Ask for Custom Automation

What this covers

The thing you do every week that the program does not do. Not a big thing — fifteen minutes, a spreadsheet, and the same fifteen minutes again next Tuesday. This page is about having that built for you, and about everything else you can ask for while you are there.

First, the part you already have

Some of what you do by hand can be automated without asking anyone. Workflows are built into your plan, they are yours, and you build them yourself: a sequence that fires when a Client reaches a stage, sends the email, sets the Task, and moves things along without you.

If that is what you are after, start with Workflow Automation and build one. It costs nothing and you can have it working this afternoon. This page is for the other kind — the thing that does not exist yet.

What custom automation means here

You describe what you want to happen. We build it, and it runs on your data and on your schedule.

What people ask for tends to look like this:

• A report that lands in the inbox every Monday morning, already filtered the way you would have filtered it.
• A Client moving to a new stage setting three other things going, none of which anybody has to remember.
• A figure pulled from somewhere else in the business and dropped into a screen you already look at.
• A monthly job that currently lives in a spreadsheet and a reminder in your phone.

The common thread is that you stop being the part of the process that has to remember.

It does not have to be automation

The same door covers everything else that is quicker to ask for than to build:

• Custom templates — emails, Invoices or documents in your own wording and layout.
• A report in the format you actually use, rather than the nearest standard one.
• Training for your team, on your data rather than a demo.
• Bookkeeping set up properly, including your Chart of Accounts.
• Your tax filing done.

How to ask

Open Need Help? at the foot of the left menu, then Submit Request. Choose Custom Programming Request from Request Type, describe what you want, and send it.

Say what you want to end up with

This is the part worth getting right. Describe the outcome, not the mechanism — what you want to be true on Monday morning, rather than which button you imagine pressing.

"Every Monday I want a list of Clients whose year end is within sixty days, in my inbox" is something we can price and build. "Add a button to the Client screen" is a guess at how, and the how is our problem, not yours. Tell us the Tuesday afternoon you are trying to stop losing.

What happens next

We come back and tell you which of three things it is: a small job, a bigger piece of work we will quote, or something already in the product that you have not found yet. The third one happens more often than you would think, and it costs you nothing but the asking.

Tips

Ask early, not after you have built a workaround. The spreadsheet you maintain to fill a gap is the clearest possible description of the gap. Send it.

One request, one outcome. Four ideas in one message take four times as long to price. Send them separately and the small ones can be done while the big one is quoted.

Check Workflow Automation first. Not to save us the work, but to save yourself the wait — a Workflow you build yourself runs today.

Say how often it happens. Something that costs ten minutes a week is a different case from something that costs a day a year, and it changes what is worth building.

Common questions

Is this the same as the Help Desk?

No. The Help Desk is for something that is broken or that you cannot work out. Submit Request is for something that does not exist yet. Both live under Need Help? and Getting Help covers the difference.

Does custom work cost money?

Sometimes. We look at what you have asked for and tell you before anything is built — including when the answer is that it already exists, or that it is small enough not to bill. Nothing is charged without you agreeing to it first.

Can I automate something myself instead?

Often, yes, and it is worth trying. Workflows cover a lot of ground, and Campaigns and Tasks cover more. See Build Your First Workflow.

What if I cannot describe it properly?

Describe it badly. A rough sentence and a screenshot of the spreadsheet you are using instead tells us plenty, and we will ask about the rest.

Will it survive updates?

Yes. Anything built for you is built into your account rather than bolted on beside it, so it carries forward the way the rest of the product does.

Video transcript

Show transcript

There is something you do every week that the software does not do. Not a big thing. Fifteen minutes, a spreadsheet, and the same fifteen minutes again next Tuesday. Now, some of that you can already automate yourself.

Workflows are built in, they are included, and there is a whole section of this library showing you how to build one. Start there. This video is about the other kind. The thing that does not exist yet. You describe what you want to happen, and we build it.

People ask for a report that lands in their inbox every Monday morning. Or for a Client moving to a new stage to set three other things going, without anybody having to remember them. It runs on your data and on your schedule. And you stop being the part that has to remember. It does not have to be automation either.

Custom templates. A report in the format you actually use. Training for your team. Your bookkeeping set up properly. Your tax filing done. To ask, open Need Help, then Submit a Request, and choose Custom Programming Request. Tell us what you want to end up with, rather than how you think it should be built. That is the part we need from you.

We will tell you if it is a small job, a big one, or something already in there that you have not found yet. And then the fifteen minutes on a Tuesday belongs to you again.

Related guides

• Workflow Automation — the automation you build yourself, included in your plan
• Getting Help — the Help Desk, the User Manual, and the question mark on every screen
• We Will Help You Get Set Up - Free

Back to all videos