Workflows and automation

A workflow in PropLink is a sequence of steps that runs automatically when a trigger condition is met. PropLink ships with two main workflow families, arrears and maintenance, and an approval chain mechanism layered on top of any record that has approvers.

What a workflow looks like

TRIGGER  →  STEPS  →  COMPLETION
   |          |             |
   |          |             └── A status change, a notification, a closure.
   |          └── Wait for a condition (X days), send an email, raise a record, escalate.
   └── A condition that fires the workflow, a balance over X for Y days.

Built-in workflows

Arrears

The arrears workflow chases unpaid demands. A standard configuration:

    1. Day 7, first reminder email to the leaseholder.
    2. Day 14, second reminder email plus a phone-call task to the assigned manager.
    3. Day 21, formal demand letter (PDF generated and posted).
    4. Day 30, admin fee applied to the unit's balance.
    5. Day 45, solicitor referral task raised for review.

Every step is configurable per site. See Arrears workflows.

Maintenance

The maintenance workflow handles routine and reactive maintenance dispatch:

  • When a maintenance event becomes due, raise a work order against the preferred contractor.
  • If the contractor does not respond within X hours, escalate to a fallback contractor.
  • If the work order is not closed within the planned duration, escalate to the operations manager.

See Maintenance workflows.

Approval chains

Many records have approvers, budgets, invoices, bills, write-offs, freeholder payouts. Approval chains let you define multi-step approval based on amount, site or any other criterion.

For example, "any bill over £5,000 needs two approvals: the property manager and the operations director". See Approval chains.

In this section

Scheduled actions

Some workflows are time-based rather than event-based: producing the unit budget certificate at the start of each financial year, posting the freeholder payout on the same day every quarter. See Scheduled actions.

Execution log

Every workflow run is logged with the trigger that fired it, the steps that executed, the outcome of each step and the time. See Execution log.