Introduction

Connected system objects store authentication and connection information. This allows you to easily connect to external integrations and data sources. It also allows you to deploy connection information across environments and use different connection information for each environment.

For integration connected systems, you can share base URL and authentication details across multiple integrations. This means that a password only has to be updated once, even if it's used in 10 different integrations.

For data source connected systems, you can control access to data sources using object-level security. That means you can restrict access to sensitive information during development.

This article provides detailed design information about the connected system object and its configuration options.

See also:

• To learn how to use a connected system when creating an integration, see Create an Integration.
• For a real-world example of how to to build and use connected systems and integrations, see the Integration Tutorial.

Connected system types

When you create a connected system you can choose from three main types of connected systems:

• HTTP and OpenAPI Connected Systems: Use these connected systems to generically connect to most APIs.
• Pre-Built Connected Systems: We created these connected systems for you to connect to some of the most common integrations as easy as possible. You can choose from:
  • Amazon Machine Learning
  • Appian RPA
  • Blue Prism
  • DocuSign
  • Google Cloud Natural Language
  • Google Cloud Translation
  • Google Cloud Vision
  • Google Drive
  • Microsoft Azure LUIS
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365
  • Salesforce
  • Sharepoint
• Data Source Connected Systems: Use these connected systems to connect to Appian-supported databases. You can create connected systems to connect to the following databases:
  • DB2 Data Source
  • MariaDB Data Source
  • MySQL Data Source
  • Oracle Data Source
  • PostgreSQL Data Source
  • SQL Server Data Source

Properties

Each connected system has their own properties. See the linked page for each connected system for more information about their properties.

Versions

Each time you modify and save a connected system, a new version is created. All objects that use the connected system will use the latest version. All versions are accessible to designers who can view the connected system, and a connected system can be reverted back to a previous version at any time.

For information on how to manage object versions, see Managing Object Versions.

Security

The security role map of a connected system controls who can see or modify it and its properties. By default, only the connected system creator and system administrators have access to the connected system. See Editing Object Security to modify a connected system's security.

For data source connected systems, if you are using the Appian Cloud database, see Appian Cloud Database Administration for more information on how to grant access to specific schemas in the database.

The following table outlines the actions that can be completed for each permission level in a connected system's security role map.

Actions	Administrator	Editor	Viewer	Deny
Integration Connected Systems Only
Execute integrations that use the connected system	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
All Connected Systems
Select the connected system in other design objects	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
View connected system definition	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Update connected system definition	Yes	Yes	No	No
View the security	Yes	Yes	No	No
Update the security	Yes	No	No	No
Delete the connected system	Yes	No	No	No