Phase 3 is where Insightly starts doing work for you. You set up the rules that create tasks, route leads, update records and check data on save, and you connect Insightly to the other systems your team already uses.

What you'll be able to do

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:

Identify the four groups of work in Phase 3
Describe what triggers an Activity Set
Describe what a workflow process does
Identify which entry points a validation rule does not cover

What you set up in Phase 3

Group	What it's for
Basic automation	Rules that create records, route leads and capture web enquiries
Advanced automation	Calculations, data checks, custom code and itemized selling
Advanced features	Document generation, adaptive layouts, and field-level access
Integrations	Connections to accounting, email, calendar and document tools

Note: Much of Phase 3 depends on your plan. Workflow Automation requires a Professional or Enterprise plan, and several advanced features require Enterprise. Confirm what your account includes with your Onboarding Specialist before you design around a feature.

Basic automation

Activity Sets are reusable groups of Tasks and Events. Instead of adding the same six follow-up tasks by hand each time, you define them once and apply the set. There are two ways they get created: a user applies one from a record's Actions menu, or an Opportunity or Project reaches a Pipeline stage that has one attached.

Once the Tasks and Events exist they're individual records. You can't edit them as a group afterward, so if dates need moving, they move one at a time.

Lead Assignment Rules route incoming Leads to the right person automatically, either by criteria or by rotating through a group. Only one rule can be active for each way a Lead arrives, and criteria are evaluated in order — the first match wins and evaluation stops.

Web to Lead and Web to Contact forms generate HTML you add to your website, creating a Lead or a Contact from each submission.

Workflow Automation is the general-purpose engine: when a record matches your criteria, Insightly performs actions such as creating a task, sending an email, updating the record or calling out to another system. A workflow process holds the criteria and the actions, and time triggers let you hold an action until a chosen date.

Important: When a workflow action changes a Pipeline stage, it does not trigger the Activity Set attached to that stage. If your process depends on both, test the combination rather than assuming it chains.

Two more workflow behaviors worth knowing early: an action taken by one workflow can't trigger another workflow's criteria, and a workflow that updates a field overwrites whatever was there.

Advanced automation

Calculated Fields — read-only fields whose value comes from a formula rather than a person
Validation Rules — checks that block a record from saving until the data meets your conditions
Lambda Functions — custom code, written by a developer, that Insightly runs for you
Products, Price Books and Quotes — itemized selling, where Products carry standard prices, Price Books group them for quoting, and Quotes are built on an Opportunity

Warning: Validation rules only apply in the Insightly web application. They do not run in the Gmail or Outlook sidebars, on records created or edited by a workflow, or during Lead conversion. Treat them as a helpful check, not a guarantee that your data is clean.

Products, Price Books and Quotes are switched off until an administrator enables them, so if a learner can't find them, that's usually why.

Advanced features

Document Templates let a user generate a PDF from any record, with field values merged in — proposals, letters, contracts. Note that a deleted template does not go to the recycle bin and cannot be recovered.

Dynamic Page Layout Rules make a layout react as someone fills in a record, showing, hiding or requiring fields based on what they've entered. They apply on the create and edit pages, not to inline editing or the mobile app.

Field Level Permissions set individual fields to read-only or hidden for a given profile. A hidden field disappears from reports and list views as well as the record page, which is more far-reaching than people expect.

Custom Apps give a team their own workspace inside Insightly, containing only the objects they need, with its own name, icon and home dashboard.

Integrations

Integration	What it connects
Mailchimp	Contacts and Leads to Mailchimp lists, with campaign statistics on the record
QuickBooks Online, Xero	Invoices, payments and accounting totals onto Insightly records
PandaDoc	Insightly record data into PandaDoc templates
Gmail and Outlook sidebars	Insightly data alongside your inbox
Calendar Sync, Contact Sync	Insightly calendar items and contacts with Google or Microsoft

Each connector supports one external account. If you have two accounting files or two Mailchimp accounts, plan for that early. Contact Sync sends contacts from Insightly to Google only — changes made in Google do not come back.

Where to go next

Insightly Help Center — step-by-step articles for every feature listed above