Connector System — Overview

The Connector system lets your Association App platform pull data from external systems — such as your existing WordPress site — and keep it in sync automatically. It is the bridge between your old system and your new platform.

What a Connector Does

A connector is a configured link between your platform organisation and an external data source. Once set up, it can:

Import all your existing data in a one-time bulk migration
Keep data in sync on a schedule (e.g. every 15 minutes) or on demand
Track every change with a full audit trail
Show you exactly what happened with per-record sync logs

Supported Connectors

Connector	Category	Sync Entities
WordPress	CMS / Data Sync	Articles, Members, Events, Conferences, Documents, Companies, Notifications
HubSpot	CRM	Contacts (coming soon)
Salesforce	CRM	Contacts (coming soon)
Microsoft Dynamics 365	CRM	Members / Financials (coming soon)
Mailchimp	Marketing	Subscriber lists (coming soon)
Slack	Notifications	Announcements (coming soon)

Most clients use WordPress

If you are migrating from a WordPress site with the Association App WordPress Plugin installed, see the WordPress Connector guide and the Migration Guide.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────┐       PULL (INBOUND)      ┌─────────────────────────┐
│   WordPress Site        │ ◄────────────────────────  │   Association App       │
│   (with plugin)         │                             │   Backend               │
│                         │  GET /api/v1/sync/articles  │                         │
│  Sync REST API          │  GET /api/v1/sync/members   │  ConnectorService       │
│  - /sync/articles       │  GET /api/v1/sync/events    │  WordPressSyncService   │
│  - /sync/members        │  GET /api/v1/sync/documents │  ArticleSyncer          │
│  - /sync/events         │  GET /api/v1/sync/companies │  MemberSyncer  ...      │
│  - /sync/documents      │  X-Association-Sync-Key     │                         │
│  - /sync/conferences    │                             │  Scheduler (auto-sync)  │
│  - /sync/companies      │                             │                         │
│  - /sync/notifications  │                             └────────────┬────────────┘
│  - /sync/ping           │                                          │
└─────────────────────────┘                                          │
                                                                     ▼
                                                         ┌─────────────────────────┐
                                                         │   Admin Dashboard       │
                                                         │                         │
                                                         │  Connectors → Setup     │
                                                         │  Connectors → Monitor   │
                                                         │  Connectors → Logs      │
                                                         └─────────────────────────┘

How sync works (step by step)

Trigger — A sync is triggered manually by an admin clicking Run Sync, or automatically by the scheduler at the configured interval
Job created — A SyncJob record is created with status PENDING → RUNNING
Ping — The backend calls /api/v1/sync/ping on your WordPress site to verify connectivity
Entity phases — Each entity type is fetched in pages of up to 200 records using ?page=1&per_page=50
Incremental filtering — For scheduled syncs, the ?since=<ISO-8601> parameter is added so only changed records are fetched
Upsert — Each record is matched by its externalId (WordPress post/user ID). New records are created; existing records are updated if changed
Per-record logs — Every record results in a SyncLog entry: CREATE, UPDATE, SKIP, or CONFLICT
Job complete — The job is marked COMPLETED (or FAILED if a critical error occurred), and nextSyncAt is calculated based on your sync interval

Sync Job Types

Type	When used	What it does
`INITIAL_IMPORT`	One-time, first run	Fetches ALL records regardless of date; marks connector as initialised
`FULL_SYNC`	Manual trigger	Fetches ALL records; overwrites if changed
`INCREMENTAL`	Scheduled runs	Fetches only records modified since the last sync
`REAL_TIME`	Webhook-based (future)	Event-driven per-record update

Connector Status

Status	Meaning
`ACTIVE`	Connector is running normally; scheduled syncs are enabled
`PAUSED`	Connector exists but scheduled syncs are disabled
`ERROR`	Last sync failed; manual intervention needed
`DISABLED`	Connector is turned off

Key Concepts

External ID

Every record synced from WordPress keeps its original WordPress ID stored as an externalId. This is how the platform knows whether to create or update a record on subsequent syncs. It also means sync is idempotent — running it twice will not create duplicates.

Sync Direction

The WordPress connector is INBOUND — data flows from WordPress into the platform. The platform does not write back to WordPress except for a limited set of fields (member profile updates and event fields via PUT /sync/members/{id} and PUT /sync/events/{id}).

Sync Interval

Set the interval in minutes when creating the connector. Common values:

15 — near-real-time for active sites
60 — hourly, suitable for most associations
1440 — once per day (low-activity sites)

Set to 0 or leave blank to disable auto-sync (manual only).

Where to Find Connectors in the Dashboard

Organisation admins:

Log in to the Admin Dashboard
In the left sidebar, click Connectors
The Integration Hub shows all available and connected integrations

Platform admins (super admin):

Go to Platform → Connectors
View and manage connectors across all organisations

What a Connector Does​

Supported Connectors​

Architecture​

How sync works (step by step)​

Sync Job Types​

Connector Status​

Key Concepts​

External ID​

Sync Direction​

Sync Interval​

Where to Find Connectors in the Dashboard​