While PPM Express does not provide out-of-the-box email notifications for project status changes, you can achieve this functionality by creating a Zap in Zapier. This approach allows you to notify stakeholders whenever a project status changes, without sending notifications for every project update.
In this article, we will review the steps to configure such a Zap. This example uses Cost Status, but the same approach can be applied to any other project status.
Please refer to the 'How to connect PPM Express with Zapier' article to set up a connection first.
When the connection is established between PPM Express and Zapier, perform the following:
1. Create a new Zap and choose the Project Updated trigger event.
Please note that during testing, Zapier may return older records instead of the most recent project updates. This is a known limitation and does not prevent you from completing the configuration.
Select any available sample record and continue with the setup. The trigger will work correctly once the Zap is published.
2. Filter events to run only when the status changes.
The trigger runs whenever any project field changes. To avoid sending unnecessary email notifications, add a Filter step so the Zap only continues when the project status has actually changed (the new value does not match the old one).
- Add a Filter by Zapier step.
- Configure the filter with the following condition: Cost Status - Does not exactly match - Data Before Attributes Cost Status. (Cost Status is taken as an example in this article).
When testing this step, the filter will most likely fail because the sample record usually contains identical values for both fields. This is expected behavior and can safely be ignored during setup.
3. Set up the Cost Status values.
PPM Express returns project status values as numeric IDs.
The trigger returns only the status category, not custom status values. If your organization has configured custom statuses within a category, Zapier will still receive only the category value. As a result, the Zap can detect changes to the status category but cannot distinguish between custom statuses within the same category.
To transform numeric values into string ones, you need to create a formatter step.
- Add a new step.
- Select Formatter.
- Choose: Action Event: Utilities.
- Open the Configure tab.
Configure the step as follows:
- Transform: Lookup Table
- Lookup Key: Select Cost Status from the trigger data.
Create a lookup table that maps each numeric status value to its corresponding status name.
4. Set up the Data Before Attributes Cost Status values.
Repeat the same process for the previous status value.
Create another Formatter step using:
- Transform: Lookup Table
- Lookup Key: Data Before Attributes Cost Status
Although both steps use the same lookup table, they cannot be combined because they transform different input fields
5. Send the Email Notification.
Add a Send Email action.
Most settings can be configured according to your organization's requirements. The only important customization is the email body.
Instead of using the original numeric status values, insert the formatted outputs from the two Formatter steps.
For example:
- New Cost Status: Use the Output from the first Formatter step.
- Previous Cost Status: Use the Output from the second Formatter step.
This ensures that recipients receive meaningful status names rather than numeric values.
Once configured and enabled, the Zap automatically sends an email whenever the selected project status changes.
The email notification includes both the previous and the new status values, allowing stakeholders to quickly identify what changed without accessing PPM Express.
