Project overview
This project focused on creating a reliable automation flow between Xentral and ActiveCampaign to synchronize contacts, accounts, and deals. It began with Zapier-based workflows utilizing Google Sheets for deduplication and later evolved into a robust custom PHP solution supported by MySQL for enhanced scalability and control.
The project addressed bidirectional updates, field mapping, character encoding issues, and integration testing to ensure business-critical data syncs seamlessly.
Key features included two-way synchronization of contact data between Xentral and ActiveCampaign, account and contact management with fallback creation logic in ActiveCampaign, scheduled polling from Xentral with conditional update logic, and Google Sheets used as a middleware to prevent update loops. A custom PHP API wrapper was created to replace Zapier, and special character encoding normalization was implemented (e.g., ü → ue).
- Timo / derwerbemarkt
Key features delivered
- Two-way synchronization of contact data between Xentral and ActiveCampaign
- Account and contact management with fallback creation logic in ActiveCampaign
- Scheduled polling from Xentral with conditional update logic
- Google Sheets used as a middleware to prevent update loops
- Custom PHP API wrapper to replace Zapier
- Special character encoding normalization (e.g., ü → ue)
Screenshots

Visual flow of the automation scenario between ActiveCampaign, Google Sheets, and Xentral

Extended Zapier flow showing deduplication and conditional updates to avoid loops in contact syncing