Rollbackis an error handling option in Make.com that provides the ability to restore a previous state in the event of an error. it is designed to cancel any executed actions, if any, and return to the initial state before the error. it is primarily used in transaction-based operations where data integrity is important.
What does Rollback do?
- restore the state before the error
- undo the result of an operation to the state it was in before the error occurred.
- cancel an already executed operation
- when an error occurs, actions that have already been processed are also rolled back.
- ensure data integrity
- maintain consistency between databases, financial transactions, or related operations.
when to use it
When you need to use rollback:
- transaction-based operations
- when multiple actions are chained together to form a transaction, and if some actions fail, the entire transaction needs to be canceled.
- examples: bank transfers, purchasing processes, order fulfillment.
- when data integrity is critical
- when a single error has the potential to skew data or cause it to be stored incorrectly.
- when task completion is dependent
- when part of a task fails, the rest of the task must be invalidated.
- example: failure during customer account creation, deleting data that has already been created.
examples
example 1: Bank transfer
- situation: Withdrawing money from customer A’s account and depositing it into customer B’s account.
- problem: An error occurs during the deposit to customer B’s account.
- Rollback’s behavior
- restore the amount withdrawn from Customer A’s account.
- cancel the entire remittance process to ensure data consistency.
example 2: Fulfillment system
- situation: You’re processing a customer’s order on your eCommerce platform, taking payment, updating inventory, and saving the order record.
- problem: An error occurs while saving the order history.
- Rollback’s behavior
- cancel payments and inventory updates that have already been processed, restoring them to their original state.
example 3: Data synchronization
- situation: Synchronizing your CRM system with an external database.
- problem: A network error occurs in the middle of the data synchronization.
- Rollback’s behavior
- revert to the original state by canceling the already synchronized data.
To set up Rollback
- add an error handler
- On the Edit Scenario screen in Make.com, hover over the module where the error is likely to occur, and click Add error handler.
- Select Rollback
- from the error handler options, select Rollback.
- save and test
- save the scenario, and test that your work is restored when an error occurs.
Cautions for using Rollback
- verify that the action is recoverable
- not all actions might be rollbackable. for example, sending emails or updating external systems is difficult to restore.
- transactional design
- To use Rollback, you need to ensure that your workflow has a transactional design.
- data loss prevention
- Be careful, as Rollback can cause unintentional data loss if set up incorrectly.
- keep a record of your actions
- Keep a log or history after a rollback so that you can analyze the issue.
Rollback summary
| item | description |
|---|---|
| role | restore a previous state in case of an error (Undo). |
| use cases | bank transfers, transaction-based data processing, order fulfillment, and more. |
| precautions | ensure that all operations are restoreable, and avoid unintentional data loss. |
| examples | restoring customer transfers when they fail, canceling payments and inventory updates when fulfillment fails. |
Rollback is an essential feature to ensure data integrity and is a robust option designed to help you maintain stability in the event of an error in a critical transactional process]