Setting up and using the Basecamp target

If you use Basecamp from 37signals, you can integrate it into your help desk by creating a Basecamp target. You can then use the target to send notifications about new tickets and ticket updates into your Basecamp project. The notifications can be sent as new messages or as new comments in an existing message. You can also set up the target up to send the notifications as either a new to-do list or as a new item in an existing to-do list.

Here's an example of a new message.

Here's an example of a comment added to an existing message.

Here's an example of an new to-do list.

Here's an example of a to-do list item added to an existing to-do list.

Although there are these four element types you can create in Basecamp via a target, you can only set one type per target. Based on how you want to integrate your help desk with Basecamp, you may want to create targets for each of these types.

Setting up your Basecamp target

Once you've created your Basecamp target you use it to push (via automations or triggers) ticket updates into your Basecamp project.

To create a Basecamp target

1. Select Settings > Extensions.
2. On the Targets tab, select Add target.
3. Select the Basecamp target.
4. Enter any title you'd like.
5. Enter the URL of your Basecamp project (for example: https://mondocam.basecamphq.com).
6. Enter the username and password of the Basecamp account owner.
7. Enter the API token.
   • You can find your authentication token by logging in to Basecamp and selecting My Info > Show your tokens. Select and copy the token under Token for feed readers or the Basecamp API. Paste the token into the widget.
8. Enter the project ID. You can find the ID in the Basecamp project URL (for example: https://mondocam.basecamphq.com/projects/907890/log).

   

9. The next steps are to select where you want the notification to appear in Basecamp. You can select one of the following:
   • Message
   • Message ID, which is the ID of a specific message. This creates a comment in the message.
   • ToDo
   • ToDo List ID, which is the ID of a specific message. This creates an item in the to-do list.
10. If you want to post notifications as messages in a project, select Message. This creates a new message in the project.
11. If you want to post notifications as comments in an existing message, enter the message ID. You can find this in the URL of the message (for example: https://mondocam.basecamphq.com/projects/907890/posts/59161300/comments).

    

12. If you want to create a new to-do list, select ToDo.
13. if you want to create a new to-do list item in an existing to-do list, enter the to-do list ID. You can find this in the URL of the message (for example: https://mondocam.basecamphq.com/projects/907890/todo_lists/18977484).

    

14. To confirm that you've set up the target properly, select Test target and then click Submit. If you get a success message, your set up is complete. You can view the test message (or comment, to-do list, or to-do list item) in your Basecamp project. If the test was unsuccessful, check the data you entered into the target and test it again.
15. To save your new target, select Create target and then Submit.

You new Basecamp target is now ready to be used in an automation or trigger.

In both message and to-do list options, you can use a placeholder instead of the message or to-do list ID.

Using your Basecamp target

Your Basecamp targets can be used to push ticket updates to your project. You use them as you would any other target in your automations and triggers (see Notifying external targets).