topic Re: Pass Variables to Workflow in Tips, Tricks & Best Practices

Pass Variables to Workflow

TScalese — Mon, 20 May 2024 23:30:32 GMT

Does anyone know if it is possible to pass information to a workflow from another workflow? I'm trying to set up standard actions that can be used across multiple workflows so that I don't have to keep creating the same branching logic. I want to see if there is a way I could pass some information such as a customer object property so I can maintain the branching logic centrally as opposed to in each workflow.

If I need to provide a better description of what I'm trying to accomplish, please let me know and I'll try.

Re: Pass Variables to Workflow

karstenkoehler — Tue, 21 May 2024 04:15:01 GMT

Hi @TScalese,

Could you give an example of a use case?

Generally, workflows don't pass on just pieces of information but entire records - as workflows are handling records (contacts, companies etc) and send them through each action. If you want to pass a record to second workflow after completing a first one or after going down a specific branch in the first one, you can use the "Go to other workflow" workflow action.

Your first workflow could branch into, let's say, 5 paths, and in each path, you could jump to a different workflow using this.

Should you want to re-use entire action sets from workflows, that would be a different story and require an Enterprise subscription: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/workflows/create-and-use-action-sets

Best regards!

Re: Pass Variables to Workflow

matthew-aire — Tue, 21 May 2024 07:39:10 GMT

Hi @TScalese ,

It sounds like you might be referring to cloning workflows, or cloning sections of workflows to other workflows?

You can use the 'Copy and Paste' feature on individual workflow actions to achieve this:

Please let me know if this is what you were hoping to achieve.

Many thanks,

Matt Aire
HubSpot Freelancer | Founder @ pocketpros

Let's chat HubSpot - book a meeting

👌 If my reply was useful and answered your question, please mark it as a solved solution to help the community!

Re: Pass Variables to Workflow

TScalese — Tue, 21 May 2024 22:10:48 GMT

Thank you both for the responses. I've used the cloning feature and that works well within a single workflow. I'm trying to avoid having to create duplicates of that logic in each workflow.

Let me see if I can describe my challenge a bit better. I'm building various workflows that will be used to create and assign a task when a specific condition is met. Essentially this is a CTA process for CSMs to manage risk in their accounts.

In one example, I have a CES survey for support. If we get a negative response to the survey, I want the CSM to reach out to the person and learn more. In another example, when we get a detractor NPS response, I want the CSM to reach out to the person. Very different workflows but same overall result - HubSpot task gets created for the CSM assigned to the account.

Here's the challenge. We use a custom object to track our customers and our CSM is a property on that custom object record. Because of this I have to create branching logic in the workflow that triangulates the CSM property because the events triggering the workflow are on different objects (tickets, contacts). HubSpot doesn't have a way to dynamically assign the task so I quite literally have to hardcode a branch for each CSM (can you say Enhancement Request?!). Obviously that's not a fun thing to have to maintain (especially across multiple workflows) so I'm looking to see if I can have the branch logic that assigns the task to the CSM be a standalone workflow that can be called from other workflows.

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words so this is the bit of an existing workflow that I am hoping to be able to call from another workflow

And here is one example end-to-end workflow that has the section I am talking about above.

Any ideas or input?

Re: Pass Variables to Workflow

karstenkoehler — Wed, 22 May 2024 04:21:20 GMT

Hi @TScalese,

There are two things I would consider here:

Instead of placing the actions you want to be reusable at the end of a workflow, create a separate workflow that only contains those actions you want to re-use - then, in the original workflow, use the "Go to workflow" workflow action and simply send the records to that new separate workflow. You could have multiple workflows that all end with the "Go to workflow" action and which then send the records to a workflow that contains the branch you highlighted.
Use action sets: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/workflows/create-and-use-action-sets - this would make sense especially if the actions can differ slightly and you cannot use them exactly for each application.

Best regards

Re: Pass Variables to Workflow

matthew-aire — Wed, 22 May 2024 09:03:32 GMT

Hi @TScalese

Agree with what @karstenkoehler has mentioned above 🙂 Create a separate workflow with the logic and use the Go To Workflow action.

Or clone that section into each new workflow but this can only be accomplished one by one, unless as Kirsten has mentioned you use Action Sets (Enterprise Subscription). It's a matter of preference and what works for you best.

Thanks,

Matt Aire
HubSpot Freelancer | Founder @ pocketpros

Let's chat HubSpot - book a meeting

👌 If my reply was useful and answered your question, please mark it as a solved solution to help the community!

Re: Pass Variables to Workflow

TScalese — Wed, 22 May 2024 11:23:17 GMT

Can I ask a couple of follow on questions?

What do you set as the trigger in the workflow that is to be the generalized actions?
Can I/how do I use the information that comes from the calling workflow?

Re: Pass Variables to Workflow

matthew-aire — Wed, 22 May 2024 12:10:20 GMT

Hi @TScalese

I'm happy to see if I can help you but will need to see more clearly your entire process and flow in HubSpot to be able to advise fully.

@karstenkoehler was first to respond and offer advise here so i'll wait and see if he has time to assist you. If not, I am more than happy to jump on a call.

Many thanks,

Matt

Re: Pass Variables to Workflow

karstenkoehler — Wed, 22 May 2024 12:27:25 GMT

@TScalese wrote:
What do you set as the trigger in the workflow that is to be the generalized actions?

You don't have to add any, you can keep them empty and still turn the workflow on.

@TScalese wrote:
Can I/how do I use the information that comes from the calling workflow?

Can you give an example of a data or information point? Generally, workflows don't carry information in itself (unless you're referencing outcomes of specific workflows). The information resides in the record. If you can share an example, I'll happily elaborate 🙂

Cheers @matthew-aire

Re: Pass Variables to Workflow

TScalese — Wed, 22 May 2024 13:50:12 GMT

Thanks Karsten.

I'm not a developer but I've done some scripting in my career so I tend to think in terms of how scripting languages work with sub routines and such. It's probably why I'm not asking the question in an overly effective manner.

What I'm trying to figure out is if I have a workflow that I call, does it have any context of the workflow from which it was substantiated? Meaning, how do I know the record(s) that the child workflow can "use?"

Does that make sense?

Re: Pass Variables to Workflow

karstenkoehler — Wed, 22 May 2024 13:53:36 GMT

@TScalese workflows process records one by one. If a record enters the original workflow and is then sent off to another one (via the "Go to workflow" action), that happens to just that record in that moment. The original workflow hands off the record to another workflow.

Can you give an example of the context you're trying to pass on?

You're not calling one workflow from another. HubSpot approaches this differently. A record completes each step in a workflow in sequence. When it arrives at a "Go to workflow" action, it simply jumps into that workflow and proceeds there, continuing to complete action by action. It doesn't need to be sent with any additional context, the record itself is the context.