Assign to a user
The task goes to that person every time. Straightforward, and exactly what you want for work only one person does. When they leave, you edit the stage.
Automations and tasks
Claims CRM automation that runs on the stage a claim is in
Create a task, send an email or an SMS when a claim enters a stage, when it leaves, or every few days while it sits there. The stages are the ones you wrote, so the automation follows your process rather than asking you to adopt one.
The short version
Every automation hangs off a stage, not off a rule builder
There is no separate list of automations to keep in step with your pipeline. In CRM For Claims an automation is part of a stage: open Automations → Project stages, edit the stage, and set what should happen when a claim arrives, when it leaves, and while it stays. The stage list shows those three columns next to each stage name, so one screen tells you everything that fires anywhere in your workflow — and a stage with an empty row is a step where nothing is being chased.
That design decides what this can and cannot do. It cannot branch on an arbitrary field. What it can do is make the thing your office already tracks — which stage the claim is in — carry the follow-up with it. The stages themselves are covered in how the claims pipeline is set up, and there is a plain-language take on the idea in what stage automation really means for a claim.
| Trigger | When it runs |
|---|---|
| On entry | The moment the claim joins this stage — whoever moved it, and whichever screen they moved it from. |
| On exit | The moment the claim leaves this stage, which is the right place for the “we are done with this step” message. |
| While in stage | On a repeat for as long as the claim stays put: every 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21 or 30 days, and on out to a year. This is the one that chases a silent carrier without anyone remembering to. |
Actions
The five things a stage can do on its own
Any number of them, on any of the three triggers.
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Send email | Sends one of your email templates to the project’s primary contacts or to its primary representatives. Placeholders in the subject and the body are filled in from the claim before it goes. |
| Send SMS | Sends an SMS template to the same choice of recipients — the customer side of the claim, or your own people on it. |
| Create task | Opens a task from a task template and assigns it, either to a named user or to whoever holds a role. |
| Add stages | Puts the claim into one or more other stages at the same time, so entering “Approved” can also put the job into the stage the production side watches. |
| Remove stages | Takes the claim out of stages it has outgrown, which is how a lead stops being a lead the moment the contract is signed. |
Add and remove stages are the two that people underestimate. Most claim workflows are not a single line — a job can be waiting on a supplement and scheduled for production at the same time — so being able to say “entering this stage clears those three” keeps the board honest without anyone tidying it by hand.
Assignment
Who the automatic task actually lands on
A task with no owner is a task nobody does. When you set a Create task action you choose between a named person and a role, and the difference matters when your team changes.
Assign to a role
The task goes to whoever currently holds that role in Settings → Roles. Hand the role to someone else and the next task follows them — no stage edits. One thing to know: a role can list several people, and the task goes to the first one. Adding a second name does not share the work; to move the task, put the new person first.
If the system cannot resolve either — the user was removed, or the role has nobody on it — the task is handed to the person who moved the claim, so it lands on a real desk instead of disappearing. Roles are the same ones that govern access elsewhere in the system, alongside who can open each document folder and who can open which report.
Templates
Written once, under Automations, and reused by every stage
The wording does not live inside the automation. Three template lists sit beside Project stages, and a stage action points at one of them:
- Email templates carry a subject and a body. Placeholders are replaced with the claim’s own details when it sends, and the message is filed against the project under “Automatic Project Updates” so the history on the claim shows what the customer was told and when.
- SMS templates are a single body, sent as plain text to the numbers on the claim.
- Task templates are a name and a description. The task that appears combines the two, so an assignee reads the instruction rather than a two-word title.
- Calendar event templates sit in the same place for appointments, with their own duration and guest list — see scheduling and the calendar.
Change the template and every stage using it changes with it. That is the practical reason to keep the wording out of the automation: when the carrier-follow-up message needs a new line, you edit one template, not nine stages.
Stage rules
Rules that stop a claim moving before the work is done
Automation is only half of it. A stage also carries rules about whether a claim is allowed to be there at all, and those are checked on the server, not just hidden in the interface.
Task gating
Tick do not allow moving a project into this stage if the project has incomplete tasks and the move is refused while anything is still open, with a message naming the reason. It is the difference between a stage that reports progress and a stage that enforces it.
Exclusivity
A stage can be marked exclusive — a claim in it can be in no other stage — or given a list of stages it must never sit beside. “Cancelled” and “Scheduled for production” stop being true at the same time.
Each stage also has its own access mode: open it to an access level, or switch to custom and tick the exact users allowed to put a claim there. A stage nobody should move a job into on their own is one checkbox, not a policy you hope people remember.
Tasks
Where the work shows up once the automation has fired
Every project has a Tasks page. Open tasks are split into Your Tasks and Other People’s Tasks, overdue rows are marked, high-priority rows are flagged, and completed ones sit in a panel you expand when you want them. Each row carries an icon saying where it came from: a robot for a task the system opened, a person for a task a named colleague created. On a busy claim that one icon answers “who decided this needed doing?” before anyone has to ask.
Open a task and you get the assignee, the due date, the status, the project, any attached media, a notes thread, and a log of what changed on it. The company-wide Tasks page filters the same work by due today, high priority, overdue or with notes, by person and by period, so a manager can see the pile without opening claims one at a time.
People add tasks by hand on the same screen, from a template or free-form: an assignee, a project, a due date from shortcuts or the calendar, high priority, an email notification to the assignee, and attachments including a screen or voice recording. A task can also be set to recur daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly between two dates, and only one instance of a series is ever open at a time — a week off does not come back as five identical tasks.
Not every automatic task comes from a stage. Some are opened by a document arriving: uploading the signed representation agreement opens the follow-up tasks that belong to it, once per claim, assigned through the roles in Settings. Those are configured under Settings → Roles rather than on a stage, which is worth knowing before anyone goes looking for them in the wrong screen.
Honest limits
What the automation does not do
- There is no condition builder. The trigger is always a stage being entered, left or held. You cannot say “only if the estimate is over $20,000” on a stage action.
- An automatic task is due in seven days. That interval is fixed. A different deadline means editing the task after it appears.
- A role hands the task to one person — the first on the role. It does not round-robin and it does not notify the rest of the role.
- Repeats are processed by a nightly job. “Every three days” means the first nightly run after three days have passed, not to the hour. Entry and exit actions run immediately.
- An automation cannot invent a recipient. If the claim has no email address or no mobile number for the side you chose, nothing is sent — and the failure is written onto the project’s notes as a stage automation notice rather than being swallowed.
- Stage automation is on the Professional plan. Essentials includes claim pipelines and task management; the automated email, SMS and task actions come with Professional. The pricing page lists both.
For the wider picture, the features overview covers the rest of the claim workflow, and the comparison page is honest about where a broad roofing platform suits a team better than a claims-first one.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Straight answers about who we serve, what we automate, and how to get started.
Each project stage can send an email template, send an SMS template, create a task, and add or remove other stages. Those actions run when a claim enters the stage, when it leaves, or on a repeating interval while it stays in the stage.
Under Automations, on the Project stages tab. There is no separate automation list — you edit the stage itself and set its On entry, On exit and While in stage actions. The stage list shows all three for every stage at a glance.
Yes. A While in stage action repeats for as long as the claim sits in that stage — every day, every week, every month, up to a year — so a carrier that has gone quiet keeps generating a follow-up without anyone remembering.
Either a named user or whoever holds a role you choose. A role with several people assigns to the first one on the list. If neither can be resolved, the task goes to the person who moved the claim into the stage.
Yes. A stage can be set to refuse a claim that still has incomplete tasks. The move is blocked on the server with a message explaining why, not just hidden in the interface.
No. Stage actions run on the stage change itself. If you need a condition, the usual answer is a separate stage that only qualifying claims are put into.
Yes. They are filed against the project under the Automatic Project Updates category, so the claim history shows what was sent and when. If the contact has no address, nothing is sent and a note is added to the project instead.
Stage automation for SMS, email and tasks is part of the Professional plan. Essentials covers claim pipelines and task management. Plans start at $59/month for the company account and first admin user, with additional users at $39/month.