When we implemented Automations into the connector SpotlerAutomate, we created two new operations to choose from when creating a Spotler Job:
The Start Automation operation triggers Spotler to start an Automation for a specific contact. Great!
Contact not existing
But what if the contact doesn’t exist yet in Spotler?
When we implemented Automations, our idea was to let that decision be up to the user who is implementing the logic in Dynamics 365 CRM. That person knows best and can decide to do a Sync Contact operation first. Or try the Start Automation operation and when it fails, synchronize the contact, and then retry the Start Automation operation.
But in practice, implementing this logic in Dynamics 365 CRM is complex. The easiest way to implement this logic is to just always do a Sync Contact operation first and then the Start Automation operation.
Also, Start Automation operation is an explicit action on a contact. People want to do this action on a specific contact, so if a contact doesn’t exist in Spotler, they assume the contact will be synchronized to Spotler to execute the action on.
Sync Contact if not exists
So, we changed this in the connector SpotlerAutomate.
From now on the Start Automation operation will check for you if the specific contact exists in Spotler. If not, triggering of the Automation will be delayed and the Contact will be synchronized first. Then the Start Automation operation will resume and finish.
