New Group API Endpoints: Automating User Management at Scale
We're excited to announce the availability of new Group API endpoints in TrueContext, opening up powerful automation capabilities for managing your mobile workforce at scale. Whether you're integrating with a third-party Identity Provider (IdP) or streamlining your dispatch workflows, these new endpoints give you programmatic control over group creation and management.
What's New?
The TrueContext API now supports full CRUD operations for Groups, allowing you to:
- Create groups programmatically via API
- Retrieve group details and membership information
- Update group properties and configurations
- Delete groups when they're no longer needed
- Manage group membership by adding or removing users
This represents a significant expansion of our API capabilities, moving beyond read-only access to enable complete lifecycle management of groups within your TrueContext account.
Key Use Cases
1. Third-Party Identity Provider (IdP) Integration
One of the most powerful applications of the new Group API is seamless integration with your organization's existing Identity Provider. Many enterprises use IdPs like Azure AD, Okta, or OneLogin to manage user identities and group memberships centrally. With the new API endpoints, you can now:
Synchronize organizational structure automatically: When your IT team creates a new department, project team, or regional group in your IdP, that structure can be automatically reflected in TrueContext. A simple integration script can monitor your IdP for group changes and call the TrueContext API to create corresponding groups.
Maintain consistency across systems: As team members join, transfer, or leave your organization, their group memberships can be updated in TrueContext automatically. This eliminates manual administration overhead and reduces the risk of users having incorrect access to forms and data.
Example workflow:
1. New hire joins "Field Service - Northeast" team in Azure AD
2. IdP webhook triggers integration middleware
3. Middleware checks if "Field Service - Northeast" group exists in TrueContext
4. If not, creates group via POST /groups endpoint
5. Adds user to group via group membership endpoint
6. User immediately has access to region-specific forms and workflows
This automation is particularly valuable for organizations with:
- High employee turnover or seasonal workforce fluctuations
- Complex organizational hierarchies with many departments or regions
- Strict compliance requirements around access control and auditing
2. Enhanced Group Dispatch Capabilities
TrueContext's Group Dispatch feature allows you to assign forms to entire groups of users rather than individuals, perfect for broadcasting work orders, safety alerts, or field surveys. The new Group API takes this functionality to the next level by enabling dynamic group creation based on dispatch criteria.
Create dispatch groups on-the-fly: Instead of maintaining static groups, you can now create temporary or project-specific groups programmatically when dispatch needs arise. For example, when a large-scale service event occurs, you can:
- Query your external systems (CRM, FSM, ERP) for available technicians with specific skills
- Create a new group via API containing only those qualified technicians
- Dispatch forms to the entire group instantly
- Disband the group after the project completes
Real-world scenario:
Imagine you're managing emergency response for a utilities company. When a major storm hits a specific region, your dispatch system could:
1. Identify all technicians currently in or near the affected service area
2. Filter for those certified for emergency restoration work
3. Create a group called "Storm Response - Region 5 - Oct 2025" via API
4. Add the qualified technicians to this group
5. Dispatch emergency assessment forms to the entire group
6. Track completion rates by group in real-time
This dynamic approach means you're always dispatching to the right people without maintaining dozens of pre-configured groups that may become outdated.
3. Integration with External Systems
Beyond IdP integration, the Group API opens doors to connecting TrueContext with various external systems:
CRM Integration: Automatically create groups based on customer territories or account assignments. When a sales rep is assigned to a new territory in Salesforce, create a corresponding TrueContext group and assign them to it.
HR Systems: Sync organizational changes from Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, or other HR platforms. When an employee transfers to a new supervisor or department, reflect this in TrueContext group memberships automatically.
Project Management Tools: Create TrueContext groups that mirror project teams in tools like Jira, Asana, or ServiceNow. Field workers on a specific project can be grouped together for project-specific forms and inspections.
Best Practices for Implementation
When implementing group automation via the API, consider these best practices:
Establish naming conventions: Use consistent, descriptive group names that include relevant metadata (region, department, purpose, creation date). This makes groups easier to manage and query programmatically.
Implement idempotent operations: Before creating a group, check if it already exists. This prevents duplicate groups and makes your integration scripts more resilient to retries or re-runs.
Plan for error handling: Build robust error handling into your integration. What happens if the API call fails? Should you retry, log, or alert an administrator?
Consider rate limits: If you're syncing large organizational structures, be mindful of API rate limits. Implement batching or throttling in your integration code.
Audit and logging: Maintain logs of group creation and modification via API. This creates an audit trail for compliance and troubleshooting purposes.
Test with small groups first: Before rolling out organization-wide automation, test your integration with a small pilot group to validate the workflow.
Getting Started
To start using the new Group API endpoints:
- Review the API documentation at https://live.prontoforms.com/api-docs for detailed endpoint specifications, request formats, and response schemas
- Generate API credentials in your TrueContext account with appropriate permissions for group management
- Build and test your integration in a development or sandbox environment
- Monitor and iterate as you roll out automation to production
Real-World Impact
The ability to manage groups programmatically transforms how organizations can scale their TrueContext deployments. Instead of manual administration bottlenecks, IT teams can build self-service workflows where group memberships flow automatically from authoritative systems.
For field service organizations with hundreds or thousands of mobile users, this automation can save dozens of administrative hours per week while improving accuracy and security. Users get access to the right forms at the right time, and administrators can focus on strategic initiatives rather than routine user management tasks.
Looking Forward
The new Group API endpoints represent our continued commitment to making TrueContext a flexible, integration-friendly platform that fits seamlessly into your existing technology ecosystem. As you build automations with these new capabilities, we'd love to hear about your use cases and experiences in the Community.
Have questions about implementing group automation? Drop a comment below or reach out to our support team. We're here to help you unlock the full potential of these new capabilities.
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Nick Cote
Solutions Architect
TrueContext
Kanata
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