How to use Automation Agents

Automation Agents

Automation agents are a core component of the intelligent document processing ecosystem. They streamline document workflows by automating repetitive tasks, reducing manual effort, and ensuring consistent handling of documents.

Parashift’s automation agents are highly configurable and can be tailored to perform specific actions based on defined conditions.

How Automation Agents Work

Automation agents allow you to automate document handling and editing based on configurable rules and conditions. During document processing, the system evaluates these conditions and executes the defined actions when they are met.

This article explains:

How automation agents are structured
Which conditions are available
Which actions can be performed
How to work with repeatable (line-item) data

Automation agents are configured in the platform’s Configuration section.

Key Components

Automation agents consist of conditions and actions. Conditions determine when an agent is triggered, and actions define what happens when those conditions are met.

Actions can be applied at different levels:

Field – Modify field values or request validation.
Document – Update document properties such as name or type.
Master Data – Match documents against master data tables.
Routing – Assign documents to specific users.

Conditions

Conditions define the rules that determine when the automation agent is triggered. They are evaluated during document processing and can be applied at different levels: field, document, and input.

Field-Level Conditions

Field-level conditions evaluate values within document fields.

Field value is equal to a fixed string
Triggers the agent when the field value exactly matches the specified string.
Field value is set
Triggers the agent when the field contains any value.
Field value is not set
Triggers the condition when the field is empty.
Field value is greater than
Triggers the condition when the field value exceeds the defined value.
Field value is lower than
Triggers the condition when the field value is below the defined value.

Document-Level Conditions

Document-level conditions apply to document properties.

Document type is equal
Ensures the agent is triggered only for specific document types.
Assigned user is equal
Triggers the agent only when the document is assigned to a specific user.
Language is equal / is set
Checks whether the document language matches a specified value or is present.
Name is equal / contains / is set
Evaluates the document name against a fixed value, partial match, or checks if it exists.
External ID is equal / contains / is set
Evaluates the external ID using exact match, partial match, or presence.

Input-Level Conditions

Input-level conditions evaluate how the document entered to the platform.

Input channel is equal
Triggers the agent based on the source channel (ex: API).
Upload configuration is equal
Ensures the agent runs only for documents uploaded using a specific configuration profile.

Condition Grouping and Logic

Multiple conditions can be grouped and combined using logical operators:

ALL
SOME
NOT ALL
NONE

This allows you to build flexible and complex rule sets.

Actions

Actions define what the automation agent does when all configured conditions are met. Actions can be applied at the field, document, or workflow level.

Field-Level Actions

Field-level actions modify document field values.

Change value
Replaces the field value with a predefined string.
Master Data Search
Populates or updates a field using data retrieved from master data.
Request Field Validation
Triggers validation for the selected field.

Document-Level Actions

Document-level actions modify document properties.

Change document name
Sets the document name to a predefined value.
Change document type
Updates the document type.

Route-Level Actions

Workflow-level actions affect document routing.

Assign to a user
Assigns the document to a specified user.

Configuration

This section describes how to configure repeatable fieldsets, access field values, and use calculations and aggregations within Automation Agents.

Repeatable Fieldset Identifier

For agents working with line-item data, a repeatable fieldset must be defined.

"target_repeatable_fieldset_identifier": "line-items"

This identifier is used to scope conditions and actions to individual rows within the repeatable fieldset.

Access Header Fields

Header fields (fields not belonging to a fieldset) can be accessed directly using the field identifier.

#field_identifier

Access Header Fields of Another Fieldset

Fields from a different (non-target) fieldset can be accessed by specifying the fieldset identifier.

@fieldset_identifier#field_identifier

Access Values in the Same Row

To reference fields within the same row of the configured repeatable fieldset, use the row prefix.

row#field_identifier

Calculations

Fields can be combined in calculations using standard operators.

Example:

row#unit-price * row#quantity

Escaping Operators

To output an expression as text instead of evaluating it, escape the operator using ~.

Aggregations

Aggregations can be applied across values in repeatable fieldsets.

Supported functions:

SUM()
COUNT()
MIN()
MAX()

Aggregation Example

Aggregated values can be compared against other fields.

SUM (row#total-amount) = @totals#net-amount

This example compares the sum of all line-item amounts with a header-level total field.

Example Configuration

Rename Document

Change document name to Sender Document Company Name and Document Number.

Calculate Row Amount

Line-Item Master Data Matching

How to use Automation Agents

Learn how to configure and use automation agents within your document processing workflows.