How to create a Task?

Created by Nicolas Wussler, Modified on Wed, 26 Feb at 5:18 PM by Aleksandra Furundzic

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What is a Task?
How to Create a Task

What is a Task?

A Task in SyncSpider represents a workflow that automates data transfer between different applications or systems. Each time a task runs, it performs operations to move data from one system to another.

For example, a task can send Facebook Leads to your CRM or export them to a CSV file before transferring them to the CRM.

A task can be simple (one step) or multi-step, involving multiple applications and transformations.
Tasks are organized under Organizations or their Projects.
If you have an Agency account, you can access Sub-Accounts (sub-organizations) and all related projects.

How to Create a Task

Step 1: Access the Tasks Panel and Start a New Task

Log in to your SyncSpider account. On the left-hand navigation panel, click on the Tasks icon (?) to access the task management page.

To create a new task, click on the "Add new task" button at the top right of the screen.

Click Task icon and Add new Task

Step 2: Choose Your Integrations

Once you've clicked "Add new task", the next step is to define the applications you want to connect.

You'll see a screen prompting you to choose your integrations:

Source Integration (the system where your data originates).
Target Integration (the system where your data will be sent).

Click on the "From" dropdown to select your source application.

Click on the "To" dropdown to select your target application.

Important Note: Before creating a task, ensure that the applications you want to use have been integrated with SyncSpider. If you haven't integrated them yet, you'll need to do so first. For detailed instructions, check out our How to Integrate Articles folder to learn how to connect your apps.

Step 3: Select Entities

After selecting your integrations, you'll need to define the entities—the specific data types being transferred.

So once you've chosen your integrations, you'll see an additional field pop up under each application:

Source Entity: The type of data to extract from the source system.
Target Entity: The type of data that will be created or updated in the target system.

The available entity options will vary depending on the application. Some apps may have multiple entity types, such as orders, products, customers, or leads, while others may have a more limited selection.

Using the Facebook Leads → Custom CSV example:

Source Entity: Leads (Facebook lead data)
Target Entity: Custom CSV (structured file format to store the leads)

Below this selection, SyncSpider will also show a template options:

If there are existing pre-configured task templates, you can select one to simplify the process.

If no templates match, you can proceed with manual configuration.

Custom templates can also be created for your specific needs, please contact our support team at [email protected] for more information about setting up custom templates.

Click Next to proceed to the next step.

Step 4: Connect Your Apps

After selecting your integrations and entities, you will be prompted to connect the apps to SyncSpider.

Since SyncSpider allows multiple accounts/files for the same integration, you must select the specific one you want to use for this task.

Click "Connect" to open the selection window or "Change" if you want to select a different account.

Choose the specific account you want to use.

Click "Connect [App Name]" to finalize the connection.

To proceed, make sure that both integrations have a green "Connected" status.

Once both are connected, click Next to continue.

Step 5: Configure Your Source Integration

Now that your source application is connected, you need to configure it.

The Source Configuration settings vary depending on the application you selected.

Continuing with our Facebook Leads → Custom CSV example, here the source configuration requires you to:

Choose Page: Select the Facebook Page where the leads are being collected.
Choose Form: Select the specific Lead Form used for collecting data.

Once you've selected the appropriate source settings, proceed by clicking Next.

Step 6: Apply Filters (Optional)

Filtering allows you to control which data is imported from your source system. This step is optional but can be useful for refining your task.

With filters you can choose to:

Import all available data (default).
Import data from a specific date onward by selecting a date in the "From date" field.
Import only new data since the last time this task was run.
Filter based on specific conditions, such as importing only certain values from a dataset. For example, if you're importing customer data, you can set filters to only retrieve leads from a particular country, status, or source. For example, you're importing WordPress data to an email marketing platform, you might filter by subscriber status to only include "active" users.

For the Facebook Leads → Custom CSV example, if you only want to import leads collected since the last sync, you can set a filter accordingly.

If no filtering is needed, simply leave it as and continue.

Once you've set your filtering preferences, click Next to proceed.

Step 7: Configure Your Target Integration

The Target Configuration step allows you to define how the data should be structured and processed when it reaches the target system.

As with the Source Configuration, the settings available in this step will vary depending on the target integration you selected.

For our Facebook Leads → Custom CSV example, since the target integration in this case is a CSV file, the configuration settings include:

Upload sample for setup – Allows you to upload a sample CSV file to define column structure.
Name of output file – Defines the name of the generated file.
Column separator – Specifies how values in the CSV file are separated (e.g., comma, semicolon).
Values enclosure character – Defines how text values are enclosed (e.g., quotation marks).
Overwrite file each time behavior – Determines whether new data should overwrite the existing file or append to it.
File encoding – Specifies encoding format (e.g., UTF-8).
Remove Header – Lets you choose whether the file should include a header row.
Output file URL – Shows the location where the generated CSV file can be accessed.

In this step, you can also customize how the data is structured when it is sent to the target integration. This is particularly important for CSV files or other formats that require column mapping.

Key Options:

Add Columns – Click the “+ ADD COLUMN” button to define new columns in the output file. (e.g., Email, First Name, Last Name, etc.)
Column Name – Enter a name for each column, which will determine how the data is labeled in the exported file.
Value Type – Choose the data type for the column (e.g., Text, Number, Boolean, etc.).
Required – Check this box if the column is mandatory for the file to be valid.
Enable export items to separate files – If selected, SyncSpider will generate separate files instead of consolidating all data into one.
Fill columns with parent data – This ensures that related data entries maintain hierarchical relationships.

Once all necessary settings are configured, click Next to proceed.

Step 9: Mapping

Mapping is the process of matching data fields from your source integration to your target integration. This step is highly customizable and varies depending on the applications you are using and what you want to achieve.

The left panel displays available fields from your source integration.
The right panel represents the fields in your target integration.
You will need to drag and drop fields from the source panel to the corresponding fields in the target panel.

Key Points About Mapping:

Mandatory Fields: Fields marked with an orange dot must be mapped for the task to execute properly.
Custom Fields: You can create and map custom fields if your required data is not available by default.
Saving a Mapping Template: If you regularly use the same mappings, you can save them as a template for future tasks.

For our Facebook Leads to a CSV file example, you'll see that Email is marked as a mandatory field and additionally you might map fields like:

First Name → First Name (CSV Column)
Last Name → Last Name (CSV Column)

Once your mappings are set, click Next to proceed.

Step 10: Task Settings & Scheduling

The final Task Settings step allows you to define how and when your task runs. This includes setting a task name, automation triggers, activation options, logging, and notifications.

Breakdown of Task Settings Sections:

1. Task Details

Task Name: Assign a name for the task to easily identify it in the dashboard.

Task Description: Provide details about what this task does (e.g., "Send Facebook Leads to Custom CSV").

2. Task Automation (Scheduling & Triggers)

Choose how the task will run:

Schedule: Set the task to run automatically at specific intervals (e.g., hourly, daily, weekly).
On Event: Trigger the task based on specific actions (e.g., when new data is received from the source).

Click "Add Trigger" to add multiple triggers.

3. Task Activation

Toggle the switch to activate or deactivate the task.

Enable Auto-Repeat if you want the task to run on a loop without manual intervention.

4. Task Logging

Enable logging to track details of each task execution. Logs can help with troubleshooting errors and monitoring task performance.

5. Email Notifications

Specify who should receive email notifications based on the task's outcome:

Success Notification: Get an email when the task completes successfully.
Warning Notification: Get notified if the task completes with issues.
Failure Notification: Receive an alert if the task fails to execute.

Once all settings are configured, click "Finish" to save and activate the task. Your task will now be listed in the Tasks Dashboard, where you can manually start it or let it run based on your scheduled triggers.

We hope that this covers everything. If you have any further questions or need additional clarification, please reach out to us via [email protected] or our Chat Widget!