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Automations

What Are Automations?

Automations are time-based business rules in Zendesk that run hourly and check all tickets in your instance. Unlike triggers (which fire immediately on ticket events), automations operate on a schedule.

Automations are ideal for tasks like escalating unresponded tickets, closing solved tickets after a waiting period, or sending reminder emails.

What Configly Captures

For each automation, Configly stores:

  • Basic Information
  • Automation name
  • Active/inactive status

  • Position (execution order)

  • Conditions

  • All/any condition logic
  • Ticket state conditions (status, priority, assignee, etc.)
  • Time-based conditions (hours since created, updated, status changed)

  • Custom field conditions

  • Actions

  • Field updates (status, priority, type, etc.)
  • Assignments (user, group)
  • Notifications (email to requester, assignee, etc.)
  • Tag additions/removals

  • Custom field updates

  • Metadata

  • Created and updated timestamps

Viewing Automations

Navigate to Automations from your connection dashboard to see all your automations. You can:

  • Filter by active/inactive status
  • Search by name
  • Sort by position or last updated
  • View full condition and action details
  • Compare automation configurations across connections

Hourly Execution

Remember that automations run once per hour. This means:

  • Actions are not immediate - there can be up to a 60-minute delay
  • Multiple automations can run in the same hourly cycle
  • Position determines order of execution within that cycle

Common Dependencies

Automations frequently reference:

  • Custom fields - In conditions (checking values) and actions (updating fields)
  • Groups - For group assignment actions
  • Tags - For adding/removing tags and tag-based conditions
  • Brands - For brand-specific automation logic
  • SLA policies - Time-based conditions often relate to SLA breach times
  • Ticket status values - New, Open, Pending, Solved, Closed

Learn more about dependency tracking →

Tips for Admins

Time-Based Conditions

Automations excel at time-based logic:

  • Hours since created - Escalate tickets that haven't been touched
  • Hours since updated - Send reminders on stale tickets
  • Hours since status changed - Auto-close tickets solved for 4 days
  • Hours since last assignment - Reassign abandoned tickets

Before Making Changes

  • Understand timing - Automations run hourly, not immediately
  • Check dependencies - Verify what fields and values the automation uses
  • Review position - Earlier automations can affect tickets that later ones check
  • Test thoroughly - Automation changes affect all matching tickets system-wide

Common Patterns

  • Auto-close workflow - Close tickets that have been solved for X days
  • Escalation - Bump priority or reassign tickets that haven't been responded to
  • Reminder notifications - Email assignees about pending tickets
  • Tag cleanup - Remove temporary tags after a time period

Maintenance

  • Inactive automations - Review and remove unused automations regularly
  • Overlapping conditions - Multiple automations with similar conditions can conflict
  • Performance impact - Each automation processes all tickets hourly. Keep conditions efficient.

Using Configly

  • Diff automations - Compare configurations between environments
  • Track changes - Understand what changed and when
  • Identify dependencies - See what breaks if you remove a field or value
  • Audit execution order - Review position to understand automation sequence

Example Use Cases

Auto-Close Solved Tickets

An automation that checks for tickets in "Solved" status for more than 96 hours (4 days), then sets them to "Closed".

Conditions: - Ticket status is Solved - Hours since status changed to Solved > 96

Actions: - Set status to Closed

Dependencies to watch: Status field values

Escalate Unassigned Tickets

An automation that finds high-priority tickets that have been unassigned for 2+ hours and assigns them to a manager group.

Conditions: - Ticket priority is High or Urgent - Ticket assignee is empty - Hours since created > 2

Actions: - Set group to "Support Managers"

Dependencies to watch: Groups, priority field values

Pending Ticket Reminders

An automation that emails the assignee of tickets pending for 24 hours.

Conditions: - Ticket status is Pending - Hours since status changed > 24

Actions: - Send email to assignee

Dependencies to watch: Status values, notification targets

Triggers vs Automations

Feature Triggers Automations
When they run Immediately on ticket create/update Hourly, checking all tickets
Best for Real-time reactions to ticket events Time-based business rules
Conditions Event-based (ticket is created, ticket is updated) State-based (ticket has been X for Y hours)
Examples Auto-assign new tickets, send confirmation emails Auto-close old solved tickets, escalate stale tickets
  • Triggers - Event-based business rules
  • Macros - Manual actions for agents
  • Custom Fields - Fields that automations read and update
  • SLAs - Service level agreements that often work with automations