Create Automations

Create an automation to run an approved Action on endpoint devices from a tool schedule, Self-Help, Assist, Resolve, or Prevent. For what automations are and how they run, see Automations Overview.

Prerequisites

• Editing is turned on. Click the lock icon in the upper-right part of the screen. While the page is locked, it is read-only.

• The Action that the automation runs is approved and enabled at Configure > Tools > Automations and Collection Extensions > Action Governance. See Approve and Enable Actions and Enable or Disable an Action.

You can create your own Actions, or you can import Kits that contain Actions. Some factory Actions are also supplied with automation definitions. To create your own Action, see Create Actions.

Creating the Automations

1. Go to Configure > Tools > Automations and Collection Extensions > Automations and click Create Automation.

   

2. Select the Supported OS: Windows, Mac, or Linux. No OS is selected by default, and you must select one. You can't change the OS after you save the automation.

   

3. Enter the Name of the automation. The name is required, has 1 to 100 characters, and must be unique across automations and collection extensions. It can't contain these characters: ' " ` - ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) + = { } [ ] / \ ? | : ; < > , .

   

4. (Optional) Enter a description of the automation, with up to 1,024 characters.

5. (Optional) Select a Category from the list. The default is None. The Category list shows None, the sensor categories, and the categories that other automations use. To add a category, click the + button to the right of the Category list. A category that you add with + is kept only when you save an automation with it. A category name can have up to 30 characters.

6. Click Select Action. It is available after you select the OS. A list of the Actions for the selected OS opens.

   

   NOTE: To see the Actions for all operating systems, select the Remove OS filter check box in the lower-left corner, under the table of Actions.

7. Select the Action and click Select Action.

   

8. Set the options of the automation. The options depend on the operating system.

   

   • File To Execute: The file to run. If the Action has more than one executable file, select the required file. If the Action has usage examples, File To Execute and Arguments are filled in from the first example. You can change them.

   • Arguments: If the Action has required or optional parameters, enter the arguments separated by spaces. If the Action has a required parameter, Arguments is required. The arguments can include sensor payload values in the form @{<payload value name>}, for example @{ALM_ITEM}, and static arguments, for example -ExecutionPolicy AllSigned. These characters are not allowed in an argument: | ; &. Empty by default.

   • Notify Prompt (Windows only): The text shown to the user when a tool schedule runs this automation with the Prompt or Notify run mode. Empty by default.

   • Additional Availability: Select Make available in Assist or Make available in Self-Help (Windows Only). Both are cleared by default.

     NOTE: Actions that require arguments can not be used with automations that are published for Self-Help. If you provide an optional argument, that automation will not be available in Self-Help.

   • Run As: Whether System or the logged-in User (Windows Only) runs the file. The default is System. With User (Windows Only), the automation does not run when no user is logged in.

     IMPORTANT: Starting from version 11.7, relative paths no longer work for User-context scripts. Use absolute paths or registry-based resolution to load SysTrackPS.dll. For details, see Loading SysTrack PowerShell Module in User-Context Scripts.

   • Execution Control: How the file runs on the system. The default is Immediately (async). With Immediately (async), the Runtime Limit options are None (the default, no time limit) or Cancel automation if not finished after a number of Minutes or Seconds. The time field shows 1 minute by default.

     With After previous synchronous automations finish (sync), the Runtime Limit options are Use Configuration-defined Max Execution Time and Only applicable if limit is less than Configuration-defined Max Execution Time. By default, Max Execution Time in the configuration is 5 minutes. You can enter from 1 second to 5 minutes. A larger value is reset to 5 minutes. For example, if the max execution time in the configuration is 5 minutes, you can set a lower limit of 2 minutes.

   • Order (sync only): The order in which this automation runs when other sync automations start at the same time. Lower numbers run first. The default is 0. For example, if Sensor 1 triggers Automation A and Automation B, set Automation A to 0 and Automation B to 1 to run A before B.

9. Click Edit Permissions. In Automation Permission Control, select the groups that can use the automation, and click OK. A new automation has no groups.

10. Click Save Automation. To empty the form and start again, click Clear All and confirm.

Check the Result

The new automation shows in the Automations table. Click its name to open the detailed view, check the settings, and click View Permissions to check the groups.

The automation runs on a system after the system reads the configuration that contains the new Action. To make systems read their configuration now, go to Configure > SysTrack Settings > Administration, select the systems, and run Read Configuration.

To run the automation when a sensor triggers, add it to a tool schedule. See Tool Schedules.

If the automation does not run or does not show where you expect, see Common Errors with Automations.