Summary
Workflow entry criteria enable Workflow Templates to automatically be applied (to Companies or End Users or other records, corresponding to the model of the Workflow Template) in response to changes in data
Workflow exit criteria can be used to automatically archive Workflows early and stop any remaining steps from happening if they are no longer required, also in response to data
You could either set both Workflow entry and exit criteria, just entry criteria, just exit criteria, or neither
Who is this article for?
Planhat builders (e.g. CS Ops), designing Workflow Templates for their team
Series
This article is part of a series on scheduling Workflows:
Workflow entry and exit criteria ⬅️ You are here
It is strongly recommended to read these in order, as they build in complexity, and later articles refer back to earlier ones.
Article contents
Click below to jump to the relevant section:
What are Workflow entry and exit criteria?
As part of our series on scheduling Workflows - configuring if and when steps happen - we're now turning to using data-based conditions. We're starting with the "highest" level - conditions on the whole Workflow Template.
Workflow entry and exit criteria are a mechanism to automatically apply a Workflow Template to a Company or End User (or record of another model, depending on which model the Workflow Template is for), and then potentially stop it automatically too. They are therefore a way to control if and when Workflow steps happen, in bulk, via conditions you configure.
The entry and/or exit criteria refer to data you have compiled and organized in Planhat, so this is an example of a way you can automatically act in response to data. You can either create rules here, or use filters (specifically Global Filters) that you have built in the "Data Model" Global Tool. You can include multiple criteria, enabling very specific targeting.
As an alternative, it is possible to manually apply a Workflow Template and manually archive a Workflow, but the automation possible from setting up entry/exit criteria can enhance your speed and efficiency.
You can configure and view Workflow entry criteria and exit criteria in the Settings panel of each Workflow Template, under "Criteria", as shown in the example screenshots below.
Click the image to view it enlarged
Click the image to view it enlarged
🔑 Key points
Workflow entry criteria are used to automatically apply a Workflow Template (to a Company or End User or record of another model, as per the Workflow Template's target data model)
Workflow exit criteria can automatically archive a Workflow and cancel any remaining steps
You don't have to add both entry and exit criteria - you could use one or the other. For example:
You might want entry criteria to automatically apply an Onboarding Project to new Companies, but once applied, the whole Workflow should always be completed, so you won't want to exit early
You might want to manually apply a Sequence to a group of End Users to announce the launch of a new feature, but then you set exit criteria so the Workflow stops sending reminder emails to End Users who have started using the new feature
If you do set up both entry and exit criteria for a Workflow Template, they can each look at different data points.
Why use Workflow entry and exit criteria?
Having Workflows automatically apply and/or archive means that you don't need to manually keep track of which End User or Company etc. you want to take action with, or remember to manually apply the Workflow Template at an appropriate time, or worry about annoying customers with steps that are no longer necessary.
Some typical use-case examples are:
All new End Users are automatically added to a Sequence that sends a welcome email and then a series of emails introducing them to different parts of your product
You can be more granular with your targeting - e.g. have a specific welcome Sequence for End Users who are tagged as Admins, with additional setup info
All new Companies are automatically added to an "Onboarding" Project
This can be more tailored - for example, you could have separate Onboarding Projects for different Company segments/tiers (e.g. Small Business, Mid-Market and Enterprise), and include this in the entry criteria
End Users who haven't completed a specific action in your product (e.g. logged in, or tried a new feature) are automatically added to a Sequence to educate them, and as soon as they complete the action they are automatically exited from the Sequence so they don't get any more reminders
Companies whose subscription expires in 90 days automatically enter a Project with tasks for the CSM to discuss and organize the renewal, and once the renewal is confirmed, any remaining (unnecessary) steps are automatically cancelled
🚀 Tip
Even if you're planning for all steps within a Workflow to be completed, it can be important to set exit criteria. If you complete a Workflow by marking a task step as complete (so this is most common in a Project), you'll see a pop-up message guiding you to manually archive the Workflow, but if the final step is an email that's automatically sent, that wouldn't apply. If you have a Sequence of emails and you would like it to auto-archive when complete, you can create a Global Filter on the End User model (similar to the one shown below), and use that as your exit criteria.
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Note that entry and exit criteria are ways to apply the same rule-based conditions to all steps within a Workflow. If you would like to apply different rules/conditions to activate different steps, you can accomplish that by group conditions or step conditions, which we'll have a look at in later articles in this series.
How to set up Workflow exit/entry criteria
Entry criteria and exit criteria are both set within "Criteria" in the "Workflow Template Settings" panel (on the right-hand side of Workflow Templates), as shown in the example screenshot below. Click "Add criteria" and then select whether you want to set up entry criteria or exit criteria - you will be able to add both if desired.
Click the image to view it enlarged
This will open up a UI with a sentence structure and dropdown menus, where you can configure your entry or exit criteria.
For both entry criteria and exit criteria, your options are:
When [record of model your Workflow is for, e.g. Company or End User]
is created with specific properties
When [record of model your Workflow is for, e.g. Company or End User]
is updated with specific properties
When [record of model your Workflow is for, e.g. Company or End User]
is created or updated with specific properties
When [record of model your Workflow is for, e.g. Company or End User]
is added to a named filter
When [record of model your Workflow is for, e.g. Company or End User]
is removed from a named filter
For the "specific properties" options, you then set a rule (criteria) here, such as:
Rules can refer to fields (e.g. Company Tier is SMB) or calculated metrics (time-series data) created in your tenant (e.g. total reports downloaded in the last 30 days). Using calculated metrics is a great way to add/remove End Users to/from a Sequence Workflow based on their usage data. You can read more about creating rules more generally in our filter article here.
You can add multiple rules here, but note that they are set to "Match all" rather than having the option to "Match any" (and this would also apply within a group if you used one here).
For the filter options, you select an existing Global Filter (set up in the "Data Model" Global Tool) for the data model of your Workflow Template, e.g.:
Using a filter (as opposed to building new rules here directly) gives you more flexibility, as you can use "Match any" rather than "Match all".
Remember that you can refer to calculated metrics in filters, so this is another way to incorporate product usage data into your entry and exit criteria.
When working with exit criteria, make sure you set what you want the "Archive Action" to be. You'll find this higher up the "Workflow Template Settings" panel, and it's where you specify what should happen to any remaining steps when the Workflow is archived.
Next ...
Now you're familiar with using Workflow entry and exit criteria to activate and/or deactivate a whole Workflow, the next stage is to look at group conditions to activate/deactivate a group of steps.