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05 Automation practice: Unlock content

Written by Marie Xhauflair

You have unlocked a widget. Now for the part that actually matters to the learner: making the content inside it appear, and only for the right people.

What this exercise gets you

  • Build a simple automation using one condition

  • Unlock content for a specific user group

  • Confirm the automation actually works

Before you start, make sure you have

  • A published activity, for example Module 1

  • A widget in the stream that can display activities, such as Spotlighted activity or Activities, with Module 1, Belgium linked to it

👀 Need a widget first?

See How to add a widget to the stream.

  • An automation already linked to that widget, from lesson 04

  • Two user groups, for example Belgium and Netherlands

  • Two test users, one in each group

Build the automation

  1. Go to Behaviour > Automations

  2. Click Create automation

  3. Name it Module 1, Visible: Group Belgium

  4. Set the event type to Check periodically

  5. Add the condition: Is group → select Belgium. With only one condition, it does not matter whether you pick "And," "Or," or "Use only one condition"

  6. Add the action: Unlock activity → Module 1

  7. Click Save, then enable the automation

What your automation should look like

How to read this automation

  • When the platform checks periodically,

  • and if the user is in the group Belgium,

  • then unlock the activity Module 1 for that user

Confirm it worked

  1. Check group membership. Go to Groups > Groups, find Belgium, and note how many people are in it

  2. Preview the automation. Hover the eye icon next to the automation. It shows how many users meet the conditions and, for each action, how many have not had that action yet. The first number should match the Belgium group count, and for an enabled automation that already ran, the action count is 0 while the automation works. The Activations tab shows who currently matches, and the user's Audit tab shows what ran

  3. Impersonate a Belgium user. Open their profile, click Impersonate, and check whether Module 1 shows up in their stream

  4. Impersonate a user outside Belgium, for example someone in Netherlands. Module 1 should not appear

💡 Impersonation counts as a login

Impersonating a user counts as a login for that test user, so pick a test user who has already logged in. Keep in mind that the test itself updates their last login.

✏️ Tip

If all four checks line up with what you expect, the automation is set up correctly.

If something looks off

  1. Double check the test user is in the right group

  2. Confirm you unlocked the right activity, check the UUID of Module 1 if you are unsure

  3. Give it a little time. When you save an enabled Check periodically automation, it runs at once for everyone who meets the conditions. After that the platform checks once an hour, so a new match can wait up to an hour

👀 When does the user see it?

Unlocked content appears the next time a user's access is calculated, which is when they log in or open the platform, or within a day. Content whose time window has ended disappears in the same way, at the user's next visit after the window closes rather than at the minute it closes.

Recap

You have now:

  • Built an automation with one condition

  • Unlocked an activity for a specific group

  • Verified it three different ways: group count, automation preview, and impersonation

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