When to use Connect Platform for ODP

3 min

This article lists use cases that Connect Platform for Optimizely Data Platform (ODP) can solve, and use cases where another Optimizely product might be a better fit. For help with determining if Connect Platform for ODP is a good fit for your use case, contact your partner manager.

Note Each use case is formatted as follows: Use case – Solution

Use cases for OCP

Below are examples of use cases where building aConnect Platform for ODP app is a great solution. Use Connect Platform for ODP any time you need a compute environment to pull or retrieve data, transform the data, push it to ODP, or export a subset of the data from ODP.

Transform data from a third-party service and import it into ODP – Write either a function or a job to retrieve the data, transform the data using TypeScript language, and import it into ODP using the Connect Platform Node SDK.

Periodically fetch a batch of data from a third-party service – Write a job to retrieve the data from a third-party service and use cron expression to schedule the job.

Expose a webhook and register it in a third-party service to retrieve events – Write a function and process the incoming data in its callback method. Register the webhook in your third-party service at installation or in settings form callback function.

Export a customer-defined segment of users from ODP to a third-party service – Write a channel app, set up authentication and campaign settings forms, and implement callback functions.

Import historical data from a third-party service – Write a job and trigger it either from a setting form callback or in lifecycle callback.

Manage schema required by aJavaScript integration tag – Declare expected schema in YAML files and document how to configure JavaScript tag.

Authenticate and connect ODP account with a third-party service account – Configure settings form to retrieve credentials or set up OAuth authentication flow. Store credentials and API tokens securely in the secret store.

Import user segments from a third-party service into ODP – Write a job and schedule it with cron expression to periodically import batches. Alternatively, if your third-party service supports sending updates using HTTP, write a function to expose a webhook and register the webhook in your third-party service at installation or in settings form callback function.

Use cases for other Optimizely products

Although Connect Platform for ODP is a flexible platform, there are some use cases that are better suited for other Optimizely products and services. Below are some examples and solutions.

Create an integration with any Optimizely product – Connect Platform for ODP only lets you create integrations with ODP. To create integrations with any other Optimizely product, use Optimizely Connect Platform (OCP).

Send events to ODP from user browsers (for example, from a JavaScript tag) – Use the ODP Web SDK. This saves an unnecessary network hop. You can still write a Connect Platform for ODP app to manage schema and to provide documentation on how to configure your integration.

Expose an entry point to check if a user belongs to a real-time segment – Use the ODP GraphQL API. This saves an unnecessary network hop.

Synchronously retrieve data that is used in end-user transactions (for example, placing an order) – Design your solution to work in asynchronous mode to avoid extra latency and dependency. The typical overhead of Connect Platform for ODP is very small, but can still negatively affect the user experience when you combine it with other required steps to finish the transaction.