Restflow.io

## Introduction

Quarterly reviews are crucial for operations teams to assess performance, set goals, and realign strategies. However, keeping everyone on schedule for these reviews can be challenging, especially in fast-paced startup environments. Missed or delayed reviews can cause miscommunication, slow decision-making, and lack of accountability.

Automating reminders for these quarterly reviews ensures timely preparation and attendance, reduces manual follow-ups, and improves organizational efficiency. In this tutorial, we will build an automated workflow using **n8n**, a powerful, open-source workflow automation tool, to send auto-reminders via Slack and email ahead of each quarterly review.

This automation will benefit operations specialists, team leads, and management by providing consistent communication and freeing up time spent on manual reminder tasks.

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## Tools & Services Integrated

– **n8n**: Workflow automation platform
– **Google Calendar**: Source of quarterly review events
– **Slack**: Channel messaging for reminders
– **SMTP or Gmail**: Email reminders to participants

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## Overview of the Automation Workflow

The workflow will:

1. Trigger on a scheduled interval (daily or weekly).
2. Query Google Calendar for upcoming quarterly review meetings scheduled within the next week.
3. For each event, extract participant email addresses and Slack user IDs (if maintained in a CRM or a user directory).
4. Send Slack reminders to participants.
5. Send email reminders.

The reminder can be set, for example, 3 days before the scheduled quarterly review.

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## Step-by-Step Technical Tutorial

### Step 1: Set Up n8n Environment

– Install n8n (locally, on a server, or via Docker).
– Ensure n8n can access Google Calendar, Slack, and your SMTP or Gmail for emails.

### Step 2: Create a New Workflow

Log in to n8n, create a new workflow and name it “Quarterly Review Auto-Reminders.”

### Step 3: Add a Schedule Trigger

– Add the **Schedule node**.
– Configure the trigger to run once daily (e.g., at 9 AM) so it checks for upcoming reviews every day.

### Step 4: Fetch Upcoming Events from Google Calendar

– Add the **Google Calendar node** with the following configuration:
– Operation: `Get Events`
– Calendar ID: your operations calendar
– Time Range Start: `={{ $now }}` (current date/time)
– Time Range End: `={{ $addDays($now, 7) }}` (one week from now)
– Filter by summary or description to match “Quarterly Review” to ensure you only get relevant events.

### Step 5: Filter Events for 3-Day Reminder

– Use the **IF node** to check if the event start date is exactly 3 days away from today.
– Expression: `={{ $moment(item.json.start.dateTime).diff($now, ‘days’) === 3 }}`

### Step 6: Extract Participants

– From each event, extract attendee emails (field: `attendees[].email`) and Slack IDs (if stored in a separate service, fetch those in a separate HTTP request or database query).
– For now, assume you have the emails from calendar attendees.

### Step 7: Send Slack Reminders

– Add **Slack node** to send messages.
– For each Slack user ID related to an attendee, send a direct message reminding them about the quarterly review in 3 days.
– Message example: “Hi {{name}}, this is a friendly reminder that the Quarterly Review is scheduled for {{eventDate}}. Please prepare any relevant reports.”

### Step 8: Send Email Reminders

– Add an **SMTP node** or **Gmail node**.
– Configure the email to be sent to all participant emails.
– Email subject: “Reminder: Quarterly Review in 3 Days”
– Body includes details such as event date, agenda, and any preparation notes.

### Step 9: Handle Errors and Logging

– Use error workflows in n8n to catch failed API calls or authentication issues.
– Log success and failure messages in a centralized Slack channel for transparency.

### Step 10: Test the Workflow

– Use sample data to simulate events 3 days away.
– Confirm Slack and email messages are dispatched as expected.

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## Common Errors and Robustness Tips

– **Authentication failures**: Ensure OAuth tokens and API credentials for Google Calendar, Slack, and email services are valid and have not expired.
– **Event data missing attendees**: Add checks to skip events without attendee information to avoid errors.
– **Duplicate reminders**: Ensure idempotency by recording event IDs for which reminders have already been sent. Store this in a database or use n8n’s internal data store.
– **Time zone discrepancies**: Use consistent timezone handling with moment.js or native date handling in n8n to avoid incorrect reminder timing.

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## Scaling and Adapting the Workflow

– **Add more communication channels**: Integrate SMS via Twilio or Microsoft Teams for additional reminder modalities.
– **Customize reminder timings**: Implement dynamic controls to send multiple reminders (e.g., 7 days and 1 day before).
– **Integrate with CRM**: Automatically fetch Slack IDs or email addresses from your CRM for better accuracy.
– **Multiple departments**: Parameterize the workflow to handle reminders for different departments’ review cycles.

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## Summary

Automating quarterly review reminders reduces manual follow-ups, increases meeting attendance, and helps keep operations teams aligned and proactive. Using n8n combined with Google Calendar, Slack, and email, you can build a robust, maintainable workflow that consistently ensures all participants are prepared well in advance.

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### Bonus Tip

Leverage n8n’s built-in credentials encryption and workflow versioning to manage your automation securely and keep evolving your reminder system as your startup grows.