Who this is for
An operations manager or business owner who runs several automations on one platform and cannot say who would be told if one of them broke.
An automation stopped for days before anyone noticed, or the person who built it has left and their inbox received the failure emails.
The result
A deliberate synthetic failure in each of up to five named automations on one platform raises an alert at a shared mailbox or channel that names the automation, and both the named owner and the named backup confirm they received a test alert.
What is included
- Up to five named automations on one platform: Zapier, Make, n8n or Airtable
- Read how each currently alerts, who would receive it, and what a failure does to the run today, from its settings
- Set up the alert route each platform supports: a Zapier error handler or Manager Zap, a Make error-route message followed by an end-of-route directive you choose, an n8n error workflow, or Airtable subscribers who are Creator-or-higher collaborators, sending to a shared mailbox or channel
- Cause one synthetic failure per automation on a copy or in test mode, record the alert received, and record the run status and scheduling before and after the alert route was added
You receive
- A one-page table: each automation, how it alerted before, its new alert, the recipients, what the failure does to the run before and after, and anything the platform suppresses or delays
- The configured alert routes on the named automations, with change notes and how to reverse them
- A screenshot or text record of each test alert, redacted
- A short note on what the alerts do not catch, such as a Zap that never triggers or a run that succeeds with wrong data
What is not included
- Fixing the cause of any failure that the alerts reveal
- Round-the-clock monitoring, response-time promises or on-call cover
- More than five automations, more than one platform, or paid-plan upgrades the alert feature needs
- Detecting automations that silently stop triggering or succeed with wrong data
- Real customer records or alerts sent to real customers during testing
What we need from you first
- The platform and the names of up to five automations that matter most
- Who would be told today if each one failed, as far as you know
- The shared mailbox or channel, and the named owner and backup
- Do not send passwords, API keys, customer data or an account invitation in the first enquiry
Never send passwords, keys, customer records or confidential code in the first enquiry. Secure handover is agreed after scoping.
How we check it is done
- For each named automation, one deliberate synthetic failure on a copy or in test mode produces exactly one alert at the shared mailbox or channel that names the automation.
- Both the named owner and the named backup confirm in writing that they received a test alert. On Airtable, both are shown as collaborators with Creator permission or higher.
- For each Make scenario, the run status and the scenario's later scheduling after the deliberate failure are the same as before the alert route was added, or differ only as the agreed directive documents, and the alert table says which.
- The alert table lists, for every automation, who was told before, who is told now, and any delay, suppression or change to autoreplay or to the failure behaviour the platform applies.
- The note names at least the situations the alerts do not cover, including an automation that never triggers.
You read the alert table and the received alerts, then sign off before payment. You apply the routes to the live automations and ask your two recipients to watch for the next alert.
When we would stop or decline
- No shared mailbox or channel exists and no two people can agree to receive alerts
- On Airtable, the people to be told cannot be Creator-level collaborators on the base
- Your plan does not include any alert route for the platform and you do not want to change it
- A failure can only be caused by acting on live customer records
Questions
Will this fix the failures?
No. It makes sure the right people are told. Fixing a failing automation is a separate job.
Will an alert arrive instantly?
Not always. On Zapier with Autoreplay on, error emails wait for the last automatic replay attempt. The alert table states the delay for each of your automations.
Will adding an alert change what happens when something fails?
It can. On Make, an error route needs an end-of-route directive, and a route without one skips the error. On Zapier, a custom error handler turns that Zap's autoreplay off. We agree these with you in writing and the alert table records them.
Do you monitor the alerts?
No. Your two named people receive and act on them. A recurring monitoring and repair service is a separate offer with its own scope.
Price and terms
£125 · untested offer price. £125 after the agreed checks pass and you sign off. No payment before sign-off.
This is a new service with no published client results. The price is a starting point we have not yet tested with buyers. Nothing is ordered or charged by the enquiry. The full specification is on the Synthetic Industry catalogue.