Workflows can move a trip through your statuses on their own, so you are not updating your trips board by hand every morning.
What this does
You build one workflow containing date-triggered automations. Each automation watches a trip's start or end date and updates the trip's status when that date arrives. A trip can move to Traveling on its start date and to Traveled the day after it ends, without anyone touching it.
Before we jump in
Workflow: a container holding one or more automations, applied to a trip as a set.
Automation: a single rule with one trigger and one action.
Trigger: what starts the automation. This article uses Trip Starts and Trip Ends.
Offset: how far from the trigger date the action runs, set as Before event, After event, or Immediately.
Auto-Apply: a rule that adds the workflow to a trip automatically when something happens to that trip.
Bulk Apply: a one-time action that adds the workflow to trips you already have.
Before you start
Your trip statuses need to exist first. Go to Settings, then Trip Settings, to add or edit them. This article uses Booked, Traveling, and Traveled as an example.
The trip needs an itinerary with a start and end date. If a trip has no dates set, the automation cannot schedule and will not run.
Date-triggered automations only run while your subscription is active.
These automations are not available for group trips.
Loom recording:
Steps
Go to Library, then Workflows.
If you already have a workflow that runs when a trip moves to Booked, you can add these automations to it instead of building a new one.Create a new workflow and name it.
Name it something you will recognize later, for example "Status Updates." Set the type to a trip workflow, since it acts on trips.Add the automation that moves a trip to Traveling.
Add an automation and name it "Update Trip Status to Traveling." Set the trigger to Trip Starts, set the offset to 0 days After event, and set the time to the hour you want, for example 6am. For the action, choose Update Trip and set Trip Status to Traveling. Note: The time you pick resolves in the timezone of the browser you are using right now, and it is stored on the automation. It does not follow the traveler, the destination, or your agency setting. If you build this while traveling, the automation keeps the timezone you built it in.Add the automation that moves a trip to Traveled.
Add a second automation named "Update Trip Status to Traveled." Set the trigger to Trip Ends, the offset to 1 day After event, and the time to 6am. Set the action to Update Trip with Trip Status set to Traveled.Add any earlier-warning automations you want.
If you have a status like Traveling Soon, add another automation with the trigger Trip Starts and an offset of 7 days Before event.Check that each automation shows Active.
An automation that is not active will never fire. This is the step people most often miss. If an automation shows Inactive, use Activate. [SCREENSHOT: Workflow with three automations, each showing an Active badge]Set the Auto-Apply rule.
Turn on Enable auto-apply and choose When trip status changes, then select your Booked status. This adds the automations to a trip at the point it becomes a real booking. Applying on trip creation instead means every new lead gets these automations. Leads often sit unbooked while their proposed dates pass, and the status changes anyway. Applying on Booked avoids that.Bulk apply to the trips you already have.
Open Bulk Apply, choose Trips with a specific status, and select Booked. This adds the workflow to your existing booked trips. Note: Bulk apply only schedules future dates. If a trip's start or end date has already passed, that automation is created but never scheduled and never fires. Nothing is flagged and no error appears. Update those trips manually.Save and close the workflow.
You'll know it worked when
Open a booked trip, go to its Automations tab, and you see the status automations listed with their upcoming trigger dates, one on the trip's start date and one the day after it ends.
Common issues
The automations are not on the trip.
They are added when the auto-apply condition is met, not when the trip is created. If your rule is set to Booked, the trip needs to reach Booked first. Existing trips need bulk apply.
The trigger date arrived and the status did not change.
Check four things in this order: the automation shows Active, the trip has itinerary dates set, your subscription is active, and the trigger date is in the future. An automation whose owner has no active subscription is skipped silently.
The status changed at the wrong time of day.
The trigger time uses the timezone of the browser used to create the automation. Rebuild the automation from a browser in the timezone you want, or adjust the hour to compensate. Firing is also not exact to the second, it happens within a few minutes of the time you set.
You cannot edit the automation.
Active automations are locked. Deactivate it, make your change, then activate it again.
You changed the trip's dates and want to know if the schedule followed.
It does. Trigger dates recalculate when the trip's date change is published. If the new date is already in the past, the automation will not fire.
You renamed or deleted a status.
Renaming is safe, automations follow the status itself, not its name. Deleting a status that automations point to is not allowed outright. You will be asked to pick a replacement status, and your automations are re-pointed to it.
Someone shared this workflow with you.
The target status is matched against your own statuses by name. If you have no status with a matching name, the automation is created inactive and will not run until you set a target status and activate it.
If your automations are active, your dates are set in the future, and a status still does not update, contact Tern support.