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Hona Custom Automations
Hona Custom Automations
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Written by Abby Peery
Updated this week

Overview

Hona's Custom Automations feature helps law firms streamline their client and lead communications by automating routine tasks based on specific triggers. The tool is designed to help legal professionals spend less time on repetitive communications and more time on high-value work.

The current focus is on automations specific to the Leads feature, with plans to expand to additional automation types in the future. While the available triggers and actions will evolve over time, the fundamental structure for creating, updating, and managing automations will remain consistent.

Accessing Automations

To access the Custom Automations feature:

  1. Navigate to the left sidebar in the Hona platform

  2. Click on the "Automations" tab

  3. You will land on the "Custom Automations" tab by default

Note: If you don't see the Automations tab in your sidebar, contact your Hona administrator to request access to this feature.

Main Automations Page

The Custom Automations landing page provides an overview of all created automations and includes:

  • Name: The name assigned to each automation

  • Type: The category of trigger (Call Ended, Message Event, Form Submitted, etc.)

  • Actions: Number of actions configured for each automation

  • Status: Whether the automation is Active or Inactive

  • Executions: Number of times the automation has run

  • Last Updated: Date and time the automation was last modified

  • Created By: The user who created the automation

At the top of this screen, you can also see:

  • Monthly automation usage statistics

  • Total usage over time

  • A search bar to find specific automations

  • A "+" button to create new automations

Creating a New Automation

Automations operate on an "if this happens, then do that" principle:

  • Triggers define the "if this happens" part (the event that initiates the automation)

  • Actions define the "then do that" part (what should happen in response)

Step 1: Set Up a New Automation

  1. Click the "+" button on the main Custom Automations page

  2. Name your automation (you can edit this later)

Step 2: Configure Triggers

Triggers are events that initiate your automation. To set up a trigger:

  1. Choose a Category (e.g., Call, Message, Form)

  2. Select a specific event (e.g., Call Ended)

  3. Optionally select additional parameters if you want to be more specific (e.g., specific Voice Agent, specific Form, etc.)

  4. Define any criteria that must be met for the automation to trigger

Different trigger types will offer various relevant fields that can be used to define when your automation should run.

IMPORTANT: You must click the "SAVE" button after configuring your trigger before you can proceed to set up actions. The Actions section will remain unavailable until the trigger configuration is saved.

Step 3: Add Actions

Once your trigger is saved, you can add one or more actions:

  1. Choose a Category for your action

  2. Configure the specifics of that action

  3. Add additional actions as needed (they will execute in sequence)

Using Conditions for Advanced Filtering

One powerful type of action is the Condition, which acts as a filter within your automation flow:

  1. Select "Condition" as an action type

  2. Choose a field to evaluate (e.g., callEndedBy, duration, transcript content)

  3. Select a condition operator:

    • equals

    • is not equal to

    • is empty

    • is not empty

    • contains

    • does not contain

  4. Enter a value to compare against (when applicable)

If the condition is met, the automation will continue to the next actions. If not, the automation will stop at that point.

Example: You could create an automation that triggers when a call ends, but only proceeds to send a follow-up email if the call was ended by the client (not the attorney) and the call duration was less than 5 minutes.

This allows for highly targeted automations that only execute when very specific circumstances are met.

Managing Existing Automations

Viewing Automation Details

To view or edit an existing automation:

  1. Click on its name from the main Automations page

  2. This opens the automation details view showing its triggers and actions

Modifying Automations

Once an automation is created:

  • Trigger modification: Existing triggers cannot be modified after creation

  • Actions: You can add new actions or delete existing ones

  • Status: Toggle the "Active" switch to enable or disable the automation

  • Renaming: Click the pencil icon next to the automation name

  • Deletion: Use the trash icon to permanently remove the automation

Usage Reporting

The "Usage Report" tab provides analytics on your automation performance:

  • Visual graph showing successful and failed executions over time

  • Total number of automations

  • Success/failure statistics

  • Filterable list of automation executions by type and status

Troubleshooting Failed Automations

If an automation fails:

  1. Locate the failed execution in the Usage Report

  2. Click on the specific failed execution

  3. A popup will display details about the failure, including error messages to help with debugging

Best Practices

  • Use descriptive names for your automations to easily identify their purpose

  • Start simple with basic automations before creating complex workflows

  • Monitor the Usage Report regularly to identify and address failures

  • Clean up unused automations to maintain an organized workspace

Getting Help

As Hona continues to expand the automation capabilities, new triggers and actions will be added based on customer feedback. If you have specific automation needs or encounter any issues:

  1. Contact your Hona representative

  2. Submit feature requests for new automation triggers or actions

  3. Refer to this documentation for general guidance on using the automations system


Note: This documentation focuses on the structure and navigation of the Custom Automations feature. Specific triggers and actions available will evolve over time as Hona expands the capability set based on customer needs.

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