Bridge: Key concepts and terminologies

As you get started using Bridge by Smartsheet, you’ll encounter different concepts and terminologies. Read on to learn more about them.

Workflows

Workflows in Bridge automate your business processes. You can use workflows to connect different items in your Smartsheet account, and Smartsheet to other systems. When you create a workflow in Bridge, these are the elements you’ll work with:

• Integrations
• Triggers
• Modules
• Data references
• Junctions
• States

Integrations

With integrations, you can use Bridge to connect Smartsheet to other third-party systems, using them to send or receive information from and to Bridge. Some integrations can also trigger your workflows.

Callback URLs for third-party systems

Some third-party systems will require a callback URL to complete the setup for Bridge in that system. This URL allows the third-party to call Bridge and enables Bridge to work with that system. Bridge's callback URL is https://oauth.bridge.smartsheet.com/api/settings/oauth/oauth2callback.

Triggers

For a workflow to run, it needs to detect a go-signal. Triggers act like go-signals in a workflow. They can be based on: 

• an integration, 
• a schedule, or
• a different workflow. 

You can also customize a trigger to be based on a specific webhook.

Modules

Modules are the various elements of integrations and utilities. Think of modules as the action(s) that happen when your workflow detects the trigger. You can use them to:

• push updates from a workflow, 
• pull information into a workflow in real time, or
• manipulate already gathered data for use in other parts of the workflow.

When you use custom-built integration or utility modules in your workflow, you’ll see a Custom Built tag when editing the module. If you’re interested in custom implementation options, contact your Smartsheet advisor. Or reach out to our sales team.

Data References

Instead of manually entering the values you need in a workflow, you can use data references. What they do is reference values and inputs located elsewhere. 

You can reference data from:

• the Run Log
• a state, or
• a child workflow.

Child Workflows

Child Workflows are workflows triggered by another workflow, called a Parent Workflow. This may be useful when your workflow is complex, as breaking it into multiple pieces makes it easier to read. 

Additionally, you might have several workflows where a portion of each is the same. Instead of building the same steps over and over, you can build it in a Child Workflow. Then you can trigger it from all the other workflows.

Junctions

Junctions let you route workflows in different directions as needed.

States

States are the individual stages of a workflow. They act like data collectors in workflows. 

The State name influences the data references in the workflow. Changing a State name after you’ve set data references in your module will require you to update the data references for the workflow to run successfully.