New Update Increases Task Automation 

The latest update to Canvas’s integration with Zapier is small but extremely powerful. It essentially changes how other systems interact with the GoCanvas database, by allowing them to automatically push in data that will update existing tasks within the Dispatch Manager.  If you want to learn how Zapier connects GoCanvas to over 300+ different web platforms, be sure to click here.

The Basics

When you setup a connection with Zapier, or as they call it a “Zap”, one web program acts as a “Trigger” and every program connected after it is setup as an “Action”. In the case of our latest update, we added a new action to Canvas’ toolbelt.

Previously your only “Action” available for GoCanvas was “Create Dispatch”. An example of this is pretty simple.

Say you wanted your “Initial Inspection” app to automatically schedule a dispatch to your “Follow-Up Inspection” app every time you completed a job. This Zapier “Action” would eliminate the need to manually create and assign a follow-up dispatch task after each job. This could potentially save dispatchers 100s of hours in scheduling every month.

If you’re interested in setting up the “Create Dispatch” Zap, you can check out the tutorial here.

So What’s New

The newest “Action” added to the Zapier platform for GoCanvas is the ability to delete a dispatch. This ability can be triggered by almost every one of Zapier’s 300+ web connections and gives clients the ability to further automate the way tasks are created, scheduled, and resolved within the Dispatch Manager. All you have to do is ensure that the Item Description of the Dispatch from GoCanvas is connected with the “Trigger” of the web application you’ve connected via Zapier.

Don’t worry, this will be clearly explained and defined when you creating your zap! Click here to learn how to get started setting up this Zap.

Best Use Cases

With the addition of “Delete Dispatch” to the Zapier action list, companies now have the ability to have their existing systems interface with GoCanvas a lot more smoothly. This is because their existing systems can essentially communicate back and forth with GoCanvas, letting it know whether a dispatch needs to be created or deleted.

Here are the top 3 ways to start using the new Zapier action:

 Inspections: We touched on this a little bit earlier in terms of creating NEW DISPATCHES, but we thought it was important to highlight how deleting dispatches could be extremely beneficial during the inspection process.

In some situations, your office dispatcher may assign the same Inspection ticket to multiple employees, not knowing who is first available to get to the client’s location.

With this new Zap, whoever completes and submits the inspection will automatically trigger the Canvas Dispatch Manager to automatically delete and un-assign the duplicate tickets from the other technicians. Now the dispatcher won’t have to worry about manually going through each job and un-assigning the duplicates, and the technicians won’t show up on a job site that has already been serviced.

 Client Cancellations: Almost every company deals with clients who reschedule on them for one reason or another. This process of creating, modifying, and deleting appointments can cause frustration for both the office and field staff. With the new “Delete Dispatch” functionality, you can connect the GoCanvas Dispatch Manager with your company’s Google Calendar to help streamline the appointment modification process.

This Zap is perfect for any situation where a client needs to reschedule their appointment to a new date. Instead of having to manually change both the Google Calendar event and the GoCanvas Dispatch Manager task, all you have to do now is change the event date on your calendar and GoCanvas will automatically delete the current task assigned to you.

Now you or the office can reach back out and re-confirm with the client before setting up the new Dispatch task.

 Accounts Payable: Zapier already provides you the ability to quickly connect your backend systems with your GoCanvas mobile apps and forms, but now it also gives you the ability to integrate them with your Dispatch manager as well!

The perfect use case for this zap is a situation where the office has assigned a dispatch to a technician in order to perform routine service, with a follow-up dispatch to collect payment. After the service is performed, the client informs you that they would like to pay immediately. They call the office and an invoice is created within your company’s QB system.  Now, with the new Zapier “Action”, GoCanvas will delete the scheduled dispatch that matches the customer’s name on the QB invoice that was generated.

This will help avoid any unnecessary trips by your technicians and eliminate the need for your office staff to reconcile dispatches with paid invoices. 

Additional Recommendations

The best part about our integration with Zapier is that the possibilities are endless. You can use any of your GoCanvas apps or mobile forms as the “Trigger” and have your data push into over 300 web platforms including QuickBase, Salesforce, SQL, Google Business Apps, and more!

Check out a couple of our most popular Zaps below: