Flex Event Sync: Turn Flex Elements into BackOps Events
How to connect Flex Rental Solutions to BackOps, map Flex fields onto events, choose how new events are created, and keep both systems' edits safe.
If your organization runs Flex Rental Solutions, Flex event sync turns the Flex elements you choose into BackOps events and keeps the fields you map up to date. A job booked in Flex shows up in BackOps without anyone typing it in twice. This page covers connecting Flex and setting up event sync. Contact sync and pushing changes back to Flex have their own pages.
Only organization admins can set up the integration. It lives in Settings › Integrations › Flex Rental Solutions, which has three tabs: Event Sync, Contact Sync, and History.
Connect Flex
Open the Flex integration
Select Connect
You can change the instance name or key later under Settings › Connection on the Flex page.
Set Up Event Sync
Choose the element definition
Flex organizes records by element definition, such as an event folder or a production job. Pick the one that matches your BackOps events.
Set the sync schedule
Set the start date, which is how far back in Flex the sync reads, and the interval in minutes (at least 1, default 10). The start date has to be saved before you can save field mappings.
Choose how events are created
Discover fields
Map fields
Every BackOps field you can fill is listed as a row. Pick the Flex field for each one you want filled; plain fields can take a static default value instead. See what you can map below.
Save and activate
Save your changes, then turn on Activate. Activation is refused until the integration has a credential, an element definition, a start date, and at least one mapping.
How New Events Are Created
The creation mode decides what BackOps does when a Flex element arrives that has no BackOps event yet.
| Mode | What BackOps creates |
|---|---|
| Event type | A draft event of the event type you choose |
| Template | A full, active event built from the template you choose |
| None | A draft event with no type |
| Event type from a Flex field | A draft whose type depends on a Driving Flex field. You map each of that field's values to an event type; a value you did not map creates a draft with no type and a warning in History |
Event type is set here, through the creation mode, not by a mapping row. Only one driving field is allowed, and a type and a template cannot be combined. Template inputs are applied once, when the event is created.
What You Can Map
Mapping rows fill:
- Event Name
- Event attributes of these types: text, number, date, date-time, select, a single crew member, or a single collaborator
- Event roles, filled with the crew member or collaborator the Flex reference points to
- Template inputs, in Template mode only
Select attributes use a value map: you match each Flex option to a BackOps option. Options come from the Flex field's status or option list; for a field without one, BackOps samples recent Flex records, so an option nobody has used recently may be missing. A Flex value with no match clears the attribute and logs a warning. Multi-select and other attribute types not listed above cannot be mapped.
Reference fields, such as a project manager or a client, can fill a single Crew or Collaborator attribute or an event role. BackOps finds the person or company through contact sync; if that Flex contact has not been synced, the field is cleared. Mapped to any other attribute, a reference gives its display name as text.
How the Sync Treats Your Edits
The sync is non-destructive. On each run BackOps writes a field only when its value actually changed in Flex since the last sync. If someone edits a mapped field in BackOps and nothing changes in Flex, the BackOps edit stays.
When the same field changed on both sides, the setting When both systems change the same field decides who wins: Keep the Flex value (the default) or Keep the BackOps value. Changing this setting does not reprocess past records.
A few more rules:
- A Flex field that is changed to blank clears the BackOps field. A field that was already blank when it was first read leaves the BackOps value alone.
- Changing a mapping re-reads every Flex record edited since the start date, for that mapping only, and a non-blank Flex value then overwrites the BackOps value for that field whatever the conflict setting says. Saving mappings you did not change does nothing. Moving the start date re-reads from the new date.
- The sync never deletes BackOps events. If you delete an event in BackOps that is still linked to Flex, the next change to that Flex element creates it again.
Sync History and Flex Elements
The History tab lists recent runs (event sync, contact sync, enrichment, and pushes) with the time, records created and updated, warnings, and a Success, Warning, or Failure status. Expand a run to read its errors and warnings. The tab loads the newest 25 runs of each kind, and runs are kept for 30 days.
On the events table, turn on Show Flex elements in the view settings (it appears once Flex is connected). Events linked to Flex then get a chevron that lists the element's child elements live from Flex, so you can see the related documents without leaving BackOps.
Turn Off or Remove the Integration
Turning off Activate pauses event sync and keeps the configuration. Contact sync has its own switch. Settings › Remove deletes the integration, its event sync setup, its run history, and every link between Flex and BackOps records (events, crew, and collaborators). The BackOps events, crew, and collaborators themselves are kept.