What is Zapier ?

Zapier is a powerful web service that allows applications to be easily connected to each other.

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

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

Today, Zapier makes it possible to connect more than 1000 applications used daily, including TimeTonic.

How to connect TimeTonic to Zapier ?

The first step is to create your Zapier account.

See https://zapier.com. 

To start, click on the "Make a Zap" button to get to the triggers selection page. Then click on TimeTonic.

Creating a trigger :

The first step to create a Zap is to create a "trigger event".

In your app list, choose the app TimeTonic.

there are 2 triggering events in TimeTonic:

• Creating a new line in a table ("New table Row")
• Creating a new line in a view ("New Table Row in View")

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

Now you 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 the information of your trigger, i. e. adding a new line in a view. The 2nd field will be automatically updated, once the book is selected, to present the available tables of the book.

Same for the 3rd field which presents the different views of the previously selected table.

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

The goal is to create an alert, by sending an email, when a business opportunity's status changes and moves to the "Won with announcement" position.

We have previously created and saved this view in TimeTonic n which the status "Won with announcement" is among the filter "Commercial Status". So every time you change the status of a business opportunity to "Win with ad", 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 line in this view to be able to create your zap because Zapier must have a sample of the trigger result.

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

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

The next step is 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 that allows you to select the action.

In our example, we will select the Gmail email, to send an alert to an email address, which will inform us 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 on 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 items to create an email message template.

• Enter the recipient(s) in the "To", "Cc", "Bcc" fields. You can choose the recipient in a field of the selected TimeTonic view, by clicking on the pictogram, then the column of the view containing the email address.
• Enter the sender "From": It is, by default, the one used for the email address, as well as for subject of the email "New business won" 
• Then the "body" of the message allows you to customize your message by inserting fields from the view concerning the selected line.
  • By clicking on the pictogram  at the top right of this section, you can 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 may also be attached ("Attachment") to inform, for example, of the order form
• Click afterwards on the "Continue" button to complete the entry of the email template.
• The next page shows a preview of the message before sending.

If the test is successful, the following message is displayed:

It takes about 5 minutes for the transaction to be completed.

In the event that an error occurs in your template, Zapier informs you of the error and offers the possibility to get back 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. "Edit Template" allows you to return to the template and change the way the "To" field functions.

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

All you have to do is to activate the Zap!