Troubleshooting Silent Data Rejection in Zendesk Orchestrations

Overview

When a Zendesk activation appears successful in Amperity (indicated by a "Succeeded" status and HTTP 200 OK), users may still report that no updates or new records are appearing in their Zendesk instance. This phenomenon is known as Silent Data Rejection.

Issue Summary

An orchestration workflow completes without an error on the Amperity side, but the Zendesk API accepts the payload without applying changes to user profiles. This typically occurs when the API endpoint is reached successfully, but the specific operation (e.g., create_or_update_many) is blocked by account-level permissions or field formatting errors.

Key Indicators (Amperity Logs):

  • Total Rows Processed: > 0

  • Succeeded (Unchanged): 0

  • HTTP Status: 200 OK

Common Root Causes

1. Bulk User Import Disabled

To protect data integrity, Zendesk accounts do not have bulk user imports enabled by default. If the "Bulk User Import/Update" setting is disabled for the create_or_update_many API endpoint, Zendesk will return a success code for the request receipt but fail to process the batch.

  • Resolution: The account owner must contact Zendesk Customer Support to enable bulk data imports.

2. Incorrect Custom Field Formatting

Custom user fields in Zendesk must follow a strict naming convention in the Amperity query.

  • Requirement: Custom fields must be prefixed with user_fields..

  • Correct Example: user_fields.loyalty_tier, user_fields.membership_level.

3. API Token Permissions & Audit Logs

If the credentialed user is an "Agent" rather than an "Admin," they may lack the permissions to perform bulk updates or view the necessary audit logs to troubleshoot.

Troubleshooting Steps

Step 1: Verify Zendesk Audit Logs

The most accurate way to see why Zendesk rejected the payload is to check the API Audit Log.

  1. Navigate to the Zendesk Admin Center.

  2. Go to Apps and integrations > APIs > Zendesk API.

  3. Select the API Tokens tab.

  4. Locate the token used by Amperity, click the three-dot menu, and select View audit log.

    • Note: If "View audit log" is missing, ensure the user has full Admin privileges.

Step 2: Fundamental Connectivity Checks

Confirm the following three points with the client’s Zendesk Administrator:

  1. Is Bulk User Import Enabled? (Specifically for the create_or_update_many endpoint).

  2. Is the Subdomain Correct? Ensure the subdomain in the Amperity destination matches the active Zendesk instance.

  3. Is the Credential User Active? Verify the account tied to the API token has not been suspended or deactivated.

Implementation Note

Zendesk represents users as JSON objects. For orchestrations to work reliably, ensure mandatory fields like name or email are present in every row of the Amperity output, as missing mandatory fields can cause an entire batch to fail silently depending on Zendesk's account configuration.