Runs and activity

Each time an automation acts on an order, Omnilinker records a run: what started it, each step and what it did. You see runs in two places: on the order card, for one order, and on Automations > Activity, for every order. You need the See what automations did permission to see runs, and Retry and stop automation runs to retry or stop them. See Permissions.

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The order card’s Automations section

Open an order and go to its Automations section: “What ran here, what didn’t, and why.” Each entry is something that happened to the order, newest first, with when it happened and who started it: by a person, through the API, or “after “…”” when another automation started it. Not looked at yet means Omnilinker has not checked the automations for it yet. Under each entry are the automations that ran, each with its result and its steps: A step tried more than once says so, for example “(after 3 tries)”. Click an automation’s name to open it in the editor.

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Why an automation didn’t run

Below an entry, N rules didn’t apply here lists the automations with that trigger that did not act, and why:

• “didn’t run: it runs only when” followed by the condition, and what the order had there;
• “didn’t run: it was off then”;
• “didn’t run: it tests something no installed module offers any more”.

For an automation in trial, the line says “wouldn’t have acted”. Click Hide the rules that didn’t apply to fold them away again.

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Retry a failed step

When a step has failed for good, the top of the section says “One step needs you:” with what failed and Try again. Each failed step also has its own Try again. “It will be tried again in a moment.” A retry is refused, with the reason, while the order is held (“Automations are held here. Release the hold, then try the step again.”), while the automation is not on, or while automations are running on the order. Retrying never repeats what a step has already done: a shipment is never booked twice, a trigger never pressed twice. A Create a shipment step whose carrier didn’t answer clearly says “An earlier try may have bought this shipment without it being recorded, so it isn’t tried again.” Retrying it is refused for good: check the carrier’s panel, and if nothing was bought, create the shipment from the order card.

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Hold automations on an order

Turn on Hold automations at the top of the section. You need the Hold and release automations on a record permission. The section then says when it was held: “Nothing starts on its own until it’s released. Buttons and scans still work, because a person chose them.” Type a Reason so the others know why. Turn the switch off to release the hold. Each run that waited checks its conditions again on the order as it is now, and runs only if the order still fits; the others are cancelled with “Cancelled: the record no longer matches the conditions.” An order can also be held by an automation’s Hold automations step, and by Hand to a person in floor mode.

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Live updates

The section updates by itself while runs on the order change, so you can keep the card open and watch a press finish.

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The Activity page

Open Automations > Activity: “Every run on every record. Problems are grouped by what caused them, so one outage is one line.” Choose the time range at the top: Last hour (the default), Last 24 hours or Last 7 days. The page updates by itself as runs change; Refresh looks again at once. To see one automation only, use See its runs from the Automations list or a problem. The filter shows as Only followed by the automation’s name; Show every automation removes it.

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The figures

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Needs attention

Needs attention groups failed runs by their cause: the automation, the step and the reason. For each problem you see how many runs, since when, on which orders, and whether some are retrying by themselves, with the next try and how many tries are left.

• Retry it now, or Retry all N now, tries the failed runs again. You need Retry and stop automation runs. One click retries up to 100 runs; when more are left, the page says so and you click again. Runs whose order is held, whose automation isn’t on, or that are running are skipped, and the page says how many.
• Pause the automation stops new runs from going ahead while you fix the cause. “Paused, it holds new runs and runs them when you resume it. Nothing is skipped.” You need Create and change automations.
• See its runs lists the failed runs of that automation.

When nothing needs you, the page says “Nothing needs attention: every run went as it should.”

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Stopped loops

Each loop the loop guard stopped is listed as “A loop was stopped on” the order, with the automations that “kept starting each other”. Click See the run for its details, or Open the record. Change one of the automations, for example with a condition, so they no longer start each other.

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Runs

The Runs list has the tabs All, Failed, Stopped and Trial, with the columns When, Record, Automation, Started by and Result. Show more loads more runs. Click a record to open the run’s details: what started it, each step with what it did, and Technical details for a failed step. From there:

• Retry now tries a failed run again.
• Open the record opens the order.
• Stop this run cancels what the run has not done yet: “What it hasn’t done yet, it won’t do. The record’s runs waiting behind it go on.”

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Notifications

When a step fails for good, the person who made the automation gets a notification, ”“…” couldn’t finish on #…”, and so do the people and role chosen under If a step fails. When the loop guard stops a run, the person who made the automation is told: ”“…” was stopped on #…”. Notifications arrive in the Notification Center, one per run, grouped by automation. See Inbox.

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How long runs are kept

Omnilinker deletes old automation history once a night, for each organization separately. Two settings decide how long it is kept:

• A value of 0 keeps them for good.
• A run that has not finished, for example one that is held, paused or waiting to retry, is kept however old it is, with what started it.
• A finished run is counted from when it finished, not from when it started.

To change them, open Administration > Settings, choose the Automations group, set the two values and click Save. You need the Change automation settings permission. A shorter window takes effect the next night. If you run Omnilinker yourself, the host’s values apply to every organization that has not set its own, and the Settings section of appsettings.json sets the defaults below them.