How to streamline workflows using automations in Retable

Are you looking to streamline your workflow and maximize efficiency? In this article, we dive into the concept of Retable automations and their potential to revolutionize your productivity. Let's explore how Retable can simplify your workflows, ultimately saving you valuable time and effort.

Let's first understand what automations are and why they are so popular. If you haven't meet with automations yet, this will be exciting for you.

What is automation?

Simply, automation is like having your own personal assistant. But just the tech version. No papers and sticky notes, sorry. It's all about making your life easier by letting software, apps, and other smart tools take care of repetitive tasks for you. Whether it's organizing your emails, managing data, or even performing complex actions, automation is designed to save you time and effort. By getting help from automation, you can say goodbye to boring and repetitive tasks, allowing you to focus on more exciting and meaningful work. It's an exciting world waiting to be explored, and once you dive into the possibilities of automation, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.

How does automation work?

It's all about technology. Whether it's a powerful software platform, a clever machine on an assembly line, or a combination of integrated tools, automation works by having a trigger that sets it into action. There are plenty of simple yet effective automations that can save your team precious time.

For instance, you can set up a recurring weekly email to keep your team updated on progress or set reminders. Automated workflows can be as simple or as intricate as you need them to be. To fully grasp the potential benefits of automation, it's beneficial to map out your company's processes and identify areas that can be streamlined and optimized. Get ready to unlock new levels of productivity and efficiency with automation!

Benefits of automation

1. Save Time: Automation eliminates the need for manual, repetitive tasks, allowing you to focus on more important and strategic work. This leads to significant time savings and increased productivity.
2. Accuracy: Automated workflows minimize the risk of manual work error, ensuring that tasks are executed consistently and accurately. This leads to improved data quality and reduces the likelihood of costly mistakes.
3. Efficiency: By streamlining processes and removing bottlenecks, automation improves the overall efficiency of workflows. Tasks are completed faster, approvals are expedited, and resources are utilized more effectively.
4. Collaboration: Automation promotes collaboration by providing a centralized platform for teams to work together. It enables seamless communication, task assignment, and tracking, fostering collaboration and teamwork.
5. Scalability: Automated workflows are scalable, allowing businesses to handle increased volumes of work without adding significant resources. As the workload grows, automation can handle the increased demands efficiently.
6. Save Cost: Automation reduces the need for manual work, resulting in cost savings by optimizing resource allocation. It eliminates the need for hiring additional staff to handle repetitive tasks, ultimately reducing operational expenses.
7. Compliance and Consistency: Automated workflows ensure adherence to established rules and regulations, reducing the risk of compliance violations. Workflows can be configured to enforce standardized processes, ensuring consistent outcomes.
8. Analytics and Insights: Automation platforms often provide data and analytics on workflow performance. These insights enable businesses to identify bottlenecks, measure efficiency, and make data-driven improvements to optimize workflows further.

That's not all, workflow automation offers more and more significant benefits, empowering businesses to streamline operations, improve productivity, and achieve better outcomes while freeing up valuable time and resources.

How to use Retable automations

Let's discover the incredible power of Retable automations and how they can simplify your daily tasks. Think about the repetitive tasks on your to-do list, like running campaigns, that can be automated effortlessly. With Retable automations, you can promote seamless collaboration within your team. Imagine automatically sending email notifications to the next person in the process, ensuring a smooth transition from writing to graphics. But that's not all! Retable automations also allow you to seamlessly sync with your team about any important changes on your data. For instance, you can set up automations to get notifications on new form responses or status changes. Embrace the magic of Retable automations and watch your productivity soar!

Automation structure of Retable

Creating automations in Retable is really simplier than you can imagine. Every automation has a 2 structure; Trigger and Action.

Trigger

There are 5 triggers in Retable for now:

• At a scheduled time
• When row is added
• When row is deleted
• When cell is updated
• When form is submitted

Whenever a trigger occurs, the automation will be performed based on the chosen condition.

1) At a scheduled time

The "At a scheduled time" trigger takes action based on the conditions you set at specific days and times, whether it's hourly, daily, or monthly. For example, if you want to receive reminders on certain days or times to check a specific tables, you can use this automation.

2) When row is added

The "When row is added" trigger is used to notify you when a row that meets the conditions you set is added to your table. If you don't add any conditions, this automation will notify you every time a row is added.

3) When row is deleted

The "When row is deleted" trigger is used to notify you when a row that meets the conditions you set is deleted from your table. If you don't add any conditions, this automation will notify you every time a row is deleted.

4) When cell is updated

The "When cell is updated" trigger is used to notify you when a cell that meets the conditions you set is updated in your table. If you don't add any conditions, this automation will notify you every time a cell is updated.

5) When form is submitted

The "When form is submitted" trigger is used to notify you when a new form response is submitted. If you don't add any conditions, this automation will notify you every time a new form is submitted.

Action

After setting up a trigger, you have the flexibility to select from two different actions: send email and send records. With the ability to mix and match various triggers, actions, and conditions, you can create customized automations that streamline your workflows perfectly. This allows you to tailor the automation to your specific needs, ensuring that your tasks and processes run smoothly and efficiently. The possibilities are endless, empowering you to create the ideal automation that enhances your productivity and saves you valuable time.

Send Mail Action

The "Send Mail" action allows you to send emails to the collaborators you select when the specified trigger occurs. You can choose your project's collaborators using the "To" field. This way, when your trigger is occured, the selected collaborators will receive a notification email. You can customize the email to be sent using the "Subject" and "Content" fields.

Email Example;

Send Records Action

The "Send Records" action helps you set conditions for the trigger you choose. For example, if you select the "When row is added" trigger and choose "Send Records" as the action type, you can set conditions through filtering to receive email notifications for "If the project status is done" only. Just like in the "Send Mail" action, you also need to fill in the "to, subject, and content" fields.

Email Example;

Create your Retable automation

To create your first automation with Retable, you just need to follow a few steps. Automations are project-based, so you can create automations for all the tables within your projects. Let's explore how to do it together.

1. Go to your project.
2. Click on the automation icon located at the top right.
3. In the automation window that opens, click on "+Add New."
4. In the opened automation pop-up, give a name to your automation from the "Name" field. You can also optionally add a description.
5. Select your trigger type.
6. Fill in the appropriate options based on the trigger type you selected. For example, if you choose the "When cell is updated" trigger, you should also select the table where this trigger will work and specify the column to which the trigger will be applied.
7. After making your trigger selections, you should choose your action. If you select the "Send Mail" action, simply fill in the "To, Subject, and Content" fields. If you choose the "Send Records" action, you can apply filters to create conditions for your action. After that, fill in the "To, Subject, and Content" fields.
8. After completing all your settings, don't forget to click the "Save" button.
9. Once you have saved your automation, you can start running it by activating the toggle next to the name of your automation.

That's it!

Conclusion

Automation is a time-saving solution that enhances the efficiency of repetitive workflows and allows skilled team members to focus on more valuable tasks. However, on the journey towards automation, important decisions need to be made, such as identifying the processes to automate, determining the specific parts of those processes to automate, and selecting the appropriate technology to support the automation efforts.

With Retable's customizable workflow automation capabilities, you can easily create workflows for various areas of your business. Furthermore, Retable offers seamless integrations with popular apps and platforms you already use, making it a practical choice for implementing workflow automation.

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To experience the benefits of Retable, sign up for a free trial version today.