Record Automation

Record Automation fills in settings for you, so your team doesn't have to remember them. You write simple if this, then that rules. For example: if the quote is under $5,000, then email its invoices automatically.

Find it in Settings → Rules → Record Automation.

I want to…	Go to
Understand what Record Automation does	How Record Automation works
Build my first rule, step by step	Tutorial: your first rule
Check a rule before I rely on it	Test a rule
Copy a value from a quote onto a bill group	Copy a value from another field
Control what customers see in the customer portal	Control the customer portal
Get ideas for useful rules	Rules worth building
Look up a field or setting	Reference

Looking for Quote Share rules? They now have their own home in Settings → Quote Share. See Quote Share.

How Record Automation works

Explanation

A rule is "IF this, THEN set that"

Every rule has two parts:

IF: one or more conditions, for example Quote Amount is less than 5,000.
THEN: one or more fields to set, for example Auto-Email Invoice = Automatically.

When the conditions are met, MonetizeNow sets the fields for you. When they aren't, nothing changes.

What a rule can change

When you create a rule, you choose its Target Entity: the thing the rule changes.

Target Entity	What the rule sets	When it runs
Bill Group	Billing settings on a new bill group, such as auto-emailing invoices, invoice creation, dunning process, CC emails and bill group custom fields	Once, when a processed quote creates a new bill group
Customer Portal	What a customer can see and do in their customer portal, such as hiding invoices or turning off payments	Every time the customer opens their portal

A Bill Group rule sets up the bill group when it's created. It doesn't go back and change bill groups that already exist. If you change a setting by hand later, the rule won't overwrite it.

A Customer Portal rule is checked every time the portal opens. Changing the rule changes what every matching customer sees from their next visit.

Where conditions can look

The IF part can check information from several places:

Target Entity	Conditions can check
Bill Group	The bill group (including its account and custom fields), and the quote that created it: the quote itself, its conditional terms, its offerings and its line items
Customer Portal	The bill group and its account, including custom fields

When several rules set the same field: Priority

Each rule has a Priority. If two rules that both match try to set the same field, the rule with the lower number wins. Priority 1 beats priority 10.

Rules that set different fields don't compete: all of their changes apply.

Tip: Number your rules 10, 20, 30… so you can slot a new rule in between later without renumbering.

Active and Inactive

Only Active rules run. Set a rule to Inactive to switch it off without losing it. Rules can't be deleted, so use Inactive for rules you no longer need.

Tutorial: your first rule

Tutorial. About 5 minutes. You'll build a rule that automatically emails invoices for small deals, then test it.

You need: the Tenant Admin or Sales Admin role, and at least one bill group that was created from a quote (for the test).

1. Open Record Automation

Go to Settings, scroll to Rules, and click Record Automation. You'll see your existing rules, with their target, priority and status.

2. Start a new rule

Click New.

3. Name it

Enter a Name your team will recognise, such as Auto-email invoices for small deals. Add a Description that says why the rule exists.

4. Choose what it changes

Leave Target Entity set to Bill Group. Leave Status as Active.

5. Write the IF

Under Setup Workflow → IF:

In the first dropdown, choose Quote. This tells the rule to look at the quote that created the bill group.
In Compare From Field, start typing Amount and choose Amount.
In Operator, choose < (less than).
In Compare To, leave Value selected and enter 5000.

6. Write the THEN

Under THEN:

Set Priority to 10.
In Target Field, choose Auto-Email Invoice.
In Value, choose Automatically.

7. Test it

Expand Test Rule at the bottom of the page and choose a bill group whose quote was under $5,000.
Click Test Rule. Green ticks show that the rule matches this bill group.
Click Test All Rules to see what all your active Bill Group rules would set on this bill group, after priority is applied.

8. Save

Click Save. From now on, every new bill group created from a quote under $5,000 emails its invoices automatically.

What you learned: every rule is a Target Entity, an IF, a THEN and a Priority. You can test a rule against real data before it affects anyone.

How-to guides

Test a rule

How-to

Test before you save, and again after any change.

Open the rule and expand Test Rule.
Choose a bill group from Choose a bill group to test rule against. Bill Group rules also use the bill group's most recent processed quote.
Click Test Rule to see whether this rule matches. Each condition shows whether it was true or false.
Click Test All Rules to see the combined result of every active rule for the same target, with priority applied. The Automated Fields table lists each field, the value it would get and which rule set it.

Good to know:

Testing never changes the bill group.
Test All Rules includes the rule you're editing. If it's a brand-new rule, save it first so it's included.
If the bill group changed since you opened the page, click Re-load bill group.
If a value can't be used on the target field, the result says Invalid Value. This will be ignored and the default value will apply.

Copy a value from another field

How-to. Bill Group rules only.

Instead of a fixed value, a rule can copy a value from the quote or bill group. For example, copy a quote custom field onto a bill group custom field.

In THEN, choose the Target Field, for example Custom Fields → Invoice Delivery.
Change Value Type from Constant to Field.
In Field, choose where to copy from, for example Quote → Custom Fields → Invoice Delivery. Only fields of a matching type are listed.

An orange ⚠ icon next to the field is a reminder, not an error: if the source field doesn't hold a value the target field accepts (for example a dropdown option that doesn't exist on the target), the target keeps its default value.

Tip: To copy dropdown custom fields reliably, give both custom fields the same options.

Control the customer portal

How-to

Use a Customer Portal rule to show, hide or lock parts of the portal for certain customers.

Click New and set Target Entity to Customer Portal.
In IF, add conditions about the bill group or its account, for example Net Terms = Net 60.
In THEN, choose a portal area and a value such as View, Edit, Hidden, Enabled or Disabled. Customer Portal rules always use fixed values.
Test against a bill group, then Save.

Changes apply the next time the customer opens or refreshes their portal.

Change, copy or switch off a rule

How-to

From the ⋮ menu on any rule in Settings → Rules → Record Automation:

Edit: change the rule. Bill Group rules affect new bill groups only. Customer Portal changes apply from the customer's next visit.
Clone: start a new rule from a copy.
Deactivate / Activate: switch the rule off or back on.

The download button at the top of the page exports your Record Automation rules.

Rules worth building

Ideas. Copy these or adapt them. Each one can be built with the steps in the tutorial.

Billing on autopilot (Bill Group)

Idea	IF	THEN
Hands-off small deals	Quote → Amount < 5000	Auto-Email Invoice = Automatically, Collect Invoice Balance Automatically = True
Review big deals before invoicing	Quote → Amount > 50000	Create Invoices = Manually, Auto-Email Invoice = Manually
High-touch dunning for key accounts	Bill Group → Account → Custom Fields → Segment = Enterprise	Dunning Process = your enterprise process (see Dunning)
Copy your finance team on large invoices	Quote → Amount >= 100000	CC Emails = `[email protected]`
Invoice as soon as the deal closes	Quote → Contract Length >= 12	First Invoice Creation Strategy = Generate On Quote Processed
Charge cards at send time, not creation	Quote → Currency = USD	Auto-Payment Timing = Invoice Send
Carry a sales choice into billing	Quote → Custom Fields → Invoice Delivery exists	Custom Fields → Invoice Delivery = Field: Quote → Custom Fields → Invoice Delivery

A tailored portal (Customer Portal)

Idea	IF	THEN
Wire-only customers	Bill Group → Net Terms = Net 60	Allow Payment = Disabled, New Payment Method = Disabled
Enterprise contacts managed by you	Account → Custom Fields → Segment = Enterprise	Contacts = View
Let customers fix their own tax details	Bill Group → Billing Address → Country = GB	VAT = Edit
Keep test accounts quiet	Account → Is Test Account = True	Invoices = Hidden, Subscriptions = Hidden

Patterns that work well

Start broad, then add exceptions. Give a general rule priority 100, then a more specific one priority 10 to override it for a segment.
Keep one idea per rule. Smaller rules are easier to test, name and switch off.
Drive rules from custom fields. A custom field on the account or quote (synced from your CRM) such as Segment or Region lets sales or ops steer billing without touching rules.

Reference

Rule settings

Setting	Meaning
Name	Required. Shown in the rules list and in test results.
Description	Optional. Up to 500 characters.
Target Entity	Bill Group (default) or Customer Portal. Can't be changed after the rule is saved.
Status	Active rules run. Inactive rules don't.
IF	Choose All Conditions Are Met, Any Condition Is Met or Custom Logic Is Met (for example `1 AND (2 OR 3)`). Group conditions by where they look. Tick NOT to reverse a group.
Priority	Required. Whole number, 1 or more. Lower wins when rules set the same field.
Target Field / Value Type / Value	The field to set and its value. Add Field sets more than one field. Each field can appear once per rule.

Condition operators

Operator	Meaning
`=` / `!=`	Is / isn't
`>` / `>=` / `<` / `<=`	Greater than / at least / less than / at most
Exists	Has any value

Text, list and date fields offer more operators, for example contains, starts with, in and in the last / next N days. The available operators depend on the field you pick.

Bill Group: fields a rule can set

Target Field	Values
Accounting Date Calculation Strategy	Billing Anniversary · Closest Date Within Invoicing Period · Closest Date Within Usage Period
Auto-Email Invoice	Automatically · Manually
Auto-Payment Timing	Invoice Generation · Invoice Send
CC Emails / BCC Emails	Email addresses, separated by commas. Invoices are also sent to these.
Collect Invoice Balance Automatically	True · False
Create Invoices	Automatically according to Billing Schedule · Manually
Dunning Process	Any of your dunning processes
First Invoice Creation Strategy	Follow Existing Settings · Generate On Quote Processed
Offset from Billing Schedule	How many days before or after the billing schedule invoices are created
Custom Fields → your field	Bill group custom fields of type text, number, checkbox, date, dropdown or multi-select

Every Bill Group field accepts a Constant value or a Field (copied from the quote or bill group).

A Status → Inactive action exists for bill groups but is only shown if MonetizeNow has enabled it for your tenant. Setting a bill group to Inactive stops invoicing and can't be reversed, so contact support before using it.

Customer Portal: what a rule can control

Target Field	Values	Controls
Allow Payment	Enabled · Disabled	Paying open invoices from the Invoices tab. Invoices can still be viewed and downloaded. Needs a payment gateway.
Billing Summary	View · Hidden	The summary card (next billing date, balance, frequency, auto-pay) and the billing details section. Hiding it also hides PO Number, VAT and Registration Number.
Contacts	View · Edit · Hidden	Billing and shipping contacts and addresses. Edit lets customers update them.
Default Payment Method	View · Edit · Hidden	Whether customers can choose their default payment method. Needs a payment gateway.
Invoices	View · Hidden	The Invoices tab.
New Payment Method	Enabled · Disabled	Adding new payment methods. Needs a payment gateway.
Payment Methods	View · Hidden	The Payment Methods tab. Shown only with a payment gateway.
PO Number	View · Edit · Hidden	The PO Number field in billing details.
Registration Number	View · Edit · Hidden	The Registration Number field in billing details.
Subscriptions	View · Hidden	The Overview tab with current subscriptions.
VAT	View · Edit · Hidden	The VAT Number field in billing details.

Customer Portal rules always use Constant values.

Who can use Record Automation

Role	Access
Tenant Admin, Sales Admin	Open Settings → Rules → Record Automation and create, edit, test and switch rules on or off
Settings Read Only	Can open the page

FAQ

My rule didn't change an existing bill group. Why?
Bill Group rules only run when a processed quote creates a new bill group. Change existing bill groups by hand, or from the bill group page.

Two rules set the same field. Which one wins?
The one with the lower Priority number. Use Test All Rules to see the result for a real bill group.

Can I delete a rule?
No. Set it to Inactive (or choose Deactivate in the list) to stop it running.

Where did my Quote Share rules go?
To Settings → Quote Share → Quote Share Rules. Rules you created before the move keep working.