Proactive Notification Workflows

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Overview

Proactive notification workflows allow you to set and receive notifications about highly important tickets when a threshold is met on a gauge. You can choose to be notified via Microsoft Teams, Slack, or email.

Why Use This Feature?

When it comes to serving your clients efficiently, you always want to make sure you are paying attention to any unassigned tickets that are of critical priority. The thresholds available in BrightGauge™, a ConnectWise solution, allow you to customize your gauges and work on the back end to send you proactive notifications about highly important tickets after a threshold is met. Set thresholds for any number or snapshot gauges you want to proactively monitor through BrightGauge. You do not have to be on the screen for BrightGauge to keep observing thresholds for you before it triggers a notification on your choice of medium (currently Microsoft Teams, Slack, or email).

Some other use cases that you can enable include:

• Receive a Microsoft Teams message if the number of ConnectWise PSA™ (Manage) Critical and unassigned service tickets goes beyond a designated threshold. 
• Receive an email notification if the number of Customer Updated PSA service tickets crosses the set threshold because they are not attended. 
• Get notified when device availability crosses the defined threshold for PSA Device availability. 
• Receive an email if the utilization of the technician is below the threshold for Technician Utilization ratio for PSA Time Entry Extended dashboard.

Set Up Proactive Notifications

Follow the steps below to set up proactive notifications in Microsoft Teams, Slack, or by email.

1. Select a number gauge or snapshot gauge to open the Gauge Builder.
2. Click the Design tab in the upper left corner, then locate the Workflow section on the left-hand side navigation. Click Add Workflow. 
3. In the New Workflow dialog box that appears, complete each step on the left-hand side. After completing each step, click the Next button in the lower-right corner to proceed. 
   1. Details: Enter details for your workflow.
      
      
      1. Enter a workflow name in the Workflow Name field. We recommend using a descriptive name that includes the name of the gauge you want to apply proactive notifications to.
      2. (Optional) Complete the Workflow Description field to give added context to the workflow (100 character limit).
   2. Workflow Triggers: Configure your workflow triggers.
      
      1. Ensure a measure is selected in the first drop-down.
      2. In the middle drop-down, select a symbol to inform what triggers the threshold notification.
      3. In the third field, enter the number you want this threshold to reach before it starts sending you proactive notifications.
         
         Tip: You can configure dynamic threshold conditions in this field. See Dynamic Threshold Conditions below for more details.
      4. Click the checkmark icon to save the trigger.
      5. (Optional) Click the +Add button to set up additional conditions for the threshold.
   3. Schedule: Establish your notification schedule. Complete the following fields under When do you want to receive notifications?:
      
      
      1. Starting on this day: Use the date picker to select a start date.
      2. At this time: Use the time picker to select a start time.

         Note: You can select a start time earlier than the current time, but you cannot select a start date before today's date.

      3. Repeat Every: Use the drop-down menus to select how often you want the workflow to run.
      4. When do you want this workflow to run?: Select whether you want the workflow to run daily or on specific days/time ranges.
         In the example below, the workflow trigger first occurs on Tuesday, July 2 at 2:48pm, but each subsequent trigger will occur between 2:55pm and 3:35pm every Tuesday and Wednesday.
         
   4. Alert Script: Complete the following details about your desired alert messaging:
      1. Select an option from the How do you want to receive notifications? drop-down:
         1. Email: Enter the email address of the recipient for these notifications and CC anyone else you want to be notified.
            
         2. Microsoft Teams: Copy the webhook URL from Microsoft Teams and paste it into the Webhook URL field. For more information on using a webhook as a connector, please see the Microsoft Teams documentation, Send a message in Teams using Power Automate.
            
         3. Slack Channel: Copy the webhook URL from Slack and paste it into the Webhook URL field. For more information on using a webhook as a connector, please see the Slack documentation, Sending messages using incoming webhooks.
            
      2. Add any additional information you want to the Message template input. Dynamic fields enable you to customize your messages with data from global variables, template tokens, and gauge values. See Dynamic Fields below to learn how to use these data types in your messages
4. Click Create Workflow in the lower-right corner.
5. Click the Save button in the upper-right corner of the Gauge Builder, then choose whether to update the current gauge or create a new copy of the gauge. Click Save again. You can now receive proactive notifications about critical tickets after that number of tickets is met in the threshold.
   
   

   Note: 

   • It may take up to 15 minutes for a workflow to be ready.
   • When a proactive notification triggers, if the trigger value does not change, the notification repeats after two days. If the trigger value changes, the notification sends immediately after the trigger condition is met.

Dynamic Fields

You can customize your proactive notification messages and workflow triggers with dynamic fields, including template tokens, global variables, gauge columns, and dynamic threshold conditions.

Template Tokens

Template tokens show information about the workflow itself. When you configure your message text with template tokens, use the format {{token}} in the body of your message, replacing token with a token name from the table below. 

Global Variables

You can use global variables to include important contextual information in your alerts. When you configure your message text with global variables, use the format {{$global_variable}} in the body of your message, replacing global_variable with a variable from the table below.

Gauge Columns

You can display the gauge value that triggered the threshold directly in the notification. Use the format {{:measure_name}} in the body of your message, replacing measure_name with the workflow trigger column name.

For this example, {{:id_count}} prints the gauge value in the message.

Dynamic Threshold Conditions

You can use dynamic fields and arithmetic operations in your workflow triggers. This allows you to set triggers based on relative values that you do not have to calculate.

• When using gauge columns in workflow triggers, include a : (colon) before the gauge column name.
• When using global variables in workflow triggers, include a $ (dollar sign) before the variable.
• For all dynamic variable usages, include {{ }} (double curly braces) around the variable.
• You can use ( ) parentheses to group operations with numbers or variables within your workflow trigger calculation.

See examples of each of these cases below:

Example (Gauge Column)

You want to set an alert when the number of critical tickets is greater than 25% of your total ticket number. You can use a gauge column calculation in your workflow trigger.

critical_count > .25 * {{:ticket_count}}

Example (Global Variable)

You want to set an alert about invoices that are due in two days so that you can follow up on payment. You can use a global variable in your workflow trigger.

due_date = {{$current_day}} + 2

Example (Parentheses Operation)

You want to set an alert when the percentage change in your revenue for this month is less than or equal to the percentage change in revenue for last month. This can indicate you are not meeting your sales goals. You can use parentheses to calculate relative values.

Percentage change in revenue this month ≤ (revenue last month – revenue month prior to last month) / revenue last month

How-To Video: How to Set Up Proactive Notifications

In this video, we review how to set up Proactive Notifications in BrightGauge.

How to Set Up Proactive Notifications

Deactivate or Reactivate a Proactive Notification Workflow

If you need to turn off a proactive notification for a while but save it for future use, you can deactivate it and reactivate it as needed.

To deactivate a proactive notification:

1. Select a gauge to open the Gauge Builder.
2. Click the Design tab in the upper-left corner, then locate the Workflow section in the left navigation.
3. Use the toggle to switch off the workflow you want to deactivate.
   
4. In the Deactivate Workflow confirmation pop-up, click OK.
   
5. In the upper right corner of the Gauge Builder, click Save, then select the radio button to Update the current gauge. Click Save again.
6. Your workflow is now deactivated.

Repeat the same steps as above when you want to reactivate your workflow, switching the toggle on and confirming in the Activate Workflow pop-up before saving changes.

Delete a Proactive Notification Workflow

To delete a proactive notification workflow, follow these steps:

1. Select a gauge to open the Gauge Builder.
2. Click the Design tab in the upper left corner, then locate the Workflow section on the left-hand side navigation.
3. Click the workflow you want to delete.
4. Click the Next button to move through the workflow wizard until you get to the Alert Script screen.
5. Click the red Delete Workflow button in the lower left corner.
   
6. Select the checkbox next to the Delete workflow and alert scripts. This action cannot be undone! message.
7. Click Delete.
   
8. In the upper right corner of the Gauge Builder, click Save, then select the radio button to Update the current gauge. Click Save again.
9. Your workflow is now deleted.

Customize the Sound and Color of Proactive Notifications

1. Click the three dots on the upper-right of the gauge of your choosing and click Gauge Info. 
2. Click Edit in Gauge Builder. 
3. In the Design tab of the Gauge Builder, you can edit the alert sound and color of your gauge when the threshold you set is met in the Sound & Color Thresholds section. 
4. Configure the threshold you want to meet when you get a notification by choosing one of the options in the drop-down menu. 
5. In the Value field, enter a number for the threshold. 
6. Choose a color from the color picker that suits the color you want to represent on the gauge when your threshold is met. 
7. Click Play Dashboard Alert. The Notification Sounds drop-down requires you to choose an alert sound. To add more sounds, click the + Add button. 
8. Click Apply.
   
9. Now that you have set your color and sound for our proactive notification, meeting that threshold turns the number in your gauge to the color you picked previously.