Content:
1. Introduction to Business Rules
2. Business Rules Navigation
3. Type of Business Rules
4. How to Configure a Business Rule?
5. How to View Business Rules Execution Logs
6. Business Rule Execution Limitations
1. Introduction to Business Rules
The Business rules in Businessmap trigger actions (create a card, move a card, update a card, send a notification, call web service, block a parent card, etc.) when certain events occur or certain predefined criteria have been fulfilled. Business Rules work on the principle: If "X" and "Y" conditions are met, then do "Z."
Using Business rules is an easy way to automate your processes. You can synchronize data on different Boards and facilitate your everyday work with the system.
2. Business Rules Navigation
You have to be an Account Owner or a user with the "Manage Business Rules" privilege to be able to work with the Business rules automation engine.
Notes:
- Account Owners can manage business rules across the entire account.
- Users with the "Manage Business Rules" privilege are allowed to create, modify, and delete Business rules on all boards where the user is a member.
- Moreover, when creating or editing a business rule, the system allows you to share the business rules (grant access) with other users (e.g. Workspace Managers) that could modify/enable/disable them.
To access the business rules, go to the Administration menu and select “Business Rules.”
3. Type of Business Rules
The dedicated panel provides access to all Business rules in Businessmap.
This is the list of business rules that you can apply to your account.
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Card is created - This rule will trigger a predefined action (create, move, update, send a notification, call web service) whenever a card is created. A typical example would be to update the card tags if it is created in a predefined set of columns/swimlanes.
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Recurring create cards - With this rule, you can set up a schedule and create new cards automatically. For example, you can configure the system to create new cards every day at 5 p.m.
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Card is updated - This rule will trigger a predefined action (create, move, update, send a notification, call web service) whenever a card is updated. A typical example would be to move a card to a particular swimlane if its color is changed to red.
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Recurring update cards - With this rule, you can set up a schedule and update the details of specified cards automatically. For example, you can configure the system to scan your cards every day and change the color to red for those cards that are assigned to a concrete person. These rules are executed once per hour.
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Card updated by email - This rule will trigger a predefined action (create, move, update, send a notification, call web service) whenever a comment is added via the email integration feature. For example, you can move a card to "Waiting on us" when a customer replies to one of your emails and the email is processed by the email integration.
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Child card is blocked - This rule will automatically block a parent card when ANY of its child cards is blocked.
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All children are unblocked - This rule will automatically unblock a parent card when ALL of its children cards are unblocked.
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Card is moved - This rule will trigger a predefined action (create, move, update, send a notification, call web service) whenever a card is moved to a predefined set of columns/swimlanes. A typical example would be to change the owner when a card is moved to the For Review column.
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Child card is moved - This rule will automatically move a parent card to a specified position when ANY of its child cards is moved to a predefined set of columns/swimlanes. A typical example would be to move a parent card to In Progress when any of its children is moved to In Progress.
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Child card is updated - This rule will trigger a predefined action (update, move, or/and copy values) whenever a child card is updated. A typical example would be to update all parent cards of a single child if they match certain filters.
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All children are moved - This rule will automatically move a parent card to a specified position when ALL of its child cards are moved to a predefined set of columns/swimlanes. A typical example would be to move a parent card to Done when all of its children are moved to Done.
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Relative card is moved - This rule will automatically move a card to a specified position when its relative is moved to a predefined position. A typical example would be to have two relative cards on different boards, so when the card on board A is moved its relative on board B will be moved too.
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Relative card is updated - This rule will trigger a predefined action (update, move, or/and copy values) whenever a relative card is updated. A typical example would be to update all relative cards of a single relative if they match certain filters.
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Time-based rule - This rule will automatically update, move, or send notifications when a time-related rule is evaluated as TRUE. A typical example would be to send a notification email one day before a deadline or to move a card to a specific column when its start date is approaching.
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WIP limit is reached - This rule will trigger a predefined action (create, move, update, send a notification, call web service) whenever the WIP limit in a predefined set of columns/cells is reached. Selecting a lane adds all the cells in that lane to the set.
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WIP limit is exceeded - This rule will trigger a predefined action (create, move, update, send a notification, call web service) whenever the WIP limit in a predefined set of columns/cells is exceeded. Selecting a lane adds all the cells in that lane to the set.
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Card count - This rule will trigger a predefined action (create, move, update, send a notification, call web service) whenever the number of cards in a predefined set of columns/lanes/cells satisfies a limiting condition.
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Parent card is moved - This rule will trigger a predefined action (move or/and update) whenever a parent is moved to a predefined set of columns/swimlanes. A typical example would be to move all child cards of a single parent to predefined locations if they match certain filters.
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Parent card is updated - This rule will trigger a predefined action (update or/and move) whenever a parent card is updated. A typical example would be to update all child cards of a single parent if they match certain filters.
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Predecessor card is moved - This rule will trigger a predefined action (move or/and update values) whenever a predecessor is moved to a predefined set of columns/swimlanes. A typical example would be to move all successor cards of a single predecessor to predefined locations if they match certain filters.
- Predecessor card is updated - This rule will trigger a predefined action (update, move or/and copy values) whenever a predecessor card is updated. A typical example would be to update all successor cards of a single predecessor if they match certain filters.
- Successor card is moved - This rule will trigger a predefined action (move or/and update values) whenever a successor is moved to a predefined set of columns/swimlanes. A typical example would be to move all predecessor cards of a single successor to predefined locations if they match certain filters.
- Successor card is updated - This rule will trigger a predefined action (update, move, or/and copy values) whenever a successor card is updated. A typical example would be to update all predecessor cards of a single successor if they match certain filters.
- Recurring archive cards - With this rule, you can set up a schedule and archive cards automatically. For example, you can configure the system to scan your completed cards every day and archive those cards that are assigned to a concrete person. These rules are executed once per hour.
4. How to Configure a Business Rule?
Select the rule that you want to apply to your account. For example - the "Card is Created" rule.
The configuration panel of every rule has three main control settings: When (1), And (2), Then (3).
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When
This is the event that will trigger an action when the conditions set in the filter are executed/fulfilled. -
And
Here you define the filters that specify the conditions under which the actions should be triggered. Depending on the rule type, you will be able to specify multiple or no filters. -
Then
Here you select which actions will be triggered if the rule is successfully evaluated for execution. To learn more about each action, please read the dedicated article.
Important: There is an additional configuration regarding the trigger of the Business Rules. You can toggle if you want a particular Business Rule to be triggered by other business rules or only by user actions.
When the configuration process is completed, we recommend users to customize the rule name and provide a description (optional). Rules can be shared with other registered Businessmap users (e.g. Workspace Managers) that could modify/enable/disable them further (optional).
Important: Don't forget to click the Save button to enable the rule and save it in the system.
All business rules that are enabled for your account become available in the Business rule panel:
Aside from the rule's ID, name, author, and board where they are configured, the panel also contains:
- (1) Search Filter — You can use the filter to run a quick search for the rule you are searching for.
- (2) Enable/Disable Slider — Use the slider to enable/disable the rule.
- (3) Execution Order — Set the order in which business rules will be executed. Learn more about business rules' execution order. Use the up and down arrows to drag and drop a rule to the desired order or open the rule and edit its execution order field.
- (4) Shared With — Тhe “Shared with” field gives information about the users each Business Rule has been shared with. You can share multiple Business Rules with multiple users at once by holding the CONTROL/COMMAND button and clicking on the rows that represent the respective Business Rules. When you click on the “Shared with” section, you will be presented with a list of all available users and a toggle on/off button for selecting the users you would like to share the Business Rule(s) with.
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(5) Status — This field shows if there are any issues with the configuration of a rule. It will show “OK” if everything is in order with the rule, or “Missing reference” if some of the columns, lanes, or boards referenced in the rule have been deleted.
- Note: You cannot copy a business rule with a “Missing reference” status until its configuration is error-free.
- (6) Edit Menu — To edit, copy, or delete a rule, open the menu from the three dots.
- (7) Add New Rule — To create a new rule, use the Add New Rule link at the top of the panel.
Note: At the bottom of the existing business rule panel, you can see the number of Total Business Rules vs. the number of Active business rules.
5. How to View Business Rules Execution Logs
Important: Only Account Owners and users with the Manage Business Rules admin privilege can view the business rules logs.
For the execution logs of all the Business rules on the Businessmap account, you can access them by going to the gear icon in the top right corner, selecting “Security and Audit”, scrolling down to the blue “View Logs” button, pressing it, and selecting the Business Rules tab. From this tab, you can filter the rule ID of the rule you want to investigate.
Additionally, if you want to investigate the execution logs of a specific rule, you can do it from the settings in the Business rule panel of the 'Administration Panel' menu or the configuration window of the Business Rule itself.
6. Business Rule Execution Limitations
Limitations
Depending on your account subscription, there are daily execution limits for your Business Rules. These are soft limits only and reaching them will not prevent rules from executing. Their goal is to notify Account Owners that there might be a rule that needs to be investigated or optimized. To get an updated list of Business Rule limitations, please refer to our API and data limits article or contact Support.
Notifications
When an account is close to reaching its daily quota of business rule executions, the system sends a notification to the Account Owners. These notifications are sent when the rule limit has reached 80, 90, and 100 percent. The rule execution count restarts every day at 00:00:00 UTC.