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API Options

API Options

CampusGroups offers multiple methods to access and work with platform data, each tailored to different institutional needs, from real-time integrations with student information systems to deep-dive analytics and custom reporting.

 

This is overview and comparison of three core data access options available to you:

  1. Data API: A SOAP-based integration that enables real-time data updates and synchronization with external systems.

  2. Data Export API: Our most recent solution for clean, structured, and scalable data exports, ideal for analytics and business intelligence.

  3. Data Warehouse Access: Direct access to raw platform data via customizable reports, designed for advanced querying and data engineering use cases

 

Data API

The Data API enables bi-directional communication for real-time read and write operations. It supports detailed record creation, updates, and data queries via SOAP endpoints

Documentation: https://www.campusgroups.com/api?public=1

Key Characteristics:

  • Supports real-time operations (e.g., create/update users, events, memberships).

  • SOAP/XML based web services.

  • Can be integrated with SIS, CRM, and identity systems

  • RSS Data API endpoints can be used to get specific data already joined (e.g. event attendance with user names by event_id).

 

Limitations:

  • More complex implementation due to SOAP/XML structure.

  • Limited support for bulk or historical data access

 

To access the Data API, please go to the Admin menu. The Data API feature is located under the APIs submenu

 

Data Export API

The Data Export API is the latest and most scalable data access method designed for clean, structured, and ready-to-use data exports. It is built on a dedicated data layer optimized for bulk data export.

Documentation: https://docs-prod-us-east-1.service.campusgroups.com/service-data/index.html

Key Characteristics:

  • Read-only, high-performance JSON REST API.

  • Returns normalized data sets across areas like Users, Events, Attendance, Groups, and more.

  • Includes built-in documentation and schema definitions.

  • Designed to be a performant bulk export, partitioned by updated_on.

 

Limitations:

  • Not designed for real-time or transactional updates.

  • Not designed for filtering the data by parameters (i.e. minimal joins or data transformations)

 

To access the Data Export API, please go to the Admin menu. The Data Export API feature is located under the APIs submenu

 

Data Warehouse

The Data Warehouse provides direct access to underlying tables and raw data through JSON-based report URLs. This method offers maximum flexibility and visibility into the full data model

 

Key Characteristics:

  • Full access to raw, unprocessed data tables.

  • Includes foreign key relationships between entities.

 

Limitations:

  • Requires data modeling and cleaning

  • Use of the Data Warehouse requires a good understanding of the platform data flows.

 

To access the Data Warehouse, please go to the Admin menu. The Data Warehouse feature is located under the APIs submenu

 

  • You will be able to request all sorts of data, as can be seen on the screenshot below.

  • The question mark to the left of each field allows you to view each data set's fields.

 

As an example, we will pull the users' data from the platform:

  1. Click on Users

  2. Retrieve the report parameter from the url:

  3. The preferred authentication method is to add a custom HTTP header to the request named "X-CG-API-Secret" that contains your secret key. For example here is how you would do this in Postman:

The Data Warehouse page also includes additional instructions on how you may authenticate if your API client does not support custom HTTP headers.