A virtual collection allows you to display data from any third-party application as a widget on the account profile. Virtual collections differ from standard collections in that they provide a direct query to the data source and fetches data in real-time when the account record loads in Totango. 

A virtual collection cannot be queried within segmentation. Additionally, viewers of the virtual collection must be authenticated with the data source in order to see the data within Totango. If not, the virtual collection widget will prompt users to authenticate with the source application before displaying the data.

Suggested uses

1. Extract and display tickets from your support & ticketing system (e.g., Zendesk, Salesforce, ServiceNow, etc.).
2. Present the most updated state of a customer's opportunities from your CRM or Sales platform (e.g., Salesforce, SAP, etc.)
3. Display the most recent developments on feature improvements from your project management system (e.g., Jira).

Configure a virtual collection

Refer to the resources within the following steps:

1. Define a new connector for the data source you want to use.

   The virtual collection connector requires an OAuth2.0 authentication scheme only. Some data sources require you to configure OAuth settings in the source application prior to setting up a connection. Follow the steps for each connector.

2. Configure the virtual collection widget (API query, list mapping, column mapping).

   The Virtual Collection widget requires a REST API with JSON response only.

3. Once the data is coming into the virtual collection, customize the account profile layout for the account type for which you want to enable the new widget.