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Migrating Automations to XM Directory Workflows

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About Migrating Automations to XM Directory Workflows

Workflows are the new and improved way to automate tasks in XM Directory, and will eventually fully replace automations. To get ahead of this change, we recommend following the instructions on this page to recreate common automations as workflows.

Qtip: In addition to replacing the functionality of automations, workflows allow you to create more types of automated jobs for your XM Directory. You can schedule workflows to run based on changes to XM Directory contacts with the Experience ID Change Event, create workflows based on XM Directory segments, and more.

The Workflows tab of XM Directory is where you can create, edit, and manage directory-related workflows. When replacing your legacy automations, this can be an easy, one-stop location to find all of your XM Directory workflows.

For more information, see Workflows in XM Directory.

Highlights the workflows tab in XM Directory

Workflow Schedules

All XM Directory automations are scheduled at regular intervals. Thus, the first step to replacing your automation is to create a scheduled workflow.

Qtip: Workflow notifications are replacing run reporting in Automations. Follow the instructions on the linked page to be notified when your workflow succeeds or fails.
  1. Navigate to XM Directory.
  2. Go to the Workflows tab.
    create a workflow from the workflows tab of xm directory
  3. Select Create a workflow.
  4. Select Started at a specific time (scheduled).
    Set up a scheduled workflow
  5. Select the Frequency from the dropdown menu.
  6. Enter the Start days, Start times, Time zone, Start, and End fields. For more information, see Scheduled Workflows.
  7. Select Save.
  8. Next, determine if you want to import contacts on a regular schedule or send a distribution.

Contact Import Automations

Contact import automations allow you to automatically upload files of contacts from a source of your choice to XM Directory. In legacy automations, contacts can come from a Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) server, the Qualtrics File Service, or Google Drive. Workflows achieve this same functionality using ETL workflows, while also supporting several more sources, such as Amazon S3, Snowflake, and Salesforce.

  1. Set up a scheduled workflow.
    Click the plus sign under the scheduled workflow and add a task
  2. Click the plus ( + ) sign.
  3. Select Add a task. 
  4. Create one of the following data extraction tasks:
    Highlighted data extraction tasks from step 4

    Qtip: Workflows also supports other import sources, like Amazon S3, Snowflake, and Salesforce. Dropbox is not currently supported. For more information, see Building ETL Workflows.
  5. Click Add a data destination.
    Add a data destination button highlighted
  6. Select the Add contacts and transactions to XMD task.
    XMD Contact Import task highlighted
  7. Choose the directory to map data to.
    Fields in the task set up
  8. Select a mailing list to map data to. You can also choose to create a new mailing list for this directory each time this workflow runs.
  9. Select a data source. This should be the data extractor task you set up in step 4.
  10. If desired, you can click Choose file and import a mapping file instead of manually mapping fields.
  11. Manually map your fields to the XM Directory fields.
    Fields for mapping XM Directory sources and fields

    Qtip: To map field values, see Mapping Field Values.
  12. Add a transaction data field, if you want.
    Attention: When mapping transactional data, you must map at least one contact field. The Transaction Date field is required.

    Qtip: Transaction dates are the dates that a transaction occurred. Dates will be assumed to be in UTC unless the time zone is included in the date value. See Date Format Syntax for more information. The following time formats are compatible:

    • ISO-8601 (2006-01-02T15:04:05+07:00)
    • ANSIC (Mon Jan _2 15:04:05 2006)
    • UnixDate (Mon Jan _2 15:04:05 MST 2006)
    • RFC822 (02 Jan 06 15:04 MST)
    • RFC850 (Monday, 02-Jan-06 15:04:05 MST)
    • RFC1123 (Mon, 02 Jan 2006 15:04:05 MST)
  13. Click Save. 
Qtip: You can add a Basic Transform Task to your workflow to modify the values of the input data before importing it into your XM Directory.

Survey Distribution Automations

Survey distribution automations allow you to set a scheduled survey distribution to a mailing list or a sample of a mailing list. This same functionality can be achieved with the Email task or Send Survey via Text Message (SMS) task.

  1. Set up a scheduled workflow.
    Click the plus sign under the scheduled workflow and add a task
  2. Click the plus ( + ) sign.
  3. Select Add a task. 
  4. Select a distribution task:
    highlighted a distribution task

  5. Follow the steps from the pages linked above.

Linking Contact Import and Survey Distribution Automations

In legacy automations, users can link contact import and survey distribution automations together to send survey distributions to the contacts that were most recently imported. In Workflows, users can perform the import and distribution tasks in a single unified job.

  1. Follow the steps from the Tasks to create Contact Import Automation section.
  2. Click the plus sign ( + ).
  3. Select Add a task.
    click the plus sign then select add a task
  4. Select a distribution task:
    highlighted a distribution task

  5. Follow the steps from the pages linked above.

Distributing with XM Directory Tasks

Attention: The XM Directory task will eventually be deprecated. The Send Survey via Email Task offers enhanced functionality and should be used instead.

If you’re using an XM Directory task to distribute your survey, you must add specific IDs to ensure that the survey is sent to the correct mailing list.

  1. Select the Dynamic Contact list distribution type.
    Dynamic contact list distribution type selected
  2. Complete the Distribution Method, Link Type, and When fields.
  3. Click the piped text button ( {a} ) next to the Mailing List Field.
    click piped text symbol and highlighted transaction batch ID
  4. Select the contact import task you created.
  5. Click the Transaction batch ID.
    Qtip: If you’re distributing to a sample population, select SampleID instead.Highlights the Sample ID
  6. Complete the Library Field, Survey, and other distribution fields. For more information, see XM Directory Task.
Qtip: To create and distribute to a sample population, add the Create an XM Directory Sample task after your contact import task. Select Use a transaction batch generated from a previous task as the sample source.
Highlights the sample source and the transaction batch ID

People Import Automations (EX)

In this section, we’ll discuss an automation that’s only available for Employee Experience customers, and is disconnected from XM Directory.

People import automations allow you to automatically pull lists of employees from a source of your choice to your employee directory. In legacy automations, employees can come from a Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) server, the Qualtrics File Service, or Google Drive. Workflows achieve this same functionality using ETL workflows, while also supporting several more sources, such as SuccessFactors, Workday, and more.

  1. Set up a scheduled workflow.
    Click the plus sign under the scheduled workflow and add a task
  2. Click the plus ( + ) sign.
  3. Select Add a task. 
  4. Create one of the following data extraction tasks:
    Highlighted data extraction tasks from step 4

    Qtip: Workflows also supports other import sources, like Amazon S3, Snowflake, and Salesforce. For more information, see Building ETL Workflows.
  5. Click Add a data destination.
    Add a data destination button highlighted
  6. Select the Load Users into EX Directory task.
    Select the task
  7. Follow the steps on Load Users into EX Directory Task.

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