Workflow Actions vs. API Call Actions

MSPintegrations provides two types of actions for working with PSA platforms like Autotask, ConnectWise Manage, and Halo PSA: workflow actions and API call actions. Understanding the difference helps you choose the right action for your use case.

---

API Call Actions

An API call action performs one explicit operation that you select, such as querying records, creating a client, or updating a known ticket. You provide the known IDs, filters, and field values instead of asking the action to determine which customer or ticket an email belongs to.

The action may make more than one request to complete that operation. For example, a Halo write action can retrieve Custom Field definitions before saving and then retrieve the complete saved record afterward. Those supporting requests do not add account matching, email-to-ticket decisions, or other higher-level workflow logic.

When to Use an API Call Action

Use an API call action when:

• You already know all the required parameters for the object you want to create, update, query, or delete
• You have already looked up the account, contact, ticket, or other referenced objects in earlier actions and have their IDs available
• You need precise control over exactly which fields are set
• You are building a custom multi-step automation and want to combine individual operations in a specific order

Example

You want to create an Autotask ticket and already know the Account ID and Contact ID from a previous query step. Use API: Create an Object with the Ticket entity, passing those IDs directly.

API Call Actions by Platform

Autotask:

• API: Create an Object
• API: Update an Object
• API: Delete an Object
• API: Query for One Object
• API: Query for Object(s)
• API: Create Autotask Attachments

ConnectWise Manage:

• Create ConnectWise Ticket (API)
• Query ConnectWise Companies
• Query ConnectWise Contacts
• Query ConnectWise Tickets

Halo PSA:

• Query Halo Clients
• Query Halo Tickets
• Query Halo Users
• Query Halo Assets
• Create Halo Ticket
• Update Halo Ticket
• Create Halo Ticket Note
• Create Halo Client
• Create Halo User
• Create Halo Asset
• Update Halo Asset

---

Workflow Actions

A workflow action combines PSA operations with matching and decision logic in a single step. Rather than requiring you to know every ID and parameter up front, a workflow action can use higher-level inputs, such as an incoming email, to determine the correct customer, contact, or ticket.

When to Use a Workflow Action

Use a workflow action when:

• You are processing incoming emails and need the system to determine which account, contact, or ticket the email is associated with
• You want to look up an account or contact automatically based on the sender's email address or domain
• You want to find an existing ticket by scanning the email subject or body for a ticket number
• You need the system to handle edge cases like missing contacts, unrecognized senders, merged tickets, or reply threads

How Workflow Actions Work

A workflow action takes inputs you provide (such as an email address or a ticket subject) and uses MSPintegrations business logic to:

1. Query the PSA for matching records (contacts, accounts, tickets, configuration items, etc.)
2. Apply matching rules and handle ambiguous or missing results
3. Make the appropriate API call (or series of calls) based on what was found
4. Return the results including status flags and the created or updated objects

For example, the Create Autotask Ticket workflow action:

• Searches for a Contact matching the sender's email address
• If no Contact is found, searches for an Account matching the sender's domain
• Handles unmatched senders (assigns to a default account or creates a new one)
• Optionally creates a new Contact
• Creates the ticket with all the correct associations

This replaces approximately 10 separate API calls and the conditional logic between them.

Workflow Actions by Platform

Autotask (Common):

• Create Autotask Ticket
• Update Existing Autotask Ticket

Autotask (Advanced):

• Create Autotask Ticket (by Configuration Item)
• Create Autotask Time Entry
• Update Existing Autotask Task

ConnectWise Manage:

• Create ConnectWise Ticket
• Update ConnectWise Ticket

Halo PSA:

• Create Halo Ticket from Email
• Update Halo Ticket from Email
• Find Halo User and Client by Email
• Attach Files to Halo Ticket

---

Comparison Summary

	API Call Action	Workflow Action
Who determines the operation?	You select the operation and provide known IDs or fields	The action matches context and decides what to do from your inputs
What input is needed?	Exact IDs and field values	Higher-level inputs (email address, ticket number, etc.)
Lookup logic included?	No	Yes
Best for	Custom automations with known data	Email-to-ticket automation
Number of API requests made	Varies by action	Varies by action
Example	Create a ticket with a known AccountID	Create a ticket by looking up the sender's account

---

Choosing the Right Action

Start with workflow actions if you are setting up standard email-to-PSA automations. They handle the complexity of contact and account matching automatically.

Use API call actions when:

• You already have all the required IDs (from a previous query step)
• You need to create or update entity types not covered by workflow actions
• You are building custom logic and need precise control over each step