Product guides
Six automations that take hand-offs off your plate
Project management automation for agencies, kept simple: six rules that assign, notify and tidy up at every hand-off, and the limits worth knowing first.
8 min read
Project management automation
Hand-offs that happen on their own.
Write a rule as a sentence. When a job moves, changes or sits in a column too long, Skybase can assign it, set its status or priority, move it, archive it or tell the right people. Every change a rule makes shows on the job with the rule's name.
How a rule reads
Write the rule as a sentence
An administrator builds each rule in the project's settings, under Automations, the way you would say it out loud. Skybase runs it straight after the change is saved, or once a day for rules that wait on time.
- When
- One trigger: a job is created, a job moves to a column, a job is completed, the status changes, the priority changes or the assignee changes. Or a job has sat still: a job has been in a column for a while, for between 1 and 365 days, checked once a day.
- Only if
- Up to 3 conditions on the priority, the job type or the assignee. Leave them out and the rule runs every time.
- Then
- Up to 5 actions, in order: assign to, add collaborators, set the status to, move to (quietly, if you like), set the priority to, notify the assignee or people you name, and archive the job, which always comes last.
A project can have up to 25 automations, and they run from the top of the list down.
An automation rule named Review hand-off, switched on: when the status changes to In review, assign to Leo Ortiz, then notify Tom Becker. It has run 12 times. Beside it, Brand guidelines v3 moves to In review, the rule reassigns it from Priya Shah to Leo Ortiz, a row marked with a violet bolt records that in the job's activity, and Tom Becker, the client, is notified.
Start from an example
Ready-made rules, filled in from your project
Choose Examples beside New automation and pick a rule. Each one comes filled in with your own columns, statuses and people, and opens in the editor for you to check. Nothing is saved until you do.
- Done means completed When a job moves to your done column, set its status to the one that completes it.
- Move completed jobs to Done When a job is completed, move it to your done column, quietly.
- Archive jobs in Done after 14 days When a job has been in Done for 14 days, archive the job.
- Critical alert When the priority changes to Critical, notify the assignee.
- Review hand-off When the status changes to your review status, assign the job to whoever reviews.
- Started without an owner When a job moves to In progress and nobody is assigned, notify the project's lead.
Some appear only when they fit: Bugs are important needs a Bug job type, Blocked escalation a Blocked status, and Started without an owner an In progress column. The examples that set a priority only ever raise it.
Rules that wait
Keep the board tidy on its own
Some rules wait on time. Once a day, Skybase looks for jobs that have been in a column for the number of days you chose, counted from when each one arrived. Pair it with archive the job, and Done clears itself two weeks after the work is finished.
- Acts once each time a job arrives in the column, so a job left in Done is archived once, not every day
- If the rule's conditions do not match the job yet, it checks again the next day
- A job restored from the archive waits the full time again
- Its runs show as a Scheduled check, and its notifications say they ran on the daily check
- Moves can be quiet: nobody is notified and nothing goes to Slack, but the move still shows in the job's activity and on the board
The automation examples, with Archive jobs in Done after 14 days picked. Saved and switched on, the rule reads: when a job has been in Done for 14 days, archive the job. Its daily scheduled check ran on Brand audit, which had sat in Done since 30 September, so the job is archived and hidden from the board, and a row marked with a violet bolt in its activity says the rule archived it.
See why a job changed
Rules you can read, and trust to stop
Signed on the job
Every change a rule makes shows in the job's activity under the rule's name, with a lightning bolt, and its notifications carry the name too.
Recent runs, with reasons
Each rule keeps its last 50 runs, marked Ran, Nothing to change, Skipped or Failed, with the reason when it did not run.
Set off by another rule
A change a rule makes can set off another rule, up to three rules in a row, and its run says Set off by, then the rule's name.
No loops
A rule never runs twice in one chain, so two rules cannot pass a job back and forth. A bulk change sends each person one notification per rule, listing the jobs.
Read by the whole team
Only administrators can add or change a rule. Team members see every rule and its runs, read-only, so nobody has to ask why a job moved. Guests never see them.
Switches itself off
If a column, status or job type a rule uses is deleted, or someone it names leaves the project, the rule switches itself off and says why on its card.
- 7 triggers
- Six things that happen to a job, and one that waits on time.
- 3 conditions, 5 actions
- Narrow a rule, then run its actions in order.
- 25 automations
- Per project, run from the top of the list down.
- Last 50 runs
- Kept for each rule, with the reason when one did not run.
- Chains of up to 3
- Rules in a row, and never the same rule twice.
FAQ
What people ask about automations
Everything else Skybase does is on the features page, and the automations guide walks through building a rule.
Who can set up automations?
Administrators. A rule belongs to one project and lives in that project's settings, under Automations. Team members see the project's rules and their recent runs, read-only, so they can tell why a job changed. Guests never see them.
Can two rules get stuck in a loop?
No. A change a rule makes can set off another rule, up to three rules in a row, and a rule never runs twice in one chain, so two rules cannot pass a job back and forth.
Who can a rule notify?
The job's assignee, people on the project you name, or both. The notification arrives in the app, and by email for anyone who turns on emails for "An automation notifies you" in their notification settings. When one change touches many jobs, each person gets one notification per rule, listing the jobs.
When do rules that wait on time run?
Once a day. A rule such as "when a job has been in Done for 14 days, archive the job" acts once each time a job arrives in the column, so a job left there is archived once, not every day. If the rule's conditions do not match the job yet, it checks again the next day, and a job restored from the archive waits the full time again.
What does a quiet move do?
Tick quietly on a move and nobody is notified about it, and nothing is posted to Slack. The move still shows in the job's activity and on everyone's board. Archiving with a rule is quiet in the same way, and a linked GitHub issue still closes.
Do automations run on jobs imported from Trello?
Not during the import. Rules run on the changes people make afterwards, including bulk moves and edits.
What happens if a column or status a rule uses is deleted?
The rule switches itself off and says why on its card. The same happens if a job type it uses is deleted or someone it names leaves the project. Edit the rule, then turn it back on.
Are automations on the Free plan?
Yes. Every feature is on both plans, automations included.
Read next
Running projects
Kanban for agencies: a board your team and clients will use
How to set up a kanban board for agency work: columns for stages, statuses for states, job types, priorities and due dates that everyone can read.
9 min read
- Guide Automations Write a rule as a sentence and let the board handle hand-offs: when a job moves, changes or sits too long, assign it, move or archive it, or notify people. Read the guide
- Guide Board, table and calendar The same jobs three ways: drag them across the board, sort and group them in the table, and plan due dates on the calendar. Read the guide
Let the board handle your next hand-off.
Free plan, no credit card. Automations are on every plan.
Free plan · No credit card · Clients always free