Introduction
When creating new automations, we are faced by many, many different types of event types, many, many different potential conditions, and again, many, many different actions to choose from.
In this help article, we will look at all the event types of automations
What are event types?
Every automation begins with an event type. The event is the trigger that tells the platform when to check if the automation should run.
You can think of an event as the starting signal:
Sometimes it is scheduled, such as a periodic check every hour.
Sometimes it is triggered by a learner, such as completing an activity.
Sometimes it is triggered by the system, such as when a user is added to a group.
Without an event type, an automation will never run, because the system does not know when to act.
Important to note:
The selected event triggers every time the occurrence takes place.
For example, if you choose Activity is completed as the event, the platform will trigger the automation every time any user completes an activity.
This does not mean the actions will always be executed, that depends on whether the conditions are met.
Overview of event types
Event type | Trigger moment | Example use case |
Check periodically | The platform checks every hour if conditions are met | Unlock Module 1 for Belgium group during the first 7 days after contract start date |
Goal is completed | When a learner completes a goal | Move learners into the “Goal achieved” group |
Programme is completed | When a learner completes a programme | Unlock a certificate or assign a follow-up programme |
Journey/section is completed | When a learner completes a journey or a section | Unlock the next journey in a learning path |
Activity is completed | When a learner completes an activity | Unlock the next activity in a sequence |
Activity is ready for grading | When a learner submits an activity that requires grading | Notify the manager to review the submission |
Activity is graded | When a manager grades a learner’s activity | Notify the learner with their results |
Activity is reset | When an activity is reset | Unlock the activity again so the learner can retry |
User is added to group | When a learner is added to a specific group (if ECA group membership is enabled) | Unlock onboarding content when a user is added to the “New starters” group |
User is removed from group | When a learner is removed from a group (if ECA group membership is enabled) | Lock access to content when a learner leaves the “Managers” group |
Webhook event | When an external app pushes data into the platform | Add a user to a group when data from HR system is received |
Important:
For the event type: check periodically:
DO
You can use this condition to unlock content between a certain time frame, or for users who are in certain groups.
DON'T:
Do not use this event if something needs to happen straight after the user does something, such as granting a badge after the user completes a activity. In this case there might be a delay between the user trigger and the action.
What a Check periodically automation does when you enable it
When you enable a Check periodically automation, its actions run right away for everyone who meets the conditions at that moment, including users who met them long before the automation existed. After that, the platform checks every hour who newly meets the conditions.
Each action runs once per user. A user who meets the conditions gets the notification, the reset or the group change once, not every hour, and if the user later stops meeting the conditions and meets them again, the action does not run a second time.
💡 Note: Unlock and Lock actions, smart groups and programme access are different. They follow the conditions and are withdrawn when the user no longer meets them.
Unlock actions on an event automation
Use in event conditions, such as Is activity in event, for one-time actions like a badge, certificate, notification, to-do or adding a user to a group.
For Unlock and Lock actions the platform ignores in event conditions, because access is calculated from the state conditions (group, time, Is activity completed and programme). An event automation that unlocks content with only an in event condition unlocks it for every user, and with a group condition next to it, for the whole group, whether or not they completed the activity.
💡 Note: To unlock content after a completion, use Check periodically with Is activity set to completed, rather than the event Activity is completed with Is activity in event. Programme and smart group actions on an event automation do nothing at all. The same goes for a webhook automation, so add the user to a group and let a group automation unlock the content, because an unlock on the webhook automation itself would apply to everyone who meets its conditions.