RainFocus integration

Overview

The SpotMe - RainFocus native integration module provides all that is required to connect RainFocus with the SpotMe platform. It acts as an out-of-the-box connector enabling a two-way flow of data between RainFocus and your SpotMe events.

It allows the following data to be imported from RainFocus into SpotMe:

• Users (i.e. RainFocus "Attendees")
• Users photos
• Sessions
• Schedule (i.e. RainFocus registrations to sessions)
• Speakers
• Speaker photos
• Sponsors (i.e. RainFocus "Exhibitors")
• Sponsor Images
• Locations (i.e. RainFocus "Rooms")

Once RainFocus attendees are imported into SpotMe along with all other data, they can register to the imported RainFocus sessions via the SpotMe application. RainFocus will validate the registrations performed in the app and add users to waitlists if applicable.

To set-up the RainFocus integration module, you will need to create a workspace (event) in SpotMe, have a dedicated RainFocus API profile created by your RainFocus contact, and then install and configure the RainFocus integration module on the SpotMe workspace in order to connect the two platforms for the event.

Once this is done you can start testing and synchronizing data between the platforms.

Notes:
- The SpotMe - RainFocus integration does not currently support hybrid events (with both in-person and remote attendees).
- The import session registration functionality in Backstage cannot be used if you are using the RainFocus integration on your workspace.

1 - Creating the workspace in SpotMe Backstage

An instance of an event in the SpotMe platform is referred to as a “workspace”. To create a workspace:

1. Log in to Backstage, the SpotMe CMS.
2. Create a workspace.

When creating the workspace in SpotMe, please pay attention to the Data location of the workspace: 

Depending on the selected data location in the workspace, a set of SpotMe IP addresses will need to be whitelisted in the RainFocus event configuration, as explained below.

2 - Configuring the RainFocus profile

In order to do this, please reach out to your RainFocus contact and request that a new API profile is created for SpotMe for each event.

In doing so, please also request the following from your RainFocus contact:

Enabling endpoints in RainFocus profile:
The following endpoints need to be enabled in the RainFocus profile:

Endpoint description	Endpoint name	Additional permissions
Speaker Entity Data Dump	GET/entityDataDump/speaker
Session Entity Data Dump	GET/entityDataDump/session	The access codes need to be exposed.
Exhibitor Entity Data Dump	GET/entityDataDump/exhibitor
Rooms	GET/rooms
Attendee Entity Data Dump	GET/entityDataDump/attendee
Schedule Data	GET/scheduleDataDump
Session Attendance	GET/sessionAttendance
Add Session	POST/addSession

 

Whitelisted IP addresses that need to be added to the RainFocus API profile:
In parallel, please reach out to SpotMe support to get the list of IP addresses that need to be whitelisted In the RainFocus profile, and provide them to your RainFocus contact.
The IP addresses are based on the data location of the SpotMe workspace created in the step above, and that you are connecting to RainFocus.

3 - Installing and configuring the RainFocus integration module on the SpotMe workspace

The RainFocus integration module will need to be installed on each SpotMe workspace that will be connected to a RainFocus event.

To install the RainFocus integration module on a SpotMe workspace:

1. Log into Backstage, and access the workspace where you want to connect the integration module.
2. Go to the Marketplace section of the main menu (to the left of the screen), and in Integrations, click on the RainFocus integration module:
   Click on Install to add the module to the workspace. Once the install is complete, click on Done. Backstage will reload to complete the installation.
   Tip: This process can be facilitated by creating a workspace template in the SpotMe platform for your organization, that already has the RainFocus integration module installed and configured with the adequate RainFocus credentials. The template can then simply be reused to create future events in SpotMe that are destined to be connected to RainFocus. More information on creating and using SpotMe workspace templates.
   
   
3. Once Backstage has reloaded, in the workspace main menu to the left, select Integrations.
   This will open the RainFocus integration module:
   
   
   
4. Click on the Main configuration tab. Here you can enter the necessary credentials for the integration, per the indications provided below:
   
   Note: Only Backstage organization admins have access to these fields in the Main configuration tab.
   
   Client ID: This corresponds to the organization in RainFocus. It needs to be provided by the RainFocus contact (see steps above).
   RfApiProfileId: This is a unique ID in RainFocus for each event. It needs to be provided by RainFocus contact (see steps above).
   Username: This can be optionally provided by the RainFocus contact. If this is not provided please leave this field blank.
   Password:This can be optionally provided by the RainFocus contact. If this is not provided please leave this field blank.
   Sponsor image type: RainFocus exhibitors (sponsors) can have multiple image files associated with them. By default the integration will only import the images from files which have the "fileType" set to "Logo" in RainFocus. This can be changed in the integration module by providing an alternative RainFocus "fileType" entry in the Main Configuration tab > Others > Sponsor image type field. More information
   
   
5. Remember to click on Save changes to save all the information here when you are done.
   Once this is done you can start to test and synchronize data.

Synchronizing data between RainFocus and SpotMe

Data is imported and synchronized in the integration module in Backstage, via the Data types tab:

The Data types tab displays a list of all the data types that can be imported from RainFocus into SpotMe. For each data type, it displays:

• The name of each data type.
• The date and time of the last synchronization of each data type.
• A button for enabling or disabling the autosync functionality for each data type.
• You can disregard the JSON buttons here.
• A Preview and a Sync button for each data type.

You can access each individual data type's settings, by clicking on the data type name in the list. In the settings you can adjust the autosync frequency and the field mapping.
More information

Technical notes

Mapping fields

Please be aware that (up until May 7, 2024) the integration does not support mapping custom attributes in RainFocus (such as attributeValues) to items in SpotMe.

Starting May 7, 2024: The integration will support RainFocus attributeValues (which will have the format "attribute_<RainFocus attribute_code>" when checking the data Preview).

Fields in RainFocus can be associated with existing or custom (specifically created) metadata on the workspace. Keep in mind that you can only map fields that are of the same type. For example, you can’t map a boolean field in RainFocus into a text field in SpotMe, you can however map boolean to boolean fields or text to text fields.

Adding filters to the data being imported into SpotMe

Filters can be added to the data being pulled into SpotMe by the integration, such as the Users and Sessions data from RainFocus, as long as these fields are mapped. More information

For example, you can add a filter to the Users data type for only “Registered” attendees you can add a filter to this mapping:

RainFocus sessions with multiple times are created as multiple SpotMe sessions

In RainFocus, a single session can be held in multiple different time slots.

For example, in RainFocus a single session can be held on day 1, day 2, and day 3. When importing this session data from RainFocus into SpotMe, three individual sessions will be created in SpotMe - one for each time slot of the session.

Check that the "Session Type" is populated in RainFocus

When setting up new sessions in RainFocus, a Session Type attribute needs to be added to the Session information in order for the session to be included in the API call.

Please make sure that all the sessions that you expect to pull into SpotMe have a value in the Session Type attribute in RainFocus.

Previewing (testing) and synchronizing data

Here you can run synchronization previews (tests) on any of the available data types, in order to see how and what data will be imported, before actually starting to synchronize data.
More details on how previewing and testing works

To run a preview (test) for a data type, click on the Preview button for the data type. Doing so will test the synchronization and provide an overview table of the imported data.

More specifically, here you can see whether the integration module is connected properly (i.e. that the synchronization is working properly) and what data would be imported and updated in SpotMe should the synchronization be completed on this data point:

Once you are satisfied with how data is being synchronized in the preview for the data types, you can begin synchronizing the data, using the Sync button. You can also enable the auto-sync for each data type, by clicking on the Enable button in the autosync column.

What sessions can users/attendees see and register to?

Sessions in SpotMe will by default be visible to users (attendees) that have a matching RainFocus "viewAccess" value.

This is referred to as targeting in the SpotMe platform. As such it allows the SpotMe platform to show only the sessions that are relevant to the specific user (attendee) via the SpotMe app.

Attendees who can see sessions with open registration will also see a button to register to these sessions. The integration does not support the case in RainFocus where attendees can see a session but do not have the permission to register to it.

Photos and images sync

The images for the "User photos", "Speaker photos" and "Sponsor images" data types will only start to be imported once the relevant "Users", "Speakers" and "Sponsors" data types have been imported into SpotMe. This will be done automatically by the system.

RainFocus exhibitors (sponsors) can have multiple image files associated with them. By default the integration will only import the images from files which have the "fileType" set to "Logo" in RainFocus. This can be changed in the integration module by providing an alternative RainFocus "fileType" entry in the Main Configuration tab > Others > Sponsor image type field:

The imported user photos come from a file that is associated with the corresponding RainFocus attendee. This file has the RainFocus "fileType" set to "attprofile".

User photos and Sponsor images are only imported when the corresponding RainFocus file is marked as "published".

Images must be in format JPEG, PNG or GIF to be imported. Other formats will be disregarded.
Images must follow the recommended dimensions and resolutions in order to be displayed correctly in the SpotMe apps.

Session registration

Users are registered to sessions in two ways in the event in SpotMe:

• User registrations are imported into sessions from RainFocus into SpotMe.
• Attendees can register to sessions directly via the SpotMe apps.

Registration via import from RainFocus to SpotMe

Running the "Schedule" data type synchronization imports every session registration from RainFocus into SpotMe.

After first importing the data, once the session registration is open in the SpotMe app, it is important to enable the autosync on the "Schedule" data type. This will allow the waitlisting for sessions that are handled on the RainFocus side to be implemented and visible in the SpotMe app.

Registration via SpotMe apps

When users (attendees) register to sessions via the SpotMe app, the app will communicate in real-time with the RainFocus event in order to manage session registrations.

Important: Do not modify the capacity settings for the workspace in Backstage.

Session capacity management is entirely managed on the RainFocus side for SpotMe events that have the integration installed. Therefore, there is no way to manage session capacity from the workspace in Backstage (whether in the individual sessions, or in the Sessions > Preferences > Session settings).

RainFocus may waitlist the attendees instead of registering them. If this happens, attendees will see in the SpotMe app a message explaining that they are waitlisted.

If RainFocus refuses to register the attendee for some other reason, RainFocus' explanation message will be displayed to the user.

How does managed capacity and waitlisting look in the app?

When accessing a session that has managed capacity, users will see the number of spaces available, and be able to register if there is enough space:

Once a user has successfully registered to a session, they will see it when accessing the session in the app:

If the session has managed capacity, and the capacity is full, with the waitlisting enabled they will be able to register to the waitlist, by selecting Add to Waitlist.

If, in the full session, a participant unregisters and frees up a space, then the first participant in the waitlist will automatically be moved into that free spot and become registered for the session. The newly registered participant will receive a notification informing them that they are now registered to that session.