When an Automation isn't firing, walk through these checks in order. Most issues come down to activation, audience, or timing.
An Automation is a rule that creates Assignments when a trigger fires. When the Assignments don't appear, the Automation may not be activated, the audience criteria may not match the users you expect, the trigger may not have fired yet, or the user data may be missing required fields.
For the strategic frame on Automations, see Automation Design Best Practices.
1. Is the Automation Activated?
The single most common cause. A created Automation is dormant until activated. Inactive Automations show a red dot under Status; activated ones show green.
How to check: Open Share → Automations. Look at the Status column for the Automation in question. If it shows a red dot, click the pencil icon and click Activate.
2. Does the Audience Criteria Match the User?
The Automation only fires for users who match the audience and any criteria you've set. If your test user doesn't match (wrong department, wrong group, missing hire date), the Automation won't fire for them.
How to check: Open the Automation → review the Audience and Criteria sections. Confirm the test user's profile actually has the attributes the Criteria expects.
3. Has the Trigger Actually Fired?
Different triggers fire at different times.
"A User Is Added To Continu" fires when the user confirms their account and logs in for the first time — not when the account is created.
"A User Was Hired Today" fires daily at 2:30 PM PT / 5:30 PM ET. If you test before that time, the trigger hasn't run yet.
"A User Has Completed Content/Assignment" fires after completion, with the delay you specified. A 1-day delay means ~24 hours later.
Hire-date triggers ("Was Hired X Days Ago") require a valid hire date on the user's profile. No hire date = no trigger.
See Automation Audience Trigger Guide for trigger-specific timing.
4. Is the Required User Data Present?
If the trigger or criteria depend on a user attribute (hire date, manager, department, role, custom field), and that attribute is missing on the user's profile, the Automation can't fire.
How to check: Open the user's profile and verify every attribute referenced in the Automation's trigger and criteria is populated.
5. Did You Test With a 0-Day Delay?
A 0-day completion delay fires retroactively for every past completion the moment you activate the Automation. If you activated against a Track that hundreds of learners have already completed, the Automation will have fired for all of them — possibly creating an unexpected flood of Assignments.
For future-only firing, use a 1-day delay instead.
6. Is the Content or Audience Archived?
If the Automation references content that has been archived, or an audience (Group, Smart Segmentation rule) that has been deleted, the Automation may run silently without creating Assignments. Check that everything the Automation depends on is still active.
7. Check the Automation's Run History
Some Automations log a history of recent runs visible in the admin view. Look for the user you tested with — if they appear in the history, the Automation fired but something downstream (a notification setting, a content permission) failed. If they don't appear, the Automation didn't fire for them at all.
What to Include in a Support Ticket
- The Automation's name or ID
- The user ID you tested with
- What you expected to happen and what actually happened
- Whether the Automation is Active
- What you've already checked from this guide
See Also
- Automation Design Best Practices — strategic anchor.
- Creating an Automation — the creation flow.
- Managing Automations — activate, deactivate, duplicate, delete.
- Automation Audience Trigger Guide — every trigger and its timing.
Activation first. Audience and criteria second. Trigger timing third. User data and 0-day delays fourth. Most Automation issues are one of these.