Summary
Searching the Automation Template Library:
Type in the search bar: the library will filter out dynamically as you type.
Click on a category or sub-category on the left side panel: the library will filter to show only the templates in that category, and the search bar will only search within the category.
Configuring a Template:
Populate any template parameters, add a title and personalise any messages that will be sent.
Who is this article for?
All Planhat users.
Any user that wants to set up an automation using a template.
Series
Templated Automations ⬅️ You are here
Article contents
Introduction
The Automation Template Library contains a wide range of prebuilt automations making it quick and easy for you to build the automation that you need. The templated automations are split up into different categories making it easier for you to locate the automation that you require.
The templates that are currently available have been added because they are based on common use cases, this means that there is a good chance that you will find what you're looking for. The template library is always being added to, so even if you don't find the template you're looking for today, it might be there tomorrow. If you have a specific template request you think would create a lot of value, share it with your CSM and we might build it! 🛠️
Searching the Template Library & Finding Specific Templates
If you click on the "+" icon in the top left corner of the Operations module the Automation Template Library will open up, this is where you'll find a plethora of curated and categorised automations for you to quickly configure and add.
If you know exactly what you're looking for, there are two simple ways to find it:
Type in the search bar: the library will filter out dynamically as you type.
Click on a category or sub-category on the left side panel: the library will filter to show only the templates in that category, and the search bar will only search within the category.
🚀 Tip
For best results when looking for something very specific, we recommend choosing a category, like "Send a Notification" and then using search, e.g., for Email to find exactly what you want.
Exploring for Inspiration
If you're just looking for inspiration, rather than a specific template, it's best to pick a high-level category, like "Getting Started" and then search from All Templates as inspiration strikes!
🚀 Tip
Just click on any automation template to preview it. You can use the back button "<" in the top left of the template to pick up your search exactly where you left off.
Configuring a Template
Now for the fun part!
Once you've found the automation you want, you can begin configuring it. In this example, I'd like to stay alert to customers who are taking up more of my time than they're paying for. Specifically, I want to send a Slack message when the Hours Invested metric climbs above 3, to my customer's channel. This is the template that I would use:
While this might look a little confusing at first, automation templates are as simple as completing the sentence. While grey bold sections need your input before the template can be added, black bold sections don't need your input, because they have default values.
With that in mind, here's how I'd get this template up and running:
Select the metric I want to receive Slack messages about, by clicking on the dropdown input and clicking on the metric: I'm interested in Hours Invested.
Decide whether I want this to apply to all companies (the default), or just to a certain segment: I think it should only apply to my Low Touch companies.
Decide whether I want a notification when the metric drops below or climbs above a certain value: I'm interested in when the metric climbs above.
Decide the value it should climb above for me to be notified via Slack: It should exceed 3 (hours).
Select the Slack channel the message should be pushed to: The "customers" channel seems most fitting.
Optional Extras
Now, I could add the automation and it would be ready to go. But there are some final details you might like to improve:
Personalise the message to be sent: update it to "We've now invested more than 3 hours into <<object.name>>: they're a Low-Touch customer taking too much of our time!".
Update the title to make it easier to find in future: for example, "Slack Notification > Low-Touch Time-Drain".
Assign it to a group, so it's organised clearly with similar automations: for example, create a "Tech Touch" group to add it to.
📌 Important to note
The same replacement codes apply to these templated automations as they do to Custom Automations. In this example, "<<object.name>>" will populate the Slack message with the name of the company the automation fired on, since the 'object' is the company in this case. See this article for a deeper dive into how to customise these kinds of messages from Automations.
Now just click "Add Automation" and it will be added to your Operations module:
