# Plethora of platforms

<p class="elv-tracking-normal elv-text-default elv-font-figtree elv-text-base elv-leading-base elv-font-normal" elv="true">As a Marketer and/or Steward of Marketing Platforms and Software at your company, what are the best ways you use to keep track of your Marketing stack and all its internal and external integrations?  Do you have a procedure to follow if one of your platforms is down or is encountering errors?</p>

##### Post Metadata
- Posted at: almost 3 years ago
- Author title: 20-year Marketer and Marketing Automation Expert
- Net upvotes: 4


## Comments
### Comment 1

&lt;p&gt;This is really a good question.  It doesn&#39;t have to be overly complicated.  You don&#39;t have to be an expert on all these platforms to be able to find out how everything is connected.  It takes some steps, and it may not go quickly, but it should be very instructive.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Starting from the beginning, look at the piece of Marketing automation software you use the most. Which piece are you most familiar with?  Work backward from there.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;Write a list of the systems you know that send data into your Marketing platform.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Write a list of the systems that you know that receive data from your Marketing platform.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;If you know of very important fields that flow back and forth, call these out in the list.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Show the list to your IT contact for your platform and walk through it with them.  With their help, draw a Data Flow Diagram for your platforms.  It may take some time and a lot of questions, but building this will help you understand where the data is coming from and where it&#39;s going.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Have a call with each Vendor who has an element in your diagram.  Walk them through your understanding of how the data flows and listen to their feedback and suggestions.  Many Vendors, especially Product and Support experts, understand how their solutions connect to other pieces - and the discussion can help them understand your specific needs better as well.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Once you have a Data Flow Diagram that has been reviewed by your IT contact ( and any other relevant administrators in your Company - like the CRM admin, Marketing admin, platform admins) - post it to a shared site where your Marketing and IT teams can access it easily.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you don&#39;t have a consultancy working on this, it may take you some time to find out all the information - but it should be a really good learning experience, spark some discussions, and help build bridges to other groups and staff who support your platforms.&lt;/p&gt;

##### Comment Metadata
- Posted at: almost 3 years ago
- Author title: 20-year Marketer and Marketing Automation Expert
- Net upvotes: 1

#### Reply 1

This:

= =
Starting from the beginning, look at the piece of Marketing automation software you use the most. Which piece are you most familiar with? Work backward from there.
= =

✅

##### Reply Metadata
- Posted at: almost 3 years ago
- Author title: Managing Partner at Huf Consultancy and full time Autist


### Comment 2

&lt;p&gt;Good topic (title) Alex!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I agree, there is so much out there.&lt;/p&gt;

##### Comment Metadata
- Posted at: almost 3 years ago
- Author title: Managing Partner at Huf Consultancy and full time Autist





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