What does integration with job software actually mean?
Providers use the word integration for very different things. At one end, the receptionist emails or texts you a summary and someone types it into your software. Further along, it creates an enquiry or lead. Further again, it creates the client, the site and the job. The deepest level books a time on a named technician's schedule. Each step needs more access to your account and more rules written down, such as job types, service areas and travel buffers. Ask any provider which level it will deliver for your system, and ask to see it working in a test account.
- Notification: a summary by email or text
- An enquiry or lead created for the office
- Client, site and job created, not yet scheduled
- A booking placed on a technician's schedule
What can ServiceM8 accept from another system?
ServiceM8's developer documentation includes endpoints to create a new job and to create a new job activity. A job activity assigns work on a job to a staff member, with a scheduled start and end time. Creating one requires the manage_schedule OAuth scope, which gives full access to that endpoint. That is a meaningful level of access, so decide whether the receptionist really needs to book a technician's time, or whether creating the job and leaving scheduling to the office is enough. ServiceM8 also publishes a platform policy that covers API use, privacy and customer data.
What about Fergus and simPRO?
Fergus publishes an OpenAPI specification for its API. It accepts a personal access token or OAuth 2.0, and lists endpoints for enquiries, customers, sites, jobs, quotes and calendar events. It applies a rate limit of 100 requests per minute per company, shared across every endpoint and token, so a receptionist and your other integrations draw on the same allowance. simPRO's API documentation covers leads, quotes, jobs, schedules and webhooks, and sets out its API call limits. For both, agree which records the office wants created from a phone call before anyone requests access.
What if you run Tradify?
Tradify's own help centre documents integrations with accounting and payment services such as Xero, MYOB and Stripe. When this guide was written we could not find a published developer API in Tradify's own documentation. That does not rule out other arrangements, so ask Tradify directly what is available for your account. Until you have a written answer, plan for a request workflow: the receptionist captures the job details and sends them to the office, and staff create the job in Tradify. That keeps the schedule accurate while the integration question is settled.
Which caller details should a new job hold?
Agree the fields before connecting anything, because a job created with half the details costs the office more time than a complete message. Keep the site address and the billing contact separate, since tenants, property managers and owners are often different people. Match returning customers by phone number to avoid duplicate client records, and decide what happens when the number is new but the address already exists in your system.
- Site address, with access notes such as gate codes or pets
- Site contact and billing contact, if they differ
- Job type from your own list, plus the caller's description
- Urgency and the caller's available times
- How the caller found you, if you track lead sources
How should you test it before callers rely on it?
Use a test client and a test staff member in your real account rather than a demo account, because your own job types, statuses and permissions are what matter. Make test calls that create a new client, a returning client and a job at a new site for an existing client. Try booking over an existing job, outside working hours and on a day the technician is on leave. Check what the technician sees on their phone. Then break the connection on purpose and confirm the caller is told their details were taken, not that a booking is confirmed.