Configuring automation

ADManager Plus provides a simple built-in template that helps you configure automations for repetitive AD and Microsoft 365 tasks. Follow the steps provided below to automate a task in ADManager Plus.

1. Log in to ADManager Plus
2. Go to the Automation tab.
3. From the left pane, select Automation.
4. A page with the display of all existing automations and their details will appear. To create a new automation, click Create New Automation in the top-right corner.
5. Enter a name for the automation process in the Automation Name field.
6. Add a note describing the automation process in the Description field.
7. Select the AD management category for the task in the Automation Category drop-down.
8. Choose the domain and OUs where the task should be executed using the Select Domain option. You can exclude child OUs if necessary.
9. In the Automation Task/Policy field, pick the management task to automate from your selected category. Click here to view a full list of tasks available for automation.
10. Select Implement Business Workflow to associate a workflow with the automation and make it semi-automatic, that is, the tasks configured will be propelled through the configured workflow.
    Note: For crucial routine tasks, like Controlled-Automations that require supervision to a certain extent, a business workflow can be implemented. Say you want to automate the task of disabling user accounts, but disabling accounts seems to increase your help desk calls and requires your HR manager's approval. Now, all you have to do is configure a workflow with the HR manager as the approver and implement it in the automation. Then, every time the automation tries to disable a user account, it seeks approval from the HR manager.
11. Under the section Select objects, there are two options: From Reports and Location of CSV. These will be considered as data sources for the automation to run.
    • From Reports: Use this option to select a built-in report in ADManager Plus as the data source for the automation. You can preview the selected report by using the Generate Report option and then filtering the results of the report by clicking Add Conditions.
      Note: To avoid making the same modification or performing the same management operation on an object multiple times, check the box to select Exclude objects modified by the previous execution of this automation.
    • Location of CSV: Use the CSV files stored in your system to import data. Click the Select More o ption and choose Location of CSV to specify the location of the CSV file from where the data should be fetched. If you have trouble adding the CSV files, refer to the troubleshooting tips for CSV files available here .
    • Data from external applications: The applications integrated with ADManager Plus will appear as data source options in the Location of CSV drop-down list. Use this option to import object data from the external applications after you have configured them in Application Integrations.
    Note: When selecting the location of a CSV file, you can enable the Select only the appended objects from the file option to choose only the new file or the appended objects from the specified CSV file.
12. Select Run at to set the frequency and timing for the automation. Choose from hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly schedules, or configure it to run at a custom frequency time as required.
13. Turn on the Enable Notification button to activate email and SMS alerts for informing users and stakeholders about the automation. Click the Edit icon to c hoose a notification template to be used. You can create a new template using the Create New Template option if a different one is needed. To avoid receiving multiple notification emails for each task in an policy-based automation, check the Send only Consolidated Report box while creating a new notification template.
    Note: If notifications are turned on, the templates set up in the automation notification profile will be used instead of the templates in the workflow notification profile (either the execution or approval notification templates).
14. Now, click Save if you have scheduled the automation to run at a particular time, or click Save & Run if you want to run it right away.
    Note

    • Click the Back button in the top-right corner of the automation creation or modification page to view all existing automations.
    • There is also an option to enforce or delete a successive task before the duration mentioned in the automation. To do this, the workflow technician can click the run or delete option beside the task while approving or reviewing its workflow.
    • You can also run an automation anytime you want by clicking the Run Now option in the list of configured automations.

Endpoint data preview report

While choosing the application whose endpoint data needs to be used as a source for different automations, you can filter and view the required data using Advanced Criteria. To do this:

1. Click the Advanced link next to the Data Source drop-down.
2. In the window that pops-up, click the Add Condition option to specify the condition based on which data must be retrieved from the endpoint.
3. Click the Generate Report link on the top to preview the report.

Points to remember

1. The preview report data is based on the current information in the integrated third-party app . The actual object count or data may differ during automation execution, depending on the app's data at that time.
2. This report shows only the first five attributes mapped in the Attribute Mapping section, with the unique key column displayed by default.
3. Generating a new preview report before another one is completed is considered a concurrent preview. Concurrent generation of preview reports across different automations is limited to a maximum of three.