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Key concepts

To use the Blink platform, you need to know the key concepts and terminology.

Automation​

An Automation constitutes a series of actions that solves a specific use case. It is created using Steps and Sections. See Automations for more details.

Trigger​

Steps and Automations run when they are initiated by one of the following triggers:

Event-based: An Automation that is triggered by an event that occurs on an external service provider.
Scheduled: An Automation that is triggered at a pre-set time and can be repeated at any frequency.
On-Demand: An Automation that is triggered when selected from the Self-service portal.

See Triggers for more details.

Workspace​

A workspace groups all of your Automations and resource, such as connections, runners, and Actions. Only a user associated with a specific workspace has access to the Automations and the resources. All the Automations of a Workspace appear on the Automations Pack page. See Workspaces for more details.

Section​

A Section is a series of Steps within an Automation. The purpose of a Section is to create order by grouping Steps together into meaningful groups.

Step​

Steps are the building blocks of a Blink Automation. Each Step has a single goal and Steps are arranged in a logical order to complete a workflow.The user assigns input parameters, and the Step executes an Action and displays its output.

Action​

An Action is a built-in feature on the Blink platform. It is the functional element of a Step. Actions enable you to perform operations on remote systems. Typical Actions on AWS include Create a user and Delete a user, and on Github Create pull request and Create user repo. See Actions for more details.

Connection​

A connection can be created with a vast number of cloud infrastructures and monitoring and security tools. A connection enables Actions to run on remote systems that require authorization. It is created using a token from the target system or via the personal account of the user on that system. See Connections for more details.

Runners​

A Runner executes the actions defined in the Automation. By default all actions are executed from the Blink cloud; however, the user can chose to deploy a runner that will execute all of the actions from your on-premises cloud infrastructure. See Runners for more details.