Free Demo
CrescoData » Help Center » Technical On-Boarding Information » Connectivity and Mapping options

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors

Connectivity and mapping options

Connecting systems involves two components, the technical connectivity such as API or file transfer and the data transformation or mapping layer. For each of these, different options are available.

Connectivity

Connectivity can be provided through an API, file transfer via FTP or other transfer methods. For each of these, but mainly for the API, it is possible for CrescoData to be the active component or for the foreign system to be the active component:

  • CrescoData being active
    The CrescoData platform will regularly connect to a foreign API and check for updates. This would usually be done with high frequency such as every few mins checking for updates since the last connection. This ensures updates are captured as quickly as possible

  • Foreign system being the active component
    The foreign system connects to one of the CrescoData APIs and sends data whenever changes to the underlying records have been applied.
    Depending on the implementation in the foreign system, this can be as real-time as possible.

Mappings

Data can be sent or retrieved by CrescoData in the CrescoData master format or in the format of a foreign system. 

In the latter case, CrescoData will map incoming data using CML (Cresco Mapping Language) to translate the data into the CrescoData master format.

Considerations

The most real-time implementation is always foreign systems actively sending data to the CrescoData API as foreign systems know when data has changed. For many e-commerce setups, detecting changes within minutes of them occurring is sufficient in the sense of real-time so this might not be an issue.

For mappings, the recommendation is to use the foreign format wherever possible. Using the CrescoData master format will mean a mapping layer has to be implemented elsewhere. This adds complexity to any foreign system. CrescoData has also developed CML with ease of changes and quick deployments in mind. As such, mappings are handled more easily by CrescoData and quicker and easier to maintain through CML.