, attribute, or setting on the event by hand, the effect replaces their change. Build conditions that only match when the effect should win.
Turn off, edit, or remove an effect
Each effect shows as a card with its When conditions, its Then actions, and how it runs. Select a card to edit it in the Edit effect panel. Use Search effects to find one by name, by a field it looks at, or by an action.
From a card's menu, choose Turn off to stop an effect without losing it, and Turn on to bring it back. Choose Remove to delete it. The Remove effect? confirmation explains that removing an effect stops it running on future changes, but does not undo anything it has already done. Activities it created stay on the event.
An effect whose condition looks at an attribute, role, or question that is no longer on the type is marked Broken and stops running. Select Fix it to choose a different field. If removing a crew member from your organization's crew leaves a notification with no one to send to, its effect is turned off. On an archived type, effects can be viewed but not changed.
Recipes
These four effects cover common requests. Adjust the names to match the attributes, roles, and questions on your types.
Notify project management when a job needs a project manager
Add a Select question to the type's intake form, such as "Does this job need a project manager?" with the options Yes and No. Then create an effect:
- When: under Intake answers, the question is Yes.
- Then: Send a notification to the head of your project management team as a Person, by Email. Use a subject such as "
{{event.name}}needs a project manager" and ask them to assign one.
To also show the open slot as work, add Track a role as a task for the Project manager role, with Task tracked on.
Ask the head of drafting to assign a draftsperson on complex jobs
Add a Select question such as "How complex is this job?" with the options Simple, Standard, and Complex. Then create an effect:
- When: the question is Complex. To include more than one level, use is any of.
- Then: Send a notification to the head of drafting as a Person, asking them to assign a draftsperson.
If the type has a Draftsperson role, add Track a role as a task for it, so the job shows a task until someone fills it.
Show a task when a role is needed
When a role becomes required on an event, it helps if the open role also shows up as a task. Create an effect:
- When: under Roles, the role is required.
- Then: Track a role as a task for the same role, with Task tracked on.
The role then appears as a task until someone fills it, whether it is required by the type's default when the event is created or marked required on the event later.
Put the event's dates on the schedule
This uses two Date or Date & time attributes on the type, such as Show start and Show end. Create an effect:
- When: one group set to OR, with Show start changed and Show end changed.
- Then: Create an activity with a title such as "Show:
{{event.name}}", Starts on Show start, and Ends on Show end. Optionally choose a role, such as Production manager, as Participants.
The activity appears on the schedule once both dates are filled in and follows them as they move. The conditions watch both dates with changed because an effect only runs when a field its conditions look at changes. Watching both means a change to either date moves the activity, and clearing either one removes it. Add one effect like this for each pair of dates, such as load-in and load-out.