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Application Connectors

Application Connectors

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3 mins READ

Application connectors in UnifyApps serve as the backbone for seamless SaaS integration solutions. These connectors enable your organization to extract data from various cloud applications, transform it according to your business requirements, and load it into your destination platforms without complex coding or maintenance overhead.

What Are Application Connectors?

Application connectors are pre-built integration components that establish secure, reliable connections between UnifyApps and your SaaS applications. They handle the complexities of API communication, authentication mechanisms, rate limiting, and data schema transformations.

Connection Methods

UnifyApps application connectors support multiple authentication methods to ensure secure and flexible connectivity:

  1. OAuth 2.0

    • Industry-standard authorization framework

    • Secure delegated access without sharing credentials

    • Automatic token refresh capabilities

    • Supported by most modern SaaS platforms (Salesforce, Google Apps, Microsoft 365)

  2. API Token/Key Authentication

    • Simple authentication using application-generated tokens

    • Long-lived access credentials

    • Commonly used for service-to-service integrations

    • Supported by platforms like Jira, HubSpot, Zendesk

  3. Basic Authentication

    • Username/password-based authentication

    • Typically used for legacy systems

    • Secure transmission via HTTPS

  4. JWT (JSON Web Tokens)

    • Self-contained authentication method

    • Digitally signed tokens with claims

    • Used by platforms like ServiceNow and some custom implementations

Polling Methods

UnifyApps implements various polling strategies to efficiently retrieve data from source applications:

  1. Forward Polling

    • Retrieval starting from most recent records backward

    • Example: Getting latest Zendesk tickets first

    • Optimal for prioritizing recent data in time-sensitive scenarios

  2. Reverse Polling

    • Sequential data retrieval based on timestamp or ID

    • Example: Fetching Salesforce records created after last sync time

    • Efficient for applications with chronological data creation

  3. Cursor-Based Polling

    • Uses application-provided pagination cursors

    • Example: Facebook Ads' cursor pagination

    • Highly efficient for large datasets

    • Resilient to data changes during polling

  4. Webhook-Based Ingestion

    • Real-time data capture via push notifications

    • Example: Shopify order webhooks

    • Minimizes latency and reduces API load

    • Complementary to polling strategies

Supported Application Connectors

UnifyApps offers native connectivity to a comprehensive range of SaaS platforms:

Application Connector

Description

Common Use Cases

Airtable

Collaborative spreadsheet-database

Project management, content calendars

Facebook Ads

Social media advertising platform

Marketing analytics, ad performance

Google Ads

Online advertising platform

Campaign tracking, conversion analysis

Google Analytics

Web analytics service

Website performance, user behavior

Google Sheets

Cloud-based spreadsheet

Collaborative data management, reporting

HubSpot

CRM and marketing platform

Lead management, marketing automation

Jira

Project management tool

Development tracking, issue management

Klaviyo

Marketing automation platform

Email campaigns, customer segmentation

LinkedIn Marketing

B2B marketing platform

Professional audience targeting, ads

Mailchimp

Email marketing platform

Newsletter campaigns, subscriber analytics

Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM

Business applications suite

Customer relationship management

Mixpanel

Product analytics platform

User engagement, feature adoption

Monday

Project management platform

Team collaboration, workflow management

Omnisend

E-commerce marketing platform

Customer journey automation

QuickBooks

Accounting software

Financial data, bookkeeping

Recharge

Subscription payment management

Recurring billing, subscriber analytics

Salesforce

CRM platform

Sales pipeline, customer data

ServiceNow

IT service management

Workflow automation, service desk

Shopify

E-commerce platform

Order data, product inventory

Workday

HR management system

Employee data, organizational structure

Workiva

Financial reporting platform

Compliance reporting, disclosure management

Zendesk

Customer service platform

Support tickets, customer interactions

Destination Support

UnifyApps also supports writing data to several application/SaaS connectors, enabling bi-directional data flows:

  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM

  • Salesforce

  • Tableau

  • Zendesk

Key Features of Application Connectors

All UnifyApps application connectors share common capabilities that enable efficient and secure data integration:

  1. Intelligent Rate Limiting

    • Automatic API quota management

    • Backoff and retry mechanisms

    • Quota distribution optimization

  2. Schema Discovery

    • Automatic metadata retrieval

    • Field-level mapping capabilities

    • Custom field support

  3. Comprehensive Object Support

    • Access to standard and custom objects

    • Relationship traversal capabilities

    • Support for nested data structures

  4. Multiple Ingestion Modes

    • Historical and Live: Full load plus ongoing changes

    • Live Only: New data from deployment onward

    • Historical Only: One-time full load

  5. Data Transformation

    • Field mapping and conversion

    • Filtering capabilities

    • Formula-based derived fields

Business Benefits

Application connectors deliver significant value to your organization by:

  • Accelerating Time-to-Value: Implement integrations in days instead of months

  • Reducing Maintenance Burden: Automatic adaptation to API changes

  • Breaking Down Data Silos: Connect data across your application landscape

  • Enabling Real-Time Operations: Synchronize data with minimal latency

  • Supporting Business Agility: Quickly adapt to new applications and requirements