Getting Started With Your First Connections in Sitecore Connect
Welcome to our guide on enabling your first connections in Sitecore Connect. Sitecore Connect is a powerful platform that allows you to integrate various applications seamlessly, streamlining your workflows and enhancing your digital experience. In this blog, I will walk you through the initial steps of setting up your first connection, from navigating the dashboard to selecting and connecting your chosen app. Whether you are new to Sitecore Connect or looking to optimize your current integrations, this guide will provide you with the essential knowledge to get started. Let’s explore how you can make the most out of Sitecore Connect!
For more detailed information on Sitecore Connect, I’d recommend checking out my “What is Sitecore Connect” blog that goes more in-depth on the platform as a whole.
The Sitecore Connect Dashboard
When you first login to Sitecore Connect you will be met with the dashboard. This is the home of Sitecore Connect and offers different insights into how your recipes are performing and acts as a launchpad to access all the features Sitecore Connect has to offer. In this blog we won’t go in-depth on the other aspects of the platform but will focus on how to connect your first apps to Sitecore Connect. You can access your connections from the dashboard by going to Projects.
The Sitecore Connect Project Tab
The Sitecore Connect Project tab is where you’ll be able to access all of your connected apps, recipes, deleted items, and projects. For this tutorial we can ignore Recipes, for more information on Recipes you can check out either of my two blogs on “Implementing Community Recipes” or “Creating Your Own Recipes”. Before we start connecting apps, we’ll first need to build a project for the connections to live in. We can do that by clicking on the Create project button which will bring up a simple dialog box to name and describe your project. Both of which you can see below:
Creating Our New Connection
Now that we’ve built out a project for our connection to live in we’re going to want to actually create our connection. To do so, you’ll want to click the Create dropdown in the top right and select Connection.
Selecting Our App to Connect To
By beginning the process of creating a new connection Sitecore Connect will take us to it’s recommended apps screen. There are hundreds of apps here that you can select from, and I recommend selecting the one that is best for you and your needs, however, I am going to keep it simple for this tutorial and select Google Drive. You can either scroll through the apps until you find it or use the search bar at the top to save some time.
Connecting to Our Selected App
Now that we’ve selected an app to connect to and clicked into it a new screen will appear that allows us to actually setup the connection. This will look different depending on the app you’ve selected but if you’re following along with the example being Google Drive, it is pretty straight forward. We just need to give the connection a name, a project to live under, select the authentication type (For simplicity sake, we will not be changing this), and finally Sign in with Google. This will take you to a typical sign in page where it will ask you to select which account you want and ask for permission for Workato (this is what Sitecore Connect is built on) to access your Google data.
Successfully Connecting Your First App with Sitecore Connect
Creating your first connection in Sitecore Connect is a straightforward process that opens up a world of possibilities for integrating various apps and streamlining your workflows. By navigating the dashboard, setting up a project, and selecting the app to connect to, you can quickly begin leveraging the power of Sitecore Connect. Whether you are connecting to Google Drive or any other app, the intuitive interface ensures that even complex integrations can be accomplished with ease. Remember, this is just the beginning. Once you have mastered the basics, you can explore more advanced features and recipes to fully optimize your integrations and enhance your productivity. Happy connecting!
Meet Hunter Ullett
Junior Digital Marketing Specialist
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Hunter is a Junior Digital Marketing Specialist. Although this is his first marketing role, he brings 3 years of experience in varied roles in the e-commerce industry, along with 2 years of team management experience in the retail industry. His main experience lies in assisting clients with enhancing and fixing their websites to ensure brand success. He also spent time on an inbound sales team, assisting businesses of various sizes with their e-commerce needs. He graduated from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Commerce specializing in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. In his spare time, he enjoys weight lifting, playing mind games, doing puzzles, building LEGO, and listening to and playing music.