In this article:
1. Introduction
2. Integration Capabilities
2.1 From Businessmap to Other Software Solutions
2.2 From Other Software Solutions to Businessmap
3. Prerequisites
4. Implementation
5. Common Flows
Google Calendar
JIRA
PipeDrive
6. Building Your Integrations
1. Introduction
This article describes integrations between Businessmap (https://businessmap.io) and external software solutions using Microsoft Power Automate (https://make.powerautomate.com). If you have not previously heard of Power Automate, it is a web automation tool, part of Office 365.
It allows you to connect different applications using the built-in and third-party connectors available within. You create flows using those connectors, which automate multiple actions you need to complete. Each flow has a trigger - an event that starts it - and a body, some actions which are executed sequentially by Power Automate. There are hundreds of modules available for you to use, which allows you to build all kinds of flows and automations.
A potential reader of this article is expected to be familiar with Businessmap (boards, cards, business rules, etc.). However, if you have any questions or encounter some difficulties along the way, do not hesitate to contact our Support team at support@businessmap.io
2. Integration Capabilities
Businessmap integrations with Power Automate can be in any direction — from Businessmap to a third party, or from a third party to Businessmap. We will review both cases here.
2.1 From Businessmap to Other Software Solutions
Important: To use a general trigger, you need to have the Manage Integrations admin privilege in Businessmap.
We support one general trigger which is used for all card events
1. General Trigger — Triggers for any action on the board. Use Control/Condition or Control/Switch to manage flow for different triggers. Alternatively, you can specify a custom expression for the trigger to fire. For example, @contains(triggerOutputs()?['body/event'],'Card created'). Here is a partial list of supported event types: “Card created,” “Card moved,” “Card details changed,” “Card deleted,” “Card blocked.”
2.2 From Other Software Solutions to Businessmap
Our Power Automate connector supports multiple actions. Here is a list of them along with a short description of what action can be used and what for:
2. Create Card — Create a card in a board of your choice. Required fields are board, workflow, column, lane, and title. You can optionally specify a description, custom ID, owner, reporter user, reporter email, type, size, priority, color, deadline, and others.
3. Get All Cards — Get all cards from a selected board. If no filter is applied, it will return all the cards in the account. Optionally, you can filter by boards or custom IDs. Pagination is supported and the page size is 200.
4. Get Card by Custom ID — Find a card by custom card ID. If multiple cards are found, only the first one will be returned. Use ‘Board’ parameter to filter the search by boards.
5. Get Card by ID — Get card details by ID. The field card ID is required.
6. Move Card — Move a card to a new column, lane, workflow, or board. Required parameters are card ID, board, workflow, lane, and column.
7. Update Card — Update the properties of a card. The required fields are card ID and board. With this activity, you can update the title, description, custom ID, owner, type, size, priority, deadline, and others.
8. Add Comment — Add a comment to a card or initiative. The required fields are card ID and comment text.
9. Archive or Unarchive Card — Add a card to the archive, or extract it from the archive. The required fields are card ID and action.
10. Block Card — Block a card. The required fields are board, card ID, and block_reason. Optionally, you can add a comment. With this activity, you can also update the block reason or comment for a blocked card.
11. Create Subtask — Create a new subtask of a card or initiative. The required fields are board, card ID, and description. Optionally, you can specify the owner and status.
12. Discard or Restore Card — Discard a card or restore a previously discarded card. The required fields are card ID and action.
13. Download Attachment — Download an attachment from a card. File content is returned as base64 encoded string. The required fields are card ID and attachment ID.
14. Get Card Attachments — Get a list with all attachments for a specified card. The field card ID is required.
15. Get {Object} Name — Get the name of an object based on its ID. The helper function is used when you want to get the name of the board, workflow, column, etc. based on its ID. The required fields are board, object type, and ID.
16. Link Cards — Link a card to an existing card. The required fields are card ID, link type, and linked card ID.
17. Log Time — Log time to a card. The required fields are card ID, time unit, and time. Optionally, you can add a comment to the logged time.
18. Set Custom Field Value — Set the value of a custom field. The required fields are card ID, board, field, and value(s).
19. Set or Unset Stickers — Add sticker(s) to a card or remove assigned sticker(s) from a card. The required fields are card ID, board, action, and stickers. Optionally, you can choose the desired outcome if the sticker isn't assigned to the specified board. With this action, you can select a sticker from the dropdown or enter multiple stickers separated with a comma.
20. Set or Unset Tags — Add tag(s) to a card or remove assigned tag(s) from a card. The required fields are card ID, board, action, and tags. Optionally, you can choose the desired outcome if the tag isn't assigned to the specified board. With this action, you can select a tag from the dropdown or enter multiple tags separated by a comma.
21. Unblock Card — Unblock a card. The field card ID is required.
22. Unlink Cards — Remove a link between two cards. The required fields are card ID, link type, and linked card ID.
23. Upload Attachment — Upload an attachment to a card. The required fields are card ID, file name, and content. The content must be provided as a base64 encoded string.
3. Prerequisites
To use Businessmap actions and triggers in Power Automate, you need to obtain the subdomain for the account and the API key for the user to be used. The subdomain is the first part of the Businessmap URL: https://{subdomain}.kanbanize.com, and the API key can be retrieved by navigating to the My Account menu (top right corner) and switching to the API tab.
4. Implementation
To begin with the integration, you need to create a new flow in Power Automate. You can create a flow by logging into your Power Automate account and clicking on the “Create” button in the top left corner of your screen. From there you can select an “Automate cloud flow” or an “Instance cloud flow.” The former is triggered automatically by an event from the triggering tool and the latter is triggered manually.
Once selected, a window will pop up asking you to provide a flow name and a trigger. From here, we'll select the “General Trigger” from Businessmap.
Once it has been created, you need to configure the connection to Businessmap. The connection to each account only needs to be set once. If you have done this previously, you can skip this step. Otherwise, you will need to give your connection a name and populate your subdomain and API key.
This trigger will work for all events that happen on the selected board, so you will have to set it to filter only the events you are interested in. A preferred approach is to change the settings of the trigger and add a “Trigger Condition” that will check for the exact value of the event. It has to be set like this:
@contains(triggerOutputs()?['body/event'],'Card created')
After the trigger has been configured, you can add your other actions. You need to click on the “+ New step” button and select the action you want to perform when the flow is triggered. Actions have different setups, depending on the activity you want to perform. To set it up, you can follow the steps and instructions in the menu that shows up after adding an action.
5. Common Flows
Here is what some of the most common flows would look like:
Google Calendar
The video below demonstrates the connection between Businessmap and Google Calendar. In this integration, a new Google Calendar event is automatically generated whenever a Businessmap card is created within a designated lane. This process extracts the card's title, description, owner, start date/time, and end date/time from Businessmap, and leverages this information to construct a corresponding event in Google Calendar.
JIRA
The video below shows the integration between Jira and Businessmap. In this setup, when a Jira issue is opened, it triggers the creation of a Businessmap card within a predefined workflow and column. This process captures the summary, description, and assignee information from Jira, and imports them into Businessmap. It also accommodates all default and custom fields from Jira, and it adds a hyperlink to the corresponding Jira issue within Businessmap.
PipeDrive
The video below demonstrates an integration between PipeDrive and Businessmap, where a Businessmap card is automatically generated within a specific workflow when a PipeDrive deal is initiated. The Businessmap board mirrors the columns present in the PipeDrive Deals panel, ensuring that the created card dynamically lands in the corresponding column. Furthermore, any movement of the card in PipeDrive triggers a corresponding movement in Businessmap, maintaining synchronization.
This integration extracts the deal's title and deadline from PipeDrive, transferring this information into Businessmap. It also supports all default and custom fields from PipeDrive. As an additional feature, it incorporates a hyperlink to the associated PipeDrive deal within Businessmap.
6. Building Your Integrations
At Businessmap, we can design and build custom integrations for our clients. If you are interested in purchasing a support package that includes hours for integrations, please contact us at support@businessmap.io.