Automate & Optimize Your User Onboarding Process

Automating your processes can help drive down costs, boost success rates, and increase the efficiency of the workflows in your business. In this post, I’ll break down every step along the way to setting up an integration between Process Street and ClicData, using the client onboarding process as an example. The goal is to set up a working Zapier integration (called Zap), and for our example, we’ll be creating a Zap to automatically send data about client satisfaction from a Process Street checklist, directly into ClicData’s data warehouse. By doing this, you’ll have eliminated unnecessary manual work and reduced human error, effectively optimizing one of the most inefficient parts of the whole client onboarding workflow based on key principles of business process automation. Let’s get started!

How integrations can help your business

Integrations are useful for just about any business application, but let’s talk specifics. First of all, you have to understand what each component of the integration can do for you. Process Street, for example, is a versatile workflow management tool that allows you to create and edit highly customizable templates, which you then use to run checklists. By structuring all of your recurring tasks around a clearly written, standard process (a checklist) with actionable tasks, you do two things:

• reduce the potential for human error;
• effectively “smooth the road” for more streamlined work by making tasks more actionable.

ClicData is the other half of this equation, at least in the example we’re using. ClicData is a data visualization tool that keeps you on top thanks to up-to-date reports. By setting up an integration with Process Street, you can remove the manual work required to transfer data gathered during the client onboarding process into a ClicData database. Because the automatic integration is built into the process, there are a few implications, namely:

• you can rest assured you haven’t lost valuable client feedback as a result of human error;
• time and money saved by the removal of tedious manual tasks can be put to better use in your company.

Use case for integrating ClicData with Process Street

Let’s look at an example of where this kind of integration would be really useful: client onboarding for management consulting. For example, at the end of the client onboarding checklist in Process Street, there could be a task to ask the client for feedback on the process. The data collected in a task like this, or at any point during the checklist can really be anything, but some examples include time spent working through the client onboarding process, general client feedback, and quantified satisfaction ratings. That data can then be sent automatically with integration into ClicData, establishing a seamless and reliable data-gathering process for management consulting client onboarding. Now we understand the use case, we can get started with building and testing a working Zap of our own.

Getting started with integration

To do any kind of integration with Zapier, you’ll need accounts with all of the tools you’re trying to integrate, as well as one with Zapier. So if you haven’t already, go ahead and sign up with Zapier and Process Street. It’s free to sign up for both, and it shouldn’t take you any more than 2 minutes. Make sure you’re on Entreprise Plan. You can sign up for a 14-day free trial to test this integration. Once you’ve done that, the first step is to choose a Process Street checklist to work with. For this example, we’ve chosen one for you: this client onboarding checklist for a management consulting firm:

Go ahead and add the checklist to your Process Street account by clicking “I want this for my business” in the embed above. Integration also depends on the API keys of the tools you’re using. So, next you’ll need to head on over to “Settings and API” tab of your organization in Process Street: Here you’ll find your API key that you’ll use to connect your Process Street account with Zapier. Hold onto it; you’ll need it when setting up the first part of the Zap. Most parts of Zaps are made up of two core components: “triggers” and “actions”. They can be more complex, but most of the functionality is derived from these two simple parts. So, let’s break down the whole Zap. Trigger, into action. Where will the initial trigger happen? Process Street. What, specifically, is causing the trigger? A task in a checklist is checked as completed. Where is the action happening? ClicData. What, specifically, is the action? Updating or appending data in ClicData. Our next task in building the Zap is to set up Process Street as a trigger in Zapier.

Setting up Process Street as a trigger in Zapier

Open up Zapier and hit “Create a new Zap”, and search “Process Street” in the trigger apps section.

After you’ve selected Process Street, choose “New Task Checked” as the trigger:

Next, select the checklist and specific task of that checklist you want to use as the trigger. As you can see, I’ve chosen “Client Onboarding Checklist for Management Consulting”, which you should have already added to your Process Street account. For the task, I’ve chosen “Receive completed feedback questionnaire”.

All that’s left is to test that this component (the trigger) is working. Hit “Continue” in the bottom left, and then head over to Process Street where you’ll need to run the same checklist you selected as the trigger. For this example, run the management consulting checklist and find the task you selected:

Complete the checklist up to the specified task. As soon as you check the trigger task, Zapier (which has been “listening” to Process Street the whole time via the API) will recognize and mark the test as successful. It’ll look like this:

That’s it – the trigger was successfully triggered. On to setting up the action.

Setting up ClicData as an action

Now, click “Add a Step” in the panel to the left of the screen. Search for “ClicData” and select it, choosing “Append Data” as the specific action, and hit “Continue”:

Now it’s time to connect your ClicData account. To do this, you’ll need two things: your “client ID” and your “client secret”. They’re both associated with your ClicData account, and can both be found in the “API” section of “My Company” settings in ClicData. Once you’re connected, hit “Save + Continue”. It’ll look something like this:

At this point, you’re asked to link the specific fields in ClicData that you want to update as part of this process. Since this example is for a client onboarding process, I’ll select all relevant information to be pulled from the client onboarding checklist and appended to the ClicData database. Once you’ve done this, it’s time to test the action.

Testing the integration

This is pretty simple. Just hit “Test this Step” and wait for the confirmation back from ClicData. If it’s working, you’ll get a clear confirmation message. If there’s an error, try re-tracing the steps in this process and make sure you did everything correctly. Otherwise, congratulations! The Zap has been tested and is working as expected. Be sure to give your Zap a name, and activate it with the “ON/OFF” switch after testing. Zaps have to be “ON” for them to work “in the wild”. Here’s an example of a customer satisfaction interactive dashboard. This dashboard is available as a template to visualize your onboarding KPIs. See it in full screen.

About the Author

Oliver Peterson is a content writer for Process Street with an interest in systems and processes, attempting to use them as tools for taking apart problems and gaining insight into building robust, lasting solutions.