Home / Features / Automations / Workflow Builder
Feature
Build the rule once. Stop repeating the admin.
Set up the routine admin once, and let it happen without anyone remembering to do it.
Overview
Automate the repeat work around the real work.
A workflow automates the routine jobs you’d otherwise have to remember, or do by hand. It watches for something to happen — a lead arriving, a quote being accepted, a task falling overdue — and then carries out one or more actions, like sending an email, raising an invoice, or creating a task.
That’s the whole model, and it’s worth stating plainly because automation is usually oversold: something happens, so something else happens. Nothing about it is clever. What makes it valuable is that the office stops being the mechanism by which things get remembered.
Triggers come in two shapes. Event triggers fire when a record changes — a lead is created, a project’s status updates, a timesheet goes in. Timer triggers run on a schedule, typically daily, across a set of open records; that’s what handles age-based chasing, like nudging leads that have gone quiet, with won and lost ones excluded.
Conditions sit between the trigger and the action, so a workflow can apply to some records and not others rather than firing on everything.
The Workflow Dashboard is where you monitor and manage what’s running. That matters more than the building — an automation nobody is watching is how a business finds out it’s been emailing the wrong people for a fortnight.
What’s inside
What you get
01
Triggers
Start from supported WorkGuru events or timing rules.
02
Conditions
Check relevant record information before acting.
03
Actions
Run supported notifications, reminders or operational updates.
04
Recipients
Direct communication to the people who need it where supported.
05
Timing
Handle delays or scheduled checks where supported.
06
Workflow management
Review and maintain active automations. Exact controls require product review.
The reality
Why you need it
The process only lives in someone’s head.
It works, reliably, until that person is on leave — and then it doesn’t happen at all and nobody notices for a week. Automating the routine parts moves the process out of one person’s memory and into something the business owns.
A developer is needed for every small rule.
Which means small rules never get built, because none of them individually justifies the cost. The value of workflows is mostly in the accumulation of small automations, and that only happens if setting one up is a normal afternoon task.
The rule has exceptions.
Nearly all of them do. That’s what conditions are for — the workflow applies where it should and stays out of the way elsewhere. A rule that can’t handle its exceptions gets turned off after it fires wrongly twice.
Nobody knows why an alert fired.
The fastest route to an automation everyone ignores. Being able to see what’s running and what it’s set to do is what keeps the alerts credible.
Automations become impossible to maintain.
Built by different people, at different times, for reasons nobody wrote down. Start with one, watch it, then build the next — and be especially careful with anything that contacts customers or creates financial records, because those run at machine speed and don’t hesitate.
How it works
How it works
01
Choose the trigger
02
Add conditions
03
Choose the action
04
Choose who is involved
05
Review the logic
06
Run and refine
Capabilities
What it does
Capability
Triggers
What starts the workflow. Two kinds: events, which fire when a record changes — a lead created, a project’s status updated, a timesheet entered — and timers, which run on a schedule across a set of open records. A daily timer across open leads is what drives age-based chasing, and it excludes won and lost ones.
Capability
Conditions
The test between the trigger and the action, so a workflow applies to some records and not others. This is usually the difference between an automation people keep and one they switch off, because an alert that fires on everything gets ignored within a week.
Capability
Actions
What the workflow does — sending an email, raising an invoice, creating a task. The documented automation sets are grouped by the area they act on, so what’s available depends on what the workflow is operating on.
Recipients
You can send the report to one or many recipients. Currently reports can only be sent to your current active users.
Timing
When it runs. Event triggers fire immediately; timer triggers run on their schedule, typically daily. The distinction matters more than it sounds — “immediately when the quote is accepted” and “each morning across everything still open” solve different problems.
Workflow management
The Workflow Dashboard is where you monitor what’s running and adjust it. This matters more than the building. An automation nobody is watching is how a business discovers it has been emailing the wrong people for a fortnight.
Day to day
What does that actually look like?
A quote has been open seven days.
Use quote status and timing to decide whether a follow-up is needed.
An approval is overdue.
Use the waiting decision as the reason to remind the approver.
A job has been completed.
Use completion as the trigger for the next office handover.
Stock is below a threshold.
Use the inventory condition to alert purchasing where supported.
A timesheet is missing.
Use the expected time record as the reason to prompt the staff member.
What you get out of it
What changes
Turn business rules into repeatable processes
Make the logic visible instead of leaving it in memory.
Reduce custom development
Keep straightforward automation configurable.
Avoid over-automation
Use conditions so rules run only where useful.
Make process changes easier
Update the workflow when the business changes.
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Discovered their contract work wasn’t profitable.
We didn’t wanna pay 100 grand upfront for a program – but then we found WorkGuru.
Nick Mazzella, Administrator, Frontline Trays & Trailers
Fit
Will it work the way we do things?
“We are not technical.”
The model is deliberately simple: when this happens, do that, optionally only if some condition holds. If you can describe the rule out loud — “when a quote is accepted, create the project” — you can express it. Start with one rule you already follow manually.
“Our rules are complicated.”
Some are, and conditions let a workflow apply selectively rather than to everything. That said, the honest advice is to automate the simple, high-frequency rules first. The complicated ones usually turn out to contain a judgement call, and judgement is the thing automation is worst at.
“Can a bad workflow cause problems?”
Yes, and it’s the right question to ask. A workflow that sends emails does so at machine speed and doesn’t hesitate. Build one at a time, watch it on the Workflow Dashboard before building the next, and be especially careful with anything that contacts customers or creates financial records.
“Do we need consultants?”
Using WorkGuru consultants or implementation partners is not strictly mandatory, but they can help you integrate, customize, and optimize the software for your specific business workflows.
By trade
Where this gets used
Works with
Connected features
Automations
The builder configures the automation.
CRM
Use sales records as workflow context.
Projects & Jobs
Use operational job information as workflow context.
Purchasing
Use purchase and approval information.
Inventory
Use stock information where supported.
Financial
Use operational invoice and costing events where supported.
FAQs
Workflow Builder questions
Is Workflow Builder no-code?
WorkGuru Workflows is a no-code tool.
What can trigger a workflow?
Two kinds of thing. Events — a record being created or changing, such as a lead being created, a project’s status updating, or a timesheet being entered. And timers, which run on a schedule across a set of open records; a daily timer across open leads is what drives age-based chasing, with won and lost leads excluded.
Can a workflow have conditions?
Yes. Conditions sit between the trigger and the action so the workflow applies only where you want it to, rather than to every record that hits the trigger. That’s usually the difference between a useful automation and one people switch off.
What actions can a workflow perform?
Actions include sending an email, raising an invoice and creating a task. The documented automation sets are organized by area — leads, quotes, projects and tasks among them — so the available actions depend on what the workflow is operating on.
Can workflows be changed later?
Yes. Workflows are managed from the Workflow Dashboard, which is where you monitor what’s running and adjust it. Building one and never revisiting it is the mistake — the dashboard exists because automations need maintaining as the business changes.
Bring us one rule your office repeats every week.
We will show you how it could be expressed as a WorkGuru workflow without turning it into a development project.