Trigger
The event that starts the workflow, such as record created, field updated, scheduled time reached, or request submitted.
Concept deep dive
Workflows automate business processes. Policies evaluate rules. AI specialists can help with repeated judgment, outreach, document analysis, and follow-up when the data and allowed actions are clear.
Practical rule
Use workflows for repeatable sequences, policies for rule decisions, and specialists where interpretation or follow-up would otherwise consume operator time.
Use this page when you need to decide:
what to configure, where the data lives, who should see it, and what the next operational action should be.
Operational visualization
Trigger
Record changed
Condition
Rules checked
Wait
Rollup updates
Action
Record or message
Review
Human exception
Automation path
When this happens, what rule should run and what should change next?
Definition
This is the vocabulary to use when explaining the concept to a scheduler, payroll lead, client manager, or implementation owner.
Trigger
The event that starts the workflow, such as record created, field updated, scheduled time reached, or request submitted.
Condition
The rule that decides whether the workflow should continue.
Wait
A delay or gated pause, often used before rollups update or before escalation.
Action
The outcome: update a record, send a message, assign a task, change access, request approval, or generate a document.
Specialist step
An AI-assisted action that reads approved data and performs a scoped task.
A workflow should be easy to explain in one sentence: when this happens, if these conditions are true, do this next. If that sentence is unclear, the workflow probably needs cleaner data or a narrower scope.
Policies decide whether an action should be allowed, blocked, flagged, ranked, or optimized. They can evaluate one record or match two records, such as worker-to-shift eligibility.
AI specialists should be scoped like operational teammates. They need a persona, task instructions, data read permissions, data write permissions, Engage recipient rules, policy access, and file analysis access if needed.
Example: Late shift to tier movement
Use this as the implementation checklist: each step should produce a visible record, permission, view, or automation.
Add a Late field to Shifts.
Create a rollup on Users that counts late shifts.
Create a workflow triggered when the late count changes.
Add a short wait so the rollup can recalculate.
If the worker has three late shifts and is Gold, update tier to Silver.
Notify the manager or surface the worker in a coaching workspace.