Programs

What Is a Program

A program is a group of one or more activities and/or messages that the application executes together in the order you specify. An activity is a discrete unit of work in the application. A message is a communication sent to an individual (subscriber) or a collection of individuals (list, group, or data extension).

Why Use a Program

Use a program to automate repeated tasks. By automating tasks, you save time and prevent keying errors.

Without a program, a task such as sending a message to subscriber on their birthday would require you to import your list manually, refresh your birthday group manually, and send the message to the group manually. With a program, you can define the import, group refresh, and message send and schedule those events to happen, in order, without manual intervention.

Program Scenarios

The scenarios listed below make use of programs to complete specific tasks. Click the link and review the documents to better understand how to implement programs in your account.

• Birthday List Programs Scenario
• Automate an Email Program
• AIM: Getting Started
• Setting Up a Drip Campaign
• Activities and Programs Scenario

How to Create a Program

You must create the Activities and Messages to include in the Programs before you perform this procedure. After you complete this procedure, you can start the program or schedule the program.

Use the following steps to create a program:

1. Click the Interactions tab from the navigation bar.
2. Click Programs.
3. Click My Programs.
4. Click the Create button from the toolbar.
5. Complete the information in the Properties section:
   • Name - The name of the program. You use this name to identify the program in the application.
   • External Key - A unique value that identifies the program. You use this value to identify the program with an API call.
   • Description - The description of the program. You use this description to further help identify the program within the application.
6. Complete the information in the Notifications section:
   • Send Status Notification checkbox - Determines whether the system sends a notification email when the program completes or encounters an error. 
   • Notification Email Address(es) - One or more email addresses to receive the status notification. Separate values with a semicolon.
7. Click Edit Process. The Program Process screen appears.
8. Click Add task. The Interactions window appears.
9. Select the activity to execute or message to send in this step.
10. Repeat steps 8-9 for each task in the step. Tasks in the same step occur concurrently.
11. If you want another step in the program, click Add step.
12. Repeat steps 8-9 for the new step. Tasks in separate steps occur sequentially.
13. Click Save.
14. If you want to schedule the program, click Edit Schedule. See step 6 of the procedure How to Schedule a Program.  
     

How to Schedule a Program

You must create a program before you perform this procedure. After you complete this procedure, you can start the program. The program will not execute according to the schedule until you start the program.

If you change a scheduled program after you start it, the change will not take effect until the second scheduled running after you make the change. To make the changes take effect immediately, you can stop and re-start the program after you make the change.

Use the following steps to schedule a program:

1. Click the Interactions tab on the navigation bar.
2. Click Programs.
3. Click My Programs.
4. Select the checkbox next to the program to schedule.
5. Click the Edit Schedule button under the Schedule tab.
6. Complete the fields:

   The time listed for your program in my programs under the Last Ran On column reflects your Account Settings timezone rather than the time you selected above.

   • Start Date - The date of the first time this program will run.
   • Start Time - The time of the first time this program will run.
   • Scheduled Timezone - The Timezone you want your Start Date/Time to honor. Select from Daily, Every Weekday (Mon-Fri), Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly. Scheduled Timezone does not honor Hourly.
   • Repeats - The frequency at which the program recurs. The value in this field determines the fields you set in the Repeats every section. Valid values include:
     • Hourly
     • Daily
     • Every Weekday (Mon-Fri)
     • Weekly
     • Monthly
     • Yearly
   • Repeats Every - The specifics on the recurrence of the program. The fields in this section vary depending on the value you select in the Repeats field.
   • Ends - The ending information for the report. You can choose a specific date when the program ends or the number of occurrences to complete.
7. Click Save.

How to Start a Program

You must create a program before you perform this procedure. You can choose to schedule a program before you perform this procedure. After you complete this procedure, you can stop the program to prevent the steps that have not already started from occurring.

1. Use the following steps to start a program:
2. Click the Interactions tab on the navigation bar.
3. Click Programs.
4. Click My Programs.
5. Select the checkbox next to the program to start.
6. Click the Start button.
7. Select the start options. Valid options include:
   • Start once
   • Start using the recurring schedule
   • Schedule once
8. Click the Start button.

How to Stop a Program

You must start a program or schedule a program before you perform this procedure. After you complete this procedure, you can start or schedule the program again.

1. Use the following steps to stop a program.
2. Click the Interactions tab in the navigation bar.
3. Click Programs.
4. Click My Programs.
5. Select the checkbox next to the program to stop.
6. Click the Stop button in the toolbar.
7. Choose the stop options. Valid values include:
   • Stop running process
   • Stop scheduled process

How to View History for a Program

Use the following steps to view history for a program:

1. Click the Interactions tab in the navigation bar.
2. Click Programs.
3. Click My Programs.
4. Select the checkbox next to the program whose history to view.
5. Click the View Activity button in the toolbar.

How to Copy a Program

Use the following steps to copy all aspects of an existing program into a new program. After the copy procedure completes, you can add or modify the new program without changing any aspect of the original progam. You must start the new program in order to make it active.

1. Click the Interactions tab in the navigation bar.
2. Click Programs.
3. Click My Programs.
4. Select the checkbox next to the program of which you wish to make a copy.
5. Click the Copy button.
6. Change any information you wish in the new program.
7. Click Save.

NOTE: If the active dates on the original program occur in the past, you must change them in the copied program before you can start it.