NirmaanOne Help
How-toReviewed 2026-09-29

Run a manual rule from a record

Press a workflow button on a booking, payment, opportunity, estimate, commission or demand page (for example "Send payment reminder" on a demand), fill in its small form, and follow the run to the end.

Run a manual rule from a record

Some automations are started by a person rather than by an event: sending a payment reminder on a demand, resending the cost sheet on an estimate, handing a lead to another sales executive. These are Manual rules, and they appear as buttons in the Workflows menu of the record's page. You fill in a short form, press Run, and watch the result.

Before you start

  • The menu appears on the pages of a Booking, Payment, Opportunity, Estimate, Commission and Demand, when at least one active Manual rule applies to that kind of record (and, for a rule limited to a project, to the record's project).

  • Every organization starts with three such buttons, switched on:

    Button On Available when Form What it does
    Send payment reminder Demand the demand is Issued or Partially Paid "Note to the buyer (optional)" Emails the "Payment reminder" template to the buyer, with your note.
    Resend cost sheet Estimate the estimate is Sent "Note to the buyer (optional)" Emails the "Cost sheet sent to buyer" template again, with your note.
    Hand over to a Sales Executive Opportunity the opportunity is at Lead, Estimate or Approval "Reason" (required) Assigns the opportunity to the Sales Executive with the fewest open opportunities and notifies them with the reason.

    Your administrator can add more (see Build and switch on a custom rule, trigger Manual).

  • You need the View permission on Workflow Runs to see the menu and the Create permission on Workflow Runs to press Run. In the default roles only the Administrator has the Create permission; other roles see the buttons but can't start them. You also need the permissions the rule's actions need (for Hand over to a Sales Executive, the Edit permission on Opportunities), because a manual rule acts as the person who presses it.

  • An email button only reaches a buyer whose contact has an email address.

Steps

  1. Open the record, for example an issued demand: in the sidebar open Accounting > Demands and click the demand. When a manual rule applies, the page header carries a Workflows button (with a sparkle icon) next to History.
  2. Click Workflows. The menu lists the manual rules for this record by name, such as Send payment reminder. Rules you can start carry a sparkle icon; rules that can't run right now carry a crossed-circle icon.
  3. Click the rule. A dialog titled with the rule's name opens, with its description and its form (or, for a rule without a form, "Run "<name>" on this record now? Its actions start right away and show up below."). For a rule that can't run, a smaller dialog explains why instead: "This workflow cannot run right now: the record does not meet its conditions." and/or "You lack the permission it needs: …" ("You lack the permissions it needs: …" when more than one is missing), with Close.
  4. Fill in the form (fields marked * are required), for example a note to the buyer, and click Run. The dialog "Running "<name>"" opens: "The engine is working on it. You can close this and check run history later."
  5. Wait a moment. The dialog shows the run's status and each action with its result: "Finished in <time>." on success, or "Finished with an error." with the error text. Click Close; the record page refreshes to show what changed (for example the new assignee of an opportunity).
  6. To look at the run later, click Open in run history in the dialog. The Runs tab opens with the run's panel: Trigger event "manual", the Manual run input you typed, and each action's result.

What happens next

  • The run is logged on the Runs tab like any other, against the record and the rule.
  • Emails go out straight away, merged for the record. If your server has no mail set up, the step still ends Success with "MAIL_SERVER is not configured; the message was logged" and nothing leaves.
  • A run that failed can be retried from its panel by someone with the Edit permission on Workflow Runs, once the cause is fixed: see Investigate a failed automation.
  • What the rule changes (an assignment, a task) doesn't set off other rules.

If something goes wrong

  • The Workflows button isn't there: no active manual rule applies to this kind of record or its project, or your role lacks the View permission on Workflow Runs. The seeded Release held unit button has no place to appear: no unit screen carries the menu.
  • "This workflow cannot run right now: the record does not meet its conditions.", "The record no longer meets the rule's conditions.", "This rule has been switched off.", "This rule is not started by hand." or "This rule belongs to another project": the record's status has moved on (a demand already paid, an estimate no longer Sent), or the rule changed. A form value refused as "Required.", "At most <n> characters." and the like: correct the field. See This workflow cannot run right now (trouble.workflows.workflow-cannot-run-now).
  • "You lack the permission it needs: …", or "You can see this workflow but lack the permission to start it (WORKFLOW_RUNS:create)." in the dialog (no Run button): ask your administrator for the Create permission on Workflow Runs and the permissions listed. See No access (trouble.admin.no-access).
  • The progress dialog stays on "The engine is working on it…": the engine isn't processing runs. Close the dialog; the run waits as Pending. See Runs stay Pending (trouble.workflows.runs-stay-pending).
  • The step fails with "no_recipients: No valid email address after rendering the recipients": the buyer's contact has no email address. See Email not sent (trouble.workflows.email-not-sent).

Related

  • Sidebar, top bar and notifications bellScreen

    The frame around every page once you are signed in: the sidebar with its groups, the top bar with the notifications bell, the light and dark switch and your account menu, and the banners that ask you to act.

  • Booking overviewScreen

    A booking's home page: the applicant and unit, parking, dates, money summary, termsheet status and possession, with the buttons to edit the booking, see its history, jump to the opportunity or cancel it.

  • PaymentScreen

    One receipt or payout: its details, amounts and allocations, and the actions to clear it, bounce it, cancel it, edit it or delete it.

  • Opportunity (Overview tab)Screen

    One buyer's enquiry on one project: who they are, what they want, the current estimate, the latest activity, documents and tasks, with the pipeline actions (estimate, assign, book, mark lost, reopen) in the header.

  • EstimateScreen

    One estimate version: its charges by group, payment plan, approvals, unit and parking hold and validity, with the lifecycle actions to send, finalize, request approval, approve or reject, extend, cancel, version and book.

  • CommissionScreen

    One channel-partner commission: the partner, the brokerage with GST and TDS, the payouts against it, and the actions to edit, approve, cancel or delete it.

  • DemandScreen

    One demand: the installments it bills, its amounts with GST, the expected TDS and what is payable in money, the receipts and TDS credits against it and how the money is placed on the charges, with the actions to edit, issue, cancel or delete it.

  • RunsScreen

    Every time a rule ran: what started it, which record it worked on, how each action went, and the panel from which an errored run is retried.

  • RulesScreen

    Every automation rule in your organization, system and custom, with filters, the switch that turns each rule on or off, and shortcuts to edit, test, clone, see the run history of or delete a rule.

  • New ruleScreen

    Build an automation rule on a full page: which records it watches, what starts it, which records qualify, and the ordered actions it carries out.

  • Roles & PermissionsScreen

    The list of your organization's roles: open one, create or clone a role, deactivate or reactivate it, and delete custom roles nobody holds.

  • Build and switch on a custom ruleHow-to

    Build your own automation rule on the rule editor (what it watches, what starts it, which records qualify and what it does), save it switched off, try it on a real record with a dry run, then switch it on and check its runs.

  • Investigate a failed automationHow-to

    When a reminder, task or automatic run didn't happen, check that the workflow engine is working, find the run that failed and read its error, fix the cause, then retry the run or requeue the event.

  • Chase overdue demandsHow-to

    Find the demands past their due date, send the buyer a payment reminder from the demand, read the ageing and outstanding bills, and rely on the seeded escalation rules.

  • Triggers and event typesConcept

    The five ways a workflow rule starts (On Create, On Update, On Event, Scheduled, Manual), the catalogue of system event types the app raises, the daily due-date events for instalments and overdue demands, how recurrences are counted, and custom event types that chain rules.

  • Workflow rules, conditions, actions and the rule ownerConcept

    What a workflow rule is made of (one kind of record, one trigger, conditions, ordered actions, an optional chained event), how conditions and action settings are evaluated, how versions, tests and clones work, and why every rule has an owner whose permissions its runs use.

  • "This workflow cannot run right now": the record, the rule or its inputs do not qualifyTroubleshooting

    A manual workflow from a record page's Workflows menu refuses to start because the record no longer meets the rule's conditions, the rule was switched off, changed or moved to another project, or a value in its small form is missing or out of range.

  • Email action or document email did not go out: no valid recipient, or the message is incompleteTroubleshooting

    A Send email action fails when its To line renders no valid address (usually because the contact has no email), a rule with Send email cannot be saved without a message template or a subject and body, a document email needs at least one valid address and is refused for a void document, and an Email message template needs a subject.

  • Workflow runs stay Pending: automation is off, its queue is down or processing has stoppedTroubleshooting

    Rules keep saving and events keep being recorded, but nothing runs while automation is switched off on the server, the queue that carries changes to it is missing or down, or processing has stopped; the Health tab shows which, the NirmaanOne team fixes it, and the waiting work is then processed.

  • "No access" or "You do not have permission": your role lacks a permissionTroubleshooting

    Every screen, button and picker is gated by a permission on a module; your role decides which you hold, so a missing one shows as a No access card, a refused action, a greyed-out button with a hover reason, or a picker that explains which permission it needs.