You can send jobs, invoices and customers from your field service software to Zapier even when there's no app for it in the Zapier directory. Start a Zap with Zapier's Webhooks by Zapier trigger, choose Catch Hook, copy the URL Zapier gives you, and add that URL in your field service software as a webhook endpoint. Every event your software sends then starts the Zap. From there you add the actions: a row in a spreadsheet, a message in team chat, a contact in your email tool.
Here's the setup step by step, using FSM Navigator as the example, and the four things to watch for.
What you need first
- A Zapier plan that includes Webhooks by Zapier. Zapier lists which plans include it on its Webhooks by Zapier help page; check yours before you start.
- Field service software that sends webhooks. In FSM Navigator, that's the Enterprise plan.
- Permission to add endpoints. In FSM Navigator, the account Owner and Managers can.
- A test customer or job you don't mind creating and deleting.
Step 1: Start a Zap with a webhook trigger
In Zapier, create a new Zap. For the trigger app choose Webhooks by Zapier, and for the event choose Catch Hook. Zapier's own guide to triggering Zaps from webhooks says of Catch Hook: "The request body will be parsed." That's what you want for most setups: the event's fields show up ready to use in later steps.
Zapier then gives you a webhook URL that belongs to this Zap. Zapier says the URL "is secured by obscurity": nobody can guess it, but anyone who has it can send data into your Zap. Treat it like a password and don't paste it into a shared chat.
Step 2: Add the URL as an endpoint
In FSM Navigator, open Webhooks from the side menu and select Add endpoint. Paste the Zapier URL, add a description you'll recognise later, like "Zapier: new customers to email list", and tick the events this Zap needs. Then select Save endpoint.
The events you can tick are:
- job created, job details updated, job status changed, job completed, job deleted and job restored;
- invoice paid;
- customer created;
- service request received.
FSM Navigator shows a signing secret once, when you save. With a Catch Hook trigger Zapier won't check it for you, so the secret matters most if you later move to a receiver your developer runs. Store it somewhere safe anyway.
Step 3: Send a test event
Back in Zapier, start the trigger test. Zapier waits for something to arrive.
In FSM Navigator, select Send test on the endpoint. That sends a small ping event, which tells you the URL works. To see real fields, make something happen: add a test customer, or create a test job and mark it complete. Zapier picks up the event and shows its fields, including type (the event name), id (the event id) and the record under data.object.
If nothing arrives, open the Delivery log tab in FSM Navigator. Every delivery is listed with its status and the response code Zapier sent back.
Step 4: Keep each Zap to its own events
Because you tick events per endpoint, a "welcome new customer" endpoint only ever receives customer created events. If one endpoint does carry several event types, add a Filter step right after the trigger that only continues when type is the one you want.
Skip this and a welcome Zap will also run when a job is updated, and you'll send welcome emails to people who've been customers for years.
Step 5: Add your actions
This is the part people come for. A few Zaps field service teams build:
- Customer created → email marketing tool. Add them to a welcome list.
- Job completed → spreadsheet. One row per completed job for a weekly review, or for an owner who lives in spreadsheets.
- Job status changed → team chat. Post in the service channel when an emergency job goes on site or is completed.
- Invoice paid → a heads-up. A message for large invoices. QuickBooks Online sync is already built into FSM Navigator on Pro and Enterprise, so you don't need a Zap for bookkeeping.
- Service request received → CRM. Open a lead. We cover the CRM side in how to connect field service software to your CRM.
Step 6: Turn it on, then watch it for a week
Publish the Zap. For the first week, check Zapier's history and FSM Navigator's delivery log every day or two. Most problems show up early: a filter that's too tight, or a field that's blank for some jobs.
A few habits keep things tidy once you have several Zaps. Use one endpoint per purpose, named the same in both places. Keep a short list of what each endpoint does and who built it. And delete endpoints you've stopped using: an old one that still receives events is a Zap quietly using up runs, or sending data somewhere nobody looks.
Four things to watch for
Duplicates. If Zapier doesn't answer in time, FSM Navigator retries, so the same event can occasionally arrive twice. The event id stays the same on every retry. Before a Zap creates something, have it look for an existing record with that id, or store the id in a field so repeats are easy to spot.
Moving a Zap to another person. Zapier's guide says the webhook URL "only changes if the Zap is transferred to another user", because the URL contains the owner's Zapier ID. If you hand the Zap to a colleague, update the endpoint URL in FSM Navigator too, or events stop arriving.
Zap usage. Every event that reaches a Zap starts a run, and Zapier plans have usage limits. If an endpoint receives every job update, a busy week is a lot of runs. That's another reason to tick only the events a Zap needs.
An endpoint that keeps failing. If Zapier keeps refusing deliveries, for example because the Zap was deleted, FSM Navigator eventually switches the endpoint off and emails the Owner and Managers. Fix the Zap, then select Turn on: FSM Navigator sends a test event first and only turns the endpoint back on if it's accepted.
When to skip Zapier
Zapier is quick to set up and needs no developer. For high volumes, or for something your whole business depends on, a small service your developer runs may be cheaper and easier to monitor, and it can check the signature on every request. If you want Zapier to see the headers, including the signature, Zapier's Catch Raw Hook trigger passes them along unparsed.
FSM Navigator also supports REST Hooks: apps can subscribe and unsubscribe themselves through the Enterprise REST API with an API key, for job and customer events. More on the developer side in six things teams build on a job completed webhook.
About FSM Navigator and Zapier
To be clear about what this is: FSM Navigator doesn't have an app in the Zapier directory. You use Zapier's own webhook trigger, which works with any software that sends webhooks. FSM Navigator is one app from first booking to renewals, covering online booking, quotes, intelligent dispatch, invoicing and service agreements, and its webhooks carry that work to the rest of your tools. They're signed, logged for 30 days and retried, with a unique id on every event, and they're on the Enterprise plan alongside the REST API. See what else Enterprise includes on the large teams page, or compare plans on pricing.