Cloud Actions vs. Local Actions
Some actions need to interact with local hardware and are therefore executed in the local network. These actions are listed under “Execute locally”.
To connect to the local network, Peripass uses the Local Action Worker of the Site. Therefore, these actions can only be added in triggers that are limited to a single site.
When no Local Action Worker is configured, the Local Actions will not be executed
Extra info on certain actions
Change Visitor
This category of actions is executed in the cloud (no Local Action Worker needed).
Change visitor status
As you know, the visitor journey touches a lot of different statuses from logged to eventually checked-out. There are some status changes that can be triggered automatically, but if not it’s always important to push the visitor in the desired status.
It’s also important to think about fallback scenarios. If for example the exit barrier is broken and it’s in forced open position until maintenance can fix it, you might need to configure a trigger that changes the status of all office visitors after midnight to checked-out.
Change onsite/offsite
It’s always important to have a good knowledge of the real location of the visitor. Therefore we allow to change the action from onsite to offsite and visa versa. When a visitor has used the PIN code at the exit barrier, we trigger the action to set the visitor offsite.
Update custom field
Through this action we are able to change a field’s value into another fixed value. This could be interesting to anonymise the phone number or other personal data fields.
Change profile and/or operation type
When a customer uses an external software to import expected visitors in Peripass (e.g. using theAlpega TMS (Transwide) Integration or Transporeon TMS Integration), there is no way of immediately adding the correct Peripass profile to each one of them. The visitors are imported as a generic TMS profile.
To automatically assign the right profile to visitors, the “change profile and/or operation type” action can be used. Based on certain conditions, visitors can be allocated a new profile and/or operation type based on their parameters.
Change validity
The action can extend the validity period with x days before and/or after the current validity period.
To avoid to “Endless loops” (an visitor update by T&A is triggering the same trigger again), it is best practice to add a condition “Last modified is not T&A” or “Last modified by API”.
Freeing up yard location in the Dispatch Dashboard
You can use automation to free up a visitor’s yard location without changing their status. The visitor will remain marked as onsite.
When a visitor transitions to departed, their yard location is automatically cleared.
Location remarks
If a remark is assigned to a location, it will also be cleared when the yard location is freed up
Impact on Assets
When a visitor is linked to an asset, freeing up the yard location affects the asset as follows:
Drop-off visitor → The asset is detached from the visitor but stays at the location.
Pick-up visitor → The asset is detached from the visitor and moved offsite, leaving the location empty.
Drop-off & Pick-up visitor → Both of the above apply.
Execute in the Cloud
Send text message
You can send a text message to either the visitor's mobile number or a fixed mobile number.
A maximum of 10 phone numbers can be added per action that sends a text message.
When a text message remains undelivered after 20 seconds, an app notification will be created to inform the users in Peripass. More information on app notifications can be found here: Send text message.
In the content of the text message, autofill fields allow you to dynamically change the content based on the information of your visitor.
We strongly advise against using your own message service for sending mobile text messages. Some reasons:
Text messages are business critical and therefore it is important to take this service very seriously.
Peripass has a partnership with a global text messaging provider that guarantees high uptimes.
Increasing text message delivery rates requires a complex setup, taking into account short codes, carrier blacklists, preferred sending numbers if necessary (e.g., messages to a Polish number are best sent from a Polish number), optimizing the carrier network, and much more. Peripass takes care of all these.
Peripass continuously monitors delivery rates & provides feedback to the dispatcher in the unusual event that a text message could not be delivered. This way, operations are not impacted.
Troubleshooting: How come my accents disappear when sending a text message?
To reduce the average SMS length, Peripass uses a parser (transliterator) to replace special ‘Latin’ characters with their regular counterparts. Some examples of the mappings that are applied:
ê, ę → e
ç → c
ó, ő, ô → o
ř → r
…
Applying this transliteration will have the effect that fewer messages will need to be encoded in a special way (which limits the number of characters per message to 70). The impact on readability is expected to be limited.
The transliteration algorithm will not change anything to Cyrillic messages.
An example
Before transliteration: 9 text messages are required for sending out this single communication.
After transliteration: only 4 messages are required.
Make a voice call
This action aims to enhance communication in scenarios where text message delivery fails. Voice calls offer an alternative method of reaching drivers when messages are delayed due to technical issues with carrier networks.
Early access feature
This is an early access feature. It’s free of charge during the early access period.
Recommended setup
Trigger Type
Time based trigger, every X minutes
Trigger Condition:
Driver status is Checked-in
Drive location is Offsite.
Latest update is older than X minutes.
Not called before
Action:
Initiate a voice call using the same content as the text message.
Time triggers & communication actions
Please exercise caution when using time triggers in conjunction with communication actions. While time triggers are a powerful tool, excessive or improperly configured use—especially via email, text message, or voice calls—can raise flags for providers. This may lead to messages being blocked or accounts being blacklisted due to suspected spam or malicious activity.
It is recommended to include conditions in the trigger to ensure each driver is contacted only once.
Collect information via voice agent call
The “Collect information via voice agent call” action allows you to automatically call a driver using an AI voice agent and collect information, such as the Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA).
You can configure:
A prompt that guides the conversation with the driver
A target custom field where the collected information is stored
Autofields to personalize the interaction (e.g. driver name or language)
This enables you to gather up-to-date information directly from drivers and use it to improve planning and operational visibility.
This feature is currently available on request and can be enabled by the Peripass Support or Product team.
As part of the initial roll-out, we are actively validating the feature based on real usage. During this phase, the service is offered free of charge, with future pricing to be defined based on adoption and learnings.
Send email
It’s possible to send an email to the visitor but you can also change the TO and put people in copy (CC) and even blind copy (BCC).
You can also send an email to the host by using %CurrentHostEmail% as email value.
The email action is not an HTML field, but plain text.
If you want to send a direct link to a visitor in Peripass, you can using following url:
https://.peripass.app/Person?visitorid=%id%
A maximum of 20 email addresses can be added per action that sends an email.
Send E-Ticket
It’s one of our best practices when customers are working with the calendar connector to send out an E-ticket. This is to accommodate a branded invitation to external visitors which allows a swift registration via a barcode on the Self Service Kiosk.
Only available if you have a trigger service running that is configured for a certain ACS system.
Execute an API call
Via this action we can trigger API calls to an external system or even to the customer’s own tenant. Via an API call we can also trigger calls to an intercom.
XML and JSON formatting are supported for the body of the API.
Custom headers can be added.
Authentication: either with a token in the header/url or by OAuth with credentials.
Retry policy: if the external system returns an error (on all 400 or 500 codes) or a timeout of 100 seconds is reached, the service will retry up to 5 times (after 4 minutes, after 12 minutes, after 28 minutes, after 60 minutes).
Execute Locally
Print document
This action prints a workflow document. More information: Contactless document handling.
The list of printers shows all network printers installed on the same server as the Local Action Worker.
Print ticket
Through this action we are able to print a ticket. This can be an adhesive visitor badge or an access barcode. We are able to add autofill fields like the name of this visitor or the date of today on the tickets.
Add/remove PIN or badge
With this action we are able to create or remove pin / badge in ACS system.
It’s also possible to update the access group of a visitor. With access groups we can define whether truck drivers have access to the IT department building or not.
Check the ACS page to verify if the customer’s ACS is currently supported.
Only available if you have a Local Action Worker that is configured for a certain ACS system.
Execute an action on an Axis module
With this action we can perform an IP call to an Axis module that brings a little bit of extra intelligence to hardware.
A typical configuration is that an Axis module knows if it needs to send a signal to a specific relay in order to open barrier 1 or 2 and how long this relay needs to be opened.
Another example is that the Axis module sends a signal to a buzzer in order to alert employee in case a visitor arrives.
Take picture with IP camera
The action is self explanatory, we can take a picture with an IP camera. It might be useful to have a visual proof that somebody registered at the Self Service Kiosk.
Read more about the storage lifetime of these pictures: Data retention policies and storage limitations | Local attachments
Save IP pictures local or in the cloud
In the ‘General settings’ you decide how to store IP pictures:
on the customer’s local server, with a folder cleanup policy typically configured during the project setup (e.g., a retention period of one month)
in the cloud
Once the pictures have been marked for storage in the cloud, this action can’t be reverted!
Save picture on asset
You have the option to save the IP picture to a specific asset. Simply choose which asset to link based on your camera's location—either the drop-off or pick-up asset. If no asset is linked, the save action will not trigger an error; instead, it will simply not perform any action.
To save IP pictures on assets, you must configure your tenant to store IP-pictures in the cloud
What IP cameras do we support
The camera should have a cgi or api and support the ONVIF protocol.
Save pictures on the local server
Create a file path on the server where the local action worker is installed
Then add ask support to add the following keys to the local action worker settings:
add the keys below in <appSettings>
<add key="imageStoragePath" value="C:\ProgramData\Soft Ages\photos" /> <add key="imageRetentionDays" value="180" />
Execute an API call - on a local server
This is exactly the same action as described above, with the single difference it is executed in the local network of the customer. Therefore it can be used to connect to applications that are locally hosted or only reachable from an server within the local network.
Execute a process on local server through command line
It is possible to initiate a script which can be placed on a folder path on the local server of a customer.
Autofill fields
General principle
Autofill fields are a way to send visitor-specific information using Trigger and Actions.
It works like this:
You add a placeholder in your text.
When the Trigger is fired for a specific customer, the placeholder is replaced by the actual value for your visitor.
Example.
Initial text message configuration | Actual text message sent to driver |
Hi! Please drive to %yardlocation%. Use code %pincode% to open the barrier. | Hi! Please drive to Gate 15. Use code 1391 to open the barrier. |
The UI of the configuration will indicate which AutoFill fields are available. If you click on the green link, it will display all available autofill fields.
Some special autofill fields
Object | Autofill field | Remarks |
Pincode | %Pincode% | Be sure to only use this autofill field after a pincode was created. Check this article about the execution order of actions. |
Dispatch dashboard slot | %DispatchDashboardSlot% | The name of the location where a driver is being sent to.
Remark: this is not a timeslot. |
Download link for workflow document | %Attachment.url|CMR% | This generates a URL that can be used to download a workflow document. It can be used to send documents digitally by email or even text message. The link is always valid for 10 days starting from the creation date.
More information on workflow documents: Contactless document handling |
Date and timestamp | %PersonStatusTimeStamp.Logged|WaitingForApproval|WaitingForDispatch|CheckedIn|WaitingForDocuments|ReadyForCheckout|CheckedOut|Blocked||% | Documentation on how to use: Datetime formatting and timezones
|
Known limitations
The date and timestamp autofill field is not translated. So when you choose to format a date and timestamp in a long text (e.g. Monday 3 June 2023), the “Monday” and the “June” part will always be in English.
Communication (E-ticket, Mail & Text message)
There are some typical fields such as Phone number or E-mail that can be used to start communication with stakeholders. Based on an event, we can use the content of these fields to send a text message to the visitor with information or instructions via triggers and actions.
Through the e-mail address we can of course send mails to visitors. We use this mainly for the E-ticket, but it can be used for other purposes.
Example - Text message
Example visitor:
Visitor John enters his name and phone number during the registration process. After the registration process we can use his input to welcome him:
”Welcome John at Peripass,
Your contact person has been informed of your arrival. Please take a seat at the reception where you can serve yourself with coffee or water.”
Example yard:
A truck driver arrives at the premises, parks at the waiting area and starts his registration in the kiosk. After a while the dispatcher assigned gate 16 to the truck driver on the dispatch dashboard:
“Peripass is ready for you!
Please, drive to gate 16 to start the loading operation.”
Integrations
In case of an integration with a back-end system (WMS, ERP or TMS), the input of fields or status changes can be communicated between systems.
Example - Shipper Profile
When a slot is booked via a TMS by a carrier, an API is called to send information to Peripass. Typically, the slot reference and booked time will be communicated.
Conversely, Peripass will also return information when the registration of arrival has been completed by the truck driver on a Self-Service Kiosk. Triggers & Actions will call a webhook, that contains information from the corresponding custom fields (License plate, trailer reference, pallets, …).