Action Item Configuration: Overview

By Shelley Labrecque Updated

Action Items are customizable workflows that automate and track tasks throughout your property management operations. This article provides an overview of how to set up and configure action items, including creating action types, adding steps, and configuring rules and communications.

Important: Action Item configuration requires the appropriate role permissions. Contact your System Administrator if you cannot access Settings > Action Types/Steps.
 

Contents

Before You Start

Before configuring action items, ensure you have:

  • System Administrator permissions or a role with access to Settings > Action Types/Steps.
  • A clear understanding of your workflow process and who is responsible for each task.
  • Letter templates, email templates, and reports created (if your action item will send these types of communications).
  • Roles configured for users who will work with the action item.

For information about:

 

Understanding Action Item Components

If you are configuring action items for the first time, review the "What is an Action Item?" article to understand the fundamentals before proceeding with setup.

Action Items consist of three main components: 

  • Action Type: The overall workflow category (e.g., Violations, Work Orders, ARC Requests). Each action type belongs to a category that determines available configuration options.
  • Action Steps: Individual stages within a workflow. Steps define who receives the action item, what communications are sent, and when the item advances to the next stage.
  • Rules: Configuration settings that control step behavior, including notifications, timing, decisions, and communications.



Action Item Models

You can use action item models when configuring action items for ARC, CCR, and Collections to control which action types appear when users create new action items. For each action type category, you can designate one preferred model and select additional models to make available.

This configuration is set at the association level which allows you to customize available action types for each association based on their specific workflows and requirements.

If no models are configured for a category, all action types in that category will be available by default.

For more information, see the "Preferred Action Types" article.

 

Create an Action Type

To create a new action type:

  1. Navigate to Settings > Action Types/Steps.
  2. Click New Action Type. 
    The Create Action Type screen opens. 

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  3. Provide the following information:
    • Category: Select the category that best fits this workflow. Categories determine which rules and options are available as well as where the action type is used. For example, the Collections category includes specific fields for statement messages, while the Alerts category includes alert timing options. For more information, see the "Action Category Types" article.
    • Action Type: Enter a name for this action type workflow.
    • Send To: This field is also known as the Default Followers. Default Followers are roles that can Create this Action Type from the "New Action Item" button on various pages. They will also only see items on the All Action Items page that list them as a Default Follower. 
      • Notes:
        • Users that are NOT Default Followers will still see these Action Types on the Homeowners > Action Items, Association > Action Items, and Service Provider > Action Items pages.
        • Invoices are the exception. Invoice-category action items do not display on the Association > Action Items page, even though they follow the same action item structure as other types. For more information, see the "Association > Action Items" article.
    • Administrator Role: Enter roles that can step this action type to any step at any time.
    • Action Type Requirement: Select what must occur before this action type can be created. Options are Require Association or Require Property. These are now the only two options and you must select one. For example, if you select Require Property, users must select a property before the action item can be created.
    • Block Creation: Select to prevent users from manually creating this action type. Use this setting for action types that should only be created automatically by the system.
    • Enable No Email Alerts: Select to receive an email failure notice on the action item when an email can’t be delivered because a recipient has no email address on file. This is unchecked by default, since most action types don’t want that volume of failure notifications.
  4. Click Save.

After you create an action type, you can add steps to build the workflow (see the next section).

Tip: After you have added steps, click XN Lab on any action type row to view a visual diagram of the complete workflow. For more information, see the "XN Lab" article.

For information about action categories, see the "Action Category Types" article.



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Add Steps to an Action Type

Steps represent the individual stages in your workflow. Each step can send communications, assign responsibility to specific roles, and define when and how the action item advances.

Tip: When planning your steps, consider the complete workflow from start to finish. Include steps for notifications, approvals, responses, and closing actions.

To add a step to an action type:

  1. Navigate to Settings > Action Types/Steps.
  2. Locate your action type and click the caret to expand it and view the steps table.
  3. Click Add New Step. 
    An empty row displays in the Steps table. 
  4. Provide the following information:
    • Order No: Enter a number to determine the step's position in the workflow. Leave gaps between numbers (e.g., 5, 10, 15) to make it easier to add steps later.
    • Action Step: Enter a descriptive name for this step.
    • Send To: Select the role that will receive this action item at this step. For example: if you select the Homeowner role, the step will send to the homeowner assigned to that action item. If you select a Manager role, it will send to all Managers with responsibilities tied to that action item's association.
    • Reply To: Select the role that will receive replies when an external party (homeowner, vendor, or board member) responds to communications from this step. This field determines who gets replies while in that step. For example, if a notification is sent on step 1, and someone replies when that action item is sitting at step 5, the Reply To field for step 5 will be used to determine who gets that reply.
    • Portal Reply (if available): Select roles that homeowners/boards can choose when replying through the Vantaca Home portal.
  5. Click Update.
  6. After you add a step, click Rules to configure how the step behaves and what communications it sends (see the next section). 

Note: If an action step is referenced by a Revenue Manager contract, a Revenue Manager icon displays on that step in the Steps table with the tooltip "Used in Revenue Manager Contract." Steps are linked to a contract from Revenue Manager > Admin > Contracts, in the Action Items section of the contract.

For information about:

Configure Action Type Rules and Communication

The Edit Rules screen controls how each step functions, including notifications, timing, decisions, and all communications. Click Rules beside any step to open the configuration modal.

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The modal includes multiple sections that organize different configuration areas:

  • Rule Configuration: Core step behavior and workflow logic.
  • Instructions: Internal guidance for users working with this step.
  • Email Template: Email templates sent from this step.
  • Letter Templates: Letter templates attached to this step.
  • Reports: Reports attached to this step.
  • Documents: Documents pulled from or posted to the Document Library.

Note: When you configure notifications but do not add the required templates, Vantaca displays a warning icon beside the appropriate tabs (Email Template, Letter Template, Reports, Documents). The warning indicates that parties will not receive communications because templates are missing. You can still save the configuration, but you should add the required templates before the action item processes.

For more information about setting up rules for your steps, see the "Action Type Rules" article.



Action Step Additional Actions

Each action item step offers a selection of Additional Actions that serve various purposes—from generating new action items and reports to providing system flags that define how a given Action Type operates.

The Additional Actions available for selection from the Edit Rules screen depend on the category setting of the Action Type you're configuring. While Common Actions appear across multiple categories, each Category Type also includes its own set of specialized Additional Actions.

For information about:



Email Templates

Email templates integrate with action item steps to automate communications throughout your workflows. You can configure action type steps to send templated emails to homeowners, board members, or internal team members when specific workflow events occur. You can also use merge tags to automatically populate templates with association and homeowner data, ensuring personalized and accurate messaging.

Create standard text templates for basic communications or HTML templates for branded emails with custom formatting, images, and company logos.

Note: Email templates are configured at the action type step level. Each step within an action type can have its own unique email template with specific content, merge tags, and a Do Not Reply setting.

The Email Designer opens your live email so you can edit it in place, with changes saved as a draft until you publish. For more information, see the "Email Templates: Drafts, Publishing, Version History, and Association Overrides" article.

For more information about:

 

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Documents

Action item steps can be configured to automatically handle documents from your Association Document Library. You can set up steps to either pull existing documents from the library (such as welcome packets or forms) to include with communications, or post attachments from the step back into the library for organized storage.

Key capabilities include:

  • Pulling documents: Include specific files or entire folders from the Document Library when sending communications.
  • Posting documents: Automatically save step attachments to specified folders in the Document Library (folders are created if they don't exist).

To configure documents on a step, navigate to Settings > Action Types/Steps, drill down to the specific step, and click Documents to add file paths.

For more information about:

Action Item Workflows

You can use the Copy function on an action type to easily create new action item workflows. You must have the appropriate permission to do so.

Vantaca provides several action type workflow examples to use as models.

 For more information about:

 

Group Email Functionality

The Group Email feature allows users to send action item messages with Cc and Bcc fields, similar to standard email providers like Outlook and Gmail.

Group Email is designed for action types that communicate with groups like Board members or committees. While available on all action types, it's most beneficial when sending messages to roles with multiple members where recipients need visibility into who else received the communication and can use the Reply All functionality.

When configuring steps with Group Email enabled:

  • Ensure Send To and Reply To roles are different to prevent email loops when users click Reply All.
  • Review the Portal Reply column to set which roles appear as reply options when users respond through the portal instead of email

For more information about setup instructions and examples, see the "How to Use Group Email" article.

 

Notifications

Action item notifications automatically inform users, homeowners, vendors, and board members when an action item reaches specific steps in its workflow. The notification system is controlled by three key components configured on each step:

  • Send To: Determines which role will receive the notification (Homeowner, Manager, Vendor, Board Member, etc.)
  • Reply To: Determines which role will receive responses to the notification, based on the action item's current step when the reply is received
  • Notification Rules: Controls how the notification is delivered.

You can also configure notification content by adding letter templates, email templates, reports, and documents to each step. Additional features include options to hide the sender, hide from portal, repeat notifications, and send to all email addresses.

Note: Only roles listed in the Send To field on the Create Action Type screen (Default Followers) will be available to select for Send To or Reply To settings.

For more information about:

  • Notification types, setup procedures, mail format options, and best practices: See the "Action Item Notifications" article. 
  • Setting up notification rules for your steps: See the "Action Type Rules" article.
     

Troubleshooting

 

Q: Why are my letters or reports not appearing on action items?

A: Verify that the letter or report is attached in the Edit Rules screen on the correct tab (Letter Templates or Reports) and that you have set an Order No. Also check that the action item is not using an Association Override template that differs from what you expect (see the "Association Overrides" section of the "Email Templates: Drafts, Publishing, Version History, and Association Overrides" article). For more information, see the "Action Type Rules" article.
 

Q: Why don't recipients receive emails from my action item?

A: Verify that the Email Template tab in the Edit Rules screen has a published template with body content, the Notifications setting in the Ruled Configuration tab includes email as an option, the Send To field of the action item step includes a valid role, and the recipient has an email address on file.
 

Q: Why don't recipients receive paper communications from my action item?

A: Verify that at least one of the following is configured in the Edit Rules screen: A letter template, a report with PDF selected, or a document (without Output selected). Also confirm that Notifications in the Rule Configuration section includes a paper option. For more information, see the "Action Type Rules" article.



Q: Can I test my action item configuration without sending communications to homeowners?

A: Yes! Create a test homeowner account with your own email address, then process a test action item. You can also use the Preview button on action item steps to view generated communications before sending them. The preview also shows the XN number in the email subject line. To see how to change its position, see the "Vantaca Emails 101" article.
 

Q: What happens if I change a step's Send To role while action items are in that step?

A: Existing action items in that step remain assigned to the original role. Only new action items entering the step use the updated role. To reassign existing items, manually step them to a different step and back.



Q: How do I know which action items will appear in the Vantaca Home portal?

A: Any action item with the category Homeowner Request or Work Order will appear in the Home portal, unless Block Creation is selected. Homeowners can submit new requests and view existing requests from the portal.



Q: Why does my Auto Step toggle not work?

A: In the Edit Rules screen, verify that the Days to Remain at This Step field is blank (null). When Auto Step is enabled, you cannot also set a duration. Also confirm that your Next Step if Yes or No is configured to determine where the action item advances. For more information, see the "Action Type Rules" article.


 

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