Resources · Zapier integration

Deputy Zapier integrationAutomate Deputy with Zapier.

The Deputy Zapier integration gives you 15 triggers, 11 actions and 2 searches to move rosters, timesheets, staff records and sales figures in and out of Deputy without retyping them. Here is what each one does, what it costs, and where it trips.

See the 28 operations

Verified Trustpilot reviews · AI, automation & growth agency

Overview

What the Deputy Zapier integration actually does for your team

Connecting Deputy to Zapier means a scheduling event in Deputy (a new shift on the roster, a late clock-in, a leave request) can start an automation, and that other tools, or Deputy itself, can create staff, shifts, tasks and sales lines in your workplace. Deputy is not reserved for paid plans, so it runs on the free one.

Three results people build with it. A location that is ready on day one: New Location starts the Zap, Create Area/Department adds the first work area and Create Announcement tells the team. A manager who hears about problems: New Late Employee and Forgot to End Shift (Timesheet Incomplete) can feed a task or a message somewhere your supervisors actually look. Labor cost next to revenue: Create Sales Data pushes each sale into Deputy so it can sit on top of your schedule charts.

What Zapier does not do here. None of the 15 Deputy triggers is instant: every one of them is polled, so on the free plan an event can wait up to 15 minutes before your Zap sees it. There is no action to delete a shift, an employee or a location, and nothing to approve or decline a leave request. If your process depends on those, it stays manual or goes through another route.

Comparing tools before you commit? The Deputy Make integration covers the same app on Make, and Make vs Zapier is the place to weigh the two.

Vocabulary

Zapier vocabulary in one minute

Eight words you will see in the editor. Read them once, the rest of the page uses them without explaining again.

Zap
The automation you build: one trigger, then one or more actions that run every time that trigger event happens.
Trigger
The event in an app that starts the Zap, like a new timesheet in Deputy. Once the Zap is on, Zapier waits for it.
Action
What the Zap does after it starts: the step that creates, writes or sends something for you, such as a shift.
Task
The unit Zapier bills. One task is one action that completed successfully; your plan counts those, nothing else.
Polling trigger
A trigger Zapier checks on a timer: it asks Deputy for new items at a fixed interval and keeps only the ones it has not seen.
Instant trigger
A trigger the app reports itself, the moment the event happens. Deputy has none on Zapier: all 15 are polled.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap continue only when what arrived meets a condition you set, and stops it otherwise.
Search step
A step that looks up something that already exists, an employee or a shift, so later steps can reuse what it found.
Cost

What a Deputy Zap really costs

Zapier bills tasks, and only completed actions count. The trigger itself never costs a task, however often Zapier checks Deputy for new items.

  • TriggerNever costs a task
  • Each successful action1 task (a few apps and actions take more)
  • Failed actionNot counted
  • Free plan100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps only
  • Deputy on the free planYes, not a premium app

Every action that succeeds counts on its own, so a three-action Zap uses three times more than a one-action Zap. An action that fails is not counted. The free plan gives 100 tasks a month, unlimited Zaps and a check every 15 minutes, but only two-step Zaps: one trigger, one action. Add a second action, a filter or a search step and it becomes a multi-step Zap, which needs a paid plan. Deputy itself is open to every plan.

Connect

Connect your Deputy account to Zapier

  1. 01

    Open the Apps page

    In your Zapier account, go to Apps and click + Add connection. A connection is your Deputy account linked once, then reused by every Zap step that touches Deputy.

  2. 02

    Pick Deputy and add it

    Type Deputy in the search box of the dialog, select it, then click Add connection. You need an existing Deputy account for this, Zapier does not create one for you.

  3. 03

    Sign in and grant access

    Sign in to Deputy in the tab that opens and allow Zapier to reach the account. If the Zap must touch locations or staff you do not own, your Deputy user needs read or write access on them.

First Zap

Your first Deputy Zap: open a new site in one go

GoalWhen a franchisee adds a new location in Deputy, create its first area and post an announcement so the staff know it is live.

  1. 01

    Build: choose the trigger

    Start a new Zap with Build. Pick Deputy as the app and New Location as the trigger event, then select your Deputy connection.

  2. 02

    Test the trigger

    Run Test. Zapier brings back the three most recent locations of your account, so you map the next steps on a real one rather than an empty sample.

  3. 03

    Add Create Area/Department

    Add a Deputy action, Create Area/Department. Map the location from the trigger into Location, then type the name of the area you open by default, a front desk or a kitchen.

  4. 04

    Add Create Announcement

    Add a second Deputy action, Create Announcement, and write the Message, reusing the location name from the trigger. Two actions make this a multi-step Zap, so a paid plan.

  5. 05

    Test, then Publish

    Test each action once and check the result in Deputy. Then Publish the Zap to switch it on. Each new location will now cost two tasks.

Triggers

Deputy triggers on Zapier

15 events start a Zap when something happens in Deputy. Zapier checks for them at the interval your plan allows.

1

New Colleague

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new individual is added to your workplace, you can see them here. This is subject to you have workplace visibility.”

This one watches your workplace from the point of view of the connected user: when someone new joins and you are allowed to see them, the Zap starts with that colleague.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a shift lead who wants a welcome note sent to every new teammate on their site without checking the staff list.
Watch out
it only sees people your Deputy user has visibility on, so a narrow profile means a quiet trigger.
2

New Area/Department

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when there is a new area or department created.”

Whenever an area or a department is created in Deputy, a bar, a stockroom, a ward, this trigger hands it to your Zap.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
an operations manager who wants every new work area to get a matching task or announcement for the people who will staff it.
Watch out
do not pair it with Create Area/Department in the same Zap, or each new area creates another one and the Zap loops.
3

New Post

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new newsfeed post arrives.”

Posts on the Deputy newsfeed become the starting point here: each new one that reaches the connected user starts a run.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a head office that wants every newsfeed post copied to the channel where managers who rarely open Deputy will read it.
Watch out
if the same Zap also runs Create Announcement, what it posts can come back as a new post and start the Zap again.
4

New My Schedule

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when there is a new schedule for me.”

Personal by design: it fires when a new schedule is assigned to you, the user behind the connection, not to the whole team.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a manager who also works shifts and wants each new one of their own pushed into a personal calendar or reminder tool.
Watch out
a colleague's schedules never show up here; for the whole roster, use New Schedule instead.
5

New My Timesheet

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when there is a new timesheet that has been saved for me.”

Each time a timesheet is saved for the connected user, Zapier picks it up and starts the Zap with it.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a contractor billed by the hour who logs their own Deputy timesheets into a personal tracking sheet.
Watch out
it follows one person, the account owner of the connection; payroll for the whole team needs Get New Timesheets.
6

Break Started or Finished

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a employee starts or ends their break.”

Breaks are the event here: when an employee starts a break, or ends one, that moment reaches your Zap.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a warehouse supervisor who keeps a running log of breaks taken on the floor, to check coverage at the end of the day.
Watch out
start and end both fire it, so each break can produce two runs and two tasks per action.
7

New Location

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when there is a new location or company.”

Opening a site? When a new location, or a new company, appears in your Deputy account, this trigger starts the Zap with it.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a franchise network that sets up the first area and the welcome announcement of each new store automatically.
Watch out
a Zap on this trigger that runs Create Location makes a new location each time, which starts it again.
8

New Employee

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when there is a new employee created.”

Hiring is the starting point: every employee created in Deputy, by hand or by another Zap, starts a run.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
an HR coordinator who gives each new hire an onboarding task in Deputy as soon as the record exists.
Watch out
if another Zap already runs Create Employee from your hiring tool, both chain together; check you are not counting the same hire twice.
9

Forgot to End Shift (Timesheet Incomplete)

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a timesheet needs to be completed, because an employee has forgotten to end their shift.”

When someone walks out without clocking off, Deputy leaves an incomplete timesheet, and this trigger reports it to your Zap.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a payroll officer who wants the missing clock-off fixed before the pay run, not discovered during it.
Watch out
on the free plan the reminder can land up to 15 minutes after Deputy flagged the timesheet.
10

New Late Employee

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when someone is late to start their shift.”

Lateness becomes an event: once someone is late to start their shift, Zapier hands the case to the steps that follow.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a restaurant manager who wants to know which shift is still uncovered while there is time to call someone in.
Watch out
on the free plan the alert can come late itself, so for tight openings consider a plan with a shorter interval.
11

New Leave

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new Leave request is submitted”

A leave request submitted in Deputy sets this one off, so the request can travel to wherever it gets reviewed.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a store manager who wants each new request in their task list, next to the rest of the planning work.
Watch out
no Zapier action approves or declines leave in Deputy; the decision itself stays in Deputy.
12

New Notification

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when there is a new notification for you.”

Think of it as a forwarder for your Deputy inbox: each new notification addressed to the connected user starts the Zap.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
an area manager who lives in another tool all day and wants Deputy notifications delivered there.
Watch out
it only covers notifications for the connected user; a colleague's never come through this connection.
13

New Role

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when New Role/Persmission set.”

Access rights are the subject: when a new role, a permission set, is created in Deputy, the Zap starts with it.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
an IT or compliance lead who keeps an audit trail of every permission set added to the account.
Watch out
it reports new roles, not changes to existing ones, so an edited role passes unseen.
14

New Schedule

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when there is a new schedule”

The team-wide version of the roster trigger: any new schedule created in Deputy, whoever it belongs to, starts a run.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a clinic coordinator who mirrors every new shift into a shared calendar the reception desk checks.
Watch out
a bulk import of shifts can return a huge batch at once, which Zapier's flood protection may hold back.
15

Get New Timesheets

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Lists all the new timesheets”

Every new timesheet of the account, not just yours, comes through here, which makes it the payroll-side trigger.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a bookkeeper who copies each timesheet into the sheet used to prepare wages and job costing.
Watch out
timesheets that existed before you published the Zap are never picked up; export that history separately.
Actions

Deputy actions on Zapier

Deputy gives you 11 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Create Employee

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new staff member.”

Adds a staff member to Deputy from whatever starts the Zap, typically a signed contract or a hiring form.

When to use it
an HR team that stops retyping new hires into Deputy after onboarding.
Watch out
five fields are required: Company, first and last name, email, and whether to send an invite. Decide the invite rule before you publish.
2

Create Location

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new location.”

Opens a new location in Deputy with its workplace name and address, both of them required.

When to use it
a franchise team that registers each signed franchisee in Deputy from the deal record.
Watch out
never run it in a Zap started by New Location, or each location creates the next one.
3

Create Announcement

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new announcement”

Publishes an announcement in Deputy; the message is the only field it insists on.

When to use it
telling the team about a new site, a procedure change or a closure decided in another tool.
Watch out
combined with the New Post trigger in one Zap, it can loop on its own posts.
4

Create Area/Department

Action

In Zapier“Creates an area or department.”

Creates an area or a department inside a location you choose, with the name you give it.

When to use it
giving every new site the same starting areas without a manager clicking through Deputy.
Watch out
Location and Name are both required, and the location must already exist in the account.
5

Create Shift

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new shift.”

Puts a new shift on the roster with a start time and an end time, and lets you choose whether it is published straight away.

When to use it
turning a booked event in another tool into the shift that covers it.
Watch out
leave Publish off if a manager reviews shifts first, otherwise staff can see it immediately.
6

Create My Unavailability

Action

In Zapier“Adds your unavailability to the calendar.”

Blocks a period in the Deputy calendar of the connected user, from a start date and time to an end date and time.

When to use it
a manager whose personal calendar should mark them unavailable in Deputy too.
Watch out
it writes your own unavailability, never a colleague's.
7

Create Task

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new task for the specificed employee”

Gives a task to the employee you specify, with the Question field required to describe it.

When to use it
asking whoever forgot to clock off to fix their timesheet, or giving a new hire a first checklist item.
Watch out
an empty Question blocks the action, so map or type a real instruction.
8

Create Sales Data

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new sales data. Ideally this is an invoice or a transaction at it's most granular level. We overlay this data for schedule charting and other reporting.”

Sends a sale into Deputy, ideally one invoice or transaction at a time, so it can be overlaid on schedule charts and reports.

When to use it
comparing staffing against revenue per area using your point of sale.
Watch out
Sales Reference acts as a unique ID; sending the same one again updates the old line instead of adding one.
9

End Shift

Action

In Zapier“Ends a shift that is in progress.”

Closes a shift that is still running, identified by its timesheet, which is the one required field.

When to use it
the matching half of Start Shift when check-outs happen in another system.
Watch out
it is built for a shift that is still in progress, and the Timesheet field must point to that shift's timesheet.
10

Start Shift

Action

In Zapier“Starts a shift for your staff.”

Clocks an employee on for a shift from another app, with the work area and the employee both required.

When to use it
a site where people check in through another system and Deputy must follow.
Watch out
it starts a timesheet that someone, or End Shift, has to close later.
11

Update Shift

Action

In Zapier“Updates an existing Deputy shift.”

Changes a shift that already exists, picked by its Deputy shift ID, and can publish it in the same move.

When to use it
moving a shift when the booking behind it changes elsewhere.
Watch out
Ignore Scheduling Warnings set to Yes pushes the change through warnings; No stops so someone can review them. Pair it with Find Shift to get the ID.
Searches

Deputy searches on Zapier

2 search steps look for data that already exists in Deputy, so a later step can use it.

A search step finds an employee or a shift that already exists, so the next action can use it. In the editor, Deputy's two searches sit at the bottom of the Action event list, under SEARCH. Some fields also offer + Add search step, which inserts one and wires it in for you.

1

Find Employee

Search

In Zapier“Finds an employee by first and last name, with an optional email match”

Looks up an employee by first and last name, both required, with an email match as an option to narrow it down.

When to use it
a Zap that receives a name from a form and needs the matching Deputy person before Create Task.
Watch out
two people with the same name match together; add the email or set the multiple-results rule.
2

Find Shift

Search

In Zapier“Finds shifts by employee, open status, earliest start, and latest end.”

Retrieves shifts by employee, open status, earliest start and latest end, which is how a Zap gets a shift ID it did not have.

When to use it
feeding Update Shift with the right shift when only the person and the time are known.
Watch out
Open set to true returns open shifts, false assigned ones, blank both.

The three settings every search exposes

  1. Successful if no search results are found?
    Left on its default, a search that finds nothing stops the Zap there. Switch it on and the Zap carries on empty-handed.
  2. Create X if it doesn't exist yet?
    This box turns a search into a find-or-create. Deputy offers no such variant on Zapier, so you will not see it on these two searches.
  3. If multiple search results are found?
    Keep the first match (the default), stop the Zap, or pass every match on at once.
When it breaks

When a Deputy Zap breaks

Zapier attaches no help article to Deputy, so the failures below are the ones every polled app shares.

None of them is exotic. They come from how Zapier reads Deputy on a timer, and they cost tasks or missed events before anyone notices. For a broken Zap you cannot explain, Zapier troubleshooting is the next stop.

  • The past is never picked up

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after you switch it on. Timesheets, leave or staff that existed before stay where they are; moving that backlog is a separate job.

  • A Zap that sets itself off

    New Location with Create Location, New Post with Create Announcement: writing where the trigger watches restarts the Zap again and again and burns tasks fast.

  • A big batch held back

    A bulk import of staff or shifts, or a migration, can return a huge batch at once. Zapier's flood protection can hold that batch back.

  • Duplicates are filtered, on purpose

    Zapier remembers what it has already seen on a polled trigger, so the same shift or timesheet does not start the Zap twice.
Need help

Need help automating Deputy with Zapier?

A person reads every message.

FAQ

Deputy Zapier integration: frequent questions

01Is the Deputy Zapier integration free?
Yes, on the free plan, because Deputy is not a premium app. The free plan gives 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps, with one catch: each Zap is limited to two steps, one trigger and one action. A Zap that adds a second action, a filter or a search becomes a multi-step Zap and needs a paid plan. The scenario of opening a new location with an area and an announcement, for example, has two actions, so it is out of reach on the free plan.
02How many tasks does a Deputy Zap use?
One task per action that succeeds, nothing for the trigger. Zapier checking Deputy for new timesheets or schedules costs nothing, however often it checks. A Zap that creates an area and then an announcement uses two tasks each time a location is added. A failed action is not counted. Watch triggers that fire twice for one real event, such as Break Started or Finished, which fires at the start and at the end of a break: that doubles the count. A few apps and actions take more than one task when they complete.
03Does the Deputy integration work in real time?
No. All 15 Deputy triggers are polling triggers, none is instant. Zapier asks Deputy for new items at a fixed interval set by your plan: every 15 minutes on Free, every 2 minutes on Professional, every minute on Team and Enterprise. On paid plans the interval can be changed, and a check can be run by hand from the editor. For alerts like New Late Employee, that delay matters: a lateness alert can reach you up to 15 minutes after it happened on the free plan.
04What does it take to connect Deputy to Zapier?
A Deputy account, and access to whatever the Zap will touch. Zapier links the account through the Apps page with Add connection, then you sign in to Deputy and allow access. If the Zap reads or writes locations, staff or shifts that you do not own, your Deputy user needs read or write rights on them. Several triggers are personal, such as New My Schedule, New My Timesheet or New Notification, so they follow the user who connected the account and nobody else.
05Why does Create Sales Data overwrite earlier sales?
Because Sales Reference is treated as a unique identifier. Deputy asks you to send something like an invoice number or a docket ID in that field, and a value it already knows updates the existing line instead of creating a new one. If your source reuses references, or if you map a field that is the same on every sale, each new sale replaces the last. Map a reference that is unique per transaction, and send sales at their most detailed level, one invoice or transaction at a time.
06What if a Deputy operation is missing from Zapier?
Then the Zap cannot do it directly. The 28 visible operations cover creating staff, locations, areas, shifts, tasks, announcements and sales, updating, starting and ending shifts, and finding employees and shifts. There is nothing to delete a record or to approve leave. Check the list of Deputy events in the Zapier editor first, since operations change over time. If the step is still missing, the process keeps a manual step, or the job moves to another automation tool that covers it.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for Deputy?
It depends on your criteria, not on a ranking. On Zapier, Deputy works from the free plan, with 15 triggers, 11 actions and 2 searches. The limits to weigh are the polled triggers, which wait for the next check, and the two-step cap of the free plan, which rules out filters and searches. Before choosing, check on each tool which Deputy operations it offers, whether its triggers are polled or instant, and how it counts usage against the volume of shifts and timesheets you expect.
Same platform

Other docs you might need on this stack.

Browse all integrations