Three workflow item types handle everything that happens without applicant input: calling external services, performing internal side-effects, and cloning a deal into a fresh workflow. This guide covers each one in turn.
New to workflows and items? Read Order Workflows & Workflow Items first.
Integration
What it is
An Integration item calls an external system from inside a deal — a credit bureau, a lender API, your own webhook, or the built-in calculation engine — and maps the response back into deal fields so later items can use the result.
What it does
When an Integration runs, the Input Portal sends deal data to the configured provider, waits for a response, and records the outcome. If you have set up a response mapping, values from the response are written into deal fields automatically. A Results Display item placed after the Integration can surface those values as a read-only card.
You control what happens next based on the outcome:
| Outcome | Options |
|---|---|
| On success | Continue (advance the deal), Skip (mark done), or Wait (stay for manual review) |
| On failure | Block (prevent advancing), Warn (alert but allow progress), or Skip |
Key settings
- Provider — one of
webhook,equifax,illion,api, orcalc-engine. Webhooks let you set the HTTP method, URL (with template variables like{Deal.Id}), custom headers, a body template, timeout, and retry count. - Execution trigger — run manually, automatically on step entry (
onStepEnter), or on step exit (onStepExit). - Delay — hold execution for a fixed time or until a date derived from a deal field.
- Response mapping — extracts values from the response body and writes them into named deal fields.
When to use it
Use an Integration any time you need to pull or push data without leaving the deal: running a credit check, submitting to a lender, fetching a serviceability result, or sending data to a downstream system via webhook.
Example. On entering Underwriting, an Equifax Integration fires automatically, retrieves each applicant's credit score, maps the score into a deal field, and is set to block on failure — so no deal reaches the underwriter without a successful bureau pull.
Action
What it is
An Action item performs an internal side-effect — sending a message, updating a field, creating a task — without calling any external service and without requiring any applicant input.
What it does
You choose one action sub-type, and the platform executes it when the trigger fires:
| Sub-type | What it does |
|---|---|
| Send email | Sends an email (with a preview/edit drawer before sending); can attach deal files |
| Add applicant | Adds a new applicant to the deal in a specified role |
| Update a deal field | Writes a new value into a deal field (status, value, notes, or assigned team member) |
| Add a note | Appends a timestamped note to the deal's activity feed |
| Send SMS | Sends a text message to an applicant's phone |
| Create a task | Creates a follow-up task on the deal |
| Send a notification | Pushes an in-app notification to a team member |
| Cancel scheduled items | Cancels other Action or Integration items waiting on a delay timer |
Like Integrations, Actions support on-success / on-failure handling, the same execution triggers, and optional delayed or scheduled execution — including relative delays (e.g. "7 days after the deal entered this step") with rules for what happens if the deal moves on before the timer fires.
When to use it
Use an Action whenever the workflow needs to do something autonomously at step entry, exit, or after a timed wait. Common patterns: send a welcome email when a lead arrives, update a status field on a Won step, drop an automatic note when an integration completes, or schedule a chaser reminder.
Example. A
sendEmailAction fires seven days after the deal enters Fact Find, reminding the applicant to complete their forms. The delay is configured to cancel if the deal leaves the step first, so applicants who finish early never receive the reminder.
Carry Forward
What it is
A Carry Forward item clones the current deal into a brand-new deal on a different workflow, linking the two as parent and child. It is the standard way to chain one process into the next.
What it does
When triggered, Carry Forward creates a new deal on the target workflow and copies across:
- Applicants — the same people in the same roles (optional)
- Team members — the assigned broker, processor, and other roles (optional)
- Deal value — the loan amount or other value field (optional)
- Form answers — answers from completed forms; you can exclude specific forms to copy only a subset
The new deal's name comes from a configurable template — the default is {DealName} (Carried Forward). The new deal links back to the original so the lineage is visible.
Carry Forward can run manually or automatically on step entry, with the same delay options as Integration and Action items.
Key settings
- Target workflow — which workflow template the new deal is created on
- Clone toggles — independent options for applicants, team members, and deal value
- Excluded forms — form template IDs whose answers should not be copied (leave empty to copy all)
- Deal name template — defaults to
{DealName} (Carried Forward); supports deal and applicant merge variables
When to use it
Use Carry Forward when one process naturally flows into a separate, distinct process — typically when the nature of the work changes enough that a separate workflow makes more sense than a single long one.
Example. When a Pre-Approval deal reaches the Approved step, a Carry Forward item creates a Full Application deal carrying over the applicants, broker, loan amount, and pre-approval form answers — named
{applicant.lastName} Full Application.
At a glance
| Item | External call? | Applicant input? | Primary use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Integration | Yes | No | Credit checks, lender submissions, pricing calls |
| Action | No | No | Emails, SMS, field updates, tasks, notes |
| Carry Forward | No | No | Spinning a deal off into a new workflow |