Workflow overview

Workflows are Cadence Calendar's built-in automation feature for sending reminders and follow-up communications without requiring manual outreach. A workflow is a reusable rule that tells the system when to send a message, who should receive it, and what the message should say. Once a workflow is set up, Cadence Calendar handles the timing and delivery automatically.

This guide explains what workflows are, how they behave, and how to think about the settings you will see when creating one.

What workflows are for

Workflows are designed to help you reduce missed lessons, improve communication, and save time. In practice, they are most useful for:

• reminding families about upcoming lessons
• sending payment reminders before an invoice is due
• sending follow-up notices after an invoice becomes overdue
• keeping communication consistent across your studio or teaching practice

A workflow does not replace your judgment or your personal style. Instead, it gives you a reliable system for sending the right message at the right time.

What a workflow contains

A workflow has three main parts:

1. A trigger and timing model

   • The system decides when the message should be sent.
   • This is based on the lesson or invoice event that the workflow is attached to.

2. A message type

   • The workflow can send an email reminder, a text reminder, or an invoice-related email notice.
   • Each message type has its own content fields and delivery rules.

3. A delivery target

   • The workflow identifies who should receive the message.
   • This may be one or more contacts tied to a student account, such as the primary contact, secondary contact, or the student themselves.

When you create a workflow, you are really defining a communication rule that the product will later execute automatically.

The main workflow types

Cadence Calendar currently supports four core workflow types:

1. Email lesson reminder

Use this when you want to remind a family about an upcoming lesson by email.

Typical use cases include:

• reminding a family that a lesson is coming up
• reducing no-shows before a scheduled session
• encouraging families to confirm attendance or arrive on time

This workflow type is best for situations where you want a polished, written message that can include detailed context.

2. Text lesson reminder

Use this when you want to send a short reminder by text message.

Typical use cases include:

• quick reminders the day of or shortly before a lesson
• fast communication for students or families who prefer SMS
• reducing missed appointments when time is short

Text reminders are best when the message should be concise and immediate.

3. Email invoice due soon reminder

Use this when you want to notify a family that an invoice is approaching its due date.

Typical use cases include:

• reminding families of an upcoming payment deadline
• encouraging prompt payment before an invoice is overdue
• creating a consistent billing reminder process

This workflow is tied to the invoice lifecycle rather than a lesson calendar event.

4. Email invoice overdue notice

Use this when you want to follow up after an invoice has become overdue.

Typical use cases include:

• alerting families that payment is now past due
• creating a consistent follow-up sequence for late invoices
• supporting your studio's billing and collections process

This workflow type is more assertive than a due-soon reminder and is intended for later-stage billing communication.

How workflow timing works

Timing is one of the most important parts of a workflow. Timing tells Cadence Calendar when to send the message relative to the event the workflow is based on.

The system uses two main timing concepts:

Timing direction

The timing direction determines whether the workflow is scheduled before or after the anchor event.

• Before event start: the workflow sends before the lesson or billing event occurs.
• After event start: the workflow sends after the relevant event has started or become active.

In practice:

• lesson reminder workflows are usually scheduled before the lesson begins
• invoice overdue workflows are scheduled after the invoice is already overdue

Duration type

The duration type determines the unit of time used for the delay.

Cadence Calendar supports:

• Minutes
• Hours
• Days

This means you can build a workflow that sends a reminder 30 minutes before a lesson, 6 hours before a lesson, or 2 days before a lesson.

Duration value

The duration value is the number attached to the duration type. For example:

• 1 hour before a lesson
• 2 days before a lesson
• 12 hours after an invoice becomes overdue

The duration is the actual waiting period the system uses when deciding when to send the message.

Timing examples

Here are a few examples of how the timing model works in real life:

• A lesson reminder set for 24 hours before the lesson sends one day before the appointment.
• A lesson reminder set for 2 hours before the lesson sends shortly before the lesson begins.
• An invoice due-soon reminder set for 2 days before the invoice due date sends earlier in the billing cycle.
• An overdue notice set for 6 hours after the overdue period begins sends a follow-up message after the invoice is already late.

The exact timing is not arbitrary. The workflow settings determine the message schedule, and the system evaluates those settings automatically.

Who receives the message

A workflow can target one or more people attached to the relevant account.

The supported recipient types are:

• Primary contact
• Secondary contact
• Student

In the product, these recipient values are selected as part of the workflow step configuration. The result is that the same workflow can be used to message the right person for each account, depending on how you configure it.

Important distinction for invoice workflows

Invoice-related workflows are typically directed to the primary contact for the relevant account. This means that billing reminders are generally meant to reach the person responsible for the account's payment communication.

Account targeting

A workflow is not just about message content. It also needs to know which accounts it should apply to.

When you create a workflow step, you select one or more accounts. That tells Cadence Calendar which student accounts the workflow should evaluate and where the message should be sent.

This is important because it prevents the workflow from sending messages to the wrong people or from applying to every account in your system automatically.

What you configure in each workflow step

Each workflow step includes the specific settings for that message.

Email lesson reminder step

You can configure:

• the email subject
• the email body
• the sender email address
• the recipients
• the target accounts

This gives you full control over the content and the audience for each reminder.

Text lesson reminder step

You can configure:

• the text message content
• the optional send-at time
• the recipients
• the target accounts

Text messages are usually shorter and more direct than email messages, which makes them well suited for quick reminders.

Invoice due soon reminder step

You can configure:

• the email subject
• the email body
• the sender email address
• the target accounts

This workflow type is centered on billing communication and is generally used for payment reminders.

Invoice overdue notice step

You can configure:

• the sender email address
• the target accounts

Because this is a follow-up notice, the content is usually simpler and more direct than a due-soon reminder.

Workflow rules and validation

Cadence Calendar validates workflows before they are saved. This helps avoid configuration mistakes and keeps the automation system predictable.

Some of the rules include:

• a workflow needs a name
• the timing direction must be selected
• the duration type must be selected
• the duration value must be valid
• the workflow type must be selected

There are also workflow-specific constraints. For example, invoice overdue workflows have special timing requirements and must use hours for their timing unit. That ensures the reminder stays within the supported window for this workflow type.

Workflow groups and compatibility

Workflows are organized around a common purpose. In the product, lesson reminders and invoice-related automations are treated as different communication groups.

This matters because the system expects workflow steps to be consistent with the type of communication being automated. In other words, the workflow builder is designed to keep your reminder logic coherent rather than allowing arbitrary combinations that would be confusing or invalid.

What happens after a workflow is created

Once a workflow is created, the system begins evaluating it automatically. This means:

• the workflow is stored in Cadence Calendar
• the platform watches for the relevant lesson or invoice event
• the message is scheduled based on the configured timing
• the message is sent when the timing threshold is met

This is what makes workflows valuable: they turn repetitive communication tasks into a reliable background process.

Common use cases

Workflows are especially helpful in these situations:

• you want to reduce no-shows for lessons
• you want to make sure families receive reminders without manual effort
• you want to send timely invoice reminders automatically
• you want a consistent follow-up process for overdue accounts
• you want to standardize communication across your studio

Best practices

To get the most value from workflows, keep these practices in mind:

• use them for repeatable communication, not one-off messages
• choose timing that matches real scheduling behavior
• keep reminder messages short and clear
• make sure the recipient list is accurate
• target the correct accounts so messages go only to the intended families
• review your workflow content regularly so it stays current and useful

Summary

Workflows in Cadence Calendar are automated communication rules that let you send reminders and billing notices at the right time with minimal manual work. They are built around four main workflow types, a timing model based on duration and direction, and a delivery model based on recipients and target accounts.

In short, a workflow is a practical way to make your communication process more consistent, more timely, and less manual.