Hook onto Data with Webhooks for Helprace

Fri, 20 Oct 2017, in Helprace, Releases

As time goes by, we get more and more accustomed to real-time data and self-updating interfaces.

Those of you who were around last year, you might remember we unveiled a much-awaited Helprace API capability which opened the doors to integration for our customers.

In either case, APIs are great if you’re looking to provide a request and receive a response. As a result, APIs can allow your customers to interact with Helprace using your app. Things like add tickets to your help desk or search your knowledge base without actually being in Helprace.

But what about webhooks?

Unlike an API, webhooks don’t need a request – instead they check on data and relay information to your system automatically.

Webhooks are something that Helprace uses to call a script on your server due to an event. When something changes, voila – a webhook request is received, kind of like a push notification on your phone. So what do these webhooks do once you have them?

Modify data in your system to match changes in Helprace:

• Update customer details (email, phone, activity) in your system when changed in your Helprace account.
• Update your member area based on the changes in Helprace.
• Notify your system when a new Idea is suggested in your Helprace community.
• Inform your system when an urgent ticket hasn’t been solved.

Apply changes to data elsewhere to match data in Helprace:

• Alert your team in Slack when an internal note is added.
• Carry over ticket details to a HipChat room.
• Send every ticket satisfaction rating to Magento.
• Send tickets about feedback to a Trello board.

Now what’s a difference between than and an API?

An API allows you to do the reverse. For example, you can modify data in Helprace to match inputs elsewhere:

• Transfer Wufoo form field data to a user profile field.
• Transfer Nimble details into the customer profile.
• Send Salesforce data into an internal note.

Hopefully this post gives you some ideas and clears up some differences between a webhook and API. If you’d like to learn about quickly adding a webhook to your Helprace, head to our knowledge base article. You can also take a look at the Helprace Webhook Guide.

Remember that our support portal is always open for your thoughts and feedback about these recent updates.

Tags: helprace, release