HaloPSA for Beginners
A Deep-Dive Getting-Started Series (5 Parts)

Written for first-time users of HaloPSA, including those migrating from ConnectWise PSA.

This article is part of a structured educational series designed to explain how HaloPSA is structured, how its core components relate to one another, and how work flows through the system at a foundational level.

No setup steps are assumed.
No best practices are presented as facts.
No prior Halo experience is required.

Configuration: where system behavior is defined

Configuration is where global system behavior is defined. Configuration controls items such as ticket types, statuses, priorities, SLAs, fields, and automation logic.

Changes made in configuration can affect the system broadly, because these settings influence how records behave and how measurement and reporting are produced.

For beginners, this area is best approached as a reference: it explains why the system behaves the way it does.

Configuration controls:

• Ticket types
• Statuses
• Priorities
• SLAs
• Fields
• Automation

Changes here affect the entire system.

Runbooks: HaloPSA automation framework

Runbooks are HaloPSA’s automation framework. Runbooks can respond to defined events, modify records, and send notifications based on configured conditions.

They can:

• React to events
• Update records
• Send notifications
• Enforce consistency

Runbooks act only on existing data.

They do not replace required fields or correct missing structure unless explicitly configured to do so.

Runbooks act on conditions that are present in the record. They do not infer missing data unless rules are configured to set or change fields under specific conditions.

Because runbooks execute based on defined triggers and conditions, they are only as predictable as the data and rules they rely on.

ConnectWise PSA vocabulary alignment (orientation only)

If you are coming from ConnectWise PSA, Runbooks (Halo) align most closely to Workflow Rules (CW) as an automation concept.

Configuration concepts exist in both systems, but the location and structure of those settings differ. Use this mapping for vocabulary alignment only.