Using the Generic Connector

Connect any third-party application to the Aisera platform by creating a Generic Connector

The Aisera platform provides many pre-built connectors. If the application you want to connect to isn't listed, you can create a Generic Integration and Generic Data Source with parameters that best fit your application.

Choose an Aisera Admin user to log into the External System

The owner of each system that you want to integrate with needs to provide credentials for the Aisera Platform to log into their system to transfer data to the Aisera platform.

The system owner can restrict the permissions for the Aisera Platform as deemed necessary so long as the Aisera Platform has Export or Export/Import ability on the required data such as the User, Ticket, Knowledge Article, or Service Catalog fields of the source system.

Prepare

You will need to collect the following information before setting up a generic connector.

Endpoints

To integrate using a Generic connector, you will need Endpoints for the software you are connecting to. These endpoints may include:

• URLs pointing to an API endpoint

• URLs used for authorizing with the external application

• URLs pointing to the root location of your data, serving as the source for operations like web crawling

Authentication

The Aisera platform supports integrations with many types of authentication. Refer to the Supported Authentication Types for Custom Integrations for more details on authentication options. So long as you know which type of authentication your data source uses you can create a Generic Integration.

If the application you are connecting to supports it, it is best practice to use some form of OAuth2 for better security.

Integration Setup

To create a generic integration:

1. Choose Settings > Integrations from the left navigation menu of the Aisera Admin UI.

2. Click on the + New Integration button in the upper-right corner.

3. In the New Integration modal, select Generic and click Next

   
4. Provide a Name and an Endpoint for your new Integration and click Next.

   
5. Choose an authentication type from the Auth Type drop-down.

   
6. The dialog box will change to allow you to enter all of the parameters for the authentication type you want to use.

   
7. When you’re done entering parameters, select the OK button.

Data Sources Setup

After configuring a Generic integration, you can configure your Data Source.

To create a Generic Data Source for the Generic Connector:

1. Choose Settings > Data Sources from the left navigation menu of your Aisera Admin UI.

2. Click on the + New Data Source button in the upper-right corner.

3. In the New Data Source modal, select Generic and click Next

4. Fill in the Name of the data source you want to use with the generic connector.

5. Select the desired functions for the Data Source to perform from the Functions dropdown.

   
6. Select the Integration you previously created for your generic connector.

   
7. The remaining parameters rely on the chosen functions. Input the required parameters and select Next.

   Incremental Retrieval: This method retrieves data updated after the last retrieval's timestamp.

   Date Range Retrieval: This method retrieves all data between specified start and end dates. If no end date is given, it retrieves all data from the start date onward.

8. Any remaining configurations will depend on the application you are connecting to. Continue through the wizard and click OK to save the new Data Source.

Document Transformation Scripts

Transformation scripts are used by Data Sources to modify the data entries as they are passed in or out of the Aisera Platform. They can be used to indirectly filter data as it is ingested into the Aisera platform, modify JSON values before they enter into the data pipeline, or to modify data generated by the Aisera Platform before it is sent to external systems.

If you have a unique use case that requires specific Document Transformation Scripts or Configurations, please contact your Aisera support team for assistance.

Set Up Data Maps

After setting up your Generic Data Source, configure the connector to map incoming request data to fields compatible with the Aisera Platform.

When a Data Source ingests data from a Rest API, the entries are fetched in JSON format.

Field mappings describe the link between response items in a JSON entry and the corresponding Aisera value. A field mapping is a JSON path that guides the connector in extracting values from the retrieved JSON, mapping them to fields within the Aisera Platform.

Some data will be mapped by default. You will need to edit or delete existing fields, and create custom fields to match the data source you are connecting with. For more information on this process, reference the section on Field Mapping.