Zendesk Inbound Integration

Create alerts in ilert from Zendesk tickets and vice versa — with ilert's Zendesk integration

Zendesk offers a range of products that streamline processes and enhance productivity for support teams, enabling them to provide more effective and personalized service experiences. The platform allows businesses to manage customer interactions across various communication channels, such as email, chat, and social media, consolidating them into a single, unified interface.

In ilert: Create a Zendesk alert source

1. Go to Alert sources --> Alert sources and click on Create new alert source

   
2. Search for Zendesk in the search field, click on the Zendesk tile and click on Next.

   
3. Give your alert source a name, optionally assign teams and click Next.

4. Select an escalation policy by creating a new one or assigning an existing one.

   
5. Select you Alert grouping preference and click Continue setup. You may click Do not group alerts for now and change it later.

   
6. The next page show additional settings such as customer alert templates or notification prioritiy. Click on Finish setup for now.

7. On the final page, an API key and / or webhook URL will be generated that you will need later in this guide.

   

In Zendesk: Create a Target

1. Go to Zendesk and then to Settings -> Extensions and click on the Add target button

1. On the next page click the HTTP target link

1. On the next page:

2. In the Title section, enter a name eg. ilert

3. In the URL section, paste the Webhook URL that you generated in ilert

4. In the Method section, choose POST

5. In the Content type section, choose JSON

6. In the bottom section choose Create target

7. Click the Submit button

Create a Trigger

1. Go to Zendesk and then to Business Rules -> Triggers and click on the Add trigger button

1. On the next page:

2. In the Trigger name section, enter a name eg. ilert

3. In the Category section, choose a category, e.g. Notifications

4. In the Meet ANY of following conditions section, add Ticket is created and Ticket is updated rules

1. Scroll down to the Actions panel and choose the ilert Notify target that you created above

2. In the JSON body sections, paste the following object:

{
  "id": "{{ticket.id}}",
  "title": "{{ticket.title}}",
  "description": "{{ticket.description}}",
  "via": "{{ticket.via}}",
  "status": "{{ticket.status}}",
  "priority": "{{ticket.priority}}",
  "requester_name": "{{ticket.requester.name}}",
  "group_name": "{{ticket.group.name}}",
  "assignee_name": "{{ticket.assignee.name}}",
  "account": "{{ticket.account}}",
  "link": "{{ticket.link}}",
  "latest_comment": "{{ticket.latest_comment}}",
  "latest_comment_author_name": "
{% for comment in ticket.comments limit:1 offset:0 %}{{comment.author.name}}{% endfor %}"
}

1. Click on the Create button

Zendesk Incident Lifecycle

When I create an Zendesk ticket with status...	...then an ilert Alert...
New or Open	is created
Pending	is created
Solved or Closed	will not be created and a 400 (bad request) error occurs

When I update an Zendesk ticket with status...	...and the ilert alert...	...then the/an ilert Alert...
New or Open	does not exist	is created
Solved or Closed	does not exist	will not be created and a 400 (bad request) error occurs
Pending	does not exist	is created
New or Open	exists	doesn't change
Solved or Closed	exists	change status to Resolved if not already resolved
Pending	exists	change status to Accepted if not already accepted

Additional Custom Ticket Details

You may provide an additional field for the Zendesk trigger template to render additional information into ilert alert details.

{
  "additional_ticket_details": {
        "test": "{{ticket.title}}",
        "two": 3,
        "three": ["one", "two", "three"]
    }
}

The additional_ticket_details map's values will be displayed in a human readable format in the alert's detail section.

FAQ

Will alerts in ilert be resolved automatically?

Yes, as soon as an Zendesk Ticket is completed, the alert in ilert will be resolved automatically.

Can I connect Zendesk with multiple alert sources from ilert?

Yes, simply create more Webhooks in Zendesk.

Can I customize the alert messages?

No.

Are Zendesk comments synced with ilert alerts?

Yes, if the variables latest_comment and latest_comment_author_name are provided in your Zendesk trigger JSON template the comments will be synced to ilert alerts.

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