Business Rules and Communication Jobs in the Gladstone Go Automation Portal

Problem

You need Go emails, texts and push notifications to send automatically, either when a customer acts on Go (business rules) or on a schedule (communication jobs), such as after a Direct Debit rejection or when a class space opens.

Resolution

1. Know what is in the Automation Portal

   Tool	What it is for
   Email Manager (email templates)	Design the email templates your jobs and rules send
   Communication Jobs	Scheduled messages (one-off or repeating) by email, SMS or push notification, sent at set times to a chosen group of members
   Business Rules	Automatic emails that go when a member does something on Go (books, joins, resets a password)
   Data Queries / Audience Builder	Custom member lists for communication jobs (Data Queries are being replaced by Audience Builder, a separate product: ask Gladstone)

2. Decide where each message goes

   • Set up as a Business Rule: advance notice, booking confirmation, link member invitation, membership purchased (bought for themselves), membership received (bought by someone else), new direct debit, new member (first sign-up or first non-member booking; include the set-password link), password reset. Cancellation is also a typical rule.
   • Set up as a Communication Job:

   Job type	Sends when	Suggested schedule
   DD rejection: instruction cancelled / no instruction / refer to payer	The day after DD processing, for rejected members (needs the matching Plus2 wizard to add a correspondence note)	Daily, first thing after opening (for example, Monday–Saturday, 09:30). Skip Sunday and Monday if you do not process rejections at weekends
   Discount ending notification	A set number of days before a membership discount ends	Daily
   Fill space in class from a waiting list	A space opens in a class a member is waiting for	Several times a day, for example hourly
   Go Learn – DD mandate emails	–	–
   Service job	Custom member lists set up for you	As agreed

Business rules (system-event triggers)

1. Create the rule

   • Go to Operator > Configuration > Automation > Business Rules and click + (or Add).
   • Name it (for example, "Booking confirmation") and choose the matching Type (for example, booking made on Go Book, password reset, new direct debit, link member invitation).

2. Choose the action and template

   • Action type: Email. Select the template.

3. Save

   • Click Save. From then on, every matching event sends the email (for example, every Go Book booking sends a confirmation).

Communication jobs (scheduled triggers)

1. Create the job

   • Go to Automation Portal > Communication Jobs and click +.
   • Title (job name): no special characters, dashes or dots.
   • Job type: for example, Fill space from class waiting list. Click Next.
   • One-off or repeating. Alert lists and DD rejections are repeating.

2. Choose the channels and content

   • Channels: email, SMS, push. Not every channel is available for every job type, and email is not compulsory.
   • Content: choose the email template and write the SMS or push text. If you use more than one language, pick each language from the dropdown and edit its text.

3. Set the schedule

   • One-off: choose the Start Date and Start Time.
   • Repeating: set the end date first, then a start date from tomorrow (start times cannot be in the past). Choose the days of the week, then once a day or multiple times a day at an interval (for example, every 30 or 60 minutes) between start and end hours (for example, 08:00–20:00).

4. Save in test

   • Click Save and Add Job (or Save). Start new jobs in test; if waiting lists already contain real customers, keep the job in test until go-live.

5. Test the job

   • Test email: on the Schedule Job page, set the Job Status to Test, enter the email address to send to and save. The email sends at the scheduled time(s). There must be a member in the selected audience at the time of sending, so placeholders can be filled with your test data. Use Send first result so the email is only sent once at the scheduled time.
   • Test SMS: see Using SMS with Communication Jobs.
   • For an alert list job, a newly freed place should notify only the customers on that class's list, and customers must be able to remove themselves from the list. Switch the job to live only after this passes.

6. Example: DD rejection email job

   • Title Direct Debit refer to payer email, job type DD refer to payer, repeating, email, template Refer to payer.
   • End date far in the future (for example, 31/12/2048), start tomorrow, Monday–Saturday, once a day (for example, 09:30). Rejections processed on a Friday are emailed on Saturday morning.

7. Set up the DD rejection emails (if applicable)

   • Three templates are triggered by ARUDD rejection reasons processed through the Plus2 wizards: Refer to payer, No instruction and Instruction cancelled.
   • The matching Plus2 wizard adds the correspondence note the job looks for, and can also change the status, raise a debt, add a note and a reception message. If the wizard is not set up for a rejection reason, no email goes. Gladstone can add the templates and jobs.

8. Add SMS or push (if applicable)

   • SMS (DD rejection and service jobs): see Using SMS with Communication Jobs.
   • Push notifications (class alert jobs only; needs the Go mobile app and a OneSignal App ID from Gladstone): set Enable Push Notifications = 1 and OneSignal App ID in Modules > Configure, then toggle push notifications on in the class alert job. See Class Alert Lists and Push Notifications.

Notes

• You need access and permissions to the Automation Portal in Operator. If the job is for a Customer Audience, create the Customer Audience first (see Using Audience Builder).
• Communication jobs send an email when records match the job's query (like Audience Builder, but set up by Gladstone). Migrated emails already have jobs matching their old triggers; only the content needs updating.
• Gladstone usually sets up business rules during configuration; you maintain the template content. Business-rule emails fire only for activity on Go, not for the same action done in 360.
• Older guidance says email is the only channel on communication jobs and SMS is coming; current guidance lists SMS for DD rejection and service jobs. Check with Gladstone whether SMS is live for your site.
• Migrated custom jobs with no content (or switched off) may be left over from the old system. Ask the Gladstone data team what they were before deleting or rebuilding them.
• A status set in 360 or Plus2 can trigger a custom job (for example, setting a corporate-registration status emails the customer a join link or discount code). Existing jobs can have SMS added as a channel once SMS is enabled.
• The DD rejection emails usually include a link to pay the debt on Go. Only cash debts can be paid on Go.
• DD and RCP query statuses can block the customer on Go until the debt is paid. Customer blocked from booking online: look for the red debt banner on their Go account, and a cash debt or DD/RCP query status in 360/Plus2.
• DD rejection email not sent: check the DD rejection job is running and the Plus2 rejection wizard is set up for that reason (see Direct Debit Set-Up in Plus2).
• Alert list job – points to agree:
  • The interval should be shorter than the online cancellation cut-off (for example, if customers can cancel up to 90 minutes before, run at least every hour; 30 minutes is common). Otherwise late cancellations will not trigger an alert in time.
  • The start time sets the run times (for example, starting 06:45 at 30-minute intervals gives :15 and :45). Align it with class start times.
  • Cancellations while the job is not running (for example, overnight) are picked up on the first run of the day.
  • One email is sent per class with a space, to everyone on that class's list. Customers on several lists can get several emails. The email repeats on every run while the space stays unfilled, so very short intervals (for example, 2 minutes) spam customers. Available intervals range from 1 minute to 12 hours; hourly (or 30 minutes) within set hours (for example, from before the first class to the last class) is a sensible start. Tell customers to remove themselves from lists they no longer want.
  • The email reports that a place is free; it does not reserve it. The first person to book gets it (see GladstoneGo: Alert List Notification Setup).
• Monitoring: check failed communication jobs daily and review alert-list performance weekly during the first weeks after go-live.
• Related: Gladstone Go and 360 Email Templates; Class Alert Lists and Push Notifications; Audience Builder; GladstoneGo: Site-wide Notifications.

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