Using the Flow actions

In Flow Studio, the flow actions are one of the two element types (the other being the controls) that you use to configure flows.

When creating a flow, place an action element at the point where you want the respective action to be executed for the orders that reach that step.

1. Adding an action to a flow

To add an action to a flow, proceed as follows:

  1. Open an existing flow or create a new flow in the Automation » Flow Studio menu.

  2. Identify the flow position where the action is to be carried out.

  3. Open the Actions tab in the left-hand column.
    → The tab with available actions, organized into categories, opens.

  4. Select the action that is to be carried out. Refer to the section Selecting an action for detailed information on the individual actions.

  5. Add the action to the flow by dragging it to the appropriate flow position.
    Note: The plus symbols (add_circle) that appear when you drag the action onto the canvas indicate the available points in the flow.

  6. If necessary, configure the additional settings for the action. Refer to the section Selecting an action for detailed information on the individual actions.
    Note: Many actions require additional settings to be configured. In such cases, the additional settings appear in the column on the right.

1.1. Selecting an action

You select the actions for a flow in the column to the left of the Canvas. In the Actions tab, the actions are divided into the following categories:

1.1.1. Order category

Table 1. Order category
Action Explanation

Change order payment method

This action changes the payment method for the affected orders.

Additional settings:
Select the payment method from the drop-down list right. Available payment methods are the same as in the Setup » Orders » Payment » Payment methods menu.

Register order with shipping service provider

This action registers the order with the shipping provider
via the already configured interface/plugin, and
using the selected shipping profile.

Additional settings:
No additional settings.

Prerequisites:
Already configured interfaces/plugins of the respective shipping provider.

Note: You cannot use this action together with the Amazon service Amazon Prime.

Create order

This action creates a suborder (child order) for the affected orders.

Additional settings:
Select the order type that will be created. The options in the dropdown list are s follows:

  • Order

  • Credit note

  • Warranty

Copy order

This action creates an order copy for the affected orders.

Additional settings:
Select the order type to be assigned to the copies. The options in the drop-down list are as follows:

  • Order

  • Reorder

Split order

The action splits the order items of an order into separate delivery orders.

Additional settings:
Select the criterion by which to filter. The options in the dropdown list are as follows:

  • Split by item availability

    • Then, from the dropdown list, select the item availability group by which to split the order.

  • Split by delivery date

  • Split by available line of items

    • Then, from the dropdown list, select the attribute by which to split the order.

Change order owner

This action assigns a new owner to the affected orders.

Additional settings:
Select an owner that should be assigned to the orders. In the drop-down list on the right you find every user account that can be assigned as owner.

Add order note

This action adds a note to the affected orders. This note can also include hyper links as well as images.

Change order status

This action changes the order status for the affected orders.

Additional settings:
Select the order type that will be assigned to the affected orders. To do so, use the drop-down list on the right.

Change order type

Select the status that the affected orders will be changed to.

Additional settings:
Select the order type that will be assigned to the affected orders. The options in the dropdown list are as follows:

  • Sales order

  • Advance order

Select order template

This action automatically applies a previously set up order template to the affected orders.

Additional settings:
Select an order template from the drop-down list.

Prerequisites:
Existing order templates.

Note: Order templates are created in the Setup » Orders » Order template menu.

Send notification

This action sends a notification to an user account for all affected orders.

Additional settings:
Select an user account that should be notified from the first drop-down list.
Select a notification type from the second drop-down list.
Enter the subject of the notification under Subject.
Enter the notification under Body.
Optionally: Enter an URL.

Additional settings:
From the drop-down list, select the document type to be created for the affected orders.

Prerequisites:
Already set up document templates.

Note: Document templates are created in the menu Set up » Documents » DocumentBuilder.

Send email

This action sends an email for the affected orders.

Additional settings:
From the drop-down list, select the email template to use when sending the emails for the affected orders.
From the second drop-down list, select the recipient of the email, so the email address the email should be sent to.
Select check_box_outline_blank Enter email address manually if you can’t find the email address in the drop-down list and enter it in the field below.

Set order entry date to today

This action sets the order’s receipt date to today’s date (today = the day on which the flow run takes place).

Add weight to packages

This action adds a weight to the packages of the affected orders.

Additional settings:

Specify the weight (in grams) to be added.

Assign sales representative to order

The action assigns a sales representative to an order.

Assign sales representative to customer

The action assigns a sales representative to an order.

Note: The sales representative is assigned based on the postcode of the address linked to order recipient. For a sales representative to be assigned, it is mandatory that a range of postcodes is saved in the representative’s contact data. The contact ID of the sales representative is saved instead of the name.

For further information, refer to the Editing a contact page of the manual.

Change customer rating

This action changes the respective contact’s customer rating for the affected orders.

Additional settings:
!Select the appropriate rating from the drop-down list.

Change customer class

This action changes the respective contact’s customer class for the affected orders.

Additional settings:
Select the appropriate customer class from the drop-down list.

Requirements:
Already set up customer classes.

Note: You set customer classes up in the menu Set up » CRM » Classes.

Change customer type

This action changes the respective contact’s customer type for the affected orders.

Additional settings:
Select the appropriate customer type from the drop-down list. The default customer types are as follows:
Customer, Interested party, Sales representative, Supplier, Manufacturer, Partner.

Assign storage location

This action assigns a storage location to the affected orders.

Note: The mapping is assigned based on your warehouse settings. Use the option Unassign old storage location if you want to unassign any previously assigned storage locations before you assign new ones.

Unassign storage location

This Action unassigns any storage locations previously assigned to the order items.

Create delivery orders

This action automatically splits the affected orders into delivery orders.

Additional settings:
From the dropdown list on the right, select the criterion that will be used to split the orders. The options are as follows:

  • Split automatically

  • Split by gross value of items

  • Split by item availability

Change dunning level

This Action changes the dunning level for the affected orders.

Additional settings:

From the drop-down list on the right, select the dunning level that will be assigned to the affected orders.

Change order flag

This Action changes the flag for the affected orders.

Additional settings:
Select a flag for the affected order from the drop-down list on the right.

Creating messenger conversation

This action creates a new messenger conversation for the affected orders.

Settings:

Select a template for the conversation. You create templates in the EmailBuilder

Select a channel for the conversation. Here, you will find more information on how you configure messenger channels.

If Amazon is selected as the channel, you can select the message type for Amazon under Amazon message type.

Register return with shipping service provider

This action registers the order via the interface or the plugin that you have already set up.

Prerequisites:
The shipping service provider must allow registration of returns.

Create return for all order items

This action creates a return with all order items of the affected orders.

Additional settings:
Select a return reason from the drop-down list.
If you don’t find a fitting reason, you can enter the Setup » Orders » Order types » Return menu via manage configuration. This way you can create a new return reason or edit existing ones.

Assign serial numbers

This action assigns a serial number to the affected orders.

Initiate debt collection process with mediaFinanz

This action sends information of all affected orders to our external partner mediaFinanz, to initiate the debt collection process.

Tags

This action adds tags to or removes tags from the affected orders.

Additional settings:
From the drop-down list, select Add tags *, *Remove tags or remove and add tags.
From the drop-down list on the right, select the Tags to be added to/removed from affected orders. You can also choose to remove all tags.

Open URL

This action opens the URL entered. The URL can be used to transmit information on orders. For example, the order ID can be included by attaching the template variable $OrderID to the URL.

The URL has to be entered in its full length and according to the template https://www.example.co.uk+.

Example including the attached order ID: https://www.beispiel.de/$OrderID/.

The following template variables can be used:

  • $OrderStatus

  • $ReferrerID

  • $CustomerID

  • $CustomerNumber

The available template variables are listed within the action.
HTTP method = Select GET, PUT or POST.
Content type = Save the content type for the URL.
Example: If XML content should be transferred, enter text/xml.
Request Content = Texts, for example XML or JSON content can be transferred.

Add variations to order

This action adds a specific variation to the affected orders.

Additional settings:
Enter the corresponding variation ID for this. You cannot enter more than one ID.

Cancel shipment

This action cancels the shipping for the affected orders.

Reset shipment

This resets the shipping for the affected orders.

Set shipped-on date

This action adds a shipped-on date to all affected orders.

Additional settings: Select which date should be added to the affected orders from the drop-down list on the right. Available are:

- Date of booked-out items, otherwise current date - Date of booked-out items - Current date

Request shipping label from Amazon Prime

This action requests a shipping label from Amazon Prime for the affected orders.

Create shipping packages

This action creates shipping packages for an order before the order is opened in the shipping centre.

Change shipping profile

This action changes the shipping profile for the affected orders.

Additional settings:
Select the shipping profile from the drop-down list.

Reset outgoing items

This action resets the outgoing items for the affected orders.

Change order payment method

This Action changes the payment method for the affected orders.

Additional settings:
Select the order payment method that will be assigned to the affected orders. To do so, use the drop-down list on the right.

1.1.2. Order item category

Table 2. Order item category
Action Explanation

Recalculate shipping profile of order items

This action recalculates the shipping profile for the order items in the affected orders.

Book outgoing items

This action books the outgoing items for the affected orders.

1.1.3. Purchase order category

The action category Order contains all actions of the type Reorders.

Table 3. Purchase order category
Action Explanation

Finish purchase order

This action finishes reorders and redistributions.

Note: You can no longer edit orders that have been set to finished.

Initiate purchase order

The action initiates reorders and redistributions.

Note: For reorders, this means that the reorder is transmitted to the supplier. For redistributions, this means that the process of booking items from a sending warehouse to a target warehouse begins with this action.

Cancel open quantities in reorder

This Action cancels all open quantities in a reorder.

Set delivery date (reorder only)

This action saves the delivery date in reorders.

Note: The system then calculates the estimated delivery date on the basis of the Delivery time saved in the Supplier tab of the variations included in the reorder. For more information on saving the delivery time for a variation, refer to the Managing items page of the manual.

1.1.4. Documents category

Table 4. Document category
Action Explanation

Archive a document

This action archives all documents of the selected type of the affected orders.

Additional settings
Select one or more document types that you want to archive from the drop-down list on the right.

Create document

This action creates an document for the affected orders.

1.1.5. Multichannel category

The Multichannel category contains all actions that are sales channel specific. The available actions depend on the connected sales channels. You will find information about which actions are available for which sales channel on the respective manual page.

Here is a list of sales channel manual pages that contain information about actions:

This list is not completed and will be iteratively completed.

1.1.6. Plugins category

The Plugins category *contains all plugin-specific actions that are available in the *event procedures (the predecessor system to Flow). Which actions appear here will depend on the plugins that you use.

Here is a list of sales channel manual pages that contain information about actions:

This list is not completed and will be iteratively completed.

1.1.7. Payment category

Table 5. Payment category
Action Explanation

Refund

This action sends an refund to the PayPal accounts for the affected orders.

Transfer tracking information

This action sends the tracking information of all affected orders to PayPal.

Additional settings:
Select from the drop-down list on the right, if your customers should be notified.

Interactive category

The Interactive category contains all actions that need manual input from your side. For example creating returns or item registration. You can still create presets for these actions to make your everyday work a bit easier.

Table 6. Interactive category
Action Explanation

Item registration

Here you registrate all items of the affected orders in the system. Via the search function you can search the items for Barcode, Variation ID, Item ID, Variation number and External item ID as well as order them.

Add order note

Here you add a note to the affected orders.

Display note

Here you add a note to all affected orders that must be confirmed by customers or employees.

Set package weight

Here you add the respective package weight to all affected orders.

Add package number per order

Here you add the respective package number to all affected orders.

Add package number per package

Here you add the respective package numbers for all packages within the affected orders.

Create return

Here you create returns for all affected orders. Select settings on the right to make the process easier.

Additional settings:
Select from the first drop-down list the order status of the affected orders.
Select from the second drop-down list the reason, why the affected orders were returned.
Select from the third drop-down list the item status of the affected orders.
Select from the fourth drop-down list the order items value of the affected orders.

Book return order

Here you book the created returns for the affected orders to the system.