The GoFormz scheduling engine lets you schedule a report to run periodically.
Remember GoFormz reports are dynamic — as more and more forms are completed, the data from those forms gets folded into the report if it meets the filter criteria you set for the report. For this reason, it often makes sense to run the same report periodically, to see what's changed. The report results can be automatically sent to you via email.
In this Workflow you’ll add message body text during your Send Email action. If you want to reference Form or metadata information in your message body, include Workflow variables.
Note: Links cannot be included in any email or text messages you dispatch from your GoFormz account. This includes any alphanumeric content that resembles a link (ex. abc123.abc).
Currently, your GoFormz account can host up to 50 individual schedules for reports.
In the GoFormz web app, follow the steps below.
Create a new scheduled workflow. Find your report in the Reports Tab and select Schedule Workflow from its [. . .] Actions dropdown menu.
Then in the Create Schedule dialog box, select the desired destinations where the report should be sent. In the image below, we selected Email and Box.
Note that before you can schedule reports to be sent to a third-party app (i.e. any destination other than Email), you must configure its app connection. Click the Configure Connected Apps link at the bottom of the Create Schedule dialog box to launch the App Connections page.
Click Next when done selecting report destinations. A new workflow called "[Report Name] Schedule" is created automatically, containing all the steps necessary given the destinations you selected. The workflow in our example has 4 steps:
Schedule: When and how often the report will run.
Export Report View To CSV: Export the report to a CSV file; you don't need to edit this step.
Send Email: Send an email with the report CSV.
Box: Upload File: Upload the report CSV to your Box account.
You will need to edit the Schedule, Send Email and Box: Upload File steps of this workflow, as detailed below. We do not go over all the possible third-party uploads here, but the Upload File actions for all our apps are fairly similar, so understanding how to upload reports to Box should set you up well for successfully configuring uploads to other apps.
2. Rename the workflow if desired. Click the pencil icon next to the workflow's default name, and give it your own name. In the example above, we called the workflow "Work Order Report Schedule".
3. Configure the Schedule trigger. The trigger specifies when and how often your report will run. There are 3 different report cadences supported — Daily, Weekly, and Monthly. Each cadence has its own set of options:
Daily cadence: Select the time when the report will run, and the number of days in the cadence. In the example below, the report will run every 2 days (i.e. every other day) at 5AM.
Weekly cadence: Select the days of the week when the report should run, as well as the time when it should run on those days. In the example below, the report will run on 9:30AM every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Monthly cadence: Select the day of the month and time that the report will run. You can run the report a set number of days from the beginning or from the end of each month. You can also choose to run the report on the last weekday of each month. In the example below, the report will run at 10PM, 2 days before the end of every month.
Finally, select the Time Zone for your report start times. In all the above examples, we use Pacific Time (America/Los Angeles).
4. Configure the Send Email action: This action instructs the GoFormz workflow engine to send the CSV report as an attachment to a specified email address (or addresses). Configure the following inputs for this action:
To: One or more email addresses, separated by commas.
CC (optional): CC (carbon copy) email addresses.
BCC (optional): BCC (blind carbon copy) email addresses
Subject: The subject line of the email.
Body: The email body, which can be edited using a rich text editor.
Attachments: Do not change this field! This field contains the file(s) that should be attached to the email. It is automatically set to be the report CSV that is outputted by the Export Report View To CSV step.
5. Configure the Box: Upload File action. This action instructs the GoFormz workflow engine to send the CSV report to your Box account for storage. Upload File actions for other third-party apps are very similar to this one, so we use Box as an example here rather than showing all of them. Configure the following inputs for this action:
Connection: The Box app connection that should be used for this upload. This tells the GoFormz workflow engine which Box account should be used for the upload.
File URL(s): Do not change this field! This field determines which CSV should be uploaded to Box and is automatically set to be the CSV that is outputted by the Export Report View To CSV step.
Destination Path: The Box folder where the report CSV should be placed. If the folder you specify does not already exist, it will automatically be created for you.
6. Activate and save. Finally, toggle the Active/Inactive switch to the Active position to activate your workflow, and click Save to save it.
Note that the same report can have multiple schedules. For instance, you may want a weekly report as well as an end-of-month summary. To do this, simply create two separate scheduled workflows for your report.
Once your report schedule has been created, you can manage it (e.g. change it or delete it) just as you would any other workflow. Of special note is the ability to suspend or restart the reporting schedule using the Enabled switch.
For instance, you may want to do this if a report recipient is going on vacation and does not want reports to accumulate in their email. In this scenario, simply disable the workflow when the recipient goes on vacation, and re-enable it when they return.