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Workato 101: Everything You Need to Know

December 2, 2021
Praecipio

Workato is a powerful iPaaS (Cloud-Based Integration Solution) tool that enables your organization to integrate your go-to applications and automate workflows seamlessly. An easy-to-use, block-coding approach to building recipes allows you to unlock the ability to create limitless integrations and automation.

Building Blocks

Automations in Workato are defined by a recipe that contains step-by-step instructions on performing tasks or processes. A recipe is made up of two key components: a trigger and one or more actions. But before we can start looking at triggers and actions, we must first learn about application connections.

Application Connection

An application connection contains information that Workato uses to connect and authorize the use of an application. For each application, you need a new connection that has credentials to connect to the application. Workato uses the application's API to change its objects; therefore, it may require OAuth-based authorization, API keys, or other authorization methods.

First, make sure that your account has the necessary access to make changes within the instance.

For example, a connection made to Jira Cloud will require your email and API key, and a connection made to a hosted Jira environment will need your username and password. Once you make the necessary connections and Workato can access the application, a trigger can be configured to kick off the recipe.

Trigger

A trigger is the starting point for any Workato recipe, and almost any application can be configured to act as a trigger. Note, for all new applications, a new application connection is required. For example, a trigger can be a newly created issue in Jira. In this case, anytime a new issue is created, the recipe will start, and all of the tasks that you define are automatically executed.

Sometimes, triggers can be generic and could cause the recipe to run during unnecessary events. In this case, a trigger condition can be applied to eliminate excessive noise. To continue with the previous example, if you want to perform tasks on a newly created issue from only one project in Jira, then apply a trigger condition to ensure that the recipe starts when a new issue is created for that specific project.

Once the recipe's starting point is defined, you can add the subsequent actions required to complete—and eventually automate—your process.

Action

Before you start a recipe, you first need to define the process. This is done with the help of actions. An action is a single operation performed within an instance. For example, you can create issues or comments in Jira, post a message to Slack, update the standard of custom records in Salesforce, and much more.

Actions can also be logical elements such as conditions, loops, or error monitoring to help you create the desired automation. This can help perform more complicated processes and save time and resources for your business. For even more complex requests, you can run Ruby or JavaScript code as an action to help fill in the gaps between the built-in actions.

Next Steps

Workato is an effective tool when appropriately leveraged, unlocking the full potential of each device. Many of your day-to-day tasks can be automated to reduce human error and increase efficiency so your teams can instead focus on more critical tasks. For comprehensive information about any application connection, please refer to the Workato Documentation.

Our consultants are experienced in integrating a wide variety of technology platforms. Check out the press release on Praecipio receiving the 2020 Workato Partner Award for IT Automations. We are ready to answer any questions you might have.

Contact us to learn more and see how you can maximize Workato to connect your go-to apps and align your entire organization with digital business goals.

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