HR (HRM)

Automations

Let routine HR work happen by itself: when something happens to an employee, and a condition holds, create a task, send a message, ask for approval or start a checklist.

Contents: Who can use it · The screen · Build an automation · Triggers · Steps · Test and switch on · Run history · Safety rules and limits · Example · FAQ

Who can use it

HR administrators with the automation permissions. In the Roles screen these are the HR automation List, Create, Update, Delete and Activate permissions, plus List for automation runs. Update also allows testing. Activate switches an automation on and off. Someone with only the runs List permission sees just Run history.

Where: HR → Automations.

The screen

Tab / button	What it does
My automations	Your automations as cards: name, On or Off, version, trigger, condition, steps and when it last ran
Ready-made	Twelve starter automations you can copy
Run history	Every run, with its employee, status and start time
New automation	Opens the editor with a blank automation
Switch on a card	Turns that automation on or off
Test	Tries the automation on a sample employee. Nothing is created or sent
Edit / bin icon	Change or delete the automation

Build an automation

Click New automation, or go to Ready-made and click Use on a starter. A copied starter opens in the editor with the message "Copied. Review it, then switch it on."
Enter a Name (for example "New joiner: IT setup") and an optional Description.
Under When, pick what This happens (see Triggers).
Under If, type an optional Only when (optional) condition, such as department_id == 3 and tenure_days < 30. Click a name under "Click to add:" to insert it. Leave it empty to run every time.
Under Then, set up the steps. Add more with the step buttons, reorder them with the arrows, or remove them with the bin icon.
In texts you can use placeholders such as {{employee_name}}, {{first_name}}, {{department}}, {{designation}}, {{branch}}, {{joining_date}} and {{organization}}.
Click Save. A new automation always starts switched Off.

Triggers

This happens	Extra setting
A new employee is hired	None
An employee becomes active or inactive	Becomes: Active, Inactive or Either
An employee moves to another branch	None
Onboarding starts for a new hire	None
Onboarding is completed	None
A date is approaching	Which date (birthday, work anniversary, probation end date, contract end date, document or certification expiry and more) and Days before (0 means on the day)

Date triggers are checked every hour, so a date run does not start at an exact time.

Steps (Then)

Step	What it does
Create a task	A task in CRM → Tasks for The employee, Their manager, HR or A specific person, with Due in days. Turn on Escalate if not done to tell someone after a number of hours
Send a message	Subject and Message to a person, sent In the app, by Email, SMS or WhatsApp
Ask for approval	Raises a request through the approval flow set for "HR automation request". Without a flow the step is skipped
Start onboarding or offboarding	Starts the checklist that fits the employee. Nothing starts if no template fits. An exit started this way is a termination with today as the last working day; see Offboarding
Change an employee field	Sets Department, Designation, Reporting manager or Worker type. The change is recorded in the employee's job history
Call a web address	Sends the event and the employee as signed JSON to another system. Private addresses are not allowed

Test and switch on

On the automation card, click Test.
In Sample employee, search for a person and click Run test.
Read the result. It says whether the condition holds and lists each step as Would run or Skipped, with a short explanation.
When happy, turn on the switch on the card. The pill changes to On.

To pause an automation, turn the switch off. Editing an automation raises its version. Runs that already started finish with the version they began with.

Run history

Open Run history. Filter by Any automation and Any status, then click a row to see each step and what it did.

Status	Meaning
Running	The steps are being carried out
Completed	All steps finished
Retrying	A step failed. The run tries again later from that step
Failed	A step failed three times. HR and the person who made the automation are told
Skipped	Nothing ran. The run shows why, such as "The condition did not hold, so nothing ran."

Safety rules and limits

An automation runs only once per employee for the same event, even if the event repeats.
An automation never runs on a change it caused itself. Automations that trigger each other stop after three levels.
A failed step is retried up to three times with a growing pause. Steps already done are not repeated.
An automation has at most 10 steps.
Deleting an automation stops it. Its run history stays.

Example scenario

Padma Net Support hires engineers for the Khulna branch every month. Nasrin, the HR lead, copies New joiner: IT setup task from Ready-made. She adds the condition department_id == 4 (Network Operations) and sets the task for A specific person: Rakib from IT, due in 2 days, escalating to HR after 48 hours. She tests it on Tanvir Hossain, sees "Would run", and switches it on. When Mitu Akter is hired next week, Rakib gets the laptop task automatically.

Tips

Start from a ready-made automation; it is faster than building from scratch.
Always run Test on a real employee before switching on.
Set up the "HR automation request" approval flow first if you use Ask for approval (see Approvals).

Troubleshooting and FAQ

I do not see Automations in the menu. Your plan does not include it, or you lack the automation permissions.

My automation did not run. Check that it is On, then look in Run history for a Skipped run and its reason.

The approval step says Skipped. No approval flow exists for "HR automation request". Add one, then the next runs will use it.

Can I undo a field change? Change the field back on the employee. Both changes stay in the job history.

Employees · Onboarding · Offboarding · Approvals · HRM setup

9bx user guide