Anyone Optimizing iMIS Automation Rules for High-Volume Workflows?

I have been deep in the weeds with iMIS EMS automation rules lately, and I figured I’d toss this out here because I know a bunch of you have way more battle scars than I do. I’m working on a project where the organization sends out a ridiculous number of triggered communications renewal nudges, event confirmations, onboarding steps, all happening at once and things get messy fast.

For context, the client is running around 20+ active rules in parallel. Most are simple, but a few chain together in ways that feel… let’s just say “ambitious.” I’ve managed similar logic stacks before (in a totally different environment, back when I was coordinating a team of assignment writers and juggling workloads manually), but iMIS has its own flavor of quirks that you only learn by tripping over them.

Here’s what I’ve noticed:

Timing is everything

Some rules fire instantly, others lag, and a couple run in batches even when configured to be event-based. In one real-life example, the “membership welcome” email fired after the “renewal reminder.” Not ideal. Curious if anyone has a clever sequencing strategy that doesn’t involve duct tape and prayer.

Logs are helpful… but only if you babysit them

I love the transparency of the rule logs, but on a high-volume site, scrolling through thousands of entries is rough. Has anyone built a monitoring dashboard or some kind of alerting layer on top?

When multiple rules touch the same entity

This is where the fun starts. If Rule A updates a field that Rule B also looks at, you can accidentally create loops or dead-ends. I’ve tried spacing conditions apart with more specific filters, but I’m wondering if there’s a more elegant pattern maybe something like a “controller rule” that manages state?

Bulk imports + automation = chaos

Would love to know how you handle automation firing during big data loads. Do you disable rules temporarily, or do you sanitize the import so everything fires cleanly?

Anyway, I’d love to hear your experiences bad, brilliant, or bizarre. Optimization tips, rule-design patterns, or general “don’t do this” stories welcome.