Connected Workflows integrates with the Samsara Automation platform so form submissions and issues can automatically trigger multi-step workflows. For example, if a form is submitted with a failed inspection, it automatically routes the inspection score to a supervisor for notification, and then triggers a new work order with pre-filled context for a maintenance technician.
This granular level of triggers and actions in Automations enables safety, operations, and compliance managers to use form lifecycle events as automation triggers, then chain conditions, wait steps, notifications, and other platform actions— including non-Forms actions— to orchestrate follow-up work instead of sending a one-off alert.
To use Forms triggers and the Assign Form action, your organization must have the appropriate license, and you must have Connected Workflows permissions and Automations access to build automations.
You can use the alert triggers, Form Submitted and Issue Created, in Alerts for notification-only responses. Each trigger supports different filters:
|
Trigger |
Description |
Available Filters |
|---|---|---|
|
Form Submitted |
Fires when a form reaches its submitted end state. Fires once per submission. Use Form Submitted when the automation should run once on completion and when you need to filter on a score or answer value. |
Form template, score threshold, answer value on a specific field. Answer filtering applies to multiple-choice and checkbox fields. |
|
Form Updated |
Fires when a submission changes, such as a status change, field edit, or approval action. Fires on every update. Use Form Updated when the automation should respond to status transitions such as an approval, or to reassignment. |
Form template, status, target (driver, user, or tag). Score and answer filters are not available on this trigger. |
|
Issue Created |
Fires when an issue is created, including issues auto-created by a failed inspection item. Use Issue Created for corrective-action flows tied to issues. |
Form template, assets. Score and answer filters are not available on this trigger. |
Note
An inspection that creates an issue fires both Form Submitted and Issue Created. Subscribe to one trigger unless the downstream action is safe to run twice.
Triggers display values that later steps can read. Form Submitted and Form Updated both provide the submission reference. Form Updated also displays the resulting status, who made the change, and field values from the time of the update.
When you configure an alert, you can use the Assign Form action to assign a form assignment for a driver or worker to complete. You select the form template, assignee, and due date, and the due date accepts a due-after duration in minutes, hours, days, or weeks, optionally measured from a supplied start time rather than the current time, so you can set deadlines that occur within the same work shift. This action notifies workers and drivers of a form assignment in the Samsara Driver App.
Note
In Automations, Assign Form assigns the form to a single driver associated with the automation trigger. For multi-driver or tag-based form assignment, use classic Alerts.
You can use a forms automation workflow when a form event should trigger follow-up work beyond a single notification, such as assigning a corrective form after a failed inspection or notifying a supervisor when a score falls below a threshold.
To create a Forms automation, perform the following workflow:
-
Select the Settings icon (
) at the bottom of your Fleet menu to view dashboard settings.
-
Go to Organization > Automations.
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Create a new automation or open an existing one to edit.
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Select a Forms trigger: Form Submitted, Form Updated, or Issue/Defect Created.
-
Under Conditions, select the form template to monitor and any additional criteria that must be met for the trigger to fire, such as a score threshold, answer value, status, target, or asset.
Note
Score and answer value filters are available only on Form Submitted.
-
Under Apply To, specify who you'd this trigger affects (specific drivers, vehicles, or tags).
-
-
Add steps between the trigger and action as needed, such as conditional branches, wait steps, or notifications.
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Add the Assign Form action when the workflow should create a follow-up form assignment.
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Select the form template to assign.
-
Select the assignee and set the due-after duration.
-
-
Save and enable the automation.
If the automation fires more often than expected, confirm the trigger is not Form Updated, which runs on every submission change, and switch to Form Submitted or add a status filter.
Classic Alerts predates Automations and supports notification-only responses without branching or multi-step sequences. Forms triggers are available in both places. Samsara recommends that you use Automations when you need conditional branching, wait steps, multiple actions, or agent nodes. For multi-driver or tag-based form assignment, we recommend you configure an alert.
For more information on the capabilities differences between alerts and automations, see the following table:
|
Capability |
Classic Alerts |
Automations |
|---|---|---|
|
Form Submitted trigger |
Template, score, and answer filters |
Template, score, and answer filters, plus downstream conditions |
|
Form Updated trigger |
Template, status, and target filters |
Template, status, and target filters |
|
Issue Created trigger |
Template and asset filters |
Template and asset filters |
|
Multi-step workflows |
Not supported |
Conditional branching, wait steps, and multiple actions |
|
Assign Form targeting |
Multi-driver, tags, and incident driver |
Single driver associated with the automation trigger |
|
Agent nodes |
Not supported |
Forms trigger can pass information from the form to an AI agent for further processing or action |
|
Notification delivery |
Email, push, and SMS |
Email, push, SMS, and additional platform action types |
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