I have two apps which work from the same data in Google Sheets. One for Field Users and one for Admin/Management.
When we add new records to the Jobs table, or update the status of a Job from say “Enquiry” to “Accepted”, we want to send a notifcation to the relevant field user the job is assigned to. This worked fine when we just used one app with a Bot but of course because Admin/Management app users do most of these changes, the notifications don’t come through in the Field app.
How can I achieve this? I read something about webhooks but it wasn’t quite the right context (and I don’t know anything about working with those), and somewhere else about having Admin/Management app populate some database columns, then a bot in the Field app to regularly find (10min intervals?) records populated in this way and generate the notification from there. Still a bit out of my pay grade, but if I know what direction I should go I’m happy to pursue it.
"If you are using a single application where the only difference is the menu for Admin and Field users, I suggest using conditional formulas for grouping. For example, if your request options consist of: Approved, Rejected, or Pending, you can create a new column in your Google Sheet with a formula like this:
Then, in the UX menu, select the view you want to use (e.g., Deck View), go to ‘Group By’, and add the ‘Request’ column. You can also add the [Date] column if you’d like to group them by the request date.
I recommend this approach because it is much simpler and has a high success rate when handling different user roles within one app. For instance, in my own application, I can easily group stock prices that rise above 20% without any issues."
You are on right track here. You can create, update record(s) by running a bot in the Managers App ( Say App A) whenever a new job record is added or an existing job record has been updated with a status that needs to be informed to the field staff in the Field Staff App.(say app B)
The bot running in app A can update /add a record ( multiple records) in app B.
Then you could have a couple of hourly scheduled bots in the app B that send notification to the concerned field staff. If you have two hourly bots, the max duration between notifications will be 30 minutes, for 3 bots 20 minutes, for 4 bots 15 minutes and for 6 bots 10 minutes.
Alternatively, you could use Google Apps Script (GAS) to send notifications to the intended field staff independent of AppSheet automation. With GAS you will not need multiple scheduled bots.
Having mentioned the above approach, in general, just wondering why you could not manage the entire field staff and manager staff operations in a single app. In general with suitable security filters etc, it should be possible? Of course this is just a query. You may have valid reasons for creating two different apps that you may wish to share if possible for the benefit of the community.
I went to having two apps on advice on here to reduce sync times (source of frustration for field staff. Ideally a single app was the best solution (and it was successful in the past), but as the management functions became greater (using lots of VCs to pull data from other tables for BI, and formatting on map views critical to operations) and the operational features increasing over time (now fully paperless in the field which is some kind of miracle, thanks AppSheet!), the sync time was becoming very long and it was getting so messy having effectively two totally different apps as one (almost no shared views, and thirty total views!). Plus three very large tables (6k, 11k and 21k records) with no scope to filter due to requirement for all users to view job and client history. I have considered several times going back to the old version, and it may happen yet…
Thanks for that advice, I think what you say about the bots is the method to use, it makes better sense when you describe it like that. I might takew some time to think about going back to the old approach before I learn how to use this bot setup. I’m not a total beginner, but not advanced either (and no IT background - I don’t even own a computer at home haha!), and these things take me time which I can’t often get between my actual role at work.
Just in case , you would like to take a look at a simple app that demonstrates the use of bots that interact between two apps, please DM me. If you are not not able to use DM facility and you would like to take a look at the test app, please mention so here.
I can then DM you so that you can mention the email to share the app in response to my DM.
Thank you again. I use this method because my bot often fails. However, this method allows for changes in price, volume, and other data in the appsheet to be very effective. Everything is as expected.
Thank you Suvrutt, I can’t seem to send a DM but I would be interested in taking a look at an example if you were happy to share please feel free to DM me, thank you!
