Workflows 101: Actions

Workflows offer a powerful way to add automation to your factory floor. By configuring triggers and actions, you can make sure the right people or systems have the right information at the right time to take action and optimize production. 

Learn more about Workflows here. 

What are Workflows? 

Workflows include a trigger that drives a specific action. This article will focus on the different Actions that you can choose from in MachineMetrics. To learn more about Triggers, check out this article: Workflows 101: Triggers. 

Workflow Actions

There are three (3) different Actions you can choose from when configuring a Workflow: Incident, Notification, or Webhook. Below, we go into more detail about each of these actions and how you can use them to start to automate portions of your factory. 

1) Action: Incidents

This action will automatically create an Incident in MachineMetrics based on specific conditions met on the specified machine(s). Within the Add New Workflow form, you will see a few fields associated with the Incident action. We have outlined them below: 

• Delay (Minutes to Delay Action): This field is where you can input a delay that will be observed by our system. Basically, this tells MachineMetrics how long our system should wait before triggering the incident creation. If the conditions or trigger is not met for this long, the Incident will not be created. 
• Priority: Options available for selection include Low, Medium, and High. This is also used for filtering and sorting Incidents on the incidents page. 
• Assignee: Who is responsible for this Incident when it occurs? That is who you will enter in as the Assignee.
  
  **NOTE: Only Users who have MachineMetrics profiles will appear in this drop-down. Also, Individual User Profile Settings will dictate the Notifications. Learn more about Profile and Account Settings. 
  
  **NOTE: To send a notification at all hours, you can override the times configured in their profile by selecting the box below the Assignee field. 

Common Uses of Incidents in Workflows: 

With time-based triggers, some manufacturers are using the Incident action to create maintenance events that notify the correct person to service the machine. 

2) Action: Notification  

Who should receive this Notification: Who should receive a Notification about the conditions met? This is who you will add in this field. 

**NOTE: Only Users who have MachineMetrics profiles will appear in this drop-down. Also, Individual User Profile Settings will dictate the Notifications. Learn more about Profile and Account Settings. 

**NOTE: To send a notification at all hours, you can override the times configured in their profile by selecting the box below the Assignee field. 

Email/Text Alerts for Workflows

Notifications and Incidents are created to notify Users of issues or situations they need to be made aware of. Users choose how and when they receive the alerts in their User Profile Settings. So, what do these alerts look like when a User receives one?  Below you will find examples of a Text and Email alert.

Email Alert Example: 

Text Alert Example:

3) Action: Webhooks

The third type of Action you can select when configuring a Workflow is Webhooks. Webhooks send a packet of data to a specified endpoint/location when the Workflow is triggered. The possibilities are really endless with Webhooks. Some examples of how this may be used include sending work order information to a CMMS, or sending information to your ERP.

• Enter URL: This indicates the destination or endpoint of where the data will land. To learn more about how to create your own endpoint for Workflows, see this article. 
• Enter Secret: The Secret is an input of auto-generated (depending on your preference) unique code associated with the Workflow. This Secret is what your destination location will use to validate MachineMetrics as the sender of the information. It acts as a key to unlock the destination so that the data can be delivered. 
  
  **NOTE: Once the Webhook is created, you cannot view the Secret again for security reasons, so we recommend that you save is somewhere secure. 

Want to learn more about how these Actions are triggered? Check out this article. 

Have questions? 

Contact our support team at Support@machinemetrics.com.