How It Works
The Automation, End to End.
One Zap, six steps, zero heroics. Here's every step, what it consumes, what it produces, and where the credentials go.
Zapier Webhooks / Forms
Trigger — New form submission
What it does
The Zap fires the moment a foreman submits a field report. No polling, no batch jobs — the submission is the starting gun.
Why it exists
The whole system depends on capture happening while the foreman is still standing in the affected area. The trigger costs the field zero extra effort.
Consumes
The twelve field report fields, straight from the form.
Produces
A raw submission record handed to the next step.
Zapier Formatter
Formatter — Clean the inputs
What it does
Trims stray whitespace, normalizes the trade and urgency labels, and splits the submitter's name from their role.
Why it exists
Field data arrives the way field data arrives. Thirty seconds of formatting here saves the AI step from guessing and keeps the document professional.
Consumes
The raw submission record.
Produces
Clean, consistently-labeled fields.
OpenAI
OpenAI — Draft the change request
What it does
A structured prompt hands the cleaned report to the model (gpt-4o-mini, JSON output) and asks for the full ten-section change request package: title, summary, conditions, impacts, next step, customer-facing request, and PM email draft.
Why it exists
This is the ninety seconds that used to be a PM's Thursday night. Field shorthand goes in; a document you'd proudly send comes out.
Consumes
Clean field report fields.
Produces
The ten-section change request package as structured JSON.
Google Docs
Create Google Doc / PDF
What it does
Merges the package into a branded change request template and exports a PDF alongside the editable doc.
Why it exists
GCs sign PDFs, not text messages. The template keeps every change request looking like it came from the same professional company — because it did.
Consumes
The change request package.
Produces
A branded Google Doc and PDF.
Gmail / Outlook
Email the Project Manager
What it does
Sends the drafted email — with the PDF attached — to the PM address from the field report. The PM reviews, adjusts if needed, and forwards to the GC.
Why it exists
The PM stays in control of what the customer sees, but starts from a finished draft instead of a blank page and a text thread.
Consumes
The email draft, the PDF, and the PM's address.
Produces
A change request in the PM's inbox, same day.
Supabase / Google Sheets / Airtable
Store the record
What it does
Appends the full report and generated package to a running log — one row per extra, with project, trade, impacts, and status.
Why it exists
One extra is an annoyance. Ninety extras across twenty jobs is a negotiation position. The log is where recovered revenue becomes visible.
Consumes
The complete report + package.
Produces
A permanent, reportable record.
Getting Started
What you'd connect on day one.
- A Zapier account (the whole Zap is six steps — Starter plan covers it)
- The field report form (Zapier Forms, Typeform, or this app's own /demo form)
- An OpenAI API key for the drafting step
- A Google account for the document template and PM email
- A storage home for the log — Supabase, Google Sheets, or Airtable
Note for the demo:this app's own /api/generate route mirrors step 3 exactly — same inputs, same ten-section package — so the demo on this site runs without a Zapier account connected.