CPCana Workflows & Automations Field Guide

Open any project and click Workflows & Automations in the project header. You'll land on a page with two tabs.

Process stages show: nothing on that tab changes a task. Automation rules act, one task at a time. Most projects want both: stages for the shape of the work, and a handful of rules for the handoffs between people.

Which one do I need?

• "Where are we overall, and what's left?" Use Process stages.
• "Who needs to know the moment this is finished?" Use an automation rule.

Example: a Sunday service project with three stages: Order of Worship Draft, Rehearsal & Tech Run, Sunday Execution.

You have two ways to do it.

A. Apply a blueprint (fastest). On the Process stages tab, a box labeled Apply a process blueprint appears if the project doesn't have one yet. Pick from Choose a blueprint… and click Apply blueprint. CPCana adds each of the blueprint's stages as a new section at the end of the board, with its tasks and subtasks inside.

After applying, go through the board and set due dates and owners. A project holds one blueprint. Once applied, the box goes away, and trying again says "This project already has a workflow applied."

B. Build it by hand. On the project board, add one section per stage, in the order the work happens.

A task belongs to a stage because it sits in that section. Drag a card to another column on the board and it moves to that stage.

The tab opens in Stage cards view. Switch to Compact list for a table with one row per task.

Each stage card shows:

• Stage 2 of 3, and 3/5 done (60%) with a progress bar
• Every task in the stage, with its status, priority, and assignee (or Unassigned)
• A subtasks toggle on any task that has them
• Next: stage 3 → at the bottom, or Last stage

The toolbar shows a running total: 12 / 20 tasks done.

Click Check stages. It outlines in amber any stage that has no tasks, lists it ("Stage 2 ("Rehearsal & Tech Run") contains no tasks."), and repeats the done count. It only reads; in its own words, "This looks at the stages and tasks as they are now. It doesn't change anything."

Click Runbook notes to open a text box for instructions, safety checks, or context for whoever works through the stages.

• Generate summary fills the box with facts pulled from the project itself: members, section and task counts, custom fields, tags, and the names of its automation rules. Edit it freely.
• Click Save notes.
• Tick Include in printout to put the notes on the printed runbook.

Click Print runbook (top right). A preview titled Process runbook opens. Click Print. Only the sheet prints, not the page behind it, and it prints black on white even if you use dark mode.

What's on the paper:

• Your church's name at the top comes from the app's deployment settings. Nothing on the sheet is hard-coded to one congregation.
• Tasks already marked Done in CPCana print with a check in their box. Everything else prints as an empty [ ] box for a pen.
• The sign-off block is plain: reviewer, result, approver, date. Who signs is your ministry's call; the sheet doesn't name a role or committee.

Using it on Sunday morning:

1. Print it before the service and put it on a clipboard.
2. Whoever runs the morning checks each box as the task is done and writes in anything unusual.
3. When the morning is over, the reviewer signs and marks Approved or Changes needed.
4. Afterward, mark the finished tasks Done in CPCana.

Every rule has exactly three parts:

There is no "if" step in between. The trigger is the only filter. CPCana doesn't evaluate conditions such as "only if priority is High" or "only on weekdays", so the rule-builder doesn't offer them.

Why does a rule watch one task? Predictability. A rule about "Draft bulletin" fires for that card and no other, so nobody gets surprised by a rule firing on an unrelated task. If the same handoff applies to five tasks, make five rules.

Go to the project, click Workflows & Automations, then the Automation rules tab. The tab shows how many rules the project has.

If there are none yet, you'll see No automation rules yet, a + New rule button, and the four recipe cards under Start from a recipe (Chapter 4).

Once a project has rules, switch between the two views with Flow cards / Compact list. Beside them, CPCana counts how many rules are active and how many are paused.

Flow cards (default) draw each rule as a green Trigger box wired to a blue Action box:

• Trigger box: the plain-English trigger ("Status becomes Done") and a Source pill naming the watched task and its project.
• Action box: the plain-English action, plus pills for Target, Section, or Assignee as they apply. A grey pill reads Crosses projects: A → B when the action lands in another project.
• Header: the Active / Paused switch, Check rule, History (with a run count), and Delete.
• A rule that can't run gets a red border, a Won't run chip, and its first problem spelled out under the name.

Compact list puts each rule on one line, e.g. When "Draft bulletin": status becomes done → Assign to Sarah on "Print bulletin", with an Enabled checkbox, History, and Delete.

The New automation rule window opens: "Pick a task to watch, what to watch for, and what should happen next."

Name. Something you'll recognize in six months, e.g. Start printing once the bulletin is done.

When… (the trigger)

Then… (the action)

Pick the Action and its Project, then fill in what that action needs:

The Target task list includes The source task itself when the target project is the same as the source project. Pick it when the rule should act on the very task it watches, as the Due Date Watchdog recipe does.

At the bottom of the window, Preview draws the rule as you build it:

Read it out loud as one sentence: "When Draft bulletin becomes Done, assign Print bulletin to Sarah Jones." If it doesn't make sense spoken, it won't make sense running.

If something's missing, CPCana says what: Name is required, Select a source task, Select a target task, Choose who to assign, Select a destination section, or Enter a title for the new task.

CPCana also refuses a rule that would undo the very change that triggers it, such as "when this task becomes Done, set this task to To Do":

On the rule's flow card, click Check rule. It reads the rule's saved setup and its tasks as they stand right now, and gives one of four verdicts:

Under the verdict it lists each Blocker or Warning, then If it runs: with a plain sentence, e.g. "Assigns "Print bulletin" to Sarah Jones, replacing its current assignees."

Problems it commonly catches:

• History opens Run history: each time the rule fired, with SUCCESS, FAILED, or SKIPPED, a reason, and the time. The latest few runs show; the button counts all of them.
• Due-date rules also log a SKIPPED line reading "Claimed by due-date-approaching cron" every time they fire. That's CPCana's record that it handled that morning, not a failure. The real result is the line beside it.
• The Active / Paused switch stops a rule without losing it.
• Delete asks "Delete this automation rule?" and removes the rule permanently. Deleted rules don't go to the Trash.

Any member of the project can create, pause, and delete its rules. A rule that acts on a task in another project also requires membership in that project.

On the Automation rules tab, Print runbook produces an Automation rules runbook: a table with a Reviewed box, Rule, When…, Then…, Status (Active, Paused, or Won't run with the reason), and Initials, followed by a sign-off block (signature, printed name, date, Approved / Changes needed, notes). It's useful once or twice a year to confirm every rule still matches how your team works. The instructions printed on the sheet read: "Review each one, check its box, and initial it."

Recipes fill in the form for common church handoffs. Open them from Quick Recipes in the top corner of the New automation rule window, or from Use recipe on an empty Automation rules tab.

A recipe fills in the name, trigger, and action. It never picks the source task, and except for the Watchdog it never picks the target task; those stay with you. When a recipe needs a section, it looks for one whose name contains a keyword. If there's no match, you'll see a hint such as No section with "urgent" in its name in Sunday Service. Choose one below.

When a task is marked Done, assign the next task to someone and notify them.

• Church example: When "Finalize sermon title" is Done, assign "Print bulletins" to the office admin.
• Why it helps: The next runner gets the baton the moment the last one finishes, with no hallway check-ins.
• Pairs well with dependencies. If "Print bulletins" also depends on other unfinished tasks, CPCana skips the assignment notice while it's still locked (the "digital mute") and sends one unlocked message when the last prerequisite is done. The admin hears about it when it's actually their turn.
• Watch out: Set assignee replaces whoever is on the target task. It's one action, so it doesn't change the target's status. If you also want the target moved to In Progress, add a second rule on the same source task.

When a draft is marked Done, mark its review task In Progress.

• Church example: When "Draft newsletter" is Done, set "Proofread newsletter" to In Progress.
• Why it helps: Reviewers don't start on half-finished drafts, and the board shows at a glance that review has begun.
• Watch out: Setting the review task's status can set off that task's own status rules. That's useful for a chain (proofread → print), but see the loop warning in Chapter 6.

When a task is 2 days from its due date, move it to your Urgent section.

• Church example: "Submit VBS supply order" moves to an Urgent column two days before it's due.
• Before you start: The project needs a section with "Urgent" in its name, and the source task needs a due date.
• How it behaves: It's checked once each morning and fires once, on the morning exactly two days out. If the task is already Done by then, it's skipped. Change the 2 to any number of days.
• Watch out: It changes the card's column only. It doesn't raise the priority or send anyone a message.

When a task is marked Done, create a Debrief & Review follow-up task.

• Church example: When "Fall Festival day-of" is Done, create "Debrief & Review" (description: Conduct ministry debrief, compile feedback notes, and review event outcomes., Medium priority) in the project's Review section.
• Why it helps: The debrief actually gets scheduled while the event is fresh.
• Watch out: On a repeating task, this creates a new Debrief task every time the task is marked Done. Pick an assignee in the form if you want someone notified; otherwise the new task is unassigned.

You can change anything a recipe fills in before clicking Create rule. Think of them as starting points.

Some tasks come from other parts of CPCana: inventory counts, restock orders, and XP Hub print requests. Cross-Module Routing decides which project they land in and who gets each kind.

Where: Administration > Workflows, then the Cross-Module Routing tab. Only admins can see this page.

• The people lists show only that project's members and admins, so whoever you pick can open the task. Choose Nobody (leave unassigned) to leave a kind unassigned.
• Click Save routing. The page shows who last saved it and when.
• If someone you picked is later removed from the project, their tasks arrive unassigned rather than going to someone who can't open them.
• With no operations project set: Inventory creates no tasks at all, and print requests fall back to the first shared project named like Administration, Operations, or Staff, unassigned.

The same page's Process Blueprints tab is where admins build the blueprints used in Tutorial 1. Click + New blueprint, then Start blank or From a template. Add stages, tasks, and subtasks (each box says press Enter), and tick Reusable template to offer it as a starting point for future blueprints.

CPCana's timed jobs run once a day on the current hosting plan. The plan doesn't allow anything more frequent, which is why there are no hourly reminders. Times are fixed in UTC, so the Central clock time shifts an hour with daylight saving.

There's no condition step, so choose a source task and trigger that already mean exactly what you want.

• Instead of: "When any task is Done, if it's in the Design section, move it to Printing" (the app can't do this)
• Build: a rule on the one design task that matters: "When Design bulletin cover becomes Done, move Design bulletin cover to section Printing"

One rule also does one action. To assign and change status, make two rules on the same source task.

Due-date rules are checked once each morning. A rule can't fire "an hour before" anything, and it fires only on its exact day; if that morning's check is missed, it doesn't catch up the next day. Status rules fire the moment someone changes the task. Use status for anything that needs to happen today, and use dates for warnings a few days out.

If the source task is Done (or in the Trash) on the trigger morning, nothing happens. The rule also never fires without a due date on the source task. Check rule tells you about all three.

A Set status action counts as a status change, so it can set off the target task's own rules, and those can set off more. CPCana refuses the most obvious loop: a rule that changes the same thing it watches on the same task. It also stops any chain after 5 steps. But two rules that bounce a task between Done and To Do will still flip it back and forth up to that limit, logging runs and pinging people.

Only Set status chains. Set assignee, Move to section, and Create a new task never set off further rules.

Set assignee swaps out everyone on the target task. If two people should share it, put both on the source task and use Same person as the source task.

A repeating task is one card that resets itself each cycle. Its comments, attachments, and history stay put.

• Reset on a schedule resets on its repeat day whether or not it was finished. Use it for calendar work such as the weekly bulletin or Sunday flowers.
• Reset after completion starts the next cycle only once the card is marked Done. Use it for "replace HVAC filters every 90 days."
• On reset, the card goes back to the project's ★ Base To Do column, its subtasks are unchecked, and its due date moves forward. Set the column by clicking the star on its header (☆ when not set). You can adjust the Next reset date in the task panel.
• A reset doesn't set off status rules. Marking the task Done each cycle does, so a Done-triggered rule on a weekly task fires weekly.

Rules never act on a task in the Trash, and a rule whose source task is in the Trash can't fire. Restore the task and the rule works again.

So you don't go looking for it:

• No "if" or condition steps, and one action per rule
• No new project-wide rules; each new rule watches one task
• No hourly or same-day timers; scheduled work runs once a day
• No push or text-message reminders; notices come by email and the in-app Inbox
• Blueprints don't carry due dates or assignees
• Stages report progress; they don't hold work back
• Printed runbooks don't sync back into the app