Direct Answer: What Are Automations in OnePlan?
Automations in OnePlan are configurable rules that detect events — such as a field change, a date passing, or a new item being created — and automatically perform defined actions in response. They reduce manual effort, enforce consistent behavior, and support governance across plans and work items without requiring users to intervene each time a condition is met.
What This Article Covers: Automations in OnePlan
This article provides a conceptual overview of Automations in OnePlan — what they are, how they are structured, the two automation types available, and when to use each. It does not cover step-by-step configuration; for that, see the guided workflow articles linked in What to Do Next.
What you will accomplish
After reading this article, you will understand what automations do in OnePlan, how Plan Automations and Work Plan Automations differ, and how to choose the right type for your scenario.
Who This Article Is For: Automations in OnePlan
This article is intended for:
- Plan managers and portfolio administrators who want to standardize plan behavior at scale
- Project team leads who want to automate work item management within a plan
- Anyone evaluating whether automations are the right tool for a specific workflow challenge
Why This Matters: Automations in OnePlan
Context: What Automations Do
Without automations, plan and work item management depends on people remembering to perform routine tasks — updating a status when a process step changes, notifying a stakeholder when a deadline passes, or creating a follow-up task when an item reaches a certain state. As an organization scales, this creates inconsistency, delays, and administrative overhead.
Automations in OnePlan eliminate that dependency by defining the rule once and letting the system enforce it automatically — every time, for every applicable plan or work item.
Understanding Automations in OnePlan
The Two Types of Automations
OnePlan provides two types of automations, each designed for a different level of the plan hierarchy:
| Plan Automations | Work Plan Automations | |
|---|---|---|
| What they act on | The plan itself | Work items inside a plan (tasks, risks, issues, etc.) |
| Trigger events | Plan-level events (field changes, process steps, dates, plan creation) | Work item events (field changes, dates, item creation) |
| Actions available | Update Plan, Send Notification, Copy or Create Plan, Reorganize Plan, Approval Task Workflow, Power Automate | Update Work Item, Send Notification, Copy or Create Work Item, Request Update, Approval Task Workflow |
| Accessed from | Portfolio Area or individual plan | Work Plan (toolbar → … → Automations) |
| Scope | All Plans (Portfolio Area) or This Plan (individual plan) | This Plan (all users) or All Plans (admins only) |
For a detailed comparison, see Plan Automations vs. Work Plan Automations in OnePlan - Overview.
The Shared Structure - Trigger, Filters, Actions
Regardless of type, every automation in OnePlan follows the same structural pattern:
1. Trigger — the event that causes the automation to run. Each automation can have only one trigger. Examples: When a Field Changes, When a Date Passes, When an Item Is Created.
2. Filters (optional) — conditions that must be true before the actions run. If filters are configured, OnePlan evaluates them after the trigger fires. If the conditions are not met, the automation does not proceed. Filters narrow the automation's scope without changing its trigger.
3. Actions — the operations OnePlan performs when trigger conditions are met and filters pass. An automation can include one or more actions, which execute in sequence. Examples: Send Notification, Update Plan, Approval Task Workflow.
Automation Scope
Scope determines which plans an automation applies to:
- Plan Automations — scope is set automatically based on where you open the Automations editor. Opening from the Portfolio Area sets scope to All Plans for a selected Plan Type; opening from an individual plan sets scope to This Plan.
- Work Plan Automations — scope is configured in the trigger editor. End users can set This Plan only; administrators can also set All Plans across selected Plan Types.
How Automations Run
Automations run in the background without any user action required. When a trigger condition is met and any configured filters pass, OnePlan executes the defined actions in sequence. Each execution is recorded in the Automation Run History, where you can monitor runs, review outcomes, and cancel in-progress executions if needed.
See How to View and Manage Automation Run History in OnePlan for details.
Common Scenarios for Automations in OnePlan
Plan-level governance with Plan Automations:
- Automatically send a notification to stakeholders when a plan moves to a new process step
- Reorganize a plan into a different portfolio area when it reaches a specific lifecycle stage
- Trigger a Power Automate flow when a plan field changes to integrate with an external system
- Initiate an approval workflow when a plan is submitted for review
Work execution with Work Plan Automations:
- Automatically notify the assigned resource when a task due date has passed
- Update a task status field when another field on the same work item changes
- Send an update request to assigned team members on a regular schedule
- Create a follow-up risk item whenever a new issue is created
Frequently Asked Questions: Automations in OnePlan
Q: What is the difference between Plan Automations and Work Plan Automations in OnePlan?
A: Plan Automations respond to plan-level events and their actions affect the plan as a whole — such as updating plan fields, copying plans, or reorganizing plans in a portfolio hierarchy. Work Plan Automations respond to work item events inside a plan — such as task field changes or item creation — and their actions affect those specific work items. Use Plan Automations when automating plan-level behavior and Work Plan Automations when automating work execution. See Plan Automations vs. Work Plan Automations in OnePlan - Overview for a full comparison.
Q: Can I use both Plan Automations and Work Plan Automations in the same plan in OnePlan?
A: Yes. Plan Automations and Work Plan Automations operate independently in OnePlan and can both be active on the same plan simultaneously. They do not conflict — each responds to its own set of events at its respective level of the plan hierarchy.
Q: Who can create and manage automations in OnePlan?
A: Any user with Contributor or Owner access to a plan can create Work Plan Automations scoped to This Plan. Plan Automations can be created by users who access the Automations editor from a plan they have Contributor or Owner access to. Automations scoped to All Plans require administrator-level global permissions in OnePlan.
Q: Are automations in OnePlan retroactive?
A: No. Automations in OnePlan only run in response to trigger events that occur after the automation is saved and active. They do not apply retroactively to plans or work items that already existed before the automation was created.
Q: Where can I see if an automation ran and what it did in OnePlan?
A: All automation executions are recorded in the Automation Run History, accessible from the Automations editor. See How to View and Manage Automation Run History in OnePlan for details.
What to Do Next: Automations in OnePlan
Understand the interface and automation types:
Configure Plan Automations:
Configure Work Plan Automations:
Monitor and manage automations:
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