Pipelines and Object Linking

Pipelines and Object Linking  

As a Quickbase Solution Architect I was more than thrilled when I learned Quickbase was acquiring an Integration Service Platform . Historically, when I've encountered customers with a need to integrate or extend Quickbase I would recommend writing code. Unfortunately, these options were not always easily achieved for a number of reasons. In some cases, there was a skill gap; or if the skill set was there time was not. In other cases, I would recommend leveraging a Quickbase Solution Partner - paid professionals who are highly skilled Quickbase developers; however, sometimes it was hard to find the budget. More recently Quickbase Automations have made building workflows between Quickbase apps much more achievable. Quickbase Webhooks have done the same for simple integrations. Now with Quickbase Pipelines we have the ability to create complex workflows between not only Quickbase apps, but any cloud service that supports RESTful web services. Also, in some cases Pipelines has made it even easier by providing Channels to other cloud services such as SalesForce, Slack, JIRA, and Workday to name a few.  

 

Channels are simply UI (User Interface) overlays to some of the more technical aspects of working with a Cloud Services API (Application Programmable Interface). This means Citizen Integrators don't need to know how to code or understand the anatomy of a web request. All they need to know is the logic required to achieve a desired workflow. For example, consider an Asset Tracking use case where Issues are tracked against Assets. When an issue is reported you want to be able to upload pictures to a folder in Box for that specific issue. In this case I can easily build a Pipeline to handle the creation of the folder in Box whenever an issue is created in Quickbase. But that is not all, one of the coolest features of Pipelines, in my humble opinion, is object linking. What that means is Pipelines will handle the mapping of the two objects (I.e. the issue record created in Quickbase and the associated folder created in Dropbox). Now whenever a file is uploaded to Box under an Issues folder, Pipelines can add a URL to the associated Issue in Quickbase.  

 

PIPELINE 1: CREATE A FOLDER IN BOX and ESTABLISH LINKING TO THE ISSUE 

 

PIPELINE 2: ADD A URL LINK TO THE ISSUE WHEN A FILE IS UPLOADED TO THE ISSUES FOLDER IN BOX 

 

This is extremely powerful and might even seem somewhat magical. The power of it is once you have linked the two objects in a Pipeline, the linking persists to be used in subsequent Pipelines, and you don't need to worry about file ids, folder ids, record ids, etc., Pipelines handles it all. To illustrate this further, I've added a video with the above use case; if you still need further assistance you can always reach out to your Quickbase Account Executive or Customer Success Manager. 

Find more Pipelines How-Tos Below:
How to use Pipelines to email a report at a specific time of day
Importing Pipeline YAML
How to Use the Bucket Channel to Schedule an Archive to Box
Build better trend reports with Pipelines
Generate template records with Pipelines