Sometimes it is desirable to have Kintone records created automatically on a schedule. For example, your business may have recurring tasks, or repeated events that need to be created regularly. Normally a user would have to manually create these records in Kintone. However, it is possible to automate this process by using a combination of Schedule by Zapier and Kintone. Schedule by Zapier can be used to trigger a Zap on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
In this article, two recurring Tasks records will be created in a Kintone app called “Tasks”, by using Zapier.
Scheduled Tasks in Kintone:
Start by creating a new Zap called “Scheduled Tasks in Kintone”.
The first step of the Zap should be the “Schedule by Zapier” module.
The settings for Schedule by Zapier allow you to set the frequency of the trigger. Select “Every Week” to set the schedule to weekly.
Select “Monday” to have the trigger start at the beginning of the week.
Set the time under “Trigger” to 12:00am.
The first step is complete.
Click “Action” to add the next step for creating a record in Kintone.
Add Kintone to the step, and select the “Create Record” event.
When connecting Kintone, you may need to authenticate the connection between Zapier and Kintone. The Application ID should be the ID of the app (for example the Tasks app) that the Zap will create Kintone records in.
The API Key can be retrieved from the App Settings of the app Zapier will update (App Settings > API Token). The app settings must be saved and updated before the API Key can be used by Zapier.
It is also always helpful to update the field codes to a recognizable value (example, “Task Name”). The field codes are used as field labels in Zapier.
Now in Zapier the fields are easier to identify. Below, the Task Name field is named with the field code “Task_Name”.
In each of the blank fields, input the default data that will be used to create the Kintone record. Below a weekly record is created for the user with login “erica@kintone.com”.
Test the creation of the record by clicking “Retest step”.
Upon success, Zapier returns a Revision ID. The newly created record can be seen in Kintone.
The creation and assigning of this new record will occur every Monday.
The user wants to add another record to be created on a scheduled basis, simply add another “Create Kintone Record” step to this Zap.
The steps for creating a record in Kintone are the same. Select Kintone in the step, and select “Create Record” as the Event.
Follow the same steps as before to create a second record. Below, a second Task record is created called “Follow up with Leads” and it is assigned to the Kintone user by login name.
By clicking “Test Step”, the creation of the second record can be verified.
The record will be created in Kintone.
With the current Zap settings, these two records will be created every Monday. Click “Publish” and the records will now be automatically created on the weekly schedule.
Conclusion:
The ability to schedule actions in Kintone is very powerful. It empowers the user to add even more automation to the CRM. You may have already thought of actions your business does on a regular basis. Can Schedule by Zapier potentially improve your use case? For example perhaps it is useful to fetch a list of customer emails from Kintone and send emails to all of them on a schedule. These topics will be explored in further articles.
Navigate to Kintone Developer Program and Kintone Developer Forum for more information related to building custom functionality in Kintone.
