Transcript

In this video, you’ll learn about the Customer Data Hub. Major topics include objects and connector types, and creating connections.

Your data model, as we call it in Totango, can include multiple data objects and multiple data sources. For example, in Totango, we can segment data by Accounts, Users, or other objects. Where does this data come from? That is up to you–or, rather, your designated Totango Data Admin.

Perhaps our account and user data comes into Totango via an API with a CRM (such as Hubspot or Salesforce), whereas our Support ticket data comes into Totango via API with a Ticketing system (such as Zendesk or Jira). Or, maybe some of the data is populated by a data file–either from a manual upload or a scheduled job. Every company and their data set is unique, and Totango is designed to support as many configurations as possible.

Within Settings, you can find all options for managing data sources within Customer Data Hub. Here, you can sort connectors by Object and Type. For example, I can see all supported connectors for CRMs here. Or, if I know I’m looking to bring in Tasks data, I can see all connector options for this object, and then filter by supported connector type.

Once you decide on a connector for the object you’re looking to target, in most cases you’ll need to establish a connection. Setting up a connection is essentially giving Totango permission to talk to the other system. Each connector has different requirements for how to set up the connection and the scope for which the permissions apply, depending on the connecting system’s authentication rules. For example, creating a Salesforce connection has very different steps than SFTP or Slack–because these applications all do very different things.

Authentication may be through O-Auth or other mechanism; as a best practice, ensure that whatever application you’re connecting your Totango instance with, you use an account that is dedicated to these types of connections–or at least one that won’t lose access if someone one your team leaves. Once a connection is established, then you can decide on what data to target and other parameters in the integration job–and you can set up multiple jobs under a single connection.

For example, my Salesforce connection has two jobs–one for importing Account data and one for importing contacts (or user) data. As an exception, a local file connector doesn’t require a connection first because these jobs are done manually via a one-time upload. So, you can jump right into the integration definitions, which in this case includes the ability to import and export certain objects.

The integration options vary by object and connector type, so be sure to consult the documentation to learn more about what’s possible with each option. Or just set up a connection and explore! You can always delete a connection and revoke access at any time.