Glossary

API
An acronym that stands for Application Programming Interface, this is a communication protocol or interface between a client and a server. This is the way in which an application can be integrated into another organization to enhance usability. Although there are similarities between API’s, each application has their own API which requires a separate configuration for each.

App
Short for application. This refers to the application you are wanting to connect to and integrate into ActiveCampaign. An application from ActiveCampaign’s perspective can also be referred to as a third party provider.

Authorization
In order for one app to communicate with another, you need to give permissions to those apps. This usually means you need to provide authorization so the integrating app knows that ActiveCampaign has permission to access it. When authorization passes, the two applications form a connection and are able to pass data back and forth when called for via a Resource.

Configuration
The set-up file used by ActiveCampaign so it can utilize an app’s API in order to create an integration with that application. This is essentially a specially formatted instruction ‘manual’ our software can read.

Event
Something that happens within an application, such as a customer filling out a form. The event is triggered when the user submits the form. A webhook can ‘listen’ for these event triggers and send an automated response that ActiveCampaign can subscribe to.

Integration
An integration is an outside application that you add into your organization via that application’s API to provide a service that didn’t previously exist or enhance functionality of an existing feature within that organization. A good example is using an application to send a form to a potential customer. When you create an integration with this application within ActiveCampaign, our software can receive this customer data and create a contact for you - keeping you from creating the contact manually.

Mapping
A process by which you identify a piece of source data and relate it to its associated target field. For example, in your integrated app you might call a value 'telephone number' and you will map that value in ActiveCampaign as 'phone number'.

Resource
Resources are the various objects, models, classes, or ‘things’ that are being sent between systems. Good examples of these are forms, contacts and tickets.

Subscribe/Subscription
A subscription is an automated way to allow the flow of data from an application into ActiveCampaign whenever a triggered event occurs within the application (such as a form submission by a customer). ActiveCampaign utilizes webhooks to subscribe to this data flow.

Trigger/Event Trigger
The action an event takes to let the application know when to take action against that event. An example is a customer filling out a form (The Event). Nothing happens until the customer presses the submit button(The Trigger).

Webhook
Rather than manually making a call to an integration to receive data, a webhook allows for real time data gathering by creating a subscription with the application’s API service.

Workflow
An App can have one or more workflows. A workflow defines the steps needed to complete a task.