Automation Rules Overview
Automation rules are background processes that operate on sales orders to automate and accelerate workflows. Each automation rule is built on two core components:
Filters – A defined set of conditions used to identify which sales orders should be targeted.
Actions (Executions) – One or more operations that are applied to all sales orders matching the filter criteria.
Together, these components allow users to automatically detect specific types of orders and apply consistent updates without manual intervention.
For step-by-step guidance on how to configure these components, see the companion article on creating and editing automation rules.
Automation Rule List and Execution Order
Automation rules are displayed in a list within the user interface. This list provides a centralized view of all configured rules and allows users to manage execution priority.
Rule Ordering and Priority
Rules can be manually reordered by dragging and dropping rows within the list. The system executes automation rules in the exact order shown, from top to bottom.
This ordering is important because it determines rule priority. By adjusting the sequence, users control which rules are applied first when multiple rules could affect the same sales order.
Rule Details Displayed
Each rule in the list includes the following information:
Name – The user-defined rule identifier for the automation rule.
Active – Checkbox indicating whether the rule is Active or Inactive.
Last Modified Date – The most recent date and time the rule was updated.
Clone - A command creating a copy of an automation rule.
Rule Execution Behavior
Active rules are evaluated and executed automatically.
Inactive rules are ignored and do not run.
All active rules are processed every 5 minutes.
Important:
Each automation rule is applied only once per qualifying sales order.
For example, consider a rule with the following logic:
Filter: Destination country is “Canada”
Action: Add the tag "International"
This rule will process each qualifying order once and apply the International tag. After the tag is applied, the order no longer meets the filter criteria in subsequent runs, so it will not be processed again by the same rule.
There is an option to override this behavior and force a rule to reprocess previously evaluated orders. This capability, along with other configuration details, is covered in the next article on creating and editing automation rules.