Definition initiators allow you to take process execution to the next level. When setting up an initiator, you tell Conga Orchestrate which object (an account, contact, or event) and which operations (insert and/or update) to monitor on that object. Additionally, you provide rules (criteria) about when the initiator should run based on the definition you select. Finally, you provide the information (assignment, due date, custom and standard field settings) for the initiated process. Conga Orchestrate waits and initiates your process when all definition initiator criteria are met.

When the Definition Initiator criteria are met, Orchestrate automatically creates a new record. This record is created based on the object selected under Object Display Name in the Capture Process Information section. The values configured in this section are automatically populated on the newly created record.

For example, you can initiate a client onboarding process when an account’s Type field changes from prospect to client, or you can create a definition initiator that starts an Address Change process when the address is updated on the Contact or account.

Definition Initiators perform in a specific manner:

• If your initiator is monitoring updates (i.e. account updates), Conga Orchestrate only initiates a process the first time the fields specified in your criteria are modified and match the initiator. Subsequent updates to the record that match the initiator do not run additional processes unless the fields are modified again.
• Definition initiators have an operator in the criteria called “Is Changed”. If you select this operator for your criteria item, Conga Orchestrate verifies if the field value changes and evaluates the criteria to see if they are true. This enables you to initiate a process if a field, or series of fields, changes regardless of what they were changed.
• If you are creating a definition initiator to monitor the Contact object, you can create criteria that evaluate fields from the Contact and Account objects. This allows you to be very specific when initiating processes from contact record changes by joining information from its related account. To gain maximum visibility within Salesforce, relate all processes to an account or contact.
• If you are creating a definition initiator to monitor the events, create the events using a contact specified in the event's Name field. This ensures that the initiated process is associated with the correct contact and account.
• Definition initiators automatically select an associated contact record when initiating a process. To do so, Conga Orchestrate initially looks for the following (in this order):
  1. A specified Contact Lookup field on the monitored account. Create a custom Contact Lookup field on the account object, edit the Conga Orchestrate Setup setting labeled "Initiator Custom Object - Contact Field" and "Initiator Custom Objects" as shown in the screenshot, and populate the new Contact Lookup field on all account records.
  2. Contact roles related to the monitored account. If a contact is specified in a contact role and is set as primary, it is used first.
  3. If neither a specific contact lookup nor contact roles have been configured on the monitored account, Conga Orchestrate queries all related contacts alphabetically, based on the full name, and selects the first one returned.
  4. If there are no contacts related to the monitored account, the Contact field on the initiated process is left blank.
  5. If using a custom object as the monitored object on the initiator, create a custom Contact Lookup field on the custom object, edit the Conga Orchestrate Setup labeled "Initiator Custom Object - Contact Field" and "Initiator Custom Objects", and populate the new Contact Lookup field on all records.