For customers of the software "Rentman" (https://rentman.io), CrewBrain offers an automated interface through which project data can be automatically transferred to CrewBrain.
To activate the synchronization, an API token is first required. This can be generated in Rentman and then stored in CrewBrain under Administration > Interfaces > Rentman. Afterwards, the retrieval can be tested via "Test API connection".
The synchronization offers various options for how projects from Rentman can be synchronized to CrewBrain. These can optionally be created as a job or as a project in CrewBrain. Additionally, it can be defined whether the planning period or the usage period from Rentman should be used as the time range for jobs & projects in CrewBrain.
Subjobs are automatically created in the Rentman synchronization based on projects, subprojects, and project functions. For this, CrewBrain also takes into account the respective stored time periods.
Personnel data (employees and freelancers) can also be directly imported from Rentman. Here, a choice must be made between "Only new personnel" or "Update values regularly". If the second option is chosen, changes in CrewBrain will always be overwritten with the next synchronization run. In this case, Rentman is the leading system for the personnel (base) data.
In Rentman, an account manager can be defined, who can optionally be synchronized to CrewBrain as a scheduler or project manager.
Both event types and event statuses can be mapped individually. For this, the data is first retrieved from Rentman and then it is defined whether a synchronization should take place and, if so, with which value these projects should be created in CrewBrain.
If the option "No" is selected in the "Synchronize" area for a type or status, the entire project or subproject is usually not synchronized.
Under the point "Categories", the mapping of Rentman functions to CrewBrain categories (e.g., sound technician, lighting technician, etc.) is done. First, the functions can be retrieved via the button "Retrieve Rentman functions". Then, for each service, it can be defined whether it should be synchronized and, if so, which CrewBrain category should be used.
Unfortunately, the Rentman API does not provide clean access to the functions stored in the database. For this reason, CrewBrain retrieves the 300 most recently used functions in Rentman and groups them by name. Therefore, the list may also contain functions that may no longer be current.
In Rentman, users can create individual additional data fields. These can also be transferred to CrewBrain. It is important to determine the technical ID of the extra input field from Rentman. This can be displayed as a column in the list of extra input fields in Rentman ("Customize columns"). For each ID, it can then be selected which field in CrewBrain the information should be transferred to.
The synchronization process runs automatically every 2-3 hours, keeping the data always up to date. Additionally, there is a synchronization icon at the top of the calendar views in CrewBrain, through which the process can also be started manually (for the entire data set). This is useful, for example, when 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 single job can be triggered or the synchronization for this job or project can be paused.
If the synchronization is paused in a job or project via the context menu, no more changes from Rentman will be imported. This is especially helpful if manual changes are made in CrewBrain that no longer match the originally transferred data from Rentman.