For customers of the software "Epirent" (https://epi.rent), CrewBrain offers an automated interface through which order data can be automatically transferred to CrewBrain.
To activate synchronization, an API token is first required. This can be generated in Epirent and then entered in CrewBrain under Administration > Interfaces > Epirent. It is also necessary to specify the URL at which the Epirent instance is accessible. Once both fields are filled, the connection can be tested via "Test API connection".
Epirent is usually hosted locally. Therefore, for CrewBrain to access the data in Epirent, it is necessary that the server is accessible from outside via URL or IP address. This usually requires firewall exceptions and port forwarding in the local network. Only when the API is accessible from outside can the data be retrieved by CrewBrain.
The first question is: on which port does the API run? Usually, in Epirent it is either 8080 or 8081, but this can also be changed in the Epirent settings. The best way is to open a browser directly on the computer where the Epirent server is running and enter the following in the address bar:
http://localhost:8080/clients
Epirent should respond either with an error message or a list of the registered clients – both are good signs. If nothing appears, then the port is incorrect or the API is not enabled.
If this works, go to another PC in the local network, open a browser again, but this time enter the IP address of the Epirent server instead of "localhost". This should also work.
Now comes the actual step of port forwarding in the firewall or router. Once this is set up, you can (preferably from a PC or smartphone outside your local network) try to enter the public IP (or the dynamic DNS address) instead of "localhost" in the URL. As soon as you get either the error message or the list of clients with this, everything should be ready and the address can be entered in CrewBrain.
Security regarding port forwarding: By forwarding the port, the Epirent API is made publicly accessible on the Internet. For this reason, it makes sense to restrict access to certain IPs – in this case, the IPs of our production and standby servers.
Once the API connection works, the relevant Epirent clients can first be selected. Then, the synchronization offers various options for how orders from Epirent can be synchronized to CrewBrain. These can optionally be created as jobs or as projects in CrewBrain.
Regarding subjobs, you can choose whether the schedule should be created as subjobs. If this option is selected, subjobs will be created even if no service positions are planned for these periods.
Alternatively, the option "Chapters as subjobs" can be selected. In this case, CrewBrain automatically creates the relevant subjobs from the chapters and the time periods stored in the service positions.
Via preconditions, you can define which orders should be transferred to CrewBrain. It should be noted that all conditions must be met for an order to be synchronized. Conditions and options that can be both "Yes" and "No" should therefore be ignored ("do not check").
Example: It usually makes sense not to synchronize cancelled orders. The flag "Rent" on the other hand could be set for both dry-hire jobs and full-service jobs. For "Rent", "do not check" should generally be selected, otherwise full-service jobs may not be synchronized or may be synchronized incorrectly.
In addition to the options from Epirent, there is also the possibility to check the Epirent status. CrewBrain cannot retrieve a status list, so the statuses must be added manually and a textual comparison with the status stored in Epirent is performed during synchronization.
Personnel data (employees and freelancers) can also be directly transferred from Epirent. Here you can choose between "Only new personnel" or "Update values regularly". If the second option is selected, changes in CrewBrain will always be overwritten with the next synchronization run. In this case, Epirent is the leading system for the personnel (base) data.
Both event types and event statuses can be mapped analogously to the preconditions. Based on the checks, it can be determined which type or status in CrewBrain should be used for an order synchronized from Epirent. Here, too, in addition to the fixed options defined in Epirent, the status in Epirent can also be checked.
CrewBrain uses the type or status for which the most conditions apply and for which there are no exclusion criteria (= conditions not met) during synchronization.
Under "Categories", the mapping of Epirent services to CrewBrain categories (e.g. sound technician, lighting technician, etc., but also vehicles) is done. First, the services can be retrieved via the button "Retrieve Epirent service list". Then, for each service, it can be defined whether it should be synchronized and, if so, which CrewBrain category should be used.
The transfer of clients & locations takes place automatically as soon as they are needed in a job or project. On request, however, the one-time synchronization of the entire client or location database from Epirent to CrewBrain can also be triggered manually in the administration. Since a large amount of data may need to be transferred depending on the size of the database, this retrieval can take several minutes.
The synchronization process runs automatically every 2-3 hours and thus keeps the data always up to date. In addition, there is a synchronization icon at the top of the calendar views in CrewBrain, via which the process can also be started manually (for the entire data set). This is useful, for example, if a new order has just been created in the source system.
In addition to this option to start the sync process, the same icon is also available in all synchronized jobs. There, via a menu, either the synchronization for this one job can be started or the synchronization for this job or project can be paused.
If synchronization is paused in a job or project via the context menu, no more changes are taken over from Epirent. This is particularly useful if manual changes are made in CrewBrain that no longer correspond to the data originally transferred from Epirent.