Plan Automation Trigger - When a Field Changes

This article explains how to configure the When a Field Changes trigger for Plan Automations in OnePlan.

This trigger allows you to automatically run plan‑level actions when the value of a selected plan‑level field changes. It is commonly used to respond to updates such as status changes, priority updates, or other important plan attributes.

What you will accomplish
By the end of this article, you will be able to:

• Configure a When a Field Changes trigger
• Understand how scope affects available fields and configuration options
• Define when the automation runs based on specific field value changes

Requirements

Before you begin, make sure you have:

• A OnePlan account with Licensed permissions
  (Basic, Professional, or Enterprise)

If creating automations from a Portfolio Area

• Enterprise-level permissions
• Manager or Owner role (OOTB Permission Groups)
• Access to the Portfolio Area

If creating automations from within an individual plan

• Contributor or Owner permissions for the plan

Background

The When a Field Changes trigger is used when you want an automation to respond to updates made to plan‑level fields, such as status, phase, priority, or other tracked attributes.

Unlike triggers that respond to system‑level events, field changes occur within the context of a plan. Because of this, this trigger can be used in both Portfolio Area automations and plan‑level automations.

Important

• Each automation can have only one trigger.
• If you need an automation to respond to multiple events, create separate automations, each with its own trigger.

Trigger Scope and Configuration Behavior

How the When a Field Changes trigger behaves depends on where the automation is created.

Automations Created from a Portfolio Area

When an automation is created from a Portfolio Area:

• Scope
  Automatically locked to All Plans
• Plan Types
  You must select one or more Plan Types before selecting the trigger.
• Available Fields
  The list of available fields is based on the selected plan type(s).
• Trigger Behavior
  The automation runs when the selected field changes on any plan that matches the selected plan type(s).

Automations Created from Within a Plan

When creating automations from within an individual plan:

• Scope
  Automatically locked to This Plan
• Plan Types
  Plan types are not required.
• Available Fields
  Only fields available on the current plan can be selected.
• Trigger Behavior
  The automation runs when the selected field changes on the current plan.

Instructions

Open the Trigger Editor

1. Open the Plan Automations editor.
2. In the automation flow, select Trigger.

The Edit Trigger panel opens on the right side of the screen.

Select the Trigger Type

1. In the Trigger field, select When a Field Changes.

Select the Field to Monitor

1. In the Field field, select the plan‑level field you want to monitor.

Note
Text and Rich Text fields cannot be selected for this trigger.

The available fields depend on the automation scope:

• Portfolio Area automations show fields based on the selected plan type(s)
• Plan‑level automations show fields available on the current plan

Define the Change Condition

1. Once a field is selected, configure the Changes To condition.
2. Choose one of the following options:
   • Select a specific value to trigger the automation when the field changes to that value
   • Select Any Value to trigger the automation whenever the field value changes

Save the Trigger

1. Review the trigger configuration.
2. Select Update to apply the trigger to the automation.