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Getting Started with SaaS Platforms

This guide provides a quickstart for using ConnectSoft's ready-made SaaS platforms. It is written for product teams, developers, and architects integrating Identity, Audit, Config, or Bot platforms into their applications.

ConnectSoft platforms are production-ready SaaS services you can use immediately. They provide multi-tenant capabilities, APIs, and integrations designed for .NET/Azure microservices.

Tip

Platforms are built by the Factory and serve as reference implementations. You can use them directly or generate custom versions using the Factory.

Who This Guide Is For

  • Product Teams integrating ready-made capabilities
  • Developers consuming platform APIs
  • Architects evaluating platform integration
  • DevOps Teams configuring platform access

Step 1 – Pick a Platform

Choose the platform that matches your needs:

Platform Primary Use Quick Win Example
Identity Platform Authentication & authorization Single sign-on for your SaaS
Audit Platform Compliance & audit logging Track all user actions for compliance
Config Platform Configuration & feature flags Centralized config without code deployments
Bot Platform AI chatbots & assistants Customer support bot with knowledge base

Identity Platform

Use when: - Need authentication and authorization - Want multi-tenant user management - Need OAuth2/OIDC server - Want external IdP federation

See: Identity Platform

Audit Platform

Use when: - Need compliance audit trails - Want tamper-evident logging - Need to track all user actions - Require legal hold capabilities

See: Audit Platform

Config Platform

Use when: - Need centralized configuration - Want feature flags - Need environment-specific settings - Want configuration versioning

See: Config Platform

Bot Platform

Use when: - Need AI chatbots or assistants - Want conversation management - Need multi-channel support - Want RAG capabilities

See: Bot Platform

Browse by Category

Platforms are organized into 12 categories for easy discovery:

See: Platform Categories Overview for all categories and Platforms Roadmap for the expansion plan.

Step 2 – Provision a Tenant

Set up your tenant in the platform:

Identity Platform

  1. Create Tenant - Register your organization
  2. Configure Edition - Select subscription tier
  3. Set Up Users - Add initial users and roles
  4. Configure IdPs - Set up external identity providers (optional)

Audit Platform

  1. Create Tenant - Register your organization
  2. Configure Retention - Set retention policies
  3. Set Up Access - Configure who can access audit logs
  4. Test Ingestion - Send test audit events

Config Platform

  1. Create Tenant - Register your organization
  2. Create Applications - Register your applications
  3. Set Environments - Configure dev, staging, production
  4. Add Configuration - Add initial configuration values

Bot Platform

  1. Create Tenant - Register your organization
  2. Create Bot - Set up your bot instance
  3. Configure Channels - Set up web, Teams, Slack channels
  4. Set Up Knowledge Base - Configure RAG and embeddings

Step 3 – Integrate with Your Systems

Integrate platforms into your microservices:

Identity Platform Integration

Authentication Flow: 

// In your microservice
services.AddAuthentication()
    .AddOpenIdConnect(options => {
        options.Authority = "https://identity.connectsoft.io";
        options.ClientId = "your-client-id";
        options.ClientSecret = "your-client-secret";
    });

Authorization: 

[Authorize]
public class OrdersController : ControllerBase
{
    // Controller actions require authentication
}

See: Identity Platform for detailed integration guide.

Audit Platform Integration

Event Ingestion: 

// In your microservice
services.AddAuditPlatform(options => {
    options.Endpoint = "https://audit.connectsoft.io";
    options.ApiKey = "your-api-key";
});

// Emit audit events
await _auditService.LogAsync(new AuditEvent {
    Action = "OrderCreated",
    UserId = userId,
    TenantId = tenantId,
    Details = orderDetails
});

See: Audit Platform for detailed integration guide.

Config Platform Integration

Configuration Client: 

// In your microservice
services.AddConfigPlatform(options => {
    options.Endpoint = "https://config.connectsoft.io";
    options.ApplicationId = "your-app-id";
    options.Environment = "production";
});

// Use configuration
var featureEnabled = await _configService.GetFeatureFlagAsync("NewFeature");
var apiUrl = await _configService.GetStringAsync("ExternalApi:Url");

See: Config Platform for detailed integration guide.

Bot Platform Integration

Bot Integration: 

// In your application
services.AddBotPlatform(options => {
    options.Endpoint = "https://bot.connectsoft.io";
    options.BotId = "your-bot-id";
    options.ApiKey = "your-api-key";
});

// Send message to bot
await _botService.SendMessageAsync(userId, message);

See: Bot Platform for detailed integration guide.

Step 4 – Configure Governance and Access

Set up access control and governance:

Identity Platform

  • Roles and Permissions - Define roles and assign permissions
  • User Management - Manage users and their access
  • External IdPs - Configure federation with external providers
  • Policies - Set up authentication and authorization policies

Audit Platform

  • Access Control - Who can read audit logs
  • Retention Policies - How long to keep logs
  • Legal Hold - Configure legal hold capabilities
  • Export Policies - Configure export and compliance reporting

Config Platform

  • Access Control - Who can read/write configuration
  • Change Approval - Require approval for changes
  • Version History - Track configuration changes
  • Rollback - Ability to rollback to previous versions

Bot Platform

  • Bot Access - Who can use the bot
  • Channel Configuration - Configure channel access
  • Knowledge Base Access - Control access to knowledge bases
  • Analytics Access - Who can view analytics

For governance details, see Security & Compliance and Support & SLA Policy.

Step 5 – Monitor and Evolve

Monitor platform usage and evolve your integration:

Monitoring

  • Usage Metrics - Track API calls, events, users
  • Performance - Monitor response times and throughput
  • Errors - Track errors and failures
  • Costs - Monitor usage-based costs

Dashboards

  • Identity Platform - User activity, authentication metrics
  • Audit Platform - Event ingestion, search performance
  • Config Platform - Configuration changes, feature flag usage
  • Bot Platform - Conversation metrics, user engagement

Evolution

  • Add Features - Request new platform features
  • Scale - Adjust capacity based on usage
  • Integrate More - Add more microservices to platforms
  • Customize - Use Factory to generate custom platform versions

For monitoring guidance, see Monitoring & Dashboards.