Send UK planning applications to Total Synergy
Create a Synergy project in Proposal status from a planning application, through the API or the official Zapier app.
Total Synergy is project and practice management for architects and engineers, and it is one of the few products in this part of the market with both a documented REST API and an official Zapier app that can create records. Plota brings UK planning applications from 389 council planning portals into one classified, source-linked feed. A practice can turn the applications in its patch into Synergy records without anyone retyping an address, and Synergy’s address object takes a latitude and longitude directly, which most CRMs do not.
Before you start
- Get an API key (a free demo key works for testing).
- Create a saved alert in Plota for the area and categories you want, and note its alert id.
How to connect Plota to Total Synergy
Save the alert for your market
Create a saved alert in Plota for the councils, categories and consent routes your practice works in, and note the alert id.
Get a Synergy token
The token goes in a custom access-token header, not an Authorization: Bearer one. Two ways to get it: register a partner application for the OAuth 2.0 authorisation code flow, or take a static API key from a user profile in Synergy, which lasts one or three years. The base URL is https://api.totalsynergy.com/api/v2/ and your organisation slug appears in every path. The API does not allow cross-origin requests, so a browser app needs a server in front of it.
Know what an opportunity is here
Synergy has no opportunity, lead or deal object. An opportunity is a project whose status type is Proposal, which is statusTypeId 10. So a planning application becomes a project created in a Proposal status, and you look the available statuses up through GET /api/v2/organisation/{slug}/ProjectStatus/Index rather than hard-coding one.
Create the client, then the project
A client practice or developer is a contact with contactTypeId 20, which is the Company type, created through POST /api/v2/organisation/{slug}/Contacts/Index. The project is POST /api/v2/organisation/{slug}/Projects/Index, and the two are joined with POST /api/v2/organisation/{slug}/ProjectContacts/Index. Or use the Zapier app, which lists Create Company Contact, Create Project and Update Project Status among its actions.
Store the planning reference so you can find it again
The project’s clientReferenceNumber is free text and a natural home for a council reference. For something you can filter on, insert a custom field value with POST /api/v2/organisation/{slug}/CustomFieldValues/Insert using parentTypeId 1 for a project, then filter projects by that value on a later run. Synergy has no externalId field, so one of these two is the mechanism.
Updating a project replaces it
The project update is a PUT that treats every omitted field as null or default, and it silently ignores all but 16 of the fields you can send. Read the project, change what you need, and send the whole object back. Do not treat it as a patch.
Field mapping
What arrives from Plota, and where it belongs in Total Synergy. Plota field names are the ones in the API reference; every webhook carries them under data.application.
| Plota | Total Synergy | Notes |
|---|---|---|
address | Project address.address1 and address2 | A project carries one address object; contacts carry four |
postcode | address.zipCode | There is no field called postcode. The town goes in address.town |
location.lat, location.lng | address.latitude and address.longitude | Writable doubles, so the coordinate goes straight in |
reference | clientReferenceNumber, or a custom field value | Custom fields can be filtered on later, which makes them the safer key |
description | Project scope, or opportunityDetails | Both are free text on the create body |
date_received, date_decided | start, expectedCloseDate | ISO 8601 date-time, and the documented example carries no timezone offset |
What teams use this for
Projects in the authorities you know
A practice that knows one authority’s policies well can filter to it and see every application in the categories it works in, as Synergy projects rather than a browser tab.
Business development for engineers
Major works and commercial schemes reach a structural or services engineer early, while the design team is still forming.
A project record that can be checked
The planning reference and the council’s own page travel with the project, so anyone opening it later can read the application rather than trust a typed summary.
Verify deliveries
Each webhook is signed - verify the Plota-Signature header (HMAC-SHA256 over timestamp.body). Full details in the API docs.
Total Synergy integration FAQ
Can I create records in Total Synergy from planning applications?
Yes. The REST API creates contacts and projects, and the official Zapier app, listed as Synergy, has Create Project and Create Company Contact actions.
How do I create an opportunity?
By creating a project in a Proposal status. Synergy has no separate opportunity object: an opportunity is a project whose status type is Proposal, id 10. Look up the specific status through the project status endpoint rather than assuming an id.
Do I need to pay extra for the API?
There is a free allowance of 300 calls a day. The Premium API add-on raises that substantially and is required for the Zapier app, and Zapier setup needs System Administrator access. Design the flow to push on an event rather than poll, and the free allowance goes a long way.
What header does the token go in?
A custom header named access-token. It is not an Authorization: Bearer header, which is the most common mistake when building against this API.
Does Total Synergy send webhooks?
No. There are no webhooks in either direction in its published specification, and no documented event types. The Zapier triggers detect change over the same REST API rather than receiving a push.
Can I log a call or a note against the record?
Not through the API. Notes are read-only and there is no to-do endpoint. The tasks endpoint creates project work-breakdown tasks tied to a stage and a budget, which is a different thing from a CRM activity.
Is it free?
A free Plota demo key covers testing, and live webhook delivery runs on the Starter plan and above. Total Synergy prices its own API tiers.