Building Your First Automated Workflow (Zap)

In this chapter, we’ll cover all the need-to-know information to enable you to start automating manual and repetitive tasks in your business. We will start by covering how to strategize and plan individual workflows before automating them. We will then dive into working through a step-by-step process of connecting your apps to Zapier, introduce the two versions of the Zap editor, and work through an example to help you create your first Zap from scratch. Then, we will show you how to edit your Zaps and switch between versions, and how you can access a wide range of pre-built or guided workflows created by Zapier to speed up your Zap-building process. We will explain the different field types you may see in your action steps, and how to use the correct data formats for their fields. We will conclude this chapter by delving into the best practices to ensure the continuous improvement of your processes.

We will cover the following...

Technical requirements

To work through the content in this chapter, you will need access to a Zapier account. The Zapier Free plan will be adequate to work through the content in this chapter. To use Versions, you must be subscribed to a paid Zapier plan. You can get access to the Zap templates used in this chapter here: https://bit.ly/zapier-book. Using these templates will help you visualize how the process works.

Strategizing your first workflow

So far in this book, we have worked through how to simplify your processes, establish what can be automated, and assess how your business apps integrate with Zapier. You are now suitably prepared to start planning your first workflow.

The following steps are required to strategize your workflows:

1. Reviewing your process and app information
2. Creating a step-by-step workflow plan

Let’s take a look at each of these.

Reviewing your process and app information

From your list of processes, choose one of your five top-priority processes that satisfy the following criteria:

• The process can be automated partly or fully
• One or more apps associated with the process integrate with Zapier
• You have made a list of triggers, actions, and searches for each of your apps

Now, let’s explore how to create a workflow plan.

Creating a step-by-step workflow plan

From your chosen process, select one of the...

Connecting your apps to Zapier

Before we can start building our automations, we need to connect our apps to Zapier to allow Zapier to retrieve and post data in them.

Important note

Knowing how your data and security are handled by Zapier is an important topic. Allowing Zapier access to your apps using authentication protocols is essential for Zapier to be able to perform task automations on your behalf. The credentials that you use to authenticate your apps so that Zapier can connect with them are stored with bank-level encryption. Zapier has created a comprehensive resource on data privacy and security, which you can read here: https://zapier.com/help/account/data-management/security-at-zapier.

App connection can be performed from two places:

• The My Apps link in the left sidebar.
• The Zap editor in our trigger, action, or search steps. We will cover this in more detail in the Creating your first Zap in the Zap editor section of Setting up your trigger step.
...

Creating your first Zap in the Zap editor

There are three ways that you can create a Zap:

• Create a Zap (beta) feature: This is an AI Zap builder feature that is currently in beta. It allows you to use a prompt that will use AI functionality to produce a draft Zap for you. We will discuss this feature in more detail in Chapter 19, AI and Automation.
• Suggested workflow templates: Once you have added the apps you use, in your dashboard, you will be shown some suggestions of workflow templates you can use to quickly get started with Zapier. We will cover this later in this chapter.
• Build from scratch: The best way to learn how to use Zapier to automate your processes is to build your Zaps from scratch.

All workflows are created, edited, and maintained in the Zap editor. The Zap editor can be accessed at any time from the expandable left sidebar menu, by clicking on the + Create Zap button. First, let’s have a look at how to navigate the Zap editor.

Navigating...

Understanding field data types

Now that we’ve created our first Zap, we must elaborate on the different types of fields that you may see in Zapier action steps.

In the previous section, we covered the two general types of fields, Choose value… and Enter text or insert data…, and how to use them to map fields in your Zaps. In addition to these two general field types, five different field data types allow you to add data in specific formats. Each field data type is represented by an icon, as shown in the following table:

Figure 3.32 – Action step field data types

These field data types are dictated by the data posting format requirements of your action app. For example, if your action app is Xero (an accounting app), and you want to create a new invoice, your invoice date field will only allow you to add date/time data values for the request to be successful.

We will discuss each of these field data types in turn.

Date...

Ensuring your processes and automations stay current

In Chapter 1, Introduction to Business Process Automation with Zapier, and Chapter 2, Preparing to Automate Your Processes, we covered using business process automation principles to improve the way you manage your processes and make them more efficient with automation. We now need to discuss the importance of building your workflows with continuous improvement in mind.

Businesses continually change due to economic influences, staff turnover, priorities and goals, and growth. Thus, the way companies work and how tasks are performed is bound to change often. In addition, app integrations are frequently updated and improved. Regularly reviewing your processes will ensure you benefit from these upgrades and align with the way your business functions currently. Business process automation principles take into consideration that businesses and technology evolve constantly, and promote having a plan for continuous improvement.

These...

Summary

In this chapter, we started by discussing how to strategize individual workflows before diving into working through the step-by-step process of connecting your apps to Zapier and creating your first workflow automation (Zap) in Zapier. We explored how to edit your Zaps and utilize the version history to switch between different versions and how you can access and use a wide range of pre-built workflows. We also explored the different types of fields that can be found in action steps and how to use these fields correctly. We concluded this chapter by delving into best practices for ensuring the continuous improvement of your processes.

You now know how to plan your workflows and create them in Zapier from scratch or using Zap templates. You also know how to use different types of field data and perform continuous improvement in your processes. You also created your first automated workflow.

In the next chapter, we will cover the best ways you can organize your Zaps by...

Questions

1. What three ways can Zapier ask you to connect and authenticate your apps?
2. What are the three options for adding data to your action steps?
3. Other than the two general types of data fields, what are the five specific field data types?