Creating and Managing Workflows and Basic Notifications

Workflows are built using Triggers and Actions and can be customized to automate portions of your factory operations. In this article, we cover the following topics: 

• Accessing Workflows 
• Accessing Basic Notifications 
• Managing your Workflows List 
• Adding & Editing Workflows 

Why Workflows?

ACCESSING WORKFLOWS 

You can access the Workflows application from the following locations in MachineMetrics:

1. The Automations tab in the main navigation 
2. Ellipse (---) menu for individual alarms on the Alarms application page

From the Health Applications Menu

To access the Workflows page from the Health applications menu, do the following:

1. Login to MachineMetrics and hover over Automations in the main navigation, and select Workflows as highlighted below.
   
   
   
   
2. You will now be on your Workflows page where you will see any Workflows that have been created. If no Workflows have been created or if all previously created Workflows have been deleted, the page will display "No Workflows to show,” and you can select "New Workflow".
   
   
   

From the Individual Alarm Ellipsis (---) menu

Workflows for alarm conditions can be created using the ellipse (---) menu associated with each individual alarm on the Alarms application page.

Selecting Create Workflow from the alarm ellipse menu as highlighted above will launch the Add Workflow form with the Name, Trigger, and Alarm fields pre-populated based on the selected alarm.

Basic Notifications

You can also access Basic Notifications from the Workflows page. You can use this tab to set up Basic Notifications or follow the steps above in the From the Health Applications Menu section.

1. Click the Basic Notifications button at the upper right of the Workflows page
   
   
   
2. Click the New Notification button to create a notification
   
   
   
   
3. For more information on configuring a Basic Notification, see one of the articles below
   • Notification based on Machine
   • Notification based on Job

Your Workflows List

The Workflows page lists all Workflows that have been created and provides the following information:

• Status (Enabled/Disabled)
• Name
• Machine(s) 
• Trigger 
• Action(s)

Let’s take a closer look at each of these: 

Status 

The status of a Workflow is always Enabled when the Workflow is first created. Workflows can individually be Enabled or Disabled using the toggle button on the Workflows Page or on the Add/Edit Workflows form.  

Name

The Name of a Workflow is entered in the Add New Workflow form and should be descriptive of the purpose and function.

Machine(s) 

The Machine field displays the Machine(s) that the Workflow will be applied to. A Workflow can be applied to one or all Machines. This information is also selected in the Add New Workflow Form.

Triggers 

There are a few different types of Triggers that can be selected, including:

• Alarm Occurs
• Machine Reports Inactive
• Downtime Categorized As
• Scheduled

And these additional Triggers, only if your company tracks Setup Stages: 

• Setup Stage Entered
• Setup Exceeded

To learn more about Triggers and the different selections, look here. 

Actions

There are also a number of Actions you can configure, offering a large range of possibilities with Workflows. The options for Actions include: 

• Notification 
• Incident
• Webhook

To learn more about Actions and the different selections, look here. 

Searching For Workflows

Use the search field in the Workflows page to search for the Workflow of interest by using key terms. 

Filtering 

The Filtering selections can be used to filter your list of Workflows. Filter by the following categories shown in the image below: 

Adding New Workflows

Navigate to the top right of the Workflows Page, and Click the New Workflow button. This will open the Add New Workflow Form where you can configure your Workflow Settings.

Editing Existing Workflows

To change the settings of an existing Workflow, do the following:

1. Click on the Workflow in the list on the Workflows page
2. In the Workflows / Edit form, make the desired changes
3. Click the Save button at the bottom of the form to apply the changes you made.

To delete an existing Workflow, do the following:

1. Click on the Workflow in the list on the Workflows page
2. In the Workflows / Edit form Select Delete Workflow as noted in the figure below
3. A dialogue will pop up and after confirming select the Delete button to confirm the removal.

Need Ideas? 

Check out this article on the Top 10 Workflows for Manufacturers on our blog. 

Have Questions?

Contact Support@machinemetrics.com.