Glossary

Integration Platform (iPaaS)

Software that connects the separate systems a business runs on so data and processes can flow between them.

An integration platform — historically called iPaaS, integration platform as a service — is the layer that connects the applications, databases, and services a business depends on: ERP, CRM, finance systems, spreadsheets, inboxes, and more.

Traditional integration platforms move data through configured "pipes." They do not understand what the data means, they break when a connected system changes its API, and they require engineers to build and maintain each connection.

A managed data flow differs. It defines each business noun once, translates every system into that meaning and back, and keeps the translation correct as the systems change. The connector is how data gets in. The model is what the data means.

Read next.

Managed Data Flow A business event carried between two systems, translated into one canonical meaning, and kept correct as those systems change. /glossary/managed-data-flow
Canonical Model The single vocabulary of business nouns and verbs that every connected system is translated into, and back out of. /glossary/canonical-model
Self-Healing The ability of an integration to detect when an upstream API changes and repair itself automatically, without human intervention. /glossary/self-healing

All terms · The analyses these terms come from