Agents allow you to create automations based on conditions you sset within NPI-DS, which can help with reducing repeated manual tasks. Agents are currently available only for the Sourcing module.
Selecting an Agent
When creating a new Sourcing project, you can select from the list of existing Agents by clicking 'Select Agent':
To select an agent in an existing project, select Agents at the top of the page:
Creating Agents
To create an Agent, an Admin will need to create a Rule. To create a Rule navigate to 'System Settings', click 'Agents' on the left-side, and then click 'Create New Agent' :
You'll be able to name and add a description for your Agent:
Note: all new Agents are set to Inactive by default, to use an agent within Sourcing, you must set your 'Agent' to 'Active' by clicking the slider button below the description.
Adding Rules
For your first rule within your new agent, you'll be prompted to set your condition/s and an action to occur once that condition is met. An Admin can set several conditions within a rule, and connect them using the available AND/OR operator in the dropdown between your selected fields.
In this example rule, we have set a condition that when a line item's Risk Index is greater than 60, and its YTEOL is less than 5, the action will set the line item 'Status' to 'Needs Review':
Once your rule is created, you'll be navigated to the Agent page showing your new rule:
Agents can also be composed of more than one rule, and you can add additional rules by clicking 'Add Rule' in your existing Agent.
In this example, we've expanded the previous rule with a second rule to also set status as 'Needs Review' when Stock is less than 100, and Lead Time is greater than 12 weeks. We've also added a third rule that applies a custom tag of 'Price Alert' if the Price History Trend % is less than 15%:
You can also click and drag the 6 dot icon on the far-left side to adjust the order of your rules, allowing you to control the order of how your Agent runs its checks on line items.
Conditions and Actions
These are the current available fields you can select for Conditions:
System Fields
Risk index
Lead Time
Lifecycle
Stock
Price
Supplier is on Preferred List
YTEOL
Country of Origin
Number of FFFs
Number of suppliers
Price History Trend Since Last Month %
Stock History Trend Since Last Month %
Datasheet is available
Popularity (Class & Category)
Manufacturer
Supplier
Category
RoHS
REACH
Reference Standard
ECCN Code
HTS Code
Sourcing System Tags
Unmatched
Has Suggestions
No Suggestions
Manufacturer Mismatch
IPN Not In Part Master
MPN Not In Part Master
Obsolete
No Price
Excess Cost
Potential Savings
Above Target
Insufficient Stock
WP Insufficient Stock
SP Insufficient Stock
The current available actions you can set are as follows:
Assign User
Set Status
Apply Tag
Agent History
Agents offer several forms of tracking History.
An Admin can view top-level History for an entire agent by clicking 'History' seen in the top-left of a specific agent, or individual Rule history by clicking the Pen icon found in the line item of a rule:
You can also see history of an agents use in a specific Sourcing projects by clicking History at the top of a sourcing project:
Or Agent history in a line item by clicking the Pen icon found in that line: