Automating processes

On this page, we explain the basic settings that you should carry out in your PlentyONE system in order to automate processes. We recommend carrying out these settings before starting productive work with your system. Your PlentyONE system then completes these automatic processes in the background.
In general, PlentyONE offers you 4 different methods of automating your work flows:

  • Automatically sending email templates

  • Event-based flows

  • Time-based flows manager

  • Processes

1. Automatically sending email templates

In the step initial settings, you learned how to set up the email templates for automatically sending email templates.
Now, open the Email accounts assistant and go to the Automatic despatch step and select which email template should be sent in specific situations. You can find the assistant in the Setup » Client » Global » Email accounts menu. Some options are already preset in this menu. Check these settings and adjust them where necessary. To do so, proceed as described below.

Setting up the automatic email despatch:

  1. Go to Setup » Client » Global » Email accounts.

  2. Open the Email accounts assistant.

  3. From the drop-down list next to the respective event in the Automatic despatch step, select an email template that should be sent automatically as soon as the event takes place.

  4. Select the option Do not send if no email template should be sent.

  5. Finalise the assistant.

Have you set up the email template correctly?

In the Automatic despatch step of the Email accounts assistant in the Setup » Client » Global » Email accounts menu, you should only select email templates that you have edited and completed with your individual data.

2. Set up an event-based flow

PlentyOne Flows are your central tool for automating recurring processes in your system. They allow you to execute tasks fully automatically based on defined triggers and conditions – from simple notifications to complex workflows across multiple systems.

Flows consist of a trigger, optional conditions, and one or more actions. This allows you to automatically respond to events like new orders, status changes, or specific times – without any manual intervention.

Thanks to the graphical interface, flows can be intuitively created, tested, and optimised. This saves time, reduces sources of error, and gives you more control over your business processes.

The two examples below are simple flows. Flows have proven useful in the daily routines of many PlentyOne merchants. We recommend automating your processes in the PlentyOne system using flows like these.

The first flow is event-based. It checks whether a newly created order originates from Amazon. If the condition is true, the invoice document is created, a tag is applied to the order, and the shipping status is updated. If the condition is false, a confirmation document is created and the shipping status is changed.

The second flow is time-based. Every day at 18:00, it looks for orders with booked outgoing items and sends a confirmation email to the customer.

Setting up an event-based flow

To ensure the flows described below work correctly, you must configure the following in advance:

  • A template for the invoice and order confirmation documents. See Order documents.

  • A tag to mark orders that are processed via Amazon. See Flags.

  • An email template for the shipping confirmation. See Work with Email Builder.
Setting up an event-based flow

  1. Open the menu Automation » Flow Studio.

  2. In the Flow overview: Click the Create flow button ().

  3. Enter a unique name and description for the flow and click Next.

  4. Select Ereignisgesteuert as the trigger and click Next.

  5. In Trigger selection, select Order created as the trigger event.

  6. Set Order types to Sales order.

  7. In Flow available in, select Order UI and click Save ().

→ The flow editor opens.

  1. Click the Control tab.

  2. Drag & drop the Branch element onto the canvas.

  3. Click the settings icon on Filter settings.

  4. In the Filter field, select Order referrer , use Is in (IN) as the Operator, and choose 4.00 Amazon (Alle wählen) as the order referrer.

  5. Click Confirm.

  6. Drag & drop the Create document element into the true branch.

  7. For Document type, select Invoice.

  8. Drag & drop the Tags element below.

  9. Under Action type, select Add tags and choose the Amazon tag (must be created in advance).

  10. Drag & drop the Change order status element below.

  11. For Order status, select In preparation for shipping.

  12. Drag & drop another Create document element into the false branch.

  13. For Document type, select Order confirmation.

  14. Drag & drop the Change order status element and set Order status to Waiting for payment.

  15. Save the flow ().

  16. To activate the flow, switch to active in the canvas header

3. Set up a time-based flow

Time-based flows let you perform actions automatically at a specific time each day. This makes them ideal for recurring time-driven operations. See the links at the end of this page for more details on setting up time-based flows.

Setting up a time-based flow

  1. Open the menu Automation » Flow Studio.

  2. In the Flow overview: Click the Create flow button ().

  3. Enter a unique name and description for the flow and click Next.

  4. Select Zeitgesteuert as the trigger and click Next.

  5. For Frequency choose daily and for Start time, choose 18:00.

  6. Click Save ().

→ The flow editor opens.

  1. From the Controls tab, drag & drop the Search element onto the canvas.

  2. Set Order limit to 200.

  3. In Filter settings, choose Status Outgoing items status , set the Operator to Is equal (=), and use Booked_ as the value.

  4. Add another condition using (playlist_add).

  5. Choose Outgoing items booked on date(days), set Operator to Is equal (=), and value to 0.

  6. Click Confirm.

  7. Drag & drop the Send email element below.

  8. Choose an email template and set Customer as the recipient.

  9. Save the flow ().

  10. To activate the flow, switch to active in the canvas header.

4. Using processes

Processes are yet another tool that you can use to automate processes in your PlentyONE system. Setting up processes is recommended for example when order documents should not only be generated, but also printed automatically. You can only use processes if you have installed the plentyBase tool. Using processes is aimed at advanced PlentyONE users. Processes are therefore not further explained in the quick start.
Pay attention to the links at the end of this page in order to obtain more information about setting up processes.

5. Check list

Work through the check list in order to review your settings for automating processes.

6. More about automation

Continue to the final steps