Integrating Go.Data with Mobile Data Collection Apps

Many Go.Data implementers leverage other mobile apps for offline-supported data collection and case management. Popular mobile apps include open-source options like Kobo Toolbox, Open Data Kit (ODK), CommCare, Ona, and SurveyCTO. While these mobile tools offer different features and implementation options, they for the most part all support 2 main integration approaches:

1. Integration via REST Service/ Webhook

Many mobile data collection features provide this feature to automatically publish or “push” data collected via mobile to an external data source. Users can therefore configure a REST service/ webhook to automatically forward new mobile form submissions in JSON or XML format to an external app whenever new data is collected. This approach enables real-time data integration and can be entirely controlled in the data source-side.

See the reference implementation #4 for an example implementation where a REST Service was configured in Kobo Toolbox to automatically forward new submissions to the OpenFn integration layer where automation was configured to transform & map the Kobo data into Go.Data via the API.

2. Integration via APIs

Many of mobile data collection tools also provide a REST API for enhanced data sharing options to extract mobile data collection. Data extraction options are limited to what is supported by each app’s API (for example, see Kobo Toolbox and ODK API docs to compare).

Resources

  1. See reference implementation #4 for specific step-by-step guidance with a real-world mobile integration example with Kobo Toolbox.
  2. For summarized instructions on REST service setup and API documentation links for popular mobile tools like Kobo Toolbox, ODK, SurveyCTO, etc., check out each app’s technical documentation or see OpenFn ‘Source Apps’ docs.