Use this article when your shop wants to push calculated estimates to an external system — a MIS, ERP, or job-ticket service — and you need to set the destination, authentication, triggers, and any extra fields estimators must complete at handoff. After this you will have a saved connection that Test connection validates, an estimator's Export button that opens a working dialog, and an Export Log that records every transfer.
Before you begin
Required role: administrator who can edit Estimate Setup → Settings.
The HTTPS endpoint the receiving system exposes, plus the authentication method and credentials it expects (token, username and password, or API key header and secret).
If your MIS needs allowlisted IP ranges or a firewall exception, agree those with IT before saving — Test connection will fail otherwise.
Steps
1. Configure the connection
Open Estimate Setup → Settings → Connections, then open the Connect with external MIS card. Fill in the fields below.
Switch
Connection enabled — turns the external-MIS connection on or off. Estimators see Export on calculated estimates only when this is on. Leave it on once configured.
Export destination
Export destination — choose External MIS when your shop is integrating with its own receiving system. Choose GelatoConnect One only if your contract includes that destination (the option is hidden otherwise). The rest of the fields adapt to the destination you pick.
Triggers
Triggers — select one or more events that initiate an export. Manual lets estimators decide; Quote: Draft, Quote: Waiting, Quote: Won, Quote: Accepted, Quote: Rejected, Quote: Follow-up Send, Quote: Inbound Chat, Quote: Inbound Request, and Quote: Waiting for Response push automatically when the estimate reaches that status. Manual plus Quote: Won is a common pairing: estimators can hand-off early, and the system catches the rest.
Destination URL
Destination URL — the HTTPS endpoint the MIS exposes. Paste the full URL the integration team gives you. Estimator validates the URL shape on save and surfaces Invalid URL if it is malformed.
Authentication method
Authentication method — pick the auth the endpoint expects: Token, OAuth, Basic, API Key, or None. The credential fields below adapt to the choice.
Authentication token — appears for Token auth. Paste the bearer token the MIS issues. Estimator stores the token secured; the field shows Token not set until you save.
Username and Password — appear for Basic auth.
API Key Header and API Key Secret — appear for API Key auth. The header is the request-header name the endpoint reads (e.g.,
X-Api-Key); the secret is the value.
Select Test connection to verify the destination accepts a request with the credentials you entered. On success the page shows Test success; on failure Test failure and a short reason. Resolve any failure before saving — a saved connection that does not test successfully will fail at the first real export too.
Select Save changes. The page shows Connection settings saved successfully and the connection becomes active.
2. Add additional fields estimators must complete at export
When your MIS needs PO numbers, cost centers, due dates, or other job metadata, capture them in the export dialog instead of editing every estimate.
Stay on Connections and select add additional fields under the connection. The Add additional field dialog opens. Fill in the fields below.
Display name — the label estimators see on the export dialog (e.g.,
PO Number,Cost center).Type — choose Short text, Long text, Number, or Date so Estimator validates the value the estimator enters.
Is this a required field? — select Required when the MIS rejects payloads missing this value; select Optional otherwise. Required fields show with a Required field marker on the dialog and block confirmation until populated; Optional field values are blank when skipped.
Select Create additional field. Repeat for each field your MIS needs. Use Hide on a saved field to temporarily stop showing it to estimators without losing the definition; use Remove to delete it (Estimator asks for confirmation by the field's display name before removing).
Save again. The new fields appear in the Export to External MIS dialog the next time an estimator selects Export.
Things to know
Changing Triggers affects future exports only. An estimate that already passed a trigger status before the trigger was added will not back-fill — run a manual export on those if the MIS needs them.
A connection that switches between External MIS and GelatoConnect One preserves the additional fields you defined on each destination — switching back and forth does not lose them.
The Export Log that records every export attempt lives on the estimates area as a separate surface. Confirm a real estimate exports successfully end-to-end before you tell estimators the integration is live.