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Creating an extended integration for Zendesk users

Caroline Maguire
  • June 16, 2022 10:46
  • Updated
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  • Configurable dashboards and list views of key user information
  • Configurable reports to share information about users with your colleagues and management
  • Configurable workflows for adding and deleting users

Navigation

small_blue_link.svg Setting your Zendesk Subdomain as a global variable

small_blue_link.svgAdding the credentials

small_blue_link.svgCreating the user integration

small_blue_link.svgCreating custom mappings

small_blue_link.svg Creating workflows

Creating user workflows with the API block

Zendesk Add Comment and Status to Ticket preset

Zendesk Add Comment to Ticket preset

Zendesk Create Ticket Preset

Zendesk Create User Preset

Zendesk Delete User Preset

Zendesk Get User Organization Preset

Zendesk Suspend User Preset

Zendesk Update Ticket Preset

Creating Saas user workflows

Zendesk User Role Preset

Before you start

Best practice
For the integration with Oomnitza, create a dedicated user account.

Zendesk supports two types of authentication for its API: Basic and OAuth. You should select the one that meets your security requirements.

If you opt to use Basic Authentication, you are required to do the following in Zendesk:

  1. Enable API token access.
  2. Generate an API token

For further information, refer to Zendesk: Generating a new API token

Note: Zendesk's API Token based authentication is unusual in that it uses an API Token to authenticate, but is set up as if it were Basic Auth. This is because the credentials need to be base64 encoded before being sent to Zendesk.

To set up your authentication of choice in Oomnitza see Adding the credentials.

Setting your Zendesk Subdomain as a global variable

To save time when you create workflows, set your subdomain as a global variable:

  1. From the menu, click Configuration > General.
  2. Click Global Settings.
  3. Click Add new variable (+).
  4. Add the Zendesk.Subdomain variable and its value. The value is the name of your Zendesk subdomain. If your Zendesk URL is https://mycompany.zendesk.comyour subdomain would be: mycompany.
  5. Save your changes.

Adding the credentials

To use Basic Authentication in Oomnitza, complete the following steps:

  1. Log into Oomnitza.
  2. Click Configuration > Security > Credentials, and then click Add new credential (+).
  3. Add the information details.
  4. In the Authorization tab, select Basic Auth as the Authorization type.
  5. Enter your Username. The Username should be your Zendesk username connected to an API Token with a "/". It will look like this: username@address.com/token.
  6. In the Password field, enter your API Key.
  7. Click Create. 

To use OAuth authentication in Oomnitza, complete the following steps:

  1. Log into Oomnitza.
  2. Click Configuration > Security > Credentials, and then click Add new credential (+).
  3. Add the information details.
  4. Click the AUTHORIZATION tab.
  5. As authorization type select OAuth 2.0.
  6. From the SaaS list, select Zendesk.
  7. Enter your Zendesk subdomain. If your Zendesk URL is https://mycompany.zendesk.comyour subdomain would be: mycompany.
  8. Enter the Client ID generated during OAuth2 setup.
  9. Enter the Client Secret generated during OAuth2 setup.
  10. Enter the Scope of your integration. For information on scopes refer to Zendesk: Scope. Some commonly used scopes include:
    • "users : read" - for loading the list of users
    • "read" - for SaaS user role integration
    • "read write" - for the various API presets
  11. Authenticate the connection.
  12. Click CREATE. 
Next

You use the credentials that you added to create and customize your Zendesk integrations with Oomnitza.

Creating the user integration

Info and connect details

  1. From the menu, click Configuration >Integrations.
  2. Click Integrations List View small_SettingsListView.svg.
  3. On the Integrations page, scroll down to the Extended section for User Integrations.
  4. Click NEW INTEGRATION.
  5. In the New User Integration sidebar, click Zendesk.
  6. Depending on your authentication preference, click APPLY next to the Zendesk OAuth User or Basic User Load, and then click NEXT twice.

Connect page

Best practice
To ensure that only live user records are streamed to Oomnitza, choose Update only as your integration preference. When you run the integration, you can check the error logs to see which user records weren't uploaded and why they weren't uploaded. You can then decide whether to upload the user records that were skipped by changing your integration preference to create and upload. See Access error logs.

On the connect page, complete the following steps to connect the integration:

  1. Enter a descriptive name for the integration such as Zendesk User Load. This name will be displayed on the Integrations page once the setup is complete.
  2. From the User Selection list, select User plus SaaS User or User only.
  3. If you select User plus SaaS User and you have multiple instances of the same SaaS application, select the application from the SaaS Selection list. If you have a single instance of the SaaS application, skip this step.
  4. From the installation type list, select Cloud.
  5. From the Credentials list, select your credentials.
  6. From the Integration Preferences list, select Update only.   
  7. Enter the name of the user of the integration.
  8. Enter your Zendesk subdomain. If your Zendesk URL is https://mycompany.zendesk.comyour subdomain would be: mycompany.
  9. Specify which roles to load. Possible values are "end-user", "agent", or "admin". For further information refer to Zendesk: Users.
  10. Click Next.

Creating custom mappings

Map the Zendesk fields to Oomnitza fields and create custom mappings to get the user information that you need.

Complete these actions:

  1. You have the option to create custom mappings to map any other field that you want to add to Oomnitza. To create an optional custom mapping, do the following:
    1. Click the down arrow on the field that you want to map.
    2. Select Add new Oomnitza users field.
    3. Change the name of the field.
    4. Click CREATE. 
  2. Assign a sync key to the Email field. 
  3. Click NEXT.

Note: For all user loads, it is recommended that you map role information to an employee role in Oomnitza. Users need to have an employee role defined in order to access Oomnitza. If the role information is not available from the user load, it is recommended that you select Employee from the Oomnitza Role dropdown list. You have the option to overwrite this at a later point should the role information become available. 

Standard Zendesk to Oomnitza mappings

The following Zendesk fields can be mapped to Oomnitza:

Active
Alias
Chat Only
Created At
Default Group ID
Details
Email 
External ID
IANA Time Zone
ID
Last Login At
Locale
Moderator
Name
notes
Only Private Comments
Organization ID
Phone
Report CSV
Restricted Agent
Role
Role Type
Shared
Shared Agent
Shared Phone Number
Suspended
Ticket Restriction
Time Zone
Two-Factor Auth Enabled
Updated At

Want to map more fields to Oomnitza?
Contact Support, or see Mapping extended connectors.

When you've completed mapping the Zendesk to Oomnitza fields, click NEXT.

Schedule

By default, user data is streamed to Oomnitza once every day.

You can configure the schedule to meet your needs such as changing the interval or changing the time so that the data is streamed when your system isn't busy.

  1. Configure your schedule.
  2. Click FINISH.

Result

A new tile is created for the integration on the Integrations page. 

What to do next

If you want to see the information that is collected now, click the tile on the Integrations page and click RUN NOW.

If you want to change the integration settings, you can click a navigation link on the page, such as 4 Mappings, and edit the settings. 

edit-integration.svg

Tip
To view the information that is collected about your mobile assets, click Assets. 

Creating workflows

Creating user workflows with the API block

To reduce your workload and automate complex and repetitive tasks, you can create user workflows with the API block by following the steps in Creating user workflows with the API block. When creating the user workflows with the API block for Zendesk, the following specific configuration is required:

  • To locate the available presets, enter Zendesk in the Select Preset search field.

The Zendesk API block workflow comes with the following available presets:

Using the Zendesk Add Comment and Status to Ticket preset

The Zendesk Create Ticket preset allows you to add a comment and change the status of an existing Zendesk ticket. When you select this preset, enter the following details in the Configure section:

  1. Your  Zendesk Credentials that you created in Update credentials. 
  2. The Description, or comment you wish to add to the ticket.
  3. The new Status you want to add to the ticket.
  4. Your Subdomain is derived from the global variable Zendesk.Subdomain that you configured in Setting your Zendesk Subdomain as a global variable, or can be entered manually.
  5. Click the Advanced Mode button located in the upper right of the window.
  6. You can switch from Basic Auth to OAuth and vice versa by selecting the Authorization tab and changing the Type. For further information refer to Adding the credentials.
  7. The ticket id is assumed to be stored within a workflow variable called ticket id (Data type= Short text). If you want to use a different value, go to Advanced Mode > Information and replace the variable {{WFVariables.ticket_id}} in the URL field with the ticket id. For further information on workflow variables refer to Creating a Workflow variable.

Using the Zendesk Add Comment to Ticket preset

The Zendesk Add Comment to Ticket preset allows you to add a comment to an existing Zendesk ticket. When you select this preset, enter the following details in the Configure section:

  1. Your  Zendesk Credentials that you created in Update credentials. 
  2. The Description, or comment you wish to add to the ticket.
  3. Your Subdomain is derived from the global variable Zendesk.Subdomain that you configured in Setting your Zendesk Subdomain as a global variable, or can be entered manually.
  4. Click the Advanced Mode button located in the upper right of the window.
  5. You can switch from Basic Auth to OAuth and vice versa by selecting the Authorization tab and changing the Type. For further information refer to Adding the credentials.
  6. The ticket id is assumed to be stored within a workflow variable called ticket id (Data type= Short text). If you want to use a different value, go to Advanced Mode > Information and replace the variable {{WFVariables.ticket_id}} in the URL field with the ticket id. For further information on workflow variables refer to Creating a Workflow variable.

Using the Zendesk Create Ticket preset

The Zendesk Create Ticket preset allows you to create a ticket within Zendesk. When you select this preset, enter the following details in the Configure section:

  1. Your  Zendesk Credentials that you created in Update credentials. 
  2. The Subject of the ticket.
  3. The Description, or comment you wish to add to the ticket.
  4. Your Subdomain is derived from the global variable Zendesk.Subdomain that you configured in Setting your Zendesk Subdomain as a global variable, or can be entered manually.
  5. Click the Advanced Mode button located in the upper right of the window.
  6. You can switch from Basic Auth to OAuth and vice versa by selecting the Authorization tab and changing the Type. For further information refer to Adding the credentials.
  7. Select the Body tab. Verify which fields you want to send to Zendesk for ticket creation in the Body field.

For further information see Zendesk - Create ticket.

Using the Zendesk Create User preset

The Zendesk Create User preset allows you to create a new user in Zendesk. When you select this preset, enter the following details in the Configure section:

  1. Your  Zendesk Credentials that you created in Update credentials. 
  2. Your Subdomain is derived from the global variable Zendesk.Subdomain that you configured in Setting your Zendesk Subdomain as a global variable, or can be entered manually.
  3. Click the Advanced Mode button located in the upper right of the window.
  4. You can switch from Basic Auth to OAuth and vice versa by selecting the Authorization tab and changing the Type. For further information refer to Adding the credentials.
  5. Select the Body tab. Verify which fields you want to send to Zendesk for user creation in the Body field.

For further information see Zendesk - Create User.

Using the Zendesk Delete User preset

The Zendesk Delete User preset allows you to delete/deactivate a user from Zendesk. When you select this preset, enter the following details in the Configure section:

  1. Your  Zendesk Credentials that you created in Update credentials. 
  2. Your Subdomain is derived from the global variable Zendesk.Subdomain that you configured in Setting your Zendesk Subdomain as a global variable, or can be entered manually.
  3. Click the Advanced Mode button located in the upper right of the window.
  4. You can switch from Basic Auth to OAuth and vice versa by selecting the Authorization tab and changing the Type. For further information refer to Adding the credentials.
  5. Select the Information tab.
  6. The URL field will need to be updated with the {{user_external_id}} of the user you wish to delete.

Scenario
Two SaaS user records were added to Oomnitza. Subsequently, the two user records are merged into one user record in Zendesk.
User action
After the records were merged, the workflow is run to deactivate the user record.
Result
Neither of the two SaaS user records can be deactivated.

For further information see Zendesk - Delete User.

Using the Zendesk Get User Organization preset

The Zendesk Get User Organization preset allows you to get a user from Zendesk using the organization id. When you select this preset, enter the following details in the Configure section:

  1. Your  Zendesk Credentials that you created in Update credentials. 
  2. The OrganizationId associated with the user.
  3. Your Subdomain is derived from the global variable Zendesk.Subdomain that you configured in Setting your Zendesk Subdomain as a global variable, or can be entered manually.
  4. Click the Advanced Mode button located in the upper right of the window.
  5. You can switch from Basic Auth to OAuth and vice versa by selecting the Authorization tab and changing the Type. For further information refer to Adding the credentials.

For further information see Zendesk - Users.

Using the Zendesk Suspend User preset

The Zendesk Suspend User preset allows you to suspend a user within Zendesk and could be used within a user off-boarding workflow. When you select this preset, enter the following details in the Configure section:

  1. Your  Zendesk Credentials that you created in Update credentials. 
  2. Your Subdomain is derived from the global variable Zendesk.Subdomain that you configured in Setting your Zendesk Subdomain as a global variable, or can be entered manually.
  3. Click the Advanced Mode button located in the upper right of the window.
  4. You can switch from Basic Auth to OAuth and vice versa by selecting the Authorization tab and changing the Type. For further information refer to Adding the credentials.
  5. Select the Information tab.
  6. The URL field will need to be updated with the {{user_id}} of the user you wish to suspend.

For further information see Zendesk - Suspending a User.

Using the Zendesk Update Ticket preset

The Zendesk Update Ticket preset allows you to update a Zendesk ticket. When you select this preset, enter the following details in the Configure section:

  1. Your  Zendesk Credentials that you created in Update credentials. 
  2. The Description, or comment you wish to add to the ticket.
  3. The Status you want to update in the ticket.
  4. The Type you want to update in the ticket.
  5. The Priority you want to update in the ticket.
  6. The Additional Tag you want to update in the ticket.
  7. Your Subdomain is derived from the global variable Zendesk.Subdomain that you configured in Setting your Zendesk Subdomain as a global variable, or can be entered manually.
  8. Click the Advanced Mode button located in the upper right of the window.
  9. You can switch from Basic Auth to OAuth and vice versa by selecting the Authorization tab and changing the Type. For further information refer to Adding the credentials.
  10. The ticket id is assumed to be stored within a workflow variable called ticket id (Data type= Short text). If you want to use a different value, go to Advanced Mode > Information and replace the variable {{WFVariables.ticket_id}} in the URL field with the ticket id. For further information on workflow variables refer to Creating a Workflow variable.

For further information see Zendesk - Update Ticket.

Creating Saas user workflows

You can create the SaaS User workflow by following the steps in Creating Saas user workflows. When creating the SaaS User workflow for Zendesk, the following specific configuration is required:

  • To locate the available preset, enter Zendesk in the Select Preset search field.
  • The Zendesk SaaS User workflow block comes with one available preset, the Zendesk User Role API.

Using the Zendesk User Role preset

The Zendesk User Role preset enables you to read a user’s role and last login date from Zendesk. The preset is available in OAuth and Basic Authentication. When you select this preset, enter the following details in the Configure section:

For further information on workflows see:
small_blue_link.svg Understanding workflows
small_blue_link.svg Workflow block overview

Unleash the power of Oomnitza

To get valuable actionable insights that help you manage your assets, learn how to:

      • Configure dashboards for your users and software
      • Configure custom reports about your users and software
      • Create workflows to automate tasks

See small_blue_link.svg Getting started for more information.

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