Which Business Rule is best suited for repetitive tasks that are triggered at specific times?

Automations are designed specifically to handle repetitive tasks that occur at predetermined intervals, making them the best choice for actions that need to trigger at specific times. In Zendesk, automations function based on time conditions and can execute actions like sending reminders, updating tickets, or escalating issues if certain criteria are met after a specified period. This makes them ideal for scenarios where actions must happen after a set duration without any other external event needing to occur.

For example, if a support ticket remains unsolved for a defined number of days, an automation can automatically escalate that ticket to ensure it receives the necessary attention. This capability to operate on a timed basis distinguishes automations from triggers, which respond to immediate events, and from macros, which are used to quickly apply predefined responses to tickets. SLAs, while they serve to measure the response and resolution times, don’t perform actions by themselves and are more focused on compliance with service promises rather than executing tasks on a schedule.