Automations

An automation rule makes something happen on its own: when a record is created, saved, reaches a value, is submitted or cancelled, or every day or hour; only when a condition holds; then create a record (one per table row if wanted), update the record or a linked one, run one of the record's actions, notify people, give a to-do, or call a webhook, with mapped values. Every hand-off between the four flows is a rule your company can switch on, change or replace.

To open: Administration › Automation › Automations (/palbon-trade-finance/automations). System Managers design rules; Trade Finance Managers may also manage them.

1. The shipped rules

Rule	When	Does	Shipped
Draft a contract for each leg when a trade is confirmed	Trade status becomes Confirmed	Creates a Trade Contract per leg (legs without a contract) with the trade's and leg's terms, then fills it from its template; writes it back into the leg	Off
Draft a surveyor work order for each leg when a trade is confirmed	Trade status becomes Confirmed	Creates a Surveyor Work Order per leg, to the leg's surveyor	Off
Draft the purchase LC when a trade is confirmed	Trade status becomes Confirmed	Creates a draft import Letter of Credit for the purchase leg (LC payment terms, no credit yet): amount = price × quantity, the ports, latest shipment = laycan end	Off
Copy the sale LC's documents and conditions into its purchase LC	Sale credit status becomes Advised, with its back-to-back pair set	Copies the 46A and 47A tables into the purchase credit; stops the advice if the copy fails	Off
Create the voyage when a nomination is accepted	Nomination status becomes Accepted, no voyage yet	Creates the Voyage and writes it back into the nomination	Off
Prepare document instructions when an LC is issued or advised	Credit status becomes Issued or Advised	Creates the Document Instruction of the leg from the credit	Off
Tell the group ERP when a trade is confirmed	Trade status becomes Confirmed	Calls a webhook (set your ERP's address)	Off
Tell trade finance 3 days before a presentation deadline	Daily	Notifies Trade Finance Executives and Managers about live credits (Issued, Advised, Amended) whose presentation deadline is within 3 days: {lcnumber}: documents must be presented by {presentationdeadline} (copy it with 1 day for D-1)	On
Tell trade finance when a credit expires within 7 days	Daily	Notifies them about live or presented credits expiring within 7 days	On

The list shows each rule with When a … …, its run count and Last run failed when it did. Switch on / Switch off from the list.

2. Make or change a rule

New rule (or open one). The editor has three parts.

2.1 When

Setting	Use
Rule name, Description	For example Draft the contracts when a trade is confirmed
When a (record type)	The record that triggers it
Trigger	On Create, On Save, When Value Becomes (a field reaches a value), When Field Changes, On Submit, On Cancel, Daily, Hourly
Field, Becomes	For value triggers, for example status becomes Confirmed (also Workflow state)
Only when	Conditions on the record's fields (all or any). No rule: it runs on every matching event. Daily and hourly rules run over the records the condition selects, once per record each day (or hour)
Order	Which rule runs first when several fire together

2.2 Then

Action	Settings
Create Record	Record type to create; One for each row of a table (with Only the rows where); Keep the new record in a field of this record (or of the row)
Update This Record	The values below
Update Linked Record	Through the link field
Run Record Action	Action of the record (for example generate_mt700, propose_amendment, run_checks); the rule lists the actions allowed
Notify	Roles and Message with {field} placeholders, for example {lcnumber} must be presented by {presentationdeadline}
Create To-Do	Roles and message
Webhook	Webhook address: the record is posted as JSON
Then run on the new record	An action to run on a created record (for example fillfromtemplate)
Stop the save if the rule fails	Otherwise a failure is logged and the user's save goes ahead
Run Without The User's Permissions	Only a System Manager can set it; by default a rule runs with the permissions of the person whose action triggered it

2.3 Values

Each row sets one field of the target:

From	Value	Example
Field	A field of the record, or row.<field> of the table row	commodity, row.price
Fixed Value	A constant	Draft
Template	Text with {field} placeholders	{trade_title} - {row.leg_type}
Formula	Arithmetic on doc. and row.	(row.price or 0) * (row.quantity or doc.quantity or 0)
Linked Field	link_field.field of a linked record	company.company_name, load_port.port_name
Today, Now, Current User	–
Copy Table	A table of the record copied whole	documents_required

If empty keeps a value someone already entered.

3. Try before switching on

1. Save the rule (off).
2. Try on a record: choose a record. The app shows what the saved rule would do on it (The condition holds or The condition does not hold: nothing would happen, and the records and values it would create or change). Nothing is changed.
3. Switch it on.

4. Safety

• A rule never repeats a step for the same record and row: a retry or a second save never makes a second contract or credit.
• Rules cannot loop: a rule triggered by another rule stops after three levels.
• Last runs on the rule, and Administration › Automation › Automation Run, show every run with its result and error.
• A failed rule never blocks the user's save unless it says Stop the save if the rule fails.