By connecting all the important sources of data, you will ensure your stakeholders have up-to-date visibility into every facet of your app portfolio including insights about app usage and spend.
There are two main categories of source data: engagement connectors and platform connectors.
- Engagement Connectors provide enriched usage data above-and-beyond SSO logins, with deep user-level insights.
- Platform Connectors provide unique contextual details about each application and it’s usage data.
In this article we’ll provide an overview of setting up your Productiv instance:
Step 1. Connect to your single sign-on tool
Step 2. Connect or upload org chart data
Step 3. Connect or upload both payment and expense data
Step 4. Connect or upload contract data
Step 5. Set up a CASB network connector
NOTE: Before you get started, we recommend using service accounts whenever your company’s policies allow. Ideally, set these service accounts with a long-term expiration on the credential. Doing this in advance not only makes the setup process swift, it will also help ensure Productiv always has the most up-to-date insights without you having to worry about account turnover or expiring credentials.
Get started with Productiv by setting up the 5 types of platform connectors first:
Note: Each of these sections are linked to a more detailed article for additional context.
Step 1. Connect to your single sign-on tool
Connect to your single sign-on tool to pull in the list of all SSO-enabled apps, as well as, user login activity for each app.
This connector is essential to providing the broadest visibility into your SaaS application portfolio and it only takes 5 minutes for a Read-only Admin to setup.
SSO connectors are available for Okta, Azure Active Directory, Duo Security, Idaptive, OneLogin, PingOne and Google Workspace.
Step 2. Connect or upload org chart data
Connect or upload org chart data in order to map application activity across the organization. Org chart data makes it possible for Stakeholders to understand app usage trends and distinguish how those trends vary by location, team and manager.
The Org Chart connector has an advantage over CSVs in that the data will be automatically updated overtime, without additional manual uploads - plus it only takes about 5 minutes.
Org chart connectors are available for Workday, OneLogin, Okta, Azure, or Google Workspace.
Step 3. Connect or upload contract data
Connect or upload contract data for visibility into license levels and contract spend. Contract data makes it possible to get recommendations for rightsizing and renewing licenses and creating automatic workflows to actively reclaim unused licenses.
We suggest starting with the contracts due to renew in the next 120 days then add more contracts over time.
Step 4. Connect or upload both payment and expense data
Connect or upload both payment and expense data in order to discover applications that may not be known to, much less managed by, IT. Something often referred to as ‘ShadowIT’, these discovered apps may represent new opportunities for innovation and collaboration while also help reduce risk.
Payment data could come from a finance ERP like NetSuite or Oracle, while expense data is more likely to come from apps like Concur and Expensify.
You can see the full list of available connectors under Spend Data on the Settings in Productiv. Each will require Admin-level access to connect, and configuration for the transactions to bring into Productiv.
Step 5. Connect to your CASB network connector & MDM tools.
Set up a CASB network connector (also known as a cloud access security broker). This Platform connector provides yet another source for discovering applications through user login and use over network activity.
MDM (mobile device management) tools such as Kandji and JAMF are used to manage employees laptops and other devices to ensure they maintain compliance with corporate policies. Connecting an MDM tool with Productiv helps to identify software that has been installed on those devices to help with the identification of ShadowIT.
Engagement Connectors
With your Platform connectors setup, it’s time to proceed with configuring the Engagement connectors, which are also found on the Settings page. These engagement connectors power several feature and engagement visualizations.
Regardless of which engagement connectors you choose to start with, just remember to connect as many as possible to get the best visibility and most insights.
Where to start?
Productiv offers over 50 application-specific engagement connectors, so, while it’s true that the more data, the better, you still have to start somewhere…
- Many customers choose to start with organization-wide (also known as ‘birthright’) applications like Zoom, Slack, Office 365, G Suite, etc.
- However, if you have the ability to connect something easily and quickly, you might take the opportunity to start there, since the more you know about your ecosystem, the more it can inform what to connect next.
- Cost-savings is almost always top-of-mind, so another option is to start by connecting high-spend apps and those apps with upcoming renewals.
How long will it take?
Most connectors take about 5 minutes to set up, on average. Once set up, it may take a few days to fully populate, depending on the volume of data, but once you’ve connected all of the pertinent data sources, information will begin flowing into your Productiv account within an hour.
Connector Settings
The Platform connectors can all be found by selecting Settings in the left navigation of your Productiv account.
Each connector has its own guide with step-by-step instructions specifically about setting up that application.
If you don’t happen to have the appropriate permissions for a particular application, you can invite a teammate to complete the integration.
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