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Automations

In the following sections, you will find information on how to create and manage Automations.

Screenshot of the BotCity Orchestrator, in the Automations menu, showing the list of available automations with information in columns: Icon, Name, Label, Description, Bot ID, Repository, Warnings and actions menu. Above the list, search bar, filters and sorting. Next to the filters, the New Automation, Import and Bulk Actions buttons.

Anatomy of an Automation

An automation is one of the most important elements of the BotCity Orchestrator. It characterizes a process to be executed.

The automation is responsible for linking the Bot (script, software or code of a process) with the Runners (instances of the BotCity Runner service). This way, when creating a new task, the automation will contain information about which bot to use and which Runner the task should be directed to.

Diagram illustrating the BotCity orchestration flow in three steps: 1) Develop the bot, represented by a Python icon with the text "Bot"; 2) Set up the automation, represented by the BotCity Orchestrator (blue cloud icon) containing an Automation that links the Bot to a Task; 3) Run it, represented by the BotCity Runner receiving the Task from the queue and executing it.

More information

Learn more about:

An automation can contain more information and settings about a process to be executed.

The information is separated into 3 tabs: Overview, Development and Execution Policy.

Overview

In this tab, you will find general information about the Automation, separated into blocks:

  • About the automation
    • Name: The friendly name of the automation.
    • Label: The unique identifier of the automation (the label is unique — even if you delete the automation, you will not be able to use it again).
    • Repository: Selection of the repository where the automation will be allocated.
    • Description: A brief description of the automation process.
  • Task management
    • Priority: The default execution priority of this process.
    • Linked Runners: Selection of Runners associated with this automation. If more than one Runner is attached, the task will be assigned to the first free BotCity Runner that is online and available.
  • Notifications
    • Users to notify: Selection of users to be notified when a notification alert of a certain type occurs.
    • Notification type: The alert notification types for notifying users.

Notifications

The users selected in the Notify users field will receive an email notification every time the automation fires an alert via code.

See more at:

Screenshot of the BotCity Orchestrator, showing the New Automation creation form, on the Overview tab. The form is divided into three sections: "About the automation", containing the Name, Label, Repository and Description fields; "Task management", containing the Priority and Linked Runners fields; and "Notifications", containing the Users to notify and Notification type fields. In the upper right corner, the Cancel and Save buttons. At the top of the page, the navigation tabs: Overview (selected), Development and Execution policy.

Development

In this tab, you will find development information about the automation, separated into blocks:

  • Bot Information
    • Linked Bot: The code of a process or software associated with this automation.
    • Technology: Technology or programming language used in the automation.
  • Parameters: Dynamic information that can be used by the Linked Bot.

Parameters

Automations can be parameterized for greater flexibility and more dynamic code.

Parameters are defined in the Parameters section of the automation when creating or editing it.

In the Development tab, click the Edit button to enable the editing fields, then click the Add + button to add a new parameter.

A parameter is defined by the following elements:

  • Name: The friendly name of the parameter.
  • Label: The unique identifier of the parameter.
  • Description: A brief description of the parameter.
  • Type: Selection of the parameter data type, which can be:
    • Text: Text input type.
    • Integer: Integer number input type.
    • Double: Decimal number input type.
    • Date: Date input type.
  • Range: Indicates the minimum and maximum value for numeric data input.
  • Default Value: Indicates which input value is set as default for the field.
  • Required:
    • Yes: It is required to provide a value for the field when creating a task.
    • No: It is optional to provide a value for the field when creating a task.
  • Actions:
    • Delete: Deletes the parameter.
    • Edit: Opens the parameter for editing.
    • Cancel: Cancels the parameter editing.
    • Save: Saves the parameter editing.

Data type

The Type will determine how the parameter is displayed when creating a new task in the BotCity Orchestrator.

See more details on how to create and access Parameters via SDK.

Screenshot of the BotCity Orchestrator, showing the New Automation creation form, on the Development tab (selected). The form is divided into two sections: "Bot Information", containing the Bot and Bot Technology fields; and "Parameters", containing a "How to use parameters?" link, the "Add +" button and a table with the columns Name, Label, Description, Type, Range, Default Value, Required and Actions. In the upper right corner, the Cancel and Save buttons. At the top of the page, the navigation tabs: Overview, Development (selected) and Execution policy.

Execution Policy

In this tab you have the option to define the maximum expected time for a task of this automation to execute.

When the timeout is enabled, you can select the expected time option in:

  • Minute
  • Hour
  • Day

The time value must be set to a minimum of 1 minute and a maximum of 1 day.

Attention!

  • The timeout will be applied to new tasks of this automation. If there are already tasks in the queue, they will not be affected.
  • The time defined in timeout starts counting from the moment the task begins its execution by the Runner. The time in queue is not considered.

Screenshot of the BotCity Orchestrator, showing the New Automation creation form, on the Execution policy tab (selected). The form displays the "Timeout" section. Below, an enabled toggle with the text "Enable timeout in this automation" and the "Expected timeout" field with two selection fields: time unit and numeric value. In the upper right corner, the Cancel and Save buttons. At the top of the page, the navigation tabs: Overview, Development and Execution policy (selected).

Actions

You can perform some actions in the Automations menu.

Create

To create an automation, follow the steps:

  • Access the Automations menu in the BotCity Orchestrator
  • Click the + New Automation button in the upper right corner
  • Fill in the information for:
  • Click the Save button in the upper right corner

Required fields

The required fields are: Name, Label, Repository and Description.

The remaining information can be filled in later. However, for the execution of tasks of this automation, it is necessary to have the Bot and at least one Runner linked.

Another way to create

Automations can also be created in a simplified way through Easy Deploy.

Warnings!

You may see a warnings panel when the automation is not completely filled in.

Screenshot of the BotCity Orchestrator, showing the details page of an automation. Highlights a yellow warnings panel with the title "3 Warnings for this automation" and the following warnings: 1) "Not reporting items" - the automation is not reporting items and therefore is not feeding the efficiency indicators, with a "Learn how to report" link; 2) "No runner attached" - the automation has no runner attached to it, with an "Attach runner(s)" link; 3) "No bot attached" - the automation has no bot attached to it, with an "Attach bot" link. In the upper right corner of the page, the Share, Delete, Edit and Export buttons.

The warnings refer to missing important information in the automation that needs to be filled in for correct operation, including:

  • Not reporting items. The automation is not reporting items and therefore is not feeding the efficiency indicators. Learn how to report.

    • Using this feature in your automation process allows you to have information about items processed with success or failure for each executed task.

    BotCity Insights

    This feature is part of BotCity Insights, a module dedicated to reporting and displaying data related to your automation initiative.

    See more at:

  • No runner attached. This automation has no runner attached to it.

    See more at:

  • No bot attached. This automation has no bot attached to it.

    See more at:

GIF demonstrating how to create a new automation. Flow accessing the Automations menu, clicks on + New Automation, fills in the required form fields: Name, Label, Repository and Description. Finishes by clicking the Save button in the upper right corner.

Edit

After creating an automation, you can follow these steps to edit it:

  • Access the Automations menu in the BotCity Orchestrator
  • Access the details by clicking on the automation name
  • Click the Edit button in the upper right corner
  • Change the values of the desired fields
  • Click Save in the upper right corner

GIF demonstrating how to edit an automation. Flow accessing the Automations menu, clicks on an existing Automation, navigates to the Execution policy tab and disables the timeout. Finishes by clicking the Save button in the upper right corner.

Export

You can export the information of an automation from one workspace to use in others.

To export, you can follow the steps:

  • Access the Automations menu in the BotCity Orchestrator
  • Access the details by clicking on the automation name
  • Click the Export button in the upper right corner
  • The file download should start automatically

GIF demonstrating how to export an automation. Flow accessing the Automations menu, clicks on an existing Automation, clicks the Export button in the upper right corner.

Import

You can import the information of an Automation from one workspace to use in others, without going through the creation step.

To import, you can follow the steps:

  • Export the automation from another workspace
  • Access the Automations menu in the BotCity Orchestrator
  • Click the + Import button in the upper right corner
  • Select the automation's .json file
  • Select the repository for this automation
  • Click the + Import button

JSON file

The .json file contains the information of an automation to be imported into another workspace. However, it is necessary to link the Runners and Bots of this automation after importing.

File example 
    {
      "label" : "demo",
      "name" : "Automation Demo",
      "description" : "Automation used as an example.",
      "parameters" : [ {
        "defaultValue" : "value",
        "description" : "Demo Param",
        "label" : "paran",
        "name" : "Param",
        "required" : true,
        "resourceLabel" : null,
        "rules" : { },
        "type" : "TEXT"
      } ],
      "notification" : {
        "monitored_types" : [ "INFO", "WARN", "ERROR" ],
        "users" : [ 9314 ]
      },
      "status" : null,
      "priority" : 0,
      "automationExists" : false
    }

GIF demonstrating how to import an automation. Flow accessing the Automations menu, clicks on + Import to open a modal window with the import form. In the window, selects the import file with the ".json" extension, selects the repository for the automation and finishes by clicking "Import" at the bottom of the form.

Move to Repository

Automations can be relocated to another repository. To do so, follow the steps:

  • Access the Automations menu in the BotCity Orchestrator
  • Find the automation you want to move
  • Click the options menu for that automation
  • Select Move to repository
  • Select the new repository
  • Click Confirm

Attention

This action will also move the bots, schedules and other resources that are linked to this automation.

GIF demonstrating how to move an automation to another repository. Flow accessing the Automations menu, clicks on the actions menu of an automation to open the options, selects "Move to repository" to open a modal window. In the window, select the new repository for this automation, click Confirm.

Search and filters

You can combine multiple filters to search in the Automations menu, according to your needs.

Search by:

  • Automation: Search by the automation name or label.

Available filters:

  • Label: Select one or more labels.
  • Name: Select one or more names.
  • Repository: Select a specific repository.

Sorting:

  • Alphabetically
  • Most recent first
  • Oldest first

GIF of the BotCity Orchestrator, showing the filters for searching automations. Shows the three main fields available for filtering: Search by automation name or label, Filter, Sorting.