Zapier - What is it and how to use it?

What is Zapier?

Zapier is a powerful web service that allows you to easily connect applications together.

In concrete terms, you can create rules ("zaps") that describe which "actions" (e.g. sending an email) to apply when a trigger event occurs in an application (e.g. adding a new row to a table or a modification adding a row to a filtered view in TimeTonic).

We are really into task automation. Every day, we encounter redundant and time-consuming situations such as adding an event in our Google calendar when a renewal date has been added to a contract in TimeTonic, automatically sending a tweet and a LinkedIn and Facebook post, notifying a decision-maker that a purchase validation or non-conformity request has just been made... 

Today, Zapier connects more than 1000 applications used daily, including TimeTonic.

 

How to connect TimeTonic to Zapier? 

 

First step is to create your zapier account if you haven't done it yet. 

Go to Zapier: https://zapier.com.

To start, click on the red "Make a Zap" button to get to the page where you can choose your triggers. Then click on TimeTonic.

 

 

Creating a trigger

The first step in creating a Zap is to create a trigger event.

In your list of apps, choose the TimeTonic app.

There are 2 trigger events in TimeTonic:

• The creation of a new row in a table ("New table Row")
• The creation of a new row in a view ("New Table Row in View")

 

 

In our example, we will select the "New Table Row in View" trigger. Then click on the "Save+Continue" button.

Now we need to connect your TimeTonic account to Zapier. 

 

Click on the "Connect an Account" button

You must enter your TimeTonic ID and your TimeTonic API key. To get your API key, go to your account profile. Generate and copy your API key.

 

 

Enter your TimeTonic ID, followed by the copied API key. 

 

 

The following screen appears, if the account has been found. 

 

 

You can test the connection by clicking on the "Test" button

 

 

Select your account and click on the "Save + Continue" button 

Now enter your trigger information, namely adding a new line in a view.

The 2nd field will automatically update, once the book is selected, to show the available tables in the book.

The same goes for the 3rd field which presents the different views of the previously selected table.

 

Ex: In the CRM Project and FDT workspace, we want to see the "Won with announcement" view in the CRM Projects and Opportunities table.

The objective is to create an alert, by sending an email, when the status of a business opportunity changes to "Won with announcement".

We have of course created and saved this view in TimeTonic before with the filter "Sales status" is among "Won with ad". So every time we change the status of a business opportunity to "Won with Announcement", the line will automatically appear in the right view and this will trigger the "Trigger" that we are creating in Zapier.

 

 

Warning: make sure you have at least one row in this view to be able to create your zap because Zapier needs to have a sample of the trigger result.

Back in Zapier, select this test set to initialize your Zap ("New Table row in view A").

 

 

Click on the "Continue" button to finish creating the Zap

 

 

Now you need to create an action step for this new Zap! 

Click on the "Add a Step" button or directly on the link presented to access the following window which allows you to select the action.

In our example, we will select Gmail to send an alert to an email address that will inform me that a new business opportunity has just been won.

 

 

Select "Send Email" to create and send a new email message, then click on the "Save + Continue" button

On the next screen, click the "Connect an account" button to connect a Gmail email account with Zapier, then "Save + Continue"

 

Creating an email message template to send

 

 

The following page describes all the steps to create an email message template.

Enter the recipient(s) in the fields "To", "Cc", "Bcc". It is possible to search for the recipient in a field of the selected TimeTonic view, by clicking on the icon, then the column of the view containing the email address.
Enter the "From" sender: by default the email address used, and the subject of the email "New business won!"

 
Then the body part of the message allows you to personalize your message by inserting fields from the view and concerning the selected line.

By clicking on the picto at the top right of this part, you can search (use the search engine) and select a field in your view.

E.g.: "Assigned to" for the recipient, "Opportunity" for the name of the business opportunity concerned, "Amount" to indicate the amount of the transaction.

A document can also be attached ("Attachment") to inform, for example, the purchase order.
Then click on the "Continue" button to finish entering the email template.
The following page shows a preview of the message before sending.

 

 

If the test goes well, the following message is displayed:

 

 

You have to wait about 5 minutes for the transaction to be completed.

If an error occurs in your template, Zapier informs you of the error and it is always possible to return to the process by going directly to the step where the error occurred in the left navigation pane:

Ex: Error related to the "To" field of the template, where the data entered is not an email address.  Go to Edit Template to return to the template and modify the way the "To" field is populated. 

 

 

Once the test is successful, you can click on the "Finish" button

All that remains is to activate the Zap!