This article walks you through the integration process and points you to other articles that you might find helpful along the way. Our goal is to help break down the process and details for you to make your integration easy and seamless.
Common Questions
The most frequent question we get is “How does the Association Anywhere integration with Informz work?”
- Please take a look at the Informz for Association Anywhere article and related articles in our Support Center for information on the features and functionality that the integration supports.
The second most frequent question is “How long does it take to integrate”?
- The actual mechanics of setting up and testing can take as little as a week, but there are many factors that can influence when testing and setup can begin.
- Please take a look at the Association Anywhere Implementation Checklist, which outlines the key integration set-up steps, along with responsibilities, and timeline estimates.
Integration-specific Questions
Below is a list of questions/steps that are required to get the integration set up.
What version of Association Anywhere supports the Informz integration?
- The Integration requires Association Anywhere version 7.4.1 or higher
- If you are on 7.4.1 or higher, there is nothing additional to be done
- If you are on a version earlier than 7.4.1, you can choose to either
- Upgrade to a later version (ACGI's preferred method)
- Work with ACGI to update your specific installation with the components needed for the Informz integration
What do we need to do to get connected?
Let ACGI know that you wish to integrate with Informz and they will work with you on setting up the schedule and timeline. ACGI will configure your Association Anywhere instance and provide Informz with the connection information.
The implementation of Association Anywhere occurs in two phases:
Phase 1: Test
- ACGI will whitelist the Informz IP address (66.192.199.137) on your Development instance
- Informz will work with you to complete the functionality tests while connected with your Development instance
Phase 2: Go Live
- Upon completion of the functionality testing while connected to your Development instance, ACGI will delist the Informz IP address on your Development instance and whitelist the Informz IP address on your Production instance.
- Informz will work with you to complete the functionality tests while connected with your Production instance.
Configuring Association Anywhere
As noted above, ACGI will configure your Association Anywhere instance to support the Informz integration. To begin the process, reach out to your preferred ACGI contact and request that they configure your Association Anywhere Development and Production instances to support the Informz integration, and to whitelist the Informz Production IP (66.192.199.137) for your Development instance.
Configuring Informz
Once ACGI has configured your Association Anywhere instance, they will provide Informz with the information below.
- Your Association Anywhere API URL (aka Web Service Address)
- Username for Informz user
- Password for Informz user
- Your Association Anywhere SSA URL for Opt-Out Management
These values are entered into your account by navigating to Admin > System Settings > Edit Integration Settings (see below). The checkbox is checked to make the integration "active."
Once this step is complete, a connection test is performed by navigating to Admin > Setup Bridge Configuration > Check Connection. When a successful result returns, we move on to testing.
The Association Anywhere SSA URL for Opt-Out Management is configured in Admin > System Settings > Opt-out Management Page URL.
Completing Functionality Testing
Once Informz has been configured, and the connection test is successful, work through the following functionality tests to confirm that the integration is functioning properly.
Create a Test Distribution List in Association Anywhere
- The first step in testing functionality is to create a Test Distribution List in Association Anywhere to use for testing. This distribution list only needs to include a single record. See Target Groups to learn how.
- Configure the record in the distribution list to have an email of informzintegration@gmail.com.
- Configure the record in the distribution list to have a value in the "First Name" field to use for testing Personalization (using "Informz" as the value is sufficient).
Complete the Functionality Testing in Informz
Once the Test Distribution List (Target Group) has been created, Informz will complete the following tests:
- Target Group List Sync - Refresh the Target Group List to pull the Test Distribution List from Association Anywhere. See Synchronizing.
- Successful Test: The Test Distribution List will appear as a Target Group in the "Association Anywhere" folder
- Target Group Sync - Sync the Test Target Group to view the details of the list. See Synchronizing.
- Successful Test: The list details will be available
- Send an Email with "First Name" Personalization - A test email containing "First Name" personalization will be created and published to the Test Target Group. See Personalization and Cached Personalizations.
- Successful Test: The First Name value from the test record in Association Anywhere has been pulled into the published email
- Unusbcribe Write-Back - The Informz "Unsubscribe" link will be clicked from within the received test email, and the record will be unsubscribed from Informz Mailings. See Writebacks.
- Successful Test: The test record in Association Anywhere will be updated with the unsubscribe write-back (under Customer Contact Preferences, the "exclude the recipient from all communications" check box will be marked)
- Resubscribe Write-Back - The record will be manually resubscribed from within Informz. See Writebacks.
- Successful Test: The test record in Association Anywhere will be updated with the resubscribe write-back (under Customer Contact Preferences, the "exclude the recipient from all communications" check box will be unmarked)
Upon successfully completing all functionality testing, the integration will be "live".