WHEN, IF, THEN — and “cannot tell”

How it works · Updated 2026-08-11 · Describes Sprint 31

A rule starts on a trigger (WHEN), checks conditions (IF), and performs actions (THEN). A condition can answer true, false, or cannot tell — and cannot tell never counts as true.

The three parts

WHEN

What starts the rule: a customer writes, a booking is made or cancelled, somebody goes quiet, knowledge is approved.

IF

What must hold before it acts: the channel, the language, business hours, whether a person is already handling it.

THEN

What it does: note, assign, escalate, tag, or send an approved answer.

Cannot tell

Some conditions cannot be answered at the moment a rule runs — a customer whose language has never been recorded, for instance. INVTION records that as “cannot tell” rather than guessing false, and a rule requiring that condition does not act.

When you try a rule, each condition shows its own verdict, so a rule that did not act tells you which line stopped it.

Suggested or automatic

A rule can act by itself, or prepare its action and wait for a person. Anything that speaks to a customer without a person looking is the strongest thing you can hand to software, and INVTION treats it as such: it needs approval before it can be turned on.