SAP Open Connectors
Every third-party cloud application — Salesforce, ServiceNow, Dropbox, Slack, Workday, HubSpot — has its own unique API. Each one uses different authentication methods, different data formats, different pagination approaches, and different error codes. Building a custom connector to each of these applications from scratch takes weeks of development work per connector.
Open Connectors solves this by providing pre-built, ready-to-use connectors for hundreds of cloud applications. Instead of spending three weeks building a Salesforce connector, you configure the existing one in about 30 minutes.
What Is Open Connectors
Open Connectors is a capability inside SAP Integration Suite that provides a library of pre-built connectors to third-party cloud applications. It normalizes how CPI talks to external apps by presenting a consistent API regardless of the underlying application's quirks.
Think of it like a universal power adapter. Every country has different plug shapes and voltages. The universal adapter handles all those differences so you just plug in your device without worrying about the local standard. Open Connectors is the universal adapter for cloud application APIs.
How Open Connectors Works
WITHOUT Open Connectors:
[CPI] ──→ [Salesforce API with OAuth 2.0 + REST + specific pagination]
[CPI] ──→ [ServiceNow API with Basic Auth + REST + different pagination]
[CPI] ──→ [Dropbox API with OAuth + REST + cursor-based listing]
Each connection requires deep knowledge of the specific API
WITH Open Connectors:
[CPI] ──→ [Open Connectors Unified API] ──→ [Salesforce]
↓ ──→ [ServiceNow]
One consistent API layer ──→ [Dropbox]
for all applications
Supported Application Categories
Open Connectors organizes its library into application categories:
- CRM – Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Microsoft Dynamics
- ERP – NetSuite, Sage, QuickBooks
- ITSM – ServiceNow, Jira, Zendesk, Freshdesk
- HR – Workday, BambooHR, ADP
- Marketing – Mailchimp, Marketo, Pardot
- Storage – Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, SharePoint
- Communication – Slack, Microsoft Teams, Twilio
- E-commerce – Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce
- Databases – MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB
The library grows continuously. SAP and partners add new connectors regularly.
Setting Up a Connector Instance
To use a pre-built connector, you create a connector instance. This is a configured copy of the connector tied to your specific account credentials. Here is the general process:
- Find the application connector in the Open Connectors library
- Click "Authenticate" and provide your credentials (API key, OAuth app details, username/password)
- Test the connection to verify it works
- Save the connector instance — Open Connectors stores a secure token for future calls
- Use the instance in your CPI iFlow by referencing it through the Open Connectors adapter
One important concept: you can create multiple instances of the same connector. A company with three Salesforce organizations (one for each business unit) creates three separate Salesforce connector instances — one per organization.
The Normalized Resource Model
Open Connectors presents a unified data model for common business objects across different applications. For example, a "contact" in Salesforce and a "contact" in HubSpot have different field names and structures. Open Connectors normalizes these into a standard format:
Salesforce Contact fields: Open Connectors format: FirstName: "John" → firstName: "John" LastName: "Smith" → lastName: "Smith" Email: "j.smith@co.com" → email: "j.smith@co.com" HubSpot Contact fields: Open Connectors format: firstname: "John" → firstName: "John" lastname: "Smith" → lastName: "Smith" email: "j.smith@co.com" → email: "j.smith@co.com"
This means an iFlow built to read contacts from Salesforce can switch to HubSpot with minimal changes — only the connector instance changes, not the iFlow logic.
Polling and Webhooks
Open Connectors can retrieve data from third-party apps in two ways:
Polling
CPI asks Open Connectors to check for new or changed records at a scheduled interval. "Every 15 minutes, fetch all contacts created in Salesforce since the last run." Polling is simple to set up but introduces a delay equal to the polling interval.
Webhooks
The third-party app notifies Open Connectors the moment something changes. Open Connectors then pushes the notification to CPI immediately. No delay. No unnecessary polling when nothing has changed. Webhooks require the source application to support them, which most modern cloud apps do.
POLLING MODEL:
[CPI] ──asks every 15 min──→ [Open Connectors] ──→ [Salesforce]
←──returns new data─── ←── returns records
WEBHOOK MODEL:
[Salesforce] ──fires immediately──→ [Open Connectors] ──pushes──→ [CPI]
(when record changes)
Open Connectors API
Every connector instance in Open Connectors exposes a consistent REST API. You can call this API directly from CPI's HTTP adapter or from any other HTTP-capable client. The API supports standard operations:
- GET /contacts – List contacts with optional filters
- GET /contacts/{id} – Get a specific contact
- POST /contacts – Create a new contact
- PUT /contacts/{id} – Update an existing contact
- DELETE /contacts/{id} – Delete a contact
These resource names and operations follow standard REST conventions. The same pattern applies to every object type (accounts, opportunities, cases, etc.) in every connected application.
Limitations and Considerations
Open Connectors is powerful but has boundaries worth knowing:
- Not every feature of every application is exposed. If you need a highly specific or custom operation, you may still need a direct API connection.
- Data normalization works well for common fields. Custom fields specific to your Salesforce configuration may not be normalized and may require extra mapping.
- Response times depend on the third-party API's speed. Open Connectors adds a small overhead on top of the native API latency.
For the vast majority of common integration scenarios — sync contacts, create records, fetch updated data — Open Connectors eliminates weeks of custom development and gets you building business value immediately.