Developing an Integration Solution for Membership Association

A membership association decided to implement an AMS (Association Management System) SaaS platform to manage their membership data and a separate LMS (Learning Management System), also SaaS, to provide training resources. The association aimed to provide single sign-on capabilities and automate the process of granting members access to purchased training courses within the LMS. Initial attempts to use Zapier for this integration proved insufficient due to the complexity of the requirements.

• The association needed a solution to integrate their AMS and LMS platforms to provide seamless access to training materials.  
• The complexity of the integration requirements made Zapier an unsuitable solution.

• A Node.js server was deployed on Heroku to manage the integration between the AMS and LMS.  
• The server was designed to process event webhooks from both systems to transfer information between them.  
• When an order is received, the server updates user custom fields in the AMS via its public APIs and creates a new user in the AMS if necessary.  
• When a user is created or updated in the AMS, the server retrieves user custom fields and uses the LMS APIs to create or update the corresponding user in the LMS.  
• When a user completes a course, the server records the course completion date in the AMS by updating the appropriate custom fields.

• Association members gained a seamless way to access their training materials.  
• The AMS now manages training subscriptions and automatically removes access when subscriptions expire.

• Enhanced User Experience: Members experience seamless access to training materials, improving their overall satisfaction. 
• ‍Streamlined Administration: Automation of training subscription and access management reduces administrative overhead. ‍
• Improved System Integration: The custom Node.js server effectively integrates the AMS and LMS platforms, enabling data flow and synchronization.

• Custom Integration Solutions: Complex integration requirements may necessitate custom solutions beyond standard tools like Zapier.  
• Importance of Automation: Automating processes like user provisioning and access management can significantly improve efficiency and user experience.  
• ‍Webhooks for Real-time Data Transfer: Utilizing webhooks enables real-time data transfer and synchronization between systems.