What is a webhook?
A webhook is a way of running an action on data when an event happens in a certain service or piece of software. Rather than a service which constantly polls for data via an API, a webhook is only actioned when a specific event fires on a specific record.
A webhook contains no logic or code to actually do anything. It's simply a URL that updates when the configured record action happens, so other third-party services or applications that support webhooks (like Zapier) can be notified that a change has happened and do their configured processes.
For more detailed information about webhooks, please check out the following articles:
Why use them?
A webhook can be used for many different scenarios when you want something to happen automatically based on an action in CRM, rather than setting up a service to constantly query your entire CRM database every few minutes for specific records and specific criteria.
Below are a few example scenarios of when you might want to use a webhook:
If you want to be alerted any time an Opportunity is put in a status of "Lost", you could set up a webhook that only fires when an Opportunity record is updated, and then set your service to only continue if the status has changed to "Lost".
If you want to extend the core CRM functionality to automatically add a note to a Contact record if their surname is amended, you could set up a webhook to fire on a Contact record update, then use a service like Zapier to post a note to the contact record if the "surname" field has changed, using the CRM OData API.
If you want to monitor/audit who is deleting certain records, you could set up a webhook that fires on the Delete action of the record, and use a service to pick up the "last updated" user on the record and send an email to alert someone.
How to set them up
Before creating a webhook in the CRM, you'll need to know what you wish to do with the data and what event it should fire on.
Your third-party service that accepts the webhook will provide you with a link to the webhook to use in the CRM.
To set up a webhook in the CRM, open the System Settings, then search for "Webhook". Click on the 'Click to Configure' link to load the webhook configuration page.
The Configure Webhook page will list any existing webhooks set up, and allow you to edit these and add a new one.
To set up a new webhook, click on the add icon (plus button) on the top right of the list:
This will give you a simple window to configure your new webhook.:
Webhook URL: This will have been provided by your third-party application or service.
Webhook Entity: The CRM record type that you wish to fire the webhook on e.g. Opportunity, Problem etc.
Webhook Action: The action in CRM that will fire the webhook.
Error Email: An email address to send error alerts to if the webhook fails.
Comments: A free type text field to add comments about what the webhook is for and why it was created.
Once you've filled in these fields, click 'Create' to create and activate the webhook. You can then test that your third-party service picks up your expected results by making the configured change on a record in CRM, and checking that the action in the third-party services fires automatically.