Using variables in your workflow

What are variables?

Variables are like little containers where you can store pieces of information that you want to obtain, change, and reference throughout your workflow. For example, one of the variables is Learner’s
Full Name. You could use that in the Send email item to make sure that every learner gets an email
addressed to their name.

There are two types of variable:

Global variables

Global variables are variables that are automatically available. They’re containers that Automation has already filled with information for you. Automation looks at the xAPI statement that triggered the workflow and extracts this information so that you can use it in your workflow items. For example, Learner’s Full Name is a global variable.

 

Variable Name	Integration	Description
Course Name Placeholder: {TriggerObjectName}	Available in LRS and LXP integrations	Adds the course name Note - this is connected to the course selected in the trigger
Course Link Placeholder: {TriggerObjectUrl}	Available in LRS and LXP integrations	Adds a link to the course
Learners Email Placeholder: {LearnerEmail}	Available in LRS and LXP integrations	Adds the learner's email address
Learners First Name Placeholder: {LearnerFirstName}	Available in LRS and LXP integrations	Adds the learner's first name
Learners Full Name Placeholder: {LearnerFullName}	Available in LRS and LXP integrations	Adds the learner's full name
Learners Last Name Placeholder: {LearnerLastName}	Available in LRS and LXP integrations	Adds the learner's last name
Learners Person ID Placeholder: {LearnerPersonID}	Available in LRS and LXP integrations	Adds the learner's unique identifier
Trigger Date Placeholder: {TriggerDate}	Available in LRS and LXP integrations	Adds the date the workflow was triggered
Learner's User Id Placeholder: {LearnerUserId}	Available in LXP integration only	Adds the learner's unique identifier within the LXP
Learner's Username Placeholder: {LearnerUsername}	Available in LXP integration only	Adds the learner's username within the LXP
Learner's Language Placeholder: {LearnerUsername}	Available in LXP integration only	Adds the learner's language as recorded in the user's LXP profile
Learn's Timezone Placeholder: {LearnerTimezone}	Available in LXP integration only	Adds the learner's timezone as recorded in the user's LXP profile
Learner's Location Placeholder: {LearnerLocation}	Available in LXP integration only	Adds the learner's location as recorded in the user's LXP profile
Learner's Organization Reference Placeholder: {LearnerOrgRef}	Available in LXP integration only	Adds the learner's organization reference as recorded in the user's LXP profile
Learner's Primary Job Role Title Placeholder: {LearnerPrimaryJobRoleTitle}	Available in LXP integration only	Adds the learner's primary job role title as recorded in the user's LXP profile
Learner's Manager's Email Placeholder: {LearnerManagerEmail}	Available in LXP integration only	Adds the learner's primary role manager's email as recorded in the manager's LXP profile
Learner's Manager's Id Placeholder: {LearnerManagerId}	Available in LXP integration only	Adds the learner's primary role manager's unique identifier within the LXP
Learner's Manager's First Name Placeholder: {LearnerManagerFirstName}	Available in LXP integration only	Adds the learner's primary role manager's first name
Learner's Manager's Last Name Placeholder: {LearnerManagerLastName}	Available in LXP integration only	Adds the learner's primary role manager's last name
Learner's Manager's Full Name Placeholder: {LearnerManagerFullName}	Available in LXP integration only	Adds the learner's primary role manager's full name

 

Custom variables

Custom variables are empty containers that you create and name yourself so that you can store information that you obtain during the workflow. E.g. I could make one called “score on assessment 2” and then store the learner’s score from the second assessment in there, meaning that I can reference it in another workflow item.

 

Using variables

There are three different ways to use variables in your workflow items.

Drop-down menus (input)

In some workflow items, you can select your variables from a dropdown list. These “input” sections are always at the top of the workflow item and are used because the workflow item needs a certain piece of information in order to do its job. In this image, the Get persona attribute item needs to know which persona to access in the Learning Record Store (LRS), so it has a Person ID field which needs to be filled with a variable.

Text field inputs

You can use variables in text fields to insert the information contained within the variable. In the example below, each learner will receive an email which greets them by name because the variable {Learner first
name} has been included. You can do this either by typing out the name of the variable inside curly
brackets e.g. {Learner ID} or by first clicking in the text field and then clicking on the variable in the variables box to automatically insert it in the text field.

 

Drop-down menus (output)

These work the same way as the input drop down menus, but instead of using the information in a variable, it changes the information in a variable. This can only be done with custom variables.

 

 

Adding custom variables

Click on the Custom tab in the variables window (in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen) and click Add variable.

Add the Display name and Description and click Create.

You can now use your new custom variable in your workflow. By default, your custom variable does not contain any information. To add information to it, you will need to use an output from a workflow, as
mentioned earlier in this guide. Once a custom variable contains some information, you can use it as an input in a workflow item further down the flow.

Custom variables only exist within the workflow that they were created in and cannot be transferred
to other parts of the same campaign.

In the example below, the selected course is chosen from the dropdown list, and then the custom variable is mapped to the Score output, by selecting it from the Score dropdown list. This means that whenever the Score custom variable is used throughout the rest of the workflow, it will pull the score from the course identified in the dropdown list.