To set up a HubEngine plan, all you need is the credentials of the systems you want to integrate. The setup starts as follows:
Choose your API endpoint and configure your integration
- You then select the endpoints to be integrated. Which endpoints are generally available differs from system to system and thus also from adapter to adapter. For example, contacts in SAP are often synchronized with contacts in HubSpot.
- Depending on the adapter and its underlying system, you may also need to enter the endpoint in a free-text field. This is usually the case if you want to integrate a custom module.
- Under “Advanced Options” you can define whether relations are created (in the relation store).
A relation is the link between record A in system A and record B in system B. - Relations are not necessary, for example, if you synchronize tracking data unidirectionally. These are only created in the CRM system, for example, and are not updated afterwards. If records are to be synchronized only once (i.e. not updated), it often makes sense not to set up relations.
- In the next step, you enter the access data, URLs and, if necessary, endpoint names. We enter the necessary information and credentials for our demo systems. The access data and URLs to be entered depend on the systems that are integrated. You should definitely create your own API user in the respective systems and not use your personal access to configure a plan in the HubEngine.
- Once you have entered the data and clicked on the next button, the HubEngine tests the validity of the access data and checks whether there is successful access to the systems. In the same step, the available fields are retrieved from the modules and stored. These are available in the mapping afterwards.
- If errors occur, check the correctness of the access data and other values (such as URLs, host, etc.) from the previous step.
- Now you define the identifier of the respective systems. A reliable identifier is usually the internal record ID.
- You also define the date field, which indexes the modification date. In our demo systems, the fields are called the same on both sides. The identifier field is called “id” and the date field is called “updated”.
- We define these for both systems. Even if we only want to set up a unidirectional synchronization. These fields cannot be changed in a later step!
- The fields are available via a drop-down menu.
Relations
- Now you choose if there are already existing relations or if you want to create new ones. If there are already some, you can import them. As a rule, usually new relations are created.
- You also have the option to create shared relations.
- If you do not want to create any relations, you have to specify this in a previous step.
Connection
- In the next step we configure which trigger will initiate a synchronization. In our example we choose only “manual trigger”.
- You can find an overview of all options in this article.
- Now you can set up the synchronization modalities like field mappings, actions and conditions.
- If you want to set up a unidirectional plan, then configure only one direction. For a bidirectional plan, you set up both directions.
- We’ll set up a unidirectional plan. From SAP to HubSpot. For this we click on the “+”
- This will make the following mask appear for configuring the fields mapping, actions and conditions. We will only set up a field mapping.
- If you want to know what is behind actions and conditions, you can read about it here:
Connection - Field Mapping
- We map the following fields:
- id
- updated
- firstname
- account
- The fields are labeled the same in both systems, because the modules are set up identically in both systems.
- You can easily select the fields using the dropdown for the respective system. These are available through the “Fetch Fields” at the beginning. All available fields had been requested after the login data (credentials) were verified. The fields are stored.
- More about the fields mapping here.
- When you save, the following screen appears again.
- You can now configure the other direction for a bidirectional plan. We proceed to the next step by clicking on “Skip” and not configuring the other direction (i.e. HubSpot -> SAP).
- The plan is saved, but not yet active. In the next step we activate the plan. To do this, we click on the “Deploy” button in the upper right corner.
Plan Activation
- The following mask appears. We do not set a “sync date”.
- When the plan is set up and synchronized for the first time and no sync date is set, the date of the first plan execution is used.
- For example, if we were to set the date to 02/04/2021 15:00:00, then all records whose modification date (indicated by the “updated” field in our example) is after 02/04/2021 15:00:00 would be synchronized.
- To activate a plan, your user must have the appropriate rights in the HubEngine and 2-factor authentication must be set up in your profile.
- The 2-factor authentication must only be set up once.
- To activate the plan, the code of the 2FA must be entered, in our case the temporary code 398007.
- After the activation (the “Deployment”) we come back to the live view. There are no plan executions yet.
- Since we have not defined a scheduled trigger, we can only trigger the plan manually and execute it that way.
- To do this, we press the “Trigger” button at the top right.
- After the plan is triggered (here 2x: cf. Last Transfer & Transfer History), the live view is filled with statistics. We see the latest execution of the plan as well as a history.
- The plan setup and configuration is finished.