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Building Workflows

Suite

Customer Experience Employee Experience Strategy & Research

Product

Qualtrics

What's on this page

About Building Workflows

Workflows are used to trigger tasks based on events or on a repeating schedule. This page covers how to use the workflow editor to build a workflow.

See Workflows Basic Overview for a broad overview of workflows, their use cases, and how to manage workflows after they’ve been built.

Qtip: There is a daily limit of 300,000 workflow executions. Learn more about how you’ll be able to troubleshoot blocked workflows.

Building a Workflow

In either the Workflows tab of your project, or the stand-alone workflow page, click Create a workflow.

clicking Create a workflow and choosing the type of workflow

Choose how you’d like to build your workflow:

Browse templates: Use a prebuilt workflow template. See Using Workflow Templates for more information.
Started when an event is received: Build a workflow from scratch that is triggered when a specific event occurs (for example, when a survey response is received or when a ticket’s status is changed). See Choosing an Event for more information about available events.
Started at a specific time (scheduled): Build a workflow from scratch that runs on a schedule that you set (for example, daily at 5:00 PM or on the first day of every month). See Setting a Workflow Schedule for help choosing a workflow schedule.
Extract, transform, and load (ETL) data: Build a workflow from scratch that extracts data from one place, transforms it if needed, and loads it into another place. See Building an ETL Workflow for more information about these types of workflow.

Depending on your selected workflow type, either configure the workflow’s event or set the workflow’s schedule.

If desired, you can rename your workflow by typing a new name in the top left corner of the workflow editor.

renaming the workflow and adding conditions/tasks

Below your workflow’s trigger, click the plus sign and choose the next component of the workflow:

Add a task: Add a task to your workflow, which is what you want to happen as a result of the event meeting the conditions. For example, sending an email, creating a ticket, distributing a survey, and more. See Defining Tasks for a list of available tasks.
Add a decision: Add conditions to your workflow, which are rules that must be met before the events that follow can execute. See Creating Conditions for more information.
Qtip: It isn’t necessary to add conditions to every workflow. If there are no conditions, the workflow tasks will trigger as soon as the event takes place. For example, if your event is survey response creation, the workflow will fire every time a survey response is submitted.

You can add multiple conditions or tasks by repeating the previous step.

enabling the workflow with the toggle at the top of the page

Once your workflow is finished, make sure it is toggled On.

Qtip: As soon as you enable a workflow, it will be live. Workflows do not need to be published, so be careful when adding them to surveys that are actively collecting responses.

Qtip: Workflows are not instantaneous and may take several minutes to an hour to start or complete.

Qtip: You can use the controls in the bottom left corner of the editor or the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in and out. You can also click and drag the editor to pan around to visualize your workflow.

Choosing an Event

“Events” occur in Qualtrics or other systems and cause a workflow to start. To create an event-based workflow, click Create a workflow and select Started when an event is received.

clicking "create a workflow" and choosing "when an event is received"

Then, you can choose the event you want to start the workflow. The selected event will determine what kinds of conditions can be applied to the workflow. You can use the search bar at the top of the window to easily find available events. The events available to you will depend on your license, permissions, and project type. See below for a brief explanation of each event type and visit the linked pages for step-by-step instructions on how to set up each specific task.

Events Available Everywhere

The events listed below are available to use in both the survey Workflows tab and the stand-alone Workflows page.

Survey Response: Trigger the workflow based on how a respondent responds to your survey.
Salesforce Outbound Message: Trigger the workflow based on Salesforce outbound messages.
Qtip: This event is not available for EX projects.
Ticket Event: Trigger the workflow based on ticket data
Qtip: This event is not available for EX projects.
JSON Event: Trigger the workflow based on an API call.
ServiceNow Event: Trigger the workflow based on an event in ServiceNow.
Zendesk Event: Trigger the workflow based on an event in Zendesk.
Twilio Segment Event: Begin a workflow based on data events in Twilio Segment, update contact information in XM Directory based on Twilio Segment, or add transaction to an XM Directory contact based on events in Twilio Segment.
Jira Event: Trigger workflows based on changes to Jira issues, such as status updates.
XM Discover Event: Trigger a workflow based on verbatim alerts or scorecard alerts sent in XM Discover

Events Only Available in Stand-alone Workflows

The following events are only available when setting up an event-based workflow through the stand-alone Workflows page.

API Usage Threshold Event: Trigger the workflow based on your license’s API usage.
Survey Definition Event: Trigger the workflow based on a project’s status changing.
Qtip: The survey definition event cannot be used for EX project types.
iQ Anomaly Event: Trigger the workflow based on spikes or drops in survey response counts.
Experience iD Change Event: Trigger workflows based on contact data changes, subscription changes, or transaction data changes.
Experience iD Segments Event: Trigger a workflow based on whether a contact has been added to or removed from a segment.
Action Plan Event: Trigger the workflow based on changes to EX action plans.

Setting a Workflow Schedule

Scheduled workflows allow you to create workflows that run at a specific time. You can set your workflow to run on a recurring basis, and you can choose when the workflow begins and ends.

To create a scheduled workflow, select Started at a specific time (scheduled) when creating your workflow.

Then choose your desired schedule frequency. This can be hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually, or a custom expression.

choosing the frequency for the scheduled workflow

The next step will depend on your workflow’s frequency:

Weekly and Monthly: Choose which days you would like it to run by clicking the drop-down and selecting the checkboxes next to each day.

Qtip: If you choose a date that doesn’t exist in every month (ex: 29, 30, or 31), the workflow will not occur during those months.
Quarterly: Choose which month of the quarter and day of the month the workflow should run.

Qtip: If you want the workflow to run on the last day of the month, make sure to choose Last day.
Annually: Choose the specific day of the year that the workflow should run.
Custom Cron Expression: Enter a cron expression that represents when the workflow should run. Click Show details to view how your cron expression is evaluated. See this website for help generating a Cron expression.

Qtip: Cron expressions can only have 5 parts and must contain valid characters. Intervals less than 1 hour are not allowed. See this guide to cron expressions for more information.
Example: In the above screenshot, the scheduled workflow will run on the hour every 3 hours, starting at 1:00 AM, every 2 days.

Next, type in or click the drop-down to select the start time for your workflow.

If you would like the workflow to run multiple times on the same day, click Add a start time.

Add a start time button underneath the start times dropdown.

Example: Let’s say you want to execute your workflow 3 times per day. Set the frequency to daily, and add which 3 times in the day that you would like the workflow to run. This workflow will execute at 9AM, 12PM, and 3PM each day.

Attention: Certain tasks may take up to 15 minutes to complete, so we do not recommend scheduling tasks with longer run times in very close increments. The duration needed to execute a task can be found in that workflow’s run history.

Next, select which time zone you want the workflow to run on. By default, the account’s time zone will be selected.

Highlights the timezone selection dropdown.

Qtip: Pay close attention to the time zone you select. Scheduled workflows do adjust to Daylight Saving Time, if the selected time zone observes it. For example, the UTC±00:00 Dublin time zone does observe DST, while the UTC±00:00 Abidjan time zone does not.

Then, choose when you want the workflow to start and stop running. By default, scheduled workflows will start running immediately after being activated and only stop running when deactivated. However, you can choose a start date and end date for your scheduled workflow instead.

Shows the input for a start and end date in the scheduled workflow.

Choose when the workflow Starts:

Immediately once activated: The workflow will run according to its schedule once it is toggled on.
On: The workflow will begin running on the chosen date. Either enter a date in MM/DD/YYYY format, or select a date from the calendar picker.

Choose when the workflow Ends:

Never: The workflow will run until toggled off.
After: The workflow will begin running on the chosen date. Either enter a date in MM/DD/YYYY format, or select a date from the calendar picker.

Attention: Tasks created in scheduled workflows cannot use piped text. That’s because there’s no source to pipe information from, unlike in an event-based workflow.

Qtip: if you’re looking to email reports on a regular basis, see the options for sharing results, sharing reports, and sharing dashboards (if applicable).

Manually triggering scheduled workflows

Rather than waiting for a scheduled workflow to fire, you can trigger it with the click of a button. In the workflow editor, you can immediately cause a workflow to fire during the testing process.

Example: Let’s say that you would like to create a workflow that is scheduled to trigger every Monday at 6:00 am, but you’re building your workflow on a Wednesday. You’d like to test your workflow without waiting for it to trigger the following Monday. You can manually trigger your workflow immediately in order to test that it’s working the way you want it to.

After creating your scheduled workflow, make sure it is toggled On.

the workflow toggle and "run immediately" button are at the top of the page

Click the Run immediately button to test the scheduled workflow.

Creating Conditions

Qtip: Conditions are not required on every workflow. Conditions are also called “decisions” in the workflow editor.

You can add conditions to your workflow so that they only run when certain criteria are met. Conditions can be added after an event in an event-based workflow, or after certain types of tasks. For example, you’re entering respondents into a raffle, but only if they opted-in to the raffle in your survey.

You can use conditions to create branching workflows that have different outputs based on how conditions are evaluated. For example, if you have a customer satisfaction survey, you could send the respondent a “thank you” email if they respond positively; however, if they respond negatively, you can send them a “we’ll do better” email and create a ticket to have a member of their account team follow-up with them later.

Conditions are built by creating logic statements that use information from the chosen event or task:

When building the workflow, click the plus sign (+) and select Add a decision.

If your condition has multiple statements, choose how these statements should be evaluated:

All of the following are true: Think of this as all the statements in the condition being linked by “And.”
Any of the following are true: Think of this as all the statements in the condition being linked by “Or.”

Use the dropdown to choose what the condition should be based on. The options available here will depend on the workflow’s event or any preceding tasks. For example, if your workflow is based on survey responses, then your conditions can be based on question answers, embedded data, or quotas from that survey.

Qtip: Within EX projects, you cannot create conditions based on Org Hierarchies.

Select the field you’d like to use in the condition (e.g., Q1 – How would you rate the ease or difficulty of navigating this website?).

Choose the specific answer, response, value, etc. that you want to match (e.g., Extremely easy, Detractor, etc.).

Select the operator which determines how you want to match the value you choose (e.g., is selected / is not selected, is displayed / is not displayed, etc.).

Qtip: See List of Operators for more information on available operators. Note that this page is about filtering response data, but the information on conditions is the same for workflows.

You can add multiple conditions by clicking the three dot menu and selecting Insert condition Below. Choose the Insert condition set below option to add a condition set instead, which is a new grouping of conditions that can be controlled by their own “any” or “all” setting.

If desired, click Add otherwise branch. This allows you to create a branch in your workflow to trigger other tasks if the above conditions are not met.

adding otherwise conditions and then saving

Qtip: You do not always need an otherwise branch; if there is no branch, then the workflow will end if the above conditions are not met.

Click Save decision to save your conditions.

Once you’ve created your conditions, click the plus sign ( + ) to add tasks and more conditions, if desired.

building the different paths of the workflow

Branch: Add tasks that you want to happen if the conditions you built earlier are met.
Otherwise: Add tasks that you want to happen if the conditions you built earlier are NOT met.

You can include multiple condition blocks and branches in a workflow. When the workflow runs, the workflow conditions and tasks will be evaluated in the order they appear in the workflow editor, from top-to-bottom. The workflow will continue evaluating until it reaches one of the ends of the workflow branches.

Example: In this example, the workflow will trigger when these conditions are true:

If the respondent responds that they are “extremely dissatisfied” with the company.
OR
If the respondent is from the EU region AND the quota for Europe, Middle East, and Africa has not been met.

Qtip: See Basics of Building Conditions for more information on building conditions. Note that this page is about filtering response data, but the information on conditions is the same for workflows.

Example: In this example, we have a store satisfaction survey with multiple workflow branches depending on the customer’s response:

The first decision branch analyses the customer’s response to determine if they are happy.

If the customer is happy, then an email is triggered to the relevant store manager, providing them with the customer’s feedback. The workflow is complete after the email is sent.

If the customer is not happy, then a code task is run. This code task is used to perform custom calculations on the customer’s data to help inform the next decision.

The second decision branch analyses the output of the code task to determine if the customer’s feedback is actionable.

If the feedback is actionable, then a ticket task is used to create a Qualtrics ticket for later follow-up. The workflow is complete once the ticket is created.

If the feedback is not actionable, then the workflow ends without any additional action.

Defining Tasks

You can add up to 20 tasks and controls (conditions or loops) per workflow to follow-up on your research and survey responses. Each task type is capable of solving an array of problems. You can use the search bar at the top to of the task selector to search your available tasks. For a full list of tasks, check out the Tasks category in the Workflows section of the support site.

Using the menu on the lefthand side of the support site to go to Workflows and then Tasks

Qtip: Click the i icon on a task to get more information about the task. This window also includes a link to that specific task’s support page if you need guidance setting up the task.

General Workflows Tasks

Below is an example list of tasks can be used across the Qualtrics platform.

Tickets Task: Create a ticket in Qualtrics that can be actioned by your Support Team.
Email Task: Send an email.
Web Service Task: Pass information using API calls.
Send Survey via Email Task: Distribute a survey to contact information in your XM Directory.
Update XM Directory Contacts Task: Create or update contact information.
Code Task: Use custom JavaScript to manipulate data that is passed between tasks.
Notifications Feed Task: Create a notification as a result of the workflow.
Calculate Metric Task: Trigger a response based on changes in aggregate metrics in your dataset.

Add-On Extension Tasks

Qtip: The following tasks require the separate purchase of an extension. If you don’t already have access to one or more of these extensions and are interested, check out our XM Marketplace.

Slack Task: Achievement metrics could trigger Slack channel messages.
Salesforce Task: Use Salesforce tasks for response mapping or web-to-lead.
Zendesk Task: The Zendesk extension allows you to create and update tickets in Zendesk based on responses collected with Qualtrics surveys.
Freshdesk Task: The Freshdesk extension allows you to create tickets in Freshdesk based on workflows triggered in Qualtrics.
Hubspot Task: The Hubspot extension allows you to create and update deals and contacts in Hubspot from collected survey responses.
ServiceNow Task: The ServiceNow extension allows you to create and update incidents in ServiceNow as well as update customer contact information provided by survey responses.
Microsoft Dynamics: The Microsoft Dynamics extension allows you link up your account to a Qualtrics survey for both Response Mapping and Web to Lead capabilities.
Tango Card Task: Incentivize surveys with Tango Card.
Marketo Task: Send data to Marketo as a custom activity.

Sharing Credentials for Extension Tasks

If your task requires you to login with that extension’s credentials, the workflow owner must have at least read-only access to the account in order for the workflow to run successfully. Accounts set up by the Brand Administrator in the Extensions tab do not need to have their credentials shared.

Example: Let’s say a collaborator needs to edit a workflow to add a Slack notification every time the workflow runs. If the collaborator sets up the task with their personal login for Slack, they will need to grant access to the workflow owner.

Create an extension task.

Select your personal account.

Click Next.

Select Give the workflow owner read-only access to this account.

Enable read-only access by clickin the checkbox

Click Continue task setup.

Finish configuring your task. Navigate to the task support pages for more information.

Attention: If you are using credentials that are shared with you, you will not be able to grant access. The workflow owner will need to be given access by the owner of the credentials.

To remove the workflow owner’s access to your credentials:

Click on the task and navigate to the account selection menu. Typically, you’ll just click the back button.

Click the three-dot menu next to your account.

Three dot menu next to accounts in account selection, then manage access button is highlihted

Select Manage Access.

Click Remove access.

Click Save.

ETL Workflows

ETL Workflows use data extracting and loading tasks to import data from a third-party source and import into Qualtrics. ETL workflows require you to use certain tasks with each other to complete your workflow. See Using Workflows Tasks to Build ETL Workflows for more information.

AI-Generated Workflows

You can leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to help build Qualtrics workflows. By simply describing your desired use case, generative AI can create the framework event, condition blocks, and tasks that make up your workflow.

Attention: Generative AI is a starting point and all configurations must be manually verified before enabling the workflow. Output from Qualtrics’ AI features is not a substitute for human review or professional guidance. This feature creates a workflow skeleton and you must configure the individual components.

Qtip: To use this feature, the Enable AI Assistance in Configuring Workflows permission must be enabled on both the brand and individual user levels.

In the Workflows tab of your project, enter your use case in the Describe what you would like to automate box. This will act as the base prompt for generating the workflow with AI.

in the workflows tab of a project, submitting a prompt for AI generation

Alternatively, you can enter your prompt from either a project or the standalone workflow page by clicking the Create a workflow button and then selecting Describe-to-design a workflow.

selecting "describe to design a workflow" from the "create a workflwo" button

You may need to refine your prompt by answering the questions displayed in the chat window.

refining the prompt using the chat window, and then reviewing the generated workflow

Workflow Assist will build your workflow directly in the editor. Review the components that have been added. If you’d like to make adjustments, continue chatting in the window until the workflow meets your use case.

Once you’re ready to configure the individual components, click Configure in editor.

clicking "configure in editor" to set up the workflow

Click Yes.

Qtip: Once you continue past this point, you cannot re-access Workflow Assist (i.e., you cannot resume the same session with the AI assistant).

Configure each workflow component. Step-by-step instructions can be found on their respective support pages.

Check out the following pages to get started:

Setting a Workflow Schedule
List of Workflow Events
Creating Workflow Conditions
List of Workflow Tasks
Qtip: If you need help finding a page for a specific feature, try asking our site’s AI assistant by clicking the chat icon in the bottom right corner of any support page.

Once your workflow is fully set up, turn it On.

Using Workflow Templates

When creating a new workflow, you will have the option to use a Qualtrics template. These are pre-configured workflows designed to make setting up useful workflows easy. Workflow templates are created by our Qualtrics subject matter experts to leverage industry standards for workflow automations.

Using Templates

From the workflow tab of a project or the stand-alone Workflows page, click Create a workflow and select Browse templates.

clicking "create a workflow" and choosing to browse templates

Templates will be listed below the “from scratch” section. There are many different workflows available based on various outcomes, so take the time to find the workflow that works best for your goals.

When you’ve found the template you want to use, click on it.

choosing a template, reading the summary, and clicking get started

In the side panel, review the overview of the template. This will contain a general description of the workflow, what it’s best used for, how it helps your organization, and what’s included in the template.

When you’re ready to continue, click Get started.

You’ll be brought to a guided setup to configure the workflow. Use the Step-by-step instructions to help you set up the workflow. Visit the linked support pages in the instructions to learn more about each item in the workflow.

Click the different items of the workflow to configure each one.

Qtip: Outstanding workflow steps will be highlighted.

When finished setting up the workflow, make sure to toggle it On.

Example Templates

Below are a few example templates. This is not an exhaustive list of available templates. Log into the platform to begin exploring all of the options available to you.

Qtip: Use the search at the top of the Catalog to find and search templates. You can search by keywords in the template. For example, search “ticket” to find all templates that use ticket tasks. You can also use the filter groups to display templates that meet certain criteria.

Create a Qualtrics ticket for website or app support requests: This template uses a tickets task to create a Qualtrics ticket when a new survey response for support comes in on a website or app intercept.
Get an email when NPS drops week-over-week: This template uses a calculate metric task to calculate your organization’s week-over-week NPS score, and sends an email if the score drops below a certain threshold you set.
Import Salesforce data into XM Directory: This template combines an extract data from Salesforce task and an add contacts and transactions to XMD task in a guided setup to easily import data from Salesforce to save in your Qualtrics XM Directory.

FAQs

I don’t see a template that fits my business goals. Will more templates be coming in the future?

Yes! This is a growing library of workflow templates built by our in house subject matter experts. We will add new scenarios and use cases over time.

Do I have access to all extensions available through the Workflows templates?

Access depends on your licensing and permissions. Reach out to your Brand Administrator and ask if your license has access to that extension.

How do I use 3rd-party extensions within Workflows templates?

If a template uses a 3rd-party extension (i.e. integration with another software), your brand must be set up to integrate with that 3rd-party software. See this support page for more information.

Can I request a template be built for my organization?

Yes! Work with your Brand Administrator and Technical Success Manager and/or Account Executive to develop your template.

Is there a link to all Workflows events and tasks?

See this support page for the basics of Qualtrics workflows. All events and tasks are linked from the support site menu you'll see to the left.

What are Workflows templates?

Workflows templates are collections of pre-assembled automated workflows so that users don’t have to build workflows from scratch. These templates are created by Qualtrics subject matter experts.

What are the different major types of Workflows templates?

Workflows templates often focus on a particular use case that is a common scenario in experience management. Some example of high level categories are:

Experience metric trend visibility and reporting
Survey follow-up management
Ticket management
Team communication & collaboration
Data management (ETL)

What are workflows? / Where are actions?

Actions have been renamed to workflows to better represent the product experience and to reflect how users engage with the product. See the Workflows Basic Overview page for more information about using workflows.

There are no changes to workflow functionality as part of this update.

How quickly can I expect workflows to run?

Workflows are not instantaneous, and may take several minutes to an hour to start or complete.

Is there a maximum size workflows can be?

An individual workflow can only be up to 1 MB in size before it starts to fail. You can only export up to 1 MB of details when exporting a data file from the workflow.

This task is marked as “Preview.” What does that mean?

If a task has a blue “Preview” flag on it, that means it is a third party extension that hasn’t been officially approved by Qualtrics. If you click the “i” on the task, you can find more information on it. We recommend reading the terms of use and privacy policy before deciding whether to use these extensions.

If I have two workflows sent at the same time, in what order will they run?

Workflows run in parallel, so if two jobs are triggered at the same time they will both be actioned at that time.

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