In today’s blog I would like to present a way how to communicate with two different target systems with the use of simple SQL statements. For this purpose I will be using Connect Bridge and its SugarCRM and Exchange connectors. The integration is live and bi-directional. All entities are supported. The following is just one of any integration scenarios between the two systems.

Why to use Connect Bridge?

Usually, in order to be able to communicate with 2 different target systems, in our case a MS Exchange server and SugarCRM, the developer would need to know the API of each target system. This requires some studying of the API in order to understand how they work and how to write the source code.

With the use of Connect Bridge and its SugarCRM and Exchange connector, the time necessary to understand and be able to successfully implement the solution is significantly reduced. The main differences are that Connect Bridge allows the developer to use simple SQL statements to communicate with each target system. This is not possible when using the API of the target system itself, because of different schemas and architectures used to develop the target system. Connect Bridge also allows connection to multiple target systems at the same time by using the available connectors. For more information about Connect Bridge visit the web page.

What do we need?

1. Firstly we will need credentials to connect to Exchange and SugarCRM. As we are going to be using Connect Bridge, we will need a running Connect Bridge server with Exchange and SugarCRM connectors.

2. For our demonstration, let’s assume that accounts for SugarCRM and Exchange were already created in the Connect Bridge server. The user credentials for each target system are used during the setup of each account so the Connect Bridge knows what credential to use when communicating with the target system (Exchange credentials for communication with Exchange and SugarCRM credentials for communication with SugarCRM).

4. For exchange connector we will use account with name ‘Exchange’ and for SugarCRM we will use account with name ‘localSugarCRM’.

5. I will also be using Connect Bridge query analyzer tool to demonstrate the SQL statements and the output that is returned by Connect Bridge server.

The solution

Create a lead in the SugarCRM

To create a new lead in SugarCRM, select the localSugarCRM connector account in query analyzer.