By
Mendy Green
October 20, 2022
•
20 min read
Professional Development

The butterfly effect is a term used to reference a scenario where, if you were to go back in time 1000 years and step on a butterfly and then return to your current time, you would find that everything has been changed. Potentially even you would no longer exist. This is explained as being caused by the fact that everything in the world is connected (as being part of the same ecosystem) and therefore given enough time the effects of a tiny butterfly being squashed can exponentially grow into an event where the Germans won World War II, or your parents never met.
In a world today where we are too busy to look beyond the face value, the lesson is pretty clear. If you go back in time, make sure you don’t step on any butterflies. If we were to stop and look beyond the face value, the lesson hits far closer to home. Scientists use this to explain that even a small change in a complex system can have a huge impact, but even they distill the true lesson down to its practical use for themselves.
Have you ever watched a Wave roll through the stadium audience, proud to join the hundreds raising their hands but jealous you weren’t the one who started it? What did the other person have that you don’t? Why couldn’t you be the source of this impressive movement visible throughout the entire stadium? The answer is honestly, nothing. Just the courage to go first, and be the leader, influencing others around you and creating an impact that spreads.
You have been created in order that you might make a difference. You have within you the power to change the world. – Andy Anderson
The Rising Tide Consulting Group is movement looking to start the waves, creating the tide, that will subsequently create larger waves, and larger waves, eventually rising higher and elevating everyone within the ecosystem. Let’s go back to the Wave in the stadium, can you imagine if the first person lifted their hands to create the Wave and the person next to them watched, acknowledged it was cool, and did nothing? The only reason why the Wave works is because the second person who follows, then the third, and the fourth and so-on. This is why at Rising Tide we are hyper-focused not on your business, but on your people. If we do your work for you, there is no impact, and we are left deciding if we should keep raising our hands to make up for the effort of those who aren’t joining or give up! If we can influence you doing your work, we can be the start of a massive wave that will spread not only throughout your entire business, but to your clients, and your vendors, raising the level of partnerships and quality of service being delivered to you, and by you.
The Rising Tide LevelUp Challenge is our ‘Audience in the Stadium Wave’. A movement started by our mentor Mendy Green on LinkedIn, where you take three stories, or analogies, and you pull out a lesson learned from each one (similar to how we did it with The Butterfly Effect mentioned above). After your three lessons you call out three new people to partake in the challenge and post their own. The lessons can be repeated, but the analogies or stories must be different.
In every situation, scenario, or story, there’s always a lesson to be learned. The scientists knew that when they framed the Butterfly Effect to teach their lesson, but each person will look at these stories and lessons through a colored lens filtered for their specific use case! It’s up to each individual as they hear these to take a lesson that relates to them. In fact, it is with Elizabeth Copeland’s lesson from the challenge (“Sometimes you need to stop and take in the view”) that we can examine analogies and situations and pull out a lesson from each one relevant to us to help us grow; the difference between taking something at face value or looking for that deeper meaning.
You can find her lesson and more by looking for the tags #RisingTideChallenge or #RisingTide on LinkedIn.

Episode 20 of By the [run]Book dives into HaloPSA v2.214 with a mix of practical improvements and some quirky additions. Connor and Mendy walk through everything from new dollar variables and asset controls to Avalara fixes and portal enhancements—highlighting what actually matters for day-to-day MSP operations. This episode is especially useful for MSPs refining workflows, automation, and reporting accuracy in Halo.
Watch Now: By the [run]Book: Episode 20
For easier tracking, check out haloreleases.remmy.dev to filter and search HaloPSA updates by ID, version, and keyword.
Mendy and Connor noted this was very useful.
Highlighted during the user action demo as a practical workflow improvement.
Called out as a genuinely useful UI improvement.
Allows more flexibility in how incoming emails are matched to tickets.
Enables automation of asset configuration through API usage.
Introduces a new variable to output custom fields in Q&A format.
Improves visibility into asset changes over time.
Returns the email address of the user associated with a purchase order.
Enhances usability and visibility of search results in the portal.
Provides control over configuration synchronization.
Ensures correct popup behavior when multiple rules trigger.
Makes ticket source available for reporting and filtering.
Adds safeguards when configuring email matching tags.
Allows distribution lists to target all email addresses tied to a user.
Improves clarity in Avalara transaction records.
Adds control over visibility of user actions in the portal.
Improves flexibility when using Accounts and Prospects.
Enables dynamic fields based on asset lifecycle status.
Ensures asset tagging consistency during stock processes.
Adds control over Avalara synchronization scope.
Allows a predefined score for surveys.
Improves visibility when prorating billing items.
Automatically generates a ticket alongside sales orders.
Allows column width customization in list views.
Changes ordering of lists in the team view.
Adds asset status as a usable variable in buttons.
Improves flexibility when viewing lists.
Allows visual customization of buttons.
Enables distribution lists based on ticket criteria.
Adds control over forecast data ranges.
Enhances performance of Azure/Entra sync.
Improves visibility of ticket closure information.
Optimizes webhook performance and payload handling.
Refines permissions for asset management.

Episode 19 walks through HaloPSA v2.212 and v2.214, covering a wide range of quality-of-life improvements, admin controls, and workflow enhancements. Connor and Robbie highlight updates around ticket forms, invoicing, templates, and automation, making this especially useful for MSPs looking to tighten processes and improve day-to-day efficiency.
Watch Now: By the [run]Book: Episode 19
For easier tracking, check out haloreleases.remmy.dev to filter and search HaloPSA updates by ID, version, and keyword.
Allows assets to be linked directly to a client instead of only via a site.
Improves tracking of report usage across dashboards.
Adds control over end-user assignment in templates.
Prevents actions on tickets for stopped clients or sites.
Allows updating custom fields directly via actions.
Prevents approval of expired quotes.
Adds variables for original customer addresses.
Ensures hidden fields do not retain values.
Adds advanced relative date filtering.
Adds preview functionality for templates.
Allows editing of existing meter readings.
Improves grouping of invoice items.
Enables merging duplicate assets.
Displays number of related tickets.
Enhances monitoring integration mapping.
Adds more control to purchase order lifecycle.
Enables workflows triggered by agent emails.
Adds mapping and geolocation features.
Introduces guided project setup.
Allows updating ticket fields post-creation in chat.
Prevents deletion of populated top-level structures.
Improves timesheet usability.
Fixes inconsistent quote PDF behavior.
Aligns quote email behavior with configuration.
Adds access to billing profiles from invoice screen.
Allows use of quote data in actions.
Adds new automation trigger.
Adds rich text support for asset fields.
Prevents closure when tasks remain open.
Adds approvals to activity feed.
Removes agent login option from portal.
Adds ordering control to lookup codes.
Adds planning field to releases.
Enables guided onboarding tools.
Adds note field to consignment lines.
Expands team visibility.
Extends accessibility tools to main app.
Displays previous invoice values.
Exposes billing data to API.
Adds search to selection fields.
Aligns call screen logic with ticket settings.
Links credit lines to original sales orders.
Improves invoice ID handling.
Introduces role-based API identity.

In this episode of By the Runbook, the team continues through the HaloPSA 2.212 release notes and spends time unpacking what several of these changes actually mean in practice. The conversation covers workflow design, mail campaigns, ticket views, reporting, and automation behavior, with especially useful commentary for MSPs trying to decide what to enable, what to ignore, and what to be careful with.
Watch Now: By the [run]Book: Episode 18
For easier tracking, check out haloreleases.remmy.dev to filter and search HaloPSA updates by ID, version, and keyword.
Check out MSP Blueprint for info on runbooks: MSPBlueprint
This allows the ticket screen to automatically refresh when a background automation completes.
Expands qualification matching to include custom field criteria.
Adds delayed and retry-based webhook processing options.
This change limits the available “From” addresses on a ticket action to mailboxes the assigned team can actually access.
Adds Email Address as another attribute option for follower behavior on the portal.
Allows changes to Mail Campaigns after they have started.
Restricts pipeline stages based on opportunity type.
Adds webhook processing options including delayed and retry handling.
Adds the ability to hide tickets from the change calendar.
Adds Service Users as a selectable option in distribution and user lists.
Allows campaigns to be sent from sales mailboxes.
Adds a warning when an action email will fail.
Adds asset relationship mapping during SQL imports.
Adds an isRunning field to asset discovery.
Expands qualification matching with custom field rules.
Allows ticket view to auto-refresh after automation runs.
Adds ability to update currency values on quotes.
Requires comments for negative KB feedback.
Adds control for showing nested tickets.
Enhances AI reporting capabilities.
Restricts KB edits to owners only.
Adds translation support in the portal.
Adds secondary MAC address support.
Adds character limits to text fields.
Adds more fields for OLA and rule reporting.
Prevents approvals from email replies.
Extends field copying to deeper ticket levels.
Adds primary asset as a runbook condition.
Adds AgentID variable for lookups.
Adds reporting changes to config tracking.
Adds filter profiles to child ticket views.
Adds more configuration options to other open tickets view.