Automation Basics

Automations in OpenDataDSL are event-driven data flows that trigger automatic actions whenever something changes in the platform — such as data being updated, a process completing, or a dataset becoming late.

What are automations?

An automation monitors one or more platform services and listens for specific events. When a matching event occurs, the automation executes a configured action — for example, sending a notification, publishing data to a queue, or triggering a downstream process.

This makes automations the primary mechanism for building reactive, real-time data pipelines without writing polling logic or scheduling workarounds.

Triggering events

Every automation is triggered by an action performed on a specific service. The table below lists all services that support automation triggers and the actions available for each.

Service	Actions
action	create, update, delete
aiagent	create, update, delete
aiassistant	create, update, delete
aitool	create, update, delete
alert	raised, closed
alertrecord	create, update, delete
audit	create
automation	create, update, delete
automationlog	create, update, delete
automationtarget	create, update, delete
batch	create, update, delete
calendar	create, update, delete
curve	create, update, delete, build, success, warning, failed
dashboard	create, update, delete
data	create, update, delete
dataset	update, late, complete, missing, correction
documentation	create, update, delete
environment	create, update, delete
event	create, update, delete
expiry	create, update, delete
extension	create, update, delete, install, upgrade, uninstall
extractor	create, update, delete
group	create, update, delete, itemadded, itemremoved, itemupdated
object	create, update, delete
policy	create, update, delete
process	create, update, delete, rollback, tag, untag, rename, run, success, warning, failed
queue	create, update, delete, message
reportconfig	create, update, delete
report	create, update, delete, run, success, warning, failed
script	create, update, delete, rollback, tag, untag, rename, run, success, warning, failed
scriptlog	create
secret	create, update, delete
tenant	update
transformer	create, update, delete
type	create, update, delete
unit	create, update, delete
workflow	create, update, delete

Anatomy of an automation

An automation is defined as a JSON configuration object. Here is a representative example:

{
  "target": "email",
  "icon": "bell-fill text-primary",
  "enabled": true,
  "conditions": [
    {
      "service": "dataset",
      "action": "late",
      "id": "MY_PROVIDER.FEED.PRODUCT",
      "source": "private"
    }
  ],
  "properties": {
    "to": "ops-team@example.com",
    "subject": "Dataset late: {{id}}"
  }
}

Fields

target

The ID of the automation target that will receive and act on the event — for example, email, queue, or process.

icon

The Bootstrap Icons name to use when displaying this automation in the portal. You can also append a Bootstrap colour utility class, e.g. alarm-fill text-success.

enabled

A boolean that controls whether the automation is active. Set to false to pause the automation without deleting it.

conditions

An array of trigger conditions. The automation fires when any condition matches. Each condition has the following fields:

Field	Required	Description
service	✅	The platform service to monitor, e.g. dataset
action	✅	The action that triggers the automation, e.g. late
id	✅	The ID of the specific entity to watch
source	✅	The data source, e.g. private or public
did	❌	An optional dependent ID — for example, an event that triggers an event curve build

properties

Target-specific configuration used to parameterise the action. The available properties depend on the chosen target — for example, an email target requires to and subject, while a queue target requires a queue name.

template and name

These fields are dynamically generated by the platform based on the entity, action, and target details. You do not need to set them manually.

Next steps

• Automation Targets — learn about the available targets and their configuration
• Creating Automations — step-by-step guide to setting up your first automation
• Automation Logs — monitoring and troubleshooting automation executions