How do I schedule my automation?

After the completion of building and testing your automation workflow, it will not be active until you schedule it. Scheduling options & settings will vary depending on the type of automation (Event, Email, Trigger, SMS).

You can schedule your automation from two points in the automation dashboard:

1. From the dashboard homepage. Hover over listed automation and click the down arrow on the "Edit" button. Choose "Schedule" from the menu.
   
   
   
2. From the automation workflow. In step 4 of the workflow a pop-up will appear with scheduling options. Configure settings and click the "Ok" button.
   

The scheduling pop-up options will vary depending on the type of automation you are scheduling:

Email/SMS - Regular Campaign

When the regular campaign is sent, the automation will activate.

Email/SMS - Triggered Campaign

When the triggered campaign sends for the first time the automation will activate.

Triggered settings:

• Schedule send date - Set first time (day/time) the automation should be live and evaluate the trigger segment + trigger campaign to be sent.
• How far back do you want to check for recipients - At the next evaluation period, adjust how far back to look at data in the system. This setting can be used to go back in time to find contacts that match and should go through the automation.
• Send frequency - How often the trigger evaluation should check for matching contacts in the system.
• When the trigger runs, how soon should the recipient receive the email? - After the trigger evaluate occurs (c above), determine how soon after (or before, depending on use case) the next email be sent to the contacts that matched.

Email - Automated Campaign

Automated campaigns do not have scheduling options - they are either active or not active. The only option for scheduling is to "Activate now". The next time the automated campaign is sent, the automation will activate. 

Event

The date/time specified will activate the automation. On this date the system will continually search for contacts that match the criteria of the Event and pull them in.

Triggered Segment

If you are starting with Triggered segment, your scheduling window will include several settings (similar to triggered campaigns):

Triggered settings:

• Schedule send date - Set first time (day/time) the automation should be live and evaluate the clause built in the step.
• Change previous send date - At the next evaluation period, adjust how far back to look at data in the system.
• Send frequency - How often the trigger evaluation should check for matching contacts in the system.
• When the trigger runs, how soon should the recipient receive the email? - After the trigger evaluate occurs (c above), determine how soon after (or before, depending on use case) the next email be sent to the contacts that matched.

Notes

1. Your options for scheduling automation will depend on your license. For more information about license packaging, please visit https://www.delivra.com/pricing or email our Client Success team.
   
   
2. An automation cannot be scheduled unless or until all steps within the workflow have been setup. If you attempt to schedule an automation from the automation dashboard that is not complete, the system will take open the workflow and error messages will appear on incomplete steps. 

Resources

1. Please see this help article for more information about the entire build process for automations.
2. Visit our e-Learning hub for online modules to learn more about automation & other Delivra features.