Automation Alerts work sporadically

I'm working on automating alert notifications from Form submissions via email, Teams Channel and the Teams Bot and so far the Channel is the only one that seems to work consistently.

In all scenarios in my testing, as you'll see in my screenshots of the workflows, my email is associated with the SME listed and I list that my email should receive a copy of my form submission. So when I submit my test form, I, as the SME, SHOULD be getting the alert for an Update Request via the Teams Bot and email.

If I have a successful test, I will fill out another form to ensure it wasn't a fluke. I fill in the same fields as I did before only altering the "Question" field to denote my new test number. However, when I submit my 2nd test, the alert doesn't trigger via email to the SME or Teams Bot to the SME (both are me).

I've tried using a different email address when requesting a copy of my response, and it may work once and will stop working after that.

All of my settings are configured appropriately from what I can tell. I haven't blocked any domains, in fact, I've set them to never be sent to the spam folder. I've even tried to disable and enable the alerts, no luck.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

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James Keuning

Maybe instead of using "send to contacts in a cell," hardcode the email address into the rule. I don't think this is going to solve it, but it's another test to eliminate a variable.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Liela

Is it just the Update Request email that isn't being received, after the initial submission?

I set up my sheet to have two identical alerts and they created an Update Request loop as expected (each time I used the Update form to change the value in the "Question" field, it sent me another Update Request to fill out again, and again, etc).

However I used the Notification center within Smartsheet to check the Update Request was coming through. Does your Bell Icon show that the second Update Request was sent? Also, can you clarify what fields are being sent in your workflow, and what is being updated (I see that you have 5 selected).

What data is shown in the Update Request Log in the very far right of the sheet?

Screen Shot 2021-04-06 at 3.22.53 PM.png

It would also be helpful to see a screen capture of your sheet, but please block out any sensitive data.

Cheers!

Genevieve

Liela

@Genevieve P

Thank you for your quick response, apologies I wasn't able to reply sooner.

The Notifications section only shows the requests for updates that went out successfully, so the follow up attempts were not triggered and aren't in the notifications. You can see in my sheet screenshot, rows 5-7 were submitted in the same fashion & only 1 was successful - row 5. They all were set to go to the person identified as the SME for the Subject Area

When the request for update goes out, it should only include the Question, Date submitted, Subject Area & Attachment if there is one. When the alert actually does go out, it works as I intended. I just can't get it to send out consistently.

Thank you!

Genevieve P.

Hi @Liela

I have to admit I don't know what's happening here, why it would send a second update for some of the rows but not all. Your triggers are set for when a row is added or changed, so it should be sent out as long as you made a change to the Question field in the Update Request.

Can you try cloning the workflow (and deleting the old one) just in case there was an issue with this specific workflow?

If this hasn't worked and you're still seeing inconsistent results, please contact Smartsheet Support with a screen recording going through your scenario, providing them with the sheet name/URL and the last time the workflow ran successfully (including your timezone).

Thanks,

Genevieve

Liela

Hi @Genevieve P

I finally figured it out! Rather than have the Request Update workflow be triggered by any changes in the SME field, I changed it to When the SME changes to a specific SME I had set in the drop down list in the column. I had to repeat this for each SME listed, but it works 100% now.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Liela

I'm glad that you got it working!! Thanks for sharing your solution. 🙂

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