Automations

What are automations?

Automations let you trigger actions automatically when a guest completes a section in your class. For example: when a guest finishes the Check-in section, automatically send them a welcome email. Or when a guest selects a specific branch option, add them to a workflow in Planning Center.

Automations run in the background after a guest interacts with a section — no manual follow-up is needed.

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Accessing automations

1. Open a class in the class builder.
2. Click Automations in the class topbar (or navigate to Admin → Classes → [Class Name] → Automations).
3. The Automations page lists every section in the class. Each section has its own automation list.

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How automations are organized

The Automations page is organized by section. Each section in your class appears on the page with:

• The section name and type icon
• A list of any existing automations for that section
• An Add Automation button

Automations are attached to a specific section. They fire after a guest completes that section.

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Creating an automation

1. 8
   On the Automations page, find the section you want to attach an automation to.
2. 9
   Click Add Automation.
3. 10
   Select the automation type.
4. 11
   Configure the automation's conditions and settings.
5. 12
   Save.

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Automation types

Send email

Sends an email notification to one or more admin or team email addresses when an automation triggers. This is how you notify your staff or ministry leaders about guest activity.

When available: always available for all churches.

What you configure:

• Conditions (optional) — rules that must be true for the email to send
• Recipient email addresses — one or more admin or team emails to notify
• Email content — subject line and body, with the option to include guest data (First Name, Last Name, Email, Phone, form answers, etc.)

Use case: notify a ministry leader when a guest selects their team, alert your team when someone completes a membership class, or send form submission data to a staff email.

Save to profile field (PCO)

Saves a value from the guest's class submission into a field on their profile in Planning Center Online.

When available: only if your church has connected a PCO integration. See Church Settings.

What you configure:

• Conditions (optional)
• Which PCO field to save the value into
• What value to save (can be a static value or pulled from a form field answer)

Use case: when a guest fills out a membership form, automatically update their PCO profile with relevant information like their interest area or membership status.

Add to workflow (PCO)

Adds the guest to a workflow in Planning Center Online, so your team is notified and can follow up.

When available: only if your church has connected a PCO integration.

What you configure:

• Conditions (optional)
• Which PCO workflow to add the guest to

Use case: when a guest completes a class, automatically add them to a "New Member Follow-Up" workflow in PCO so a pastor or team member reaches out.

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Conditions

Conditions let you control when an automation fires. By default, an automation with no conditions fires every time a guest completes the section. Adding conditions makes the automation more targeted.

How conditions work

A condition is an "If... Is..." rule. You pick:

1. A field — something the guest did in that section (e.g., "Selected branch", "Answered question", "Completed section")
2. A value — what the field's value must be for the condition to be true

Multiple conditions are combined with AND logic — all conditions must be true for the automation to fire.

What can be used as conditions

Section type	Available conditions
Check-in	Check-in completed; Guest's campus (if PCO multi-campus integration active)
Branch	Which branch option the guest selected
Form	Form submitted; A specific field was answered; A specific option was chosen; A specific ministry was selected
Test	Test completed
Text	Section completed
Video	Section completed; A specific video prompt was answered
Completion	Section reached

Example conditions

• "If [Branch Section] selected branch is [Interested in Volunteering]" → Add to PCO Workflow "Volunteer Interest"
• "If [Form Section] [Ministry field] is [Worship Team]" → Send Email to worship team leader notifying them of a new interested guest
• "If [Check-in] completed" → Send welcome email

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Reordering automations

Drag automations within a section to reorder them. The order determines the sequence in which they're executed.

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Deleting an automation

Find the automation and use the delete option on its card. This permanently removes the automation rule.

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Common questions

When does an automation fire?

Immediately after a guest submits or completes the section the automation is attached to.

Will an automation fire for admin previews?

No. Automations only fire for real guest check-ins, not admin previews.

Do automations fire retroactively for past guests?

Why don't I see PCO automation options?

PCO automations only appear if you have connected a Planning Center Online integration. Go to Admin → Settings → Church to connect PCO. See Church Settings.

Can I have multiple automations on the same section?

Yes. You can add as many automations as needed per section.

What happens if an automation fails to send?

Automation run results are tracked in the system. If an automation fails (e.g., an email bounces or a PCO sync error occurs), it's logged but doesn't affect the guest's class experience.

When is a Planning Center profile created for a guest?

A PCO profile is created (or matched) after the guest submits their email, name, and phone — whatever fields your check-in/form collects that OnArk maps to PCO.

When a guest checks in to a second class, does it create a duplicate PCO profile?

No. OnArk matches by email and links to the guest's existing PCO profile rather than creating a new one.

Does PCO show that someone fully completed a class, or only that they checked in?

Check-in creates or matches the PCO profile. Completion is only reflected in PCO if you set up an automation that fires on a specific section (e.g. the last section) and saves a completion date or value to a PCO custom field.

How long until OnArk data shows in Planning Center?

Usually within a few minutes of the guest completing the step that triggers the automation.

PCO data isn't showing or saved to the wrong profile.

The automation likely did run, but the data may have gone to a duplicate profile. In PCO, create a list filtered by the field you're saving (e.g. "Growth Track completed date") to find where the data actually landed. Also confirm the PCO connection hasn't expired (disconnect and reconnect in Church Settings if needed), and click Refresh Data if a new PCO field isn't showing in OnArk.

Workflows aren't showing in OnArk automation dropdowns.

The PCO account that connected OnArk must be a manager of that workflow in Planning Center.