How do I create a Zap to send notification email if an Inspection isn't completed by due date?

Hi @anna.reed,

Yes, it is possible to create a Zap to send a notification to a manager when a scheduled inspection is not completed by its due date. Here's a general outline of how you can set up this Zap:

1. Trigger: Choose a trigger that corresponds to the scheduled inspections (as Step 1). For example, you might use a trigger like "Scheduled Event" or "Scheduled Task Due Date." Please note that availability of triggers depends on the scheduling app that you’re using. If you’ll be using SafetyCulture, you can find the available triggers here - https://zapier.com/apps/safetyculture/integrations

2. Filter: Apply a filter step next to the trigger (as Step 2) to only proceed if the inspection is not completed by its due date. This will ensure that the Zap proceeds only when an inspection is overdue. Please note that availability of fields that you can use to filter events or tasks depends on the scheduling app that you’re using as well.

3. Action: Select an action that sends an Outlook email or another type of notification to the manager. You can customize the email/notification content to include relevant details about the overdue inspection.

Feel free to explore possible SafetyCulture x Outlook workflows here - https://zapier.com/apps/safetyculture/integrations/microsoft-outlook

If you need assistance with setting up this Zap or have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to us - https://zapier.com/app/get-help

Thanks for your reply, but are you able to be more specific in terms of the options that I would choose for Safety Culture? I cannot find any option for them relating to ‘scheduled event’ or ‘scheduled task due date’ or similar. 

Hey there @anna.reed! 👋

I took a look at the triggers available for the SafetyCulture app and I couldn’t see any that would allow you to trigger a Zap if the scheduled inspection hasn’t been completed yet or is overdue. So I’d suggest contacting our Support team to put in a feature request for that sort of trigger to be added to the SafetyCulture app.  

In the meantime, I think one way to handle this would be to add each inspection due date in as a new event in a calendar app like Google Calendar for example. The Google Calendar app has an Event Ended trigger so it that would allow you to trigger the Zap once the due date/time has passed. It also has a Event Started trigger which has an option to set a time before the event starts for the Zap to trigger - which might be useful if you wanted to send out reminders before the due date for the inspection occurs.

The a unique identifying number or info for the inspection should be added into the event description when creating the event. Then the Zap could use that information to search for the relevant inspection. Unfortunately the SafetyCulture app doesn’t have any actions to allow you to search for existing inspections, but you could keep a record of the inspections that are completed in something like Zapier Tables for example. From there you could use a filter to check if an inspection was found and if not, send out an email to the manager using the Outlook app’s Send Email action.

Here’s the Zaps I’m picturing for that sort of workflow:

Zap 1 - triggers when the due date has passed and emails the manager

• Trigger: Event Ended (Google Calendar) - runs when an inspection event has ended.
• Action: Find or Create Record (Zapier Tables) - searches for an existing inspection. See Search for existing data in Zaps guide to learn more about how to use search actions.
• Action: Only continue if… (Filter by Zapier) - if the _zap_search_was_found_status field output by the previous action is false. This will ensure that the Zap will only continue if an inspection has not been carried out. See our Add conditions to Zaps with filters guide to learn more about using filters.
• Action: Send Email (Microsoft Outlook) - Sends an email notification to the manager to let them know it’s overdue.

Zap 2 - keeps a record of all completed inspections

• Trigger: Inspection Completed (SafetyCulture) - runs when a new inspection is completed.
• Action: Create Record (Zapier Tables) - adds the details for the inspection to the table as a new record.

Do you think that approach could work for your needs here?

What I’m a little unsure about is how best to automate the creation of the Google Calendar events. Do you get inspections requests come in over the phone or via a form that’s filled out? If you can share a bit more detail as to that side of the workflow I’d be happy to help advise on what trigger and action you’d need to use in a Zap get those events automatically created.

Looking forward to hearing from you!