Getting Started

Aprimo Marketing Operations offers a diverse set of developer APIs as part of the Aprimo Plan, Spend, Productivity, and Campaign products. This guide introduces the available developer features and explains when you should use them. Each feature has its own reference guide that covers its features in depth.This table provides a high-level description of each feature in the integration framework.

The Aprimo Cloud REST API enables external applications to perform HTTPS calls to create, read, update, delete, or query data across Aprimo objects. The API also supports some special actions, such as closing a task or downloading an attachment. This enables you to build real-time integrations between Aprimo Cloud and other systems. The REST API requires request content to be in JSON, and returns response content in JSON.

The REST API uses an OAuth 2.0 Authentication scheme, and supports the ability to get an access token via a backend service. The REST API performs all actions in the context of the user who is calling into it, so if a user who only has access to a subset of activities invokes the Get All Activities endpoint, the API will only return activities the user has rights to access.

When should I use the REST API?

Use the REST API whenever you need to request data from or set data in Aprimo Cloud from an outside process. For example, you might use the REST API to get an activity’s data to synchronize with an external system, or you might use the REST API to populate an extended attribute with an external system’s unique identifiers. You can also use the REST API to extend Aprimo Cloud by building your own applications that rely on Aprimo data.

UI Extensibility is a new category of integratability with Aprimo. The first feature part of this is called pagehooks. Pagehooks give customers the ability to place configurable buttons or navigation items in specific locations that can launch new browser tabs or windows to sites hosted outside of Aprimo.

Aprimo can also provide context to the external application by dynamically populating pagehook tokens in the external URL, allowing external applications to understand what record the button was pressed on, or providing context on which user clicked the pagehook.

When should I use pagehooks?

Use pagehooks when you need to place buttons or navigation items inside of the Aprimo application to launch your functionality. Pagehooks can be used in tandem with the REST API to get and set additional data from Aprimo after a user invokes a pagehook. Pagehooks can be used to launch external record specific reports, extend the Aprimo UI, or launch into full applications outside of Aprimo.

Aprimo Cloud webhooks are lightweight, event-driven HTTPS callouts from Aprimo Cloud. When certain events happen in Aprimo, such as the creation of a record or reaching a certain point in a workflow, a webhook can make an HTTPS call to your web service and provide a lightweight message in JSON format. An HMAC will also be provided to validate that the message came from Aprimo Cloud. Webhooks contain only contextual information to understand what event triggered the callout. If this information is not enough for your integration, you can call back into the REST API to gather the additional data needed by your integration.

When should I use webhooks?

You should use webhooks when you need to drive external functionality based on events in Aprimo Cloud. For example, an approval process could be triggered to begin in an external system when you reach a certain state in a workflow. Or, a campaign record could be created in an external system when an activity is created in Aprimo.

The Data Loader enables you to load data into Aprimo Cloud via flat files. Files can be loaded on demand directly into Aprimo, or can be pulled from an FTP or SFTP site on a scheduled basis. Files provided via FTP or SFTP can be PGP-encrypted and decrypted by the Data Loader.

When should I use the Data Loader?
Use the Data Loader when you need to perform batch loads into Aprimo on a scheduled basis. For example, many ERP integrations are flat-file based due to the controlled nature of how ERP systems can be accessed. You can configure the Data Loader to load flat files output by an ERP system into Aprimo’s financial objects.
Note that the REST API might be a better choice than the Data Loader if you need more flexibility. However, the Data Loader provides some out-of-the-box functionality that might make integration easier. For example, only system administrators can access the Data Loader, and its error logs and job statuses are shown in the Aprimo user interface.
Currently, an Aprimo resource must build and deploy a data loader template. Please work with your account manager to engage an Aprimo resource to leverage the data loader.

Report distribution enables you to send an Aprimo Report’s data to an SFTP site, FTP site, or email address on a scheduled basis as a CSV file. Files sent to SFTP or FTP sites may also be PGP encrypted.

When should I use Report Distribution?
You should use report distribution when you need scheduled, flat-file-based integration with Aprimo Cloud. A common use case is integrating with an enterprise data warehouse (EDW), where you can define Aprimo Reports that contain the data feeds the EDW needs, then schedule outputs for an external process to pick up and load into an EDW. Another common use case integrating with any system that favors flat-file based input, such as an ERP system.

The Reporting API enables you to pull data from an Aprimo Report via a web service. The Report API supports both JSON and XML output.

When should I use the Reporting API?
The primary use case for the Reporting API is to pull Aprimo data into external reporting and visualization tools such as Tableau, SSRS, Cognos, PowerBI, and Crystal Reports. Some of these tools may be able to directly connect to the Reporting API, others may require additional code to handle data transformation or authentication with the Reporting API. Note that the Reporting API does not consider user context, so any user connecting will retrieve the same data. If you need to consider user context, use the REST API, which returns data based the logged in user’s permissions.

The integration workbench has been deprecated. All new integrations must use the other developer tools available such as the REST API and webhooks.