Broadcasts are not real-time, nor are they meant to be. There’s a delay between data changing in Ardoq and the Broadcast message being sent.
When you’re building a Broadcast that uses time-based filter rules - for example, new business processes added in the past week - it’s important to understand how those rules and the scheduler interact (especially if you’re building a workflow made up of multiple Broadcasts).
🐌 It helps to think of it like traditional (snail) mail:
The filter rules determine what qualifies to go into the outbox to be sent.
The schedule determines how often the 'post office' checks for new outgoing posts and takes them away to be distributed.
Filter rules and Schedules:
If the scheduler runs every two days, then messages that meet the filter rules will accumulate for two days before being sent out. Only components that meet the filter rules at the time the scheduler runs will be included.
For example, if a component field value is updated so that it meets the filter rules, then changed again so it no longer meets them before the scheduler runs, then that component will not be included in the Broadcast.
A good general rule is that the periods in the filter rules and the scheduler should match.
For example, if you set up a filter rule to look for all new projects logged in the past week…
...then the scheduler should be set to run weekly.
If the scheduler runs more frequently than the filter rule, then you may Broadcast the same component multiple times.
If it runs less frequently, then you may not Broadcast some components at all.
There may also be times when you do want to filter rule and scheduler to have different periods.
For example, if you want a rolling three-month summary of all contracts coming up for review to be sent out every month, then the filter rule can look three months ahead...
...while the scheduler can run monthly.
Configuring your Broadcast run time:
When setting up your Schedule and reminders, you'll need to set a start date and time for your first broadcast to run. Please note, that the time you select here is the time Ardoq will aim to include your broadcast in its processing queue.
Understanding the hourly Processing que:
While you can schedule a specific start time, Ardoq's Broadcast system processes these schedules approximately once every hour. This means the actual sending of your Broadcast (emails going out, tasks being created) might occur anywhere within the hour after your scheduled time.
For example:
If you set your start time for a broadcast for today at 2:00 PM, the system will add it to the queue at that time and aim to send it sometime between 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM.
If you schedule a weekly broadcast for Monday with an orignal start time of 9:00 AM, it will typically be processed and sent sometime between 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM every Monday.
It's good practise always to test that your Broadcast is giving the results you want before you publish it. You can do this by launching only to a limited audience (like just your own email).
If you still have questions or need more information, reach out to us via our website or by using the in-app chat.