Get More from NextCrew: The Open API, the Marketplace and Our Partners

Your agency already uses other tools for texting, background checks and payroll. NextCrew connects to them, so your team works in one place and stops retyping the same details.

That's the connections chosen and set up. Everything below is for when you want to know which partner fits which problem, where each one is set up, and what to do when one isn't working.

Why it matters

• Clients trust you when checks are done, licenses are current and invoices match, without anyone retyping them.
• Crew stay loyal when they hear from you by text from your own number, and when hiring checks don't stall their start.
• Your team builds relationships instead of logging in to five sites and copying details between them.

Where it usually breaks

• An app is added before the agency has an account with the partner, so there's nothing to enter on Configure.
• Someone looks in the Marketplace for a connection that's set up a different way, such as early pay.
• A Crew Member's details are copied into another system by hand, and the two drift apart.
• Payroll hours are retyped instead of exported, so mistakes creep in.
• An API key is sent by email or chat, where anyone who sees it can reach your data.

Start with the problem, then pick the partner

For the names of the partners in each category, open Find Apps in the App Marketplace. New partners are added over time, so the list there is always the current one.

Where it saves time

The App Marketplace, step by step

The App Marketplace is in Settings › App Marketplace. See App Marketplace: Start Here.

1. Set up your account with the partner first. Most apps need it, and the partner gives you the details NextCrew asks for.
2. Open Find Apps. It lists every partner app you can add. Click an app to read about it, then click Add. Apps you already have show as Installed.
3. Open My Apps and click Configure. Enter the details from your partner account and save with Update.
4. Test it on one record. For example, run one background check from a Crew Member's record and check the result comes back.

To stop using an app, click Remove on My Apps.

Start with texting. Reminders and messages reach Crew phones as texts only once your agency has set up Twilio. Twilio bills your agency directly, so there may be a cost. See Turn On Text Messaging with Twilio.

Payroll and accounting exports

Payroll. NextCrew doesn't run payroll. Each pay period, run your payroll export from Reports, download the file and import it into your payroll system. NextCrew marks the exported timesheets Paid, and an exported timesheet is never exported twice. If your payroll provider has no export of its own, the general Timesheet Export works with your payroll system's import tools. See Export Payroll to Your Payroll Company.

QuickBooks. Run the QuickBooks Invoice Detail Export for the period and import the file into QuickBooks. It's a file, not a live connection, so create and check all the invoices for the period before you export. If you'd rather connect it, QuickBooks also works through Zapier. See Export Invoices to QuickBooks.

Zapier: for the other apps you use

Zapier connects NextCrew to whatever other apps your agency uses, without a developer or code.

• It's an add-on. It isn't included by default. Ask NextCrew to turn it on. There may be a cost; check with your account manager.
• What it works with: Crew, clients, jobs, timesheets and invoices.
• What starts a Zap: a new, updated or deleted record in NextCrew.
• What it can do in NextCrew: create a record (or update it if it's already there), delete a record, or search for a record.

Ideas to start with:

• A new Crew Member is added, and they're added to a Google Sheet or an email list.
• A timesheet is updated, and a note is posted to Slack or Microsoft Teams.
• A client fills in a form on your website, and the client is created in NextCrew.
• A job is created, and it's added to an Outlook calendar. This is one way, from NextCrew to Outlook.

The Open API: for your own software or a client's

When you, or a client, have your own software, it can connect to NextCrew through the Open API. For example, a client's own system can send orders straight into NextCrew. See Connect Other Software with the NextCrew API.

• What it can reach: Crew Members, clients, orders, jobs, offers, timesheets, reports and lookup tables.
• Webhooks tell the other software when a record is created, updated or deleted.
• The key: create it on your Profile, on the API Keys tab. The full key is shown only once, so copy it straight away. A key can do whatever the person who created it can do, so create it from an account with only the access the connection needs.
• One key per connection, so you can remove one without breaking the others.
• The documentation is at api.nextcrew.app. Give your developer the key and that link.
• Rate limits apply, so the software has to wait and try again if it sends too many requests at once.
• Keep the key safe. Never send it by email or chat. Anyone with the key can reach your data. Delete and replace a key that's lost or that belonged to someone who has left.

You're set up when…

• ☐ You know which problem each connection solves.
• ☐ You have an account with each partner before you add its app.
• ☐ Texting runs through your agency's own Twilio number.
• ☐ Payroll and invoices go out by export or connection, never by retyping.
• ☐ Early pay and VMS connections are set up with the partner, if you use them.
• ☐ Every API key has a name, belongs to one connection and was never sent by email or chat.

If something isn't working

Questions people ask

Do apps cost extra? Some partners charge for their service. Check with the partner. For Zapier and the RSS job feed, check with your account manager.

Do I need an account with the partner? For most apps, yes. Set up the account first, then add the app.

Is QuickBooks a live connection? The export is a file you import into QuickBooks. For a connection, use Zapier.

Why isn't early pay in the Marketplace? Early pay providers are set up directly with the provider. Ask your account manager.

Can a client's system send us orders? Yes, through the Open API. For clients who order through a VMS or MSP portal, a VMS connection partner brings those orders in as NextCrew jobs.

Can I connect software that isn't listed? Yes. Use Zapier for apps it supports, or have a developer use the Open API.

Who should create API keys? Someone whose access matches what the connection needs, because the key can do whatever that person can do.

Other ways people ask this

• What does NextCrew integrate with?
• Does NextCrew connect to our payroll?
• Can NextCrew connect to QuickBooks?
• Does NextCrew have an API?
• How do I connect a background check partner?
• What is the App Marketplace?
• Can we offer Crew early pay?

Related guides

• App Marketplace: Start Here · Connect Other Software with the NextCrew API · Turn On Text Messaging with Twilio
• Export Payroll to Your Payroll Company · Export Invoices to QuickBooks · Run Background Checks, Compliance Tests and E-Verify