Workflow Automation
Let routine follow-up happen without relying on memory.
Every operation repeats the same follow-up: chase the missing clock-in, remind someone about the pending leave request, check whether the closing routine was finished, ask whether the message was even read. Workflow Automation turns those recurring workforce events into clear actions, reminders and follow-up inside Timento.
Trigger, rule, action, follow-up. Configured once, applied every day.
- What still needs following up today?
- Who was reminded, and when?
- What happens if nobody responds?
- Which routine keeps needing a manager?
30 days · Up to 4 employees · No credit card · Personal onboarding
From event to follow-up
Something happens. The right follow-up happens next.
The model is deliberately simple. A workforce event occurs, Timento evaluates the rules your business configured, and the right follow-up is created for the right person. Nothing depends on a manager remembering the next step at the busiest moment of the day.
- 01
Event happens
- 02
Rule is evaluated
- 03
Follow-up is created
- 04
Someone acts
Examples of configurable rules
- Shift publishedAffected employees are notified
- Leave requestedSurfaced for manager review
- Checklist still incompleteFollow-up or attention item
- Clock event missingAttention item or operational alert
- Action Needed message sentAcknowledgement is tracked
- Operational Alert openedOpen, Acknowledged, Resolved
None of these are forced defaults. Each business decides which workflow rules make sense for its operation, and which teams or locations they apply to.
Four building blocks
Trigger, condition, action, follow-up.
Every workflow in Timento is built from the same four parts. Once you recognise them, you can read any rule in your organisation without documentation.
Trigger
The workforce event that starts the workflow, taken from data Timento already holds.
A leave request is submitted
Condition
The situation in which the rule should apply, such as a team, a location, a routine or a waiting time.
Manager approval is required
Action
What Timento does next: notify, surface an attention item, raise an alert or request acknowledgement.
Create a manager attention item and notify
Follow-up
How the workflow ends, so open work does not disappear quietly.
Approved or rejected, and recorded
Two rules, read end to end
Pending leave request
- TriggerLeave request submitted
- ConditionManager approval required for this team
- ActionCreate a manager attention item and send a notification
- Follow-upApproved or rejected by the manager
Closing routine not finished
- TriggerChecklist still incomplete after the expected time
- ConditionConfigured routine, location and time window
- ActionCreate an attention item and remind the responsible role
- Follow-upCompleted or resolved with a note
The same four blocks cover scheduling, time, leave, checklists, messages and alerts. There is no separate automation language to learn per area.
Triggers
Built on the workforce events you already record.
Triggers come from Timento itself, so a workflow is always grounded in a real operational record rather than an assumption. External systems can only take part where an integration explicitly supports it.
Schedule events
Planning changes that people need to know about.
- Schedule published
- Shift changed or reassigned
- Open shift published
- Staffing gap still unfilled
Clock and time events
Differences between the planned day and the recorded day.
- Shift started without a clock-in
- Shift ended without a clock-out
- Time entry needs review
- Overtime threshold reached
Leave and availability
Requests and changes that need a decision or a planning update.
- Leave request submitted
- Request still pending
- Leave approved or rejected
- Availability changed
Checklists and routines
The status of recurring operational work.
- Routine started or completed
- Checklist incomplete after the expected time
- Item marked for follow-up
- Routine skipped
Alerts and messages
Exceptions and structured requests that need a response.
- Operational Alert opened
- Alert acknowledged but not resolved
- Action Needed message unacknowledged
- Handover point left open
Skills and people
Qualification and profile status that affects planning.
- Certification approaching expiry
- Verification still pending
- Required skill missing for a role
- Onboarding step outstanding
Timento does not invent triggers from outside data. If your operation does not record an event, no workflow can react to it.
Actions
What a workflow is allowed to do.
Actions are deliberately operational: they inform, route and create follow-up. They keep work visible for the person who should handle it, instead of deciding on that person's behalf.
What actions never do
- Change published schedules on their own
- Approve leave, time entries or payroll automatically
- Make disciplinary or employment decisions
- Run code, scripts or arbitrary external calls
Automation moves information and responsibility to the right place. The decision stays with a person.
Reminders
The follow-up nobody has time to remember.
Most operational work does not fail at the start. It fails in the gap between raising something and closing it. Reminders fill that gap without turning into noise.
- A leave request is still waiting for a decision
- A closing checklist is still incomplete near the end of the shift
- An Action Needed message has no acknowledgement
- A clocking issue still needs a manager review
- An alert was acknowledged but never resolved
- A qualification renewal is approaching and nothing has been booked
Timing you can configure
- After a waiting period, such as a number of hours
- Relative to the operational moment, such as before the end of a shift
- Once, or repeated up to a configured limit
- Only for the teams, roles or locations you choose
Timing is configured in plain operational terms. There is no cron syntax and no formula language to maintain.
Escalations
When nothing happens, the item moves up, not away.
Escalation in Timento is operational follow-up, not a disciplinary mechanism. It exists so that an unanswered item finds a responsible person instead of ageing quietly in a list.
- 1EventA workflow creates the item and notifies the person responsible for it.
- 2ReminderNothing has happened after the configured waiting time, so Timento reminds.
- 3EscalationThe item still stands, so it moves to the configured manager or role.
- 4ResolutionThe item is handled and closed, with the steps recorded in workflow activity.
Escalation paths follow the roles and locations your organisation already configured in Timento. Nobody is escalated to a person who has no responsibility for the operation.
Approval flows
Automation moves approvals along. Managers decide.
Approvals are exactly where operations get stuck, and exactly where automation must stay careful. Timento routes and reminds around the approval flows the platform supports, and leaves the judgement to a manager.
Leave approval
The request reaches the right manager, stays visible while pending and is reminded if it waits too long.
Shift swap approval
A swap request is routed for review, with the affected shift kept in context.
Review & Approve for time
Time entries that need review become an attention item rather than an end of month surprise.
Automation does
- Route the request to the responsible manager or role
- Keep pending items visible in Control Center
- Remind when a decision is still outstanding
- Escalate when the item stays unresolved
- Record the outcome once a decision is made
Automation does not
- Approve leave on a manager's behalf
- Approve time entries or payroll figures
- Reject a request because time ran out
- Change an approval decision after the fact
The value is in the chasing, not the deciding. Removing the chasing is usually what gives managers their week back.
Action Needed
When a message needs a response, not just a read.
Most internal communication is informational. Some of it genuinely requires someone to confirm, respond or take responsibility. A workflow can create or surface a structured Action Needed request so that the response becomes part of the operation instead of a hope.
- Sent to the right people for the shift, team or location
- Acknowledged by the person taking it on
- Responsibility recorded so everyone sees who has it
- Reminded when no acknowledgement arrives
- Escalated to a configured role when it stays open
- Closed once the request is handled
Not every message becomes a workflow. Action Needed is for the small share of communication where the operation depends on a response.
How the layers fit
Rules decide. Alerts surface. Managers act. Patterns get measured.
Workflow Automation is not a replacement for the operational layers around it. It is the connective tissue that decides when they should be used.
| Layer | What it does | Time horizon |
|---|---|---|
| Workflow Automation | Decides when follow-up should happen and creates it | The moment an event occurs |
| Alerts & Exceptions | Carries the incident through Open, Acknowledged, Resolved | While the issue is live |
| Control Center | Shows the manager what needs attention right now | Today |
| Operations Score | Shows whether the same follow-up keeps repeating | Days and weeks |
Read together, these four layers answer one question end to end: what needs to happen, who is on it, and is the pattern getting better.
Checklist automation
Routines that follow up on themselves.
Recurring routines are the clearest automation case in any operation, because the expectation is already defined. The workflow simply makes the expectation visible when it is not met.
- The routine becomes available at the right operational moment, where the checklist supports it
- A reminder is sent if it is not completed by the configured time
- An attention item is created when a routine needs manager follow-up
- The item escalates to a configured role if it is still incomplete
- A checklist item marked for follow-up stays open until it is resolved
Timento reminds and surfaces. It does not mark a routine as done on anyone's behalf, and a completed checklist is an operational record rather than a certification.
Time and attendance
Catch the clocking issue on the day, not at month end.
Missing clock events are cheap to fix on the day they happen and expensive to reconstruct three weeks later. Workflows put the exception in front of a manager while the day is still fresh.
- Shift started but no clock-in recorded, so an attention item is created
- Shift ended without a clock-out, so the manager gets follow-up
- A time entry needing review becomes visible instead of waiting for payroll preparation
- An overtime threshold signal notifies the configured role
- Repeated exceptions on the same shift pattern stay visible until reviewed
Thresholds and rules are configured by your business to fit how you operate. Timento supports your follow-up and makes no legal or labour law determination.
Leave and availability
Requests that never sit in silence.
A leave request left unanswered costs twice: the employee has no answer and the schedule cannot be finished. Workflows keep the request moving while the decision stays with the manager.
- A submitted request notifies the responsible manager
- A request still pending after the configured time triggers a reminder
- A long-pending request escalates to the configured role
- An approved absence updates the scheduling context
- The employee sees the decision in the employee portal
Timento supports your own leave policy and approval structure. It does not calculate statutory entitlements or decide requests automatically.
Scheduling
Publishing is a moment. The follow-up is a workflow.
Most schedule friction is communication friction. Workflows make sure the people affected by a plan actually know about it, and that gaps do not stay quietly open.
- A published schedule notifies the affected employees
- A changed shift notifies the people it actually affects
- A published open shift reaches the relevant employees
- A staffing gap that persists becomes a manager attention item
- Conflicts detected during planning stay visible until they are handled
Workflow Automation communicates and surfaces. It does not assign shifts by itself and does not optimise a schedule autonomously.
Skills and certifications
Renewals that get noticed before they are a planning problem.
Qualifications expire quietly. A simple reminder workflow turns a future problem into an ordinary task on an ordinary week.
- A certification approaching expiry reminds the employee and the manager
- A pending verification stays visible until it is completed
- A role that requires a missing skill raises a planning warning where supported
- An outstanding onboarding step becomes follow-up rather than an assumption
Timento tracks the qualification records you maintain and reminds you about them. It does not verify credentials with any authority and makes no regulatory guarantee.
Configure, do not code
One sentence per rule.
Workflow Automation is operational configuration, not a scripting environment. Every rule reads as one sentence that an operations manager can write, review and change without a developer.
When this happens
the closing checklist is still incomplete
and these conditions apply
it is 30 minutes before closing at this location
do this next
remind the responsible role and create an attention item
Follow-up: completed, or escalated to the duty manager
Conceptual illustration
Scope
Apply a rule to a team, a location, a role or the whole organisation.
Timing
Choose the waiting time and the operational moment in plain terms.
Recipients
Send to the responsible role rather than a hard-coded person.
On or off
Enable, pause or adjust a rule as the operation changes.
The figures above illustrate the configuration model. Rules stay readable on purpose, because a rule nobody understands is a rule nobody maintains.
Starting points
Useful from day one, not after a design project.
Smaller operations should not have to design an automation model from scratch. Timento provides practical starting points that you can enable, adjust to your operation or leave switched off.
| Template | Trigger | Typical follow-up |
|---|---|---|
| Missed clock follow-up | Shift started with no clock-in | Attention item for the manager |
| Pending leave reminder | Request waiting longer than configured | Reminder, then escalation |
| Incomplete closing checklist | Routine unfinished near closing | Reminder to the responsible role |
| Action Needed escalation | Request without acknowledgement | Escalation to a configured role |
| Qualification expiry reminder | Certification nearing its end date | Reminder to employee and manager |
| Shift change notification | Published shift changed | Notification to affected employees |
Every template is optional and configurable. Most operations start with two or three, then add rules as they see which follow-up keeps repeating.
From small business to enterprise
The same rules, a different kind of relief.
Automation is not only an enterprise concern. What changes with size is what the missing follow-up costs you.
Small Business
Fewer things to hold in your head. The owner or lead stops being the single point of memory for the operation.
Growing Teams
Routine approvals and follow-up no longer depend on one manager being available, which is what usually breaks first when a team grows.
Multi-location
Operational follow-up looks the same across sites, while each location keeps its own routines, roles and timing.
Enterprise
Configurable workflows reduce manual coordination across many teams, with clear ownership and a visible activity history.
Workflows stay inside your own Timento organisation. Timento does not automate across company boundaries or run rules on your behalf outside your account.
Workflow activity
If a workflow acted, you can see why.
Automation is only trusted when it is transparent. Every automated action leaves an understandable trail, so a manager can see which rule triggered, what it did and how the item ended.
| Time | Event | Rule | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17:40 | Closing checklist incomplete | Closing routine reminder, Location North | Reminder sent to shift lead |
| 18:15 | Still incomplete | Escalation after 35 minutes | Attention item for the duty manager |
| 18:32 | Routine completed | Follow-up closed | Item resolved with a note |
This is operational history for managers, meant to explain follow-up and improve rules. It is not presented as an immutable legal audit log.
Human in control
Automation carries the admin. People carry the decisions.
A workforce system that decides for you is a system nobody trusts. Timento keeps automation on the operational side of that line, deliberately and permanently.
Workflow Automation does
- Notify the right people at the right moment
- Remind when something is still waiting
- Route items to the responsible role
- Surface attention items and operational alerts
- Record what happened and when
Workflow Automation does not
- Make disciplinary or employment decisions
- Approve payroll or working-time figures
- Decide legal leave entitlement
- Make safety decisions on site
- Judge individual employee performance
Managers keep responsibility for every decision that affects a person. Automation only makes sure the decision is not forgotten.
AI Copilot
Rules stay deterministic. AI can point at the pattern.
Workflow Automation is rule based, so the same event always produces the same follow-up. AI Copilot sits next to it as an optional layer that can notice repeated patterns and suggest a workflow worth configuring.
Closing checklist follow-up has been missed on eight of the last ten Fridays. Create a reminder workflow?
- 01The manager reviews the suggestion
- 02The manager decides whether to configure a rule
- 03The rule, once enabled, behaves deterministically
AI Copilot suggests. It does not create, enable or change workflows on its own, and an operation that never enables AI keeps exactly the same automation behaviour.
The connected flow
From an event in the day to a pattern you can manage.
This is where RUN and CONTROL meet. The same event that creates follow-up in the moment becomes part of how you understand the operation over time.
- Event
- Rule
- Action
- Reminder or escalation
- Resolution
- Operations Score
Automation is not the goal. Fewer repeated problems is the goal, and that only becomes visible once follow-up is consistent.
In practice
The same model, seven different operations.
Recurring follow-up looks different in every sector, but the shape of the workflow does not change.
Hotels
- Closing checklist incomplete
- Reminder to the shift lead
- Duty manager attention
Restaurants
- Temperature check missing
- Reminder during service
- Follow-up recorded
Retail
- Store closing routine open
- Reminder before closing
- Escalation to the store manager
Facility Services
- Service checklist not completed
- Attention item created
- Supervisor follows up
Production
- Shift start without clock-in
- Attention item created
- Supervisor confirms presence
Events
- Crew Action Needed unacknowledged
- Reminder to the crew
- Escalation to the crew lead
Recreation
- Opening routine incomplete
- Reminder before opening
- Duty manager attention
These are operational follow-up examples. Timento supports your routines and makes no claim about food safety, technical or regulatory outcomes.
System boundaries
What Timento Workflow Automation is, and is not.
Being precise here matters more than sounding limitless. Workflow Automation automates supported workforce operations inside Timento.
Workflow Automation is
- Rule based automation for workforce operations inside Timento
- Triggered by workforce events your operation already records
- Limited to supported notifications, attention items, alerts and messages
- Configured by managers in plain operational language
- Transparent, with a readable activity history
Workflow Automation is not
- A universal automation platform such as Zapier, Make or Power Automate
- A business process management or RPA suite
- A scripting environment with custom code or arbitrary webhooks
- An external app orchestration marketplace
- An autonomous decision engine for workforce matters
Where an integration is explicitly supported, a workflow can work with it. Beyond that, automation stays inside Timento by design.
Questions & answers
Workflow Automation questions, answered
What Timento can automate inside workforce operations, and where a manager stays in charge.
What is Timento Workflow Automation?
Workflow Automation connects recurring workforce events, conditions and follow-up actions inside Timento. When something happens, such as a shift being published or a checklist staying incomplete, Timento evaluates the rules your business configured and creates the right notification, reminder or attention item. The model is always trigger, condition, action, follow-up.
Which events can start a workflow?
Workforce events Timento already records: schedule publications and changes, clock-in and clock-out exceptions, leave requests and availability changes, checklist and routine status, operational alerts, Action Needed messages and qualification expiry. External systems can take part only where an integration explicitly supports it.
What can a workflow actually do?
It can send an in-app or push notification, surface an attention item in Control Center, create an operational alert, send a structured Action Needed request, ask for acknowledgement, set responsibility, remind after a configured interval, escalate to a configured role and update the workflow status.
Can Timento approve leave or time entries automatically?
No. Automation routes approvals to the right manager, keeps them visible while pending, reminds when a decision is outstanding and escalates when nothing happens. The decision itself stays with the manager, and the same applies to time entries and payroll figures.
How do escalations work?
An item is created and the responsible person is notified. If nothing happens within the configured waiting time, Timento reminds. If it still stands, the item moves to the configured manager or role, and it is closed once resolved. Escalation is operational follow-up, not a disciplinary process.
Do we need technical skills to set up automation?
No. Rules are configured in plain operational language: when this happens, and these conditions apply, do this next. There is no scripting, no cron syntax and no formula language, and Timento provides starting points such as missed clock follow-up or a pending leave reminder.
Is this like Zapier or Power Automate?
No. Timento Workflow Automation is a rule based layer for workforce operations inside Timento. It is not a universal automation platform, a business process management suite or an RPA tool, and it does not offer custom code, arbitrary webhooks or an external app marketplace.
Can we see what automation did?
Yes. Every automated action leaves a readable workflow activity trail showing which rule triggered, what it did and how the item ended. It is operational history that helps managers explain follow-up and improve their rules, rather than a legal audit log.
Stop chasing the same follow-up every week.
Try Timento for 30 days with up to four employees and see how much of your day was really just remembering what still needed a nudge.
30 days · Up to 4 employees · No credit card · Personal onboarding