Table of Contents
Automate Service Group Creation for Each Contact or Company
Some teams want a different catalogue for each contact or company. Creating and assigning a service group by hand for each one takes a long time, and it never ends. This article shows how to let automation do it.
This is a workaround with a maintenance cost. For most teams, a shared catalogue is easier to run. See Quick Setup and Advanced Catalogue Model first.
The short version
- Use tags to describe each contact or company.
- Decide which service types each tag should receive.
- Run an automation on a schedule (daily, weekly or monthly).
- The automation reads the tags, creates the service groups and assigns them.
When to use this approach
Consider it if:
- A few companies need a catalogue that is truly different from the rest.
- You want a catalogue per contact, and a shared one will not do.
- You already have someone who can build and look after automation.
If you only want to give some people extra services, check whether one shared service group at company level is enough.
How it works
- Tag your contacts or companies.
- Define a rule that links each tag to a list of service types.
- Run an automation on a schedule.
- For each contact or company, the automation:
- Reads its tags.
- Works out the service types it should have.
- Creates a service group with those service types, or updates the existing one.
- Assigns the group to that contact or company.
Because it runs on a schedule, new contacts and tag changes are picked up without manual work.
Step 1: Plan your tags
Tags should describe what the contact or company needs. Examples:
Tag | Meaning |
| Needs approval and reporting requests |
| Needs HR-related requests |
| Needs remote equipment requests |
| Has extra services under their agreement |
Tips:
- Keep the tag list short and use clear names.
- Use one tag for one meaning.
- Write down what each tag means, so the team uses them the same way.
Step 2: Decide what each tag receives
Create a mapping from tag to service types. You can build it in different ways. Choose what suits your team.
Method | Good for | Watch out for |
Spreadsheet (tag in one column, service types in another) | Small, stable lists. Easy for non-technical staff to edit. | Must be kept up to date. |
Rules in the automation | Clear, fixed logic. | Changes need someone who can edit the automation. |
AI | Large or changing lists. AI reads the tags and service type descriptions and decides. | Usage cost, and results need checking. |
All three work. The key is that the mapping is written down and easy to change.
Step 3: Build the automation
Our API lets your automation list and manage the things it needs:
- Contacts
- Companies
- Forms
- Service types
- Service groups
A typical run:
- Get the list of contacts or companies, with their tags.
- Get the list of service types.
- For each contact or company, work out the service types from the tags.
- Check whether a service group for it already exists.
- Create or update the service group.
- Assign the group at the contact or company level.
Choose how often to run
Schedule | Good for |
Daily | Fast-changing teams, new contacts added often |
Weekly | Most teams |
Monthly | Stable setups |
Run it more often only if tag changes need to take effect quickly.
Step 4: Test and check
- Start with a small group of test contacts.
- Check that each one sees the service types you expect.
- Check what happens when a tag is removed. Does the service group update?
- Only then turn it on for everyone.
Keep it tidy
- Don't create duplicates. Re-use groups that have the same service types.
- Name groups clearly. Include the tag or the contact, so you can find them later.
- Clean up. Remove groups that no one uses any more.
- Review each month. Use the Monthly Service Catalogue Review Checklist.
What to expect
- Setup effort. You need to plan the tags, the mapping and the automation.
- Ongoing effort. Tags and the mapping need to stay correct.
- Many service groups. One per contact or company can mean a very large number.
- A longer list for each contact? More choice is not always better. Keep each person's list short. See Why a Small Service Catalogue Works Better.
