Q&A: The Future of Automations Webinar (Q3 2021)

We had a great webinar earlier this fall about the future of workflow automation in Quickbase. Below we've collected answers to your questions we were not able to get to during the webinar.

 

Automations Migration Tool

Q: What happens if you migrate an Automation that has already been migrated? Will it create a new Pipeline, or can you only migrate an automation once?

A: An Automation may be migrated multiple times. Each time the migration process runs, it will create a new Pipeline, which can then be modified, activated, or deleted as necessary.

 

Q: When an Automation is migrated to Pipelines, who owns the resulting Pipeline?

A: The user who initiated the migration will subsequently name, configure, and own the resulting Pipeline that is created by the migration tool.

 

Q: Does the migration tool allow me to test a migration, without committing to deactivate an Automation or running directly on my production data?

A: Migration can be tested by migrating an Automation to Pipelines, but leaving the Automation enabled, and keeping the new Pipeline disabled. The Pipeline can also be reconfigured to point to a different app or set of sample data for additional testing.

 

Q: I see the migration option when looking at Automations, however it does not seem to be available for me to use.  Is there a setting that I am missing?

A: In order to migrate Automations, you must have both administrative rights to the Application with the Automation in question, and access to create new Pipelines on your Quickbase Account. If you do not currently have access to Pipelines, please contact your account administrator who can assist you further.

 

Q: Are there plans to add the ability to migrate Webhooks or Actions to the migration tool?

A: At this time there are no plans to add support for migrating Webhooks or Actions to the migration tool, however that is subject to change as we continue to gather feedback and product data.

 

Q: Is it possible to see which Automations are not currently supported by the migration tool, instead of receiving a general error code?

A: The migration tool now supports nearly all automations our customers have built. The only exceptions are, any automations which have more than 26 steps or include a formula directly in the automation. For more information on the migration tool, check out our Automation Migration Help Page.

 

Q: Is there a roadmap that shows the Migration Tool enhancements that are currently planned?

A: The migration tool now supports virtually all automations, so there are no further enhancements planned at this time.

 

Pipelines Functionality

Q: Is there any functionality supported by Automations that is not yet supported by Pipelines?

A: The largest difference in functionality between Automations and Pipelines is that Pipelines is currently limited to a maximum of 26 steps. Depending on the configuration of the Pipeline, those steps may take complex actions, and even run more than once per trigger (i.e. looping through a list), but Automations do not currently have the same limitation regarding number of steps. You can, however, add more steps by using the Callable Pipelines channel to call a subsequent pipeline.

Q: Are scheduled pipelines available to everyone, or is that an add-on feature?

A: Any user with access to create and manage Pipelines can configure a Pipeline to run on a schedule. To do this, simply ensure that the first step (Step A) is not a Trigger. When the first step is a Query or Action, an option will appear at the top of the Pipeline to set a schedule.

 

Q: Will Pipelines owned by other admins ever be made accessible to all admins on an account?

A: While this functionality is not currently available, we are currently evaluating customer feedback and conducting research into new governance models to potentially allow more flexible Pipelines management in the future.

 

Q: Is there a roadmap that shows the Pipelines enhancements that are currently planned?

A: We do not have a live view of our product roadmap, but you can always hear about the latest updates in our monthly release notes or ask a Quickbase representative to show you an overview of our plans for the next 3 months.

 

Q: Is there a plan to enhance the Pipelines interface so that steps can be rearranged?

A: While this functionality is not currently available, we are currently working on an improvement to the Pipelines user interface. More information about these enhancements will be published once it is available.

 

Q: Are we able to see which fields are used in Pipelines on the "Usage" tab of the field properties?

A: Unfortunately at this time we do not have a way to show in the Usage tab of field properties whether or not the field is used in any pipelines.    

 

Q: Is there a glossary of Pipelines terms, or any reference material that can help me understand specific Pipelines configuration options? (e.g. “Is Set” vs “Is Not Set”)

A: For clarity on Pipelines terminology and configuration options, you can always reference our Pipelines Help Documentation which provides a breakdown of all key Pipelines functionality.

 

Q: Do you plan to support Esri ArcGIS?

A: We do not have plans to support ArcGIS at this time. In an effort to provide the most value possible, we are focused on creating and managing integration channels to the most popular cloud tools available. Our strategy will continue to evolve with the needs of our customers.

 

Pipelines Usage and Pricing

Q: Is there a way to see the potential impact to my Pipelines annual usage limit before migrating Automations to Pipelines?

A: All Quickbase plans now include unlimited usage of the Pipelines Quickbase channel. This means that migrating your Automations to Pipelines will not increase your Quickbase bill, or reduce the number of integration reads for your account.

Q: Is there a cost for using Pipelines to make calls to external sources? (e.g. DocuSign or ServiceNow)

A: When Pipelines integrate with external data sources, the associated usage does count towards the monthly or annual usage limits that are specific to your account.

 

Q: Are the Bucket, CSV, and Clock channels in Pipelines considered “Quickbase to Quickbase” (and therefore not counted as part of my usage limit)?

A: On our new billing plans, the Bucket, CSV, and Clock channels do not count towards account usage limits. You can read more about which Pipelines steps are billable in this help article.

 

Learn More

Changes to the Automations Feature in Quickbase
Pipelines Help Center