Mainstay: Conversations Export

What are platform integrations?

This feature allows institutions to connect their Mainstay data to a third-party platform, such as an external SFTP server. This enables a 2-way sync of contact record data, including default fields (name, phone, email, etc.) and custom fields created by the partner. To learn more, visit Platform Integrations.

The Conversations Export is an optional 1-way data sync to export Mainstay Conversations messages to Slate or another SFTP-powered platform.

Add an integration instance

1. From the Browse Available page, click Learn More for the individual platform.
2. In the Available Integrations section, look for the option that includes Mainstay Conversations.
3. Click the green Add New button to view a configuration modal for a new integration instance.
4. Alternately, in the Configured section below, click the pencil icon on an existing integration instance to adjust its configuration.

Mainstay Conversations > [external platform] v2

1. Your external platform may require specifying the incoming columns in a Field Mapping. The columns are as follows:
   
   1. crm_id: the unique identifier of the contact in the external platform
   2. mainstay_id: the unique identifier of the contact in Mainstay
   3. first_name: the first name of the contact on Mainstay
   4. last_name: the last name of the contact on Mainstay
   5. channel: the communication channel of the conversation (one of: "web" for web-chat, "twilio" for SMS, or "facebook" for Facebook Messenger)
   6. campaign_id: the unique identifier of the Mainstay campaign that this message was part of, if applicable
   7. campaign_name: the human-readable display name of the Mainstay campaign that this message was part of, if applicable
   8. timestamp: the date and time that the message was recorded on Mainstay (defaults to UTC)
   9. incoming: the body of the message, if it was incoming (ie, generated by the contact)
   10. outgoing: the body of the message, if it was outgoing (ie, generated from a campaign, a Knowledge Base answer, or a platform user via live chat)
   11. outgoing source: "AI" or "Live Chat" or "Campaign Script" or "Other", or blank if the message is incoming
   12. media: a list of URLs to image attachments, if any
2.  Your external platform may also require you to specify Allowed IP Address(es). All data exports for this integration should come from 3.101.8.12 and/or 52.8.18.64.
3. On Mainstay, click Add New.
4. Within the Configuration Wizard, on the Instance Details screen, create a display name and description for this instance. This is what will appear in the list; these values are only used for internal display purposes.
   
5. On the FTP Client Authentication screen, create a new authentication.
   1. Authentication name is for display purposes only.
   2. Make sure SFTP is selected (not FTP).
   3. Host can be found in your external SFTP server configurations.
   4. Username can be found in external SFTP server configurations.
   5. Password can be found in external SFTP server configurations.
   6. Private Key can generally be left blank.
   7. Passphrase can generally be left blank.
   8. Port can generally use the default value of 22.
   9. Cipher can generally use the default value of Default.
   10. Finally, Save your authentication.
6. On the Data Configuration screen, customize your export:
   1. The checkboxes for SMS, Web, and Facebook Messenger allow you to filter (by channel) which conversations you export.
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   2. The checkboxes for Campaigns and bot Q&A and Live Chat allow you to filter (by message type) which conversations you export. You can also choose whether to receive Incoming and/or Outgoing messages.
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   3. The Offset Timestamps? allows you to adjust the message timestamps for your timezone. Note that the default (0) is UTC. (ex: For EST, enter -5.)
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   4. The Historical Backfill Start allows you to set the starting date/time for this integration, while the Backfill + Polling End allows you to set the last date/time for which you want to receive messages.
      
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7. On the CSV File screen, configure the file itself:
   1. Enter a Destination Path on your SFTP server, or use the default value, /.
   2. Enter a File name or use the default value, Mainstay_Conversations.csv.
8. On the Schedule screen, select one or more time slots for this recurring contact export by checking or unchecking the boxes. Note that all times are listed in Eastern Standard Time.
9. Click Finish.
10. Note that the first time this runs, it may take several hours, as the system exports a historical record of all your Conversation messages, up to the present moment. All subsequent runs will only include new messages since the last run, so they will be significantly faster.

Enable/Disable or Delete an integration instance

1. On the screen listing all instances for a specific platform, click the toggle to switch between enabled (to the right, with green showing) and disabled (to the left, with gray showing).
2. Alternately, click the trashcan icon to remove this instance and configuration altogether.

Tips for partners using Slate

If the recipient of these Conversation Exports is the Slate platform, here are some helpful tips: 

1. Ensure that you are already saving the AdmitHub/Mainstay ID for the Contact records. See Mainstay Sync for Slate for the bidirectional contact sync.
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2. Map the Conversation imports to the Interactions record type. Make sure to match the admithub_id column to the same field AdmitHub/Mainstay ID field you're using for contact records.
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3. For the Import Configuration, specify the Import Automation's Path/Mask. Ensure this matches the path entered on the Mainstay configuration above.
   • Note: This field already assumes the path starts with /incoming, so you should not enter that here or else it will incorrectly apply to /incoming/incoming/desired_path_to_file/file_name.csv
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4. In the General tab, match the following configuration:
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