What are Triggers?

NOTE: This feature is available in the Professional and Enterprise versions of both Spectra and Stratus Desktop.

 This topic contains the following sections:

• Trigger Overview
• Setting up Triggers
• Processing Triggers
• List of Available Triggers

Trigger Overview #

Use triggers to automate some of the workflow for your studio. Triggers are associated with a variety of statuses, types, and dates throughout the software. You can create triggers for clients, sessions, appointments, invoices, production/preproduction orders, and tasks. You can set up triggers to generate phone calls, printed letters, emails, SMS text messages, tasks, or web forms (Stratus only). You can also choose a combination that will create an email if a client has an email address in their client record, or generate a call or printed letter if they don’t. That way, you can be sure some form of contact will be generated for clients no matter what.

 Note: To use invoice statuses, you must first set the preference on the Invoicing tab of your Company (Studio) Preferences.  See also: Company (Studio) Preferences – Invoicing

Examples #

• Create a trigger to send an email or text message to a client to remind them of an upcoming session a week before the session.

• Or, generate a call to check on a production order after three days if it hasn’t come back in, or send an email to the customer to come in and pick up their order when it is ready.

Watch the video and/or follow the instructions below to set up triggers.

Setting Up Triggers #

Tosetup triggers, we’ll look at a client status example. The screens will be similar for other types of triggers.

1. Go to Maintenance > Client > Client Status Triggers. This will open your list of client triggers, organized by status.
   
   

2. Use the Status drop-down list to choose the status you want to create a trigger for. Note:A status must be set up before a trigger can be created for it. Set up client statuses in Maintenance > Client > Client Statuses. See also: Client Statuses

3. To create a new trigger, click New in the Editing group of the ribbon (or type a description in the top row of the table and press Enter) to open the Trigger Detail window.

   

Trigger Details #

Description – Enter a description of what the trigger does. For example: “Email reminder for upcoming session.”

Trigger Type – Choose one of the following options:

Process with Control Center – If you’ve set up the Control Center to process triggers, this option allows you to choose whether or not a specific trigger should be processed automatically. When you create a new trigger, you may want to keep this box unchecked until you know the trigger is functioning as expected. 

Times – Choose processing times to prevent the Control Center from sending emails and text messages in the middle of the night.

Trigger Date Options #

Choose the date that you would like the trigger to activate. The trigger can be based on the associated status itself or on the status due date. If you base the trigger on the status, it will be activated when the item is changed to that status. Otherwise you can choose to have the trigger activated a certain number of days before, on, or after the status due date. Remember, the default status due date is based on the duration you set up when you created the status. It can, however, be modified on the record itself. The trigger will activate based on the current due date in the record.

Trigger Exclusions #

Choose whether or not to exclude “Do Not Market” and/or “Do Not Call” clients from the trigger. There is also an option to exclude records if the triggered date is in the past (i.e., don’t send an appointment reminder if the appointment date was last week).

Trigger Behavior #

Enter a description for the resulting communication or task record. When applicable, select the appropriate form letter, attachments, web form, type, department, and user.

4. Click OK to finish creating the trigger.

5. The software will set up the trigger for processing by filtering through your database and excluding records that may have fit the criteria in the past. This prepares the trigger for use going forward. Note: This initial processing DOES NOT actually create any communications or tasks. Triggers must be processed manually with the Process Triggers tool or automated with the Control Center.

   

Processing Triggers #

To actually process (or “run”) the triggers you’ve created, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Tools menu and select Process Triggers. A list of triggers that are currently active (meaning they match trigger criteria) will be displayed.

2. Click to open each group of triggers. You have the option to Process, Skip, or Delete each triggered item. Note: You can also use the icons above the list to Process All, Skip All, or Delete All.

Note: From this list you can also double-click on a triggered item (i.e., client, invoice, appointment, session, etc.) to open it for preview.

3. Click Process to complete processing the selected items. This will generate the calls, letters, emails, text messages, and tasks that have been defined for each trigger.

Triggers List #

The following triggers are available in Spectra and Stratus Desktop:

BASED ON:	DATE OPTIONS
Appointment Type	– Appointment Date – Booked Date
Client Status	– When Changed to a Status – Status Due Date – Birthday Date (includes family members) – Anniversary Date
Invoice Status	– When Changed to a Status – Status Due Date – Payment Due Date
Production Status	– When Changed to a Status – Status Due Date
Preproduction Status	– When Changed to a Status – Status Due Date
Session Status	– When Changed to a Status – Status Due Date – Primary Session Date
Session Type	– Primary Session Date – Session Create Date
Task Status	– When Changed to a Status – Status Due Date – Task Due Date – Task Start Date – Task Complete Date
Task Type	– Task Due Date – Task Start Date – Task Complete Date