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Rules Engine Troubleshooting and FAQs

Below are the most frequently asked questions on Gainsight Rules Engine. If you have a question that's not answered here or through related support articles, please email support@gainsight.com. If you have enhancement suggestions, please post them to Gainsight's Community.

My data file contains special characters like \, "o", 'o' etc. - Are there any special considerations to be taken?

There are options to select the delimiter, text qualifier, and escape character in the S3 Dataset task in Rules Engine which ensures that your data file is read correctly and no data gets corrupted.

Note: You need to use the appropriate delimiter, text qualifier and escape character based on the data that you are loading.

Date Formats: What are the date formats that Gainsight supports?

S3 Dataset task supports almost all the Date formats. To view the complete list of supported date and date time formats, refer to the Date Formats section of the S3 Dataset article.

Why can't I save my rule's schedule?

If you have configured a rule and are having trouble saving its schedule, check the rule's name and description fields. If either field contains quotation marks, remove them, and try saving your schedule again.

What causes partial success?

Partial Success Status is applicable only for Rules with an S3 Dataset. This status is indicated by a yellow triangle. If an S3 Dataset task could not ingest all the records from source csv/tsv file to Gaisnight, this status is generated. Within the Partial Success status, you can find a red download icon, which contains a list of records which failed to ingest and also error messages.

How do I troubleshoot a rule failure?
  • Check the Logs in the Rule details screen on the Rules Engine list view
  • Most common error message ‘Invalid Query’; typically, due to invalid logic or permission issues
  • Perform manual test-run to examine the rule results; results are emailed to the user who ran the rule.
  • Recreate rule piece-by-piece in separate test rules. Continue to test the rule until you’ve discovered exactly where the problem area is.
    Note: When a rule fails, the schedule associated with that rule is paused. You must resume the schedule. 
What permissions do I need to use certain objects in my rule?

To use an object or field in Setup Rule, you will need Read-Only permission for that object or field. 

Can I filter on Rich Text fields in rules?

It's not possible to filter on Rich Text fields in rules.

Can I use a rule to set values to null, or to remove existing data?

No. 


Gainsight NXT in Salesforce CRM
Content in this section supports Gainsight NXT accessing through Salesforce Login. To learn more about Gainsight NXT in Salesforce, click here.

 

Can I delete data from SFDC using the rules engine?

The rules engine can insert, upsert, and update, but does not support the delete function, and should not be used to try and delete data in SFDC or Gainsight. As a workaround, Admins can delete data from SFDC by exporting the data out, deleting it with jitterbit, dataloader, or a similar tool. Alternatively, a script could be run via workbench or the developer console.


SOQL vs. SQL in Rules

When building a rule on Salesforce data, keep in mind the rules engine is using a SOQL query, and not a SQL query:

  • ‪SOQL supports the ability to MIN/MAX on Date/Time Fields‬.
  • ‪When MAX is applied to a date field in a SOQL query, all other fields will be added to Group By. If there are un-groupable fields, then Min is applied. ‬
Add Salesforce Objects for Use in Rules Engine

You can add Salesforce object to the Rules Engine settings for use with rules. For more information on how to add Salesforce objects in Rules Engine, refer to the Configure Permissions (Load Actions) section in the Rules Engine List View, Rule Chain View, and Timeline View article.

Note: All the Gainsight Objects are available for use in Rules Engine.

Rule Timeouts

For information on why rules sometimes timeout, and how to solve these problems, refer to the How to Troubleshoot Timeout Errors in the Rules Engine article.

Can I schedule rules at the same time? 

Yes, you can schedule rules at the same time and they will run in parallel. This allows rules to run at their scheduled time, even if other rules with the same dependencies are already running. Admins can select the run preference of each rule by navigating to the Rule Configuration Page > Schedule. For more information on scheduling rules, refer to the Schedule and Execute Rules article.

What happens to the schedule of a cloned rule?

When you clone a rule, the schedule of the source rule is not copied to the target rule (cloned rule). You must manually schedule the cloned rule.

How do I do a merge?

A merge is used to combine the records of two or more tables based on a related column between them. To learn more, refer to the Merge Tasks using Rules Engine article.
Best Practice Tip: If you need to add a field to a query after several merges, make sure that the field is being added after every merge.

How do I use cron expressions?

Cron expressions allow you to use the Advanced Scheduler to set sophisticated schedules. To learn more, refer to Cron Expression for Advanced Scheduler in Rules Engine article.

How do I execute an action based on the absence of data (i.e. the value is null)? 

A good example of this is with Scorecards. You can set a score as yellow or red based on the presence of data (e.g. support tickets), but how do you set a score as green? You can do this in one rule. You pull two datasets, 1) all active customers and 2) all support tickets, and you perform a left merge. If the support ticket fields are null in the new table, then you set the score as green for those customers.

I keep getting timeout errors in the Rules Engine

A timeout error typically occurs when the amount of data referenced is more than what the system can process. There could be a variety of reasons for this: the object has a massive amount of data, resource utilization is hitting a limit, or the query is not selective enough. For more strategies on dealing with these issues, refer to the How to Troubleshoot Timeout Errors article.

How many pivots can be configured in a Pivot task?

Only one pivot can be configured in a Pivot task. However, a maximum of 50 columns can be added in one pivot.

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