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Question

Are there variables we can access for Zap run history?

  • 23 June 2023
  • 9 replies
  • 57 views
marcus91

Hi everyone,

I’ve been having some unexpected things happen that have resulted in my account being suspended (over my monthly zap run limit) more than once in the last few months.  last month I burned them all out in 13 days of my cycle!  This happened because a webhook was triggered much more than it should be, and I didn’t notice.

I’d like to write a Zap that will send myself a status update on “Zap tasks used” or percent used so far each morning via SMS… so I can spot a problem and put a stop to overruns before the use up all my tasks for the month.

If there’s no date variables I can read telling me when my billing cycle began and ends, I can still send myself “average zap tasks used per day over the last seven days” to spot a problem.  This only requires me to have access to a value for “zaps used yesterday” and a moving 7-day average in Storage I created.

Dows anyone know if there is an account level variable that tells us any values for Zap runs used this billing cycle?  for yesterday?  or this billing cycle so far?  etc

The price jump from 2000 tasks per month to 5000 tasks per month is wayyy too steep for me

any help appreciated

Marc

This post has been closed for comments. Please create a new post if you need help or have a question about this topic.

9 replies

nicksimard
Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Hey @marcus91!

This may not be 100% what you’re looking for but it’s something that came to mind:

 

It uses the Zapier Manager app, as seen here.

 

Might this work for your needs?

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Hi @marcus91 

Depending on how your Zaps are configured, there may be ways to optimize the Zaps to save Tasks.

Working with a Certified Zapier Expert can help you do that audit and conversion.

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
marcus91

Hey @marcus91!

This may not be 100% what you’re looking for but it’s something that came to mind:

 

It uses the Zapier Manager app, as seen here.

 

Might this work for your needs?

 

Well that’s a great start!  Thanks very much, I’ll see if I can make this work

marcus91

Hi @marcus91 

Depending on how your Zaps are configured, there may be ways to optimize the Zaps to save Tasks.

Working with a Certified Zapier Expert can help you do that audit and conversion.

 

Yeah I agree.  I may have to do that soon.  Appreciate the info!

marcus91

So - the Zapier Manager only tells us how many days and hours remain in our billing cycle.  I’m trying to calculate the “percent of time we’re into our billing cycle” from that one piece of data.  Any suggestions?

I tried manipulating and subtracting dates using the “Remaining (Days, hours)” vasriable available from Zapier manager, and I just can’t get it to work.

For example, I tried this, and it fails (it adds 5 hours to the current time, lol. total fail):

 

 

Lots of useful info I could send myself, to alert me to a task problem, but here’s my first thought..

I was hoping I could first calculate a “days left” decimal value (failed above).  If I could get that number, I could easily calculate these two averages in a Formatter/Spreadsheet style calculation: 

 

     ( (Total tasks available) - (“Count” of tasks used to date) )  /  (decimal days remaining) 

                   =  average tasks per day available until the end of this cycle

                       (Useful average #1)

 

     (“30” days - (decimal days remaining) ) / (“Count” of tasks used so far) 

                   = average number of tasks used per day so far during this cycle

                      (Useful average #2)

 

… and SMS those two values to myself every three days or so..

When I receive the text message, I make a quick decision:

  • If “Useful Average #2” (average Tasks/day so far) is > than “Useful Average #1” (avg Tasks/day remaining):  Then at the current Task burn rate I’ll overrun my Task limit before the end of the billing cycle.  So I will jump into Zapier and turn off a couple less critical Zaps until the end of the month. (maybe turning off the less-crit Zaps could be automated by this step?), but that of course would cost me more Tasks! lol)
  • If “Useful Average #1” (avg Tasks/day remaining) is > than “Useful Average #2” (average Tasks/day so far):  then “Happy little trees” in my Zappyland..  No action required so far this month.

I would do the calculation comparing those two averages to put in the SMS message, but that would eat even more Tasks so no thanks! 

I probably am too sensitive to Task consumption..  For a moment I was concerned each letter I write here cost me a task too 😁

Anyway, I really love Zapier and tell everyone about it, but the low tasks per month ceiling really stifles my creativity.  It’s my only real complaint about this great service.  I have had to write new automations over in IFTTT (using their new scripting interface), because I just can’t afford the huge jump to the next Zapier tier.  Would have much preferred to write them in Zaps, but knowing I have no tasks left in a month to run them so I didn’t bother writing them here.  Frustrating..

Anyway thanks to anyone who read this far!  Enjoying the discussion

 

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

@marcus91 

If you are on a monthly plan, then you can save 33% by switching to an annual plan.

 

Overall, it’s helpful to keep in mind the ROI of automation:

 

Here’s a possible solution…

Setup a Zap to send the data to Airtable. (2 steps only)

Let Airtable do the calculations and logic.

Airtable has these field types: Formulas, Count, Rollup, etc.

Airtable has Automations. (can send email)

Airtable has a native integration with Twilio.

Twilio can send you the SMS.

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
marcus91

 

Overall, it’s helpful to keep in mind the ROI of automation:

 

Here’s a possible solution…

Setup a Zap to send the data to Airtable. (2 steps only)

Let Airtable do the calculations and logic.

Airtable has these field types: Formulas, Count, Rollup, etc.

Airtable has Automations. (can send email)

Airtable has a native integration with Twilio.

Twilio can send you the SMS.

 

thanks for this tip!  I will look into those two services this weekend..  thanks much

marcus91

I’m confused about the Zapier Manager triggers.  When I set it at 10%, it fires when I test the action (even though I’m at 23% usage).

Does this mean it will fire every day as well (since I’m still over that threshold?)? 

I would like to have it fire once a day after it passes a certain percent of usage, but I’m not sure how to tell the app to do that..

I was disappointed if I set schedule as the trigger, and use Manager as the action that fires after the schedule trigger fires, all the account task usage variables are not accessible.  I don’t like this.  I should be able to drop the Manager app anywhere into a Zap and see the account usage variables.

This is something I really disliked about IFTTT triggers and actions.  Information that was available in triggers isn’t available in actions..  crazy..

 

ideas?

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

@marcus91 

Testing the Zapier Manager trigger is so you can configure the Zap action steps.

 

Does this mean it will fire every day as well (since I’m still over that threshold?)? 

No, only when it meets the initial trigger condition.

 

Best to submit feedback and feature requests via a ticket to Zapier Support to be properly logged: https://zapier.com/app/get-help

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
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