---
title: "Partner Lead Reception API Platform (PSR)"
description: "Centralized API platform routing real estate leads from dozens of external partners to the commercial CRM."
locale: "en"
canonical: "https://portfolio.josedacosta.info/en/achievements/plateforme-api-reception-leads-partenaires"
source: "https://portfolio.josedacosta.info/en/achievements/plateforme-api-reception-leads-partenaires.md"
html_source: "https://portfolio.josedacosta.info/en/achievements/plateforme-api-reception-leads-partenaires"
author: "José DA COSTA"
date: "2021"
type: "achievement"
slug: "plateforme-api-reception-leads-partenaires"
tags: ["REST API", "Microsoft API Manager", "Adobe Campaign v7", "Dynamics 365", "AWS EKS", "Kubernetes", "Docker", "GitLab CI", "SOFT Monitor", "Jira"]
generated_at: "2026-04-24T08:29:06.165Z"
---

# Partner Lead Reception API Platform (PSR)

Centralized API platform routing real estate leads from dozens of external partners to the commercial CRM.

**Date:** February 2021 - 2024  
**Duration:** ~3 years  
**Role:** Project Manager / Product Owner - API Platform Owner  
**Technologies:** REST API, Microsoft API Manager, Adobe Campaign v7, Dynamics 365, AWS EKS, Kubernetes, Docker, GitLab CI, SOFT Monitor, Jira

### Key Metrics

- Partner APIs: **-** - Integrated and maintained
- Lead Volume: **-** - ~1 lead every 2 seconds peak
- Lead Loss Rate: **-** - Zero major loss incidents
- Onboarding Time: **-** - Reduced from weeks to days
- Dozens: **-**

## Presentation

_Project definition and scope_

### The project in a nutshell

### What the platform is

Centralized REST API platform for multi-partner lead reception, normalization, and CRM routing

### Real Estate / PropTech - Lead Management (B2B internal + B2B external partners)

### Key Architecture Decisions

- Managed API Gateway - OAuth, throttling and per-partner analytics out of the box, instead of rebuilding it in-house.
- Routing via a marketing enrichment layer - Enrichment and deduplication before CRM injection, to preserve the commercial workflow.
- One dedicated endpoint per partner - Isolated normalization logic, easier debugging, no complex runtime configuration.

### Functional Scope

- Standardized REST APIs per partner.
- Lead data normalized regardless of partner format.
- Routing to the commercial CRM.
- Anomaly detection: blocked leads, duplicates, format errors.
- Centralized credentials and access via APIM.
- Real-time lead quality monitoring with alerts.

The **PSR** is the **centralized API platform** for partner lead reception that I led. Every partner connects via a **dedicated API endpoint**, which normalizes the data and transmits it to the commercial CRM through the marketing routing layer and the **Microsoft API Manager (APIM)**.

As **Technical Lead and API Platform Owner**, I supervised the **integration of each new partner API** and the platform's functional evolutions, coordinating with the marketing teams and external technical service providers. The PSR is a **business-critical system**: every lead lost or incorrectly routed translates directly into a missed sales opportunity in a highly competitive real estate market.

Business domain

## Objectives, Context, Stakes & Risks

_Strategic vision and constraints_

### Goals and success criteria

- Onboard dozens of external partners without per-partner CRM-side development.
- Keep major lead loss incidents at zero during and after each onboarding.
- Cut new partner onboarding time from weeks to days.
- Enforce auditable credential and access governance across all partners.
- Detect processing anomalies within minutes instead of days.

### Why this project came to life

The project was initiated within the **SI Marketing team** at Groupe Pichet, where the growing number of external lead sources (real estate portals, advertising partners, marketing platforms) created the need for a **single entry point** to centralize and normalize incoming leads before routing them to the commercial CRM.

The existing landscape was fragmented: each partner had its own data format, authentication method, and delivery protocol. Without the PSR, integrating a new partner required custom development on the CRM side - an unsustainable approach as the partner ecosystem grew. The PSR was designed to **absorb this heterogeneity** and provide a clean, standardized interface to the downstream systems.

### Business and strategic stakes

Leads are the **lifeblood of commercial activity** in real estate. Each lead represents a potential buyer, and the market is fiercely competitive: losing a lead to a routing error or a delayed integration means giving that prospect to a competitor. With dozens of partners generating leads simultaneously, the PSR became the **single most critical data pipeline** feeding the commercial teams' daily pipeline.

The commercial impact was direct and measurable: a partner API down for a single day could mean **dozens of lost prospects** - each worth potentially hundreds of thousands of euros in property sales.

### Security & RGPD Compliance

- Per-partner credential isolation via APIM: unique API keys, scoped permissions.
- Systematic API key rotation via APIM lifecycle management.
- GDPR compliance: HTTPS only, no persistent storage in intermediate layers, CRM as sole data repository.
- Formal security audit during the project → hardened access controls and updated firewall rules.
- Gateway-level input validation: format checks, payload size limits, malformed request rejection.

### Risks identified upfront

- Lead Loss - Any API failure or routing error directly translates into lost commercial prospects - unrecoverable in a competitive real estate market.
- Format Heterogeneity - Each partner sends data in its own format with different required fields, validation rules, and encoding - making generic processing impossible.
- Credential Sprawl - Managing API keys, tokens, and access for dozens of partners across APIM requires rigorous credential lifecycle management.
- Marketing Routing Layer Dependency - The v6 to v7 migration of the marketing routing layer required URL changes across all partner configurations - a single misconfiguration could silently drop leads.

## The Steps - What I Did

_Chronological progression of the project_

- Phase 1 - Platform Foundation & First Partner - Feb 2021 - Integrated the first partner API: VotreAppartementNeuf - Established the PSR platform architecture: reception, normalization, routing - Configured Microsoft API Manager credentials for the commercial CRM - Set up monitoring with SOFT Monitor and email alert notifications
- Phase 2 - Rapid Partner Onboarding - Jun - Dec 2022 - Integrated SeLoger API - major real estate portal - Integrated Myopla API - marketing partner - Integrated Cooper Advertising - deployed in pre-production - Integrated Akrivia Leads and Visibilitie - Integrated Clovis API - December 2022 - Added "Commentaire" and "Apport" fields to the API
- Phase 3 - Stabilization & Evolutions - Jan - Feb 2023 - Integrated Fine Media API - final documented partner - Resolved routing anomalies and blocked-lead handling - Migrated all URLs from the marketing routing layer v6 to v7 - Diagnosed and resolved a cross-system lead-routing anomaly - Conducted formal security review on the platform infrastructure
- Phase 4 - Architecture Refactoring - 2024 - Led the major PSR refactoring: new SeLoger API architecture - Redesigned the marketing routing layer API integration - Improved error handling, retry logic, and observability - Documented the full partner onboarding playbook for team continuity

## The Actors - Interactions

_Teams, stakeholders and collaboration_

### Coordinating marketing, IT & external partners

### Technical Leadership & Knowledge Transfer

- Partner integration playbook documented on Confluence.
- API documentation maintained across 5 versions (v1 to v5).
- External partners trained on API specs, auth and test procedures.

- Franck C. - Manager - Validated integrations and prioritized the partner onboarding backlog.
- Cyril M. - SI Marketing - Coordinated technical specs and business requirements with partners.
- Emilie D. - Prestataire externe - Maintained PSR Confluence documentation and knowledge base.
- External partners - SeLoger, Myopla, Cooper... - Provided API specs, test credentials, and validated integrations before go-live.

The PSR project operated at the intersection of **marketing, IT, and external partners**. Each new partner integration required coordinating between the partner's technical team (for API specifications), the SI Marketing team (for business validation), and the CRM team (for lead routing confirmation). I served as the **single technical point of contact** for all partner integrations.

## The Results

_Impact for me and for the company_

### What I personally took away

- Enterprise-scale expertise in API integration patterns (auth, normalization, routing, error handling).
- Multi-stakeholder coordination across marketing, IT and external partners.
- Ownership of a business-critical platform where every failure hit commercial results.

### Value delivered for Groupe Pichet

- Dozens of partner APIs integrated, diversifying lead acquisition channels.
- Single entry point, removing the need for CRM-side custom dev per partner.
- Real-time monitoring, cutting silent lead loss from days to minutes.
- New partner onboarding reduced from weeks to days via the PSR playbook.

### Monitoring & Observability Strategy

- SOFT Monitor dashboard with real-time KPI gauges tracking lead flow health across all dozens of partners simultaneously
- Automated email alerts triggered on lead processing anomalies: blocked leads, format validation failures, partner API timeouts, and routing errors
- Per-partner flux tracking: each partner API has individual monitoring with transaction logs, success/failure rates, and volume trends
- Proactive anomaly detection: format changes from partners (field additions, encoding shifts) caught at validation layer before impacting downstream systems
- Production incident response: monitoring enabled sub-minute detection of partner outages, reducing silent lead loss from days to minutes

### Skills Demonstrated

### Technical Skills

- API Design & Integration Patterns
- System Architecture (Gateway, Mediation, Routing)
- API Security (APIM, OAuth, credential lifecycle)
- Monitoring & Observability (SOFT Monitor, alerting)
- Data Normalization & Quality Management
- Migration Planning (marketing routing layer v6 to v7)
- CI/CD & Deployment (GitLab CI, AWS EKS, Kubernetes)

### Leadership & Soft Skills

- Multi-stakeholder Coordination (marketing, IT, external partners)
- Technical Communication with non-technical teams
- Platform Ownership (single point of accountability)
- Knowledge Transfer & Documentation (playbooks, API docs v1-v5)
- Decision-making under Business Pressure
- Internal Technical Meetups & Team Training

## The Aftermath

_What happened after delivery_

### Where the project stands today

After the initial wave (2021-2023), the PSR entered a **stabilization phase** and kept processing leads daily. The **2024 refactoring** modernized the SeLoger integration and the marketing routing layer.

Today, the PSR remains **the single entry point for all external lead acquisition** at Groupe Pichet. The onboarding playbook I documented lets the team integrate new partners autonomously.

## My Critical Reflection

_Lessons learned and honest assessment_

### What worked and why

- Incremental partner-by-partner approach: each integration validated before the next, zero major lead loss.
- APIM as gateway: credentials isolated, throttling handled, partners never touched internal systems directly.
- Real-time monitoring: issues caught in minutes instead of days.
- Normalization layer: dozens of heterogeneous formats unified into a single clean CRM-compatible schema.

### What could have been better

- The v6 to v7 migration required manual URL updates across every partner configuration.
- Deduplication stayed basic: edge cases needed manual review.
- End-to-end integration tests were manual and time-consuming.
- Documentation often arrived after the fact rather than during development.

### Trade-offs & Technical Arbitrages

- Accepted technical debt on deduplication in Phase 2 - Basic dedup to hit the 6-partner deadline; proper implementation planned for 2024.
- Refused to bypass the marketing routing layer - Kept traceability and the commercial workflow intact rather than shave 200 ms.
- Dedicated endpoints per partner - More code, but each integration stays isolated and easy to debug.
- No async retry queue in Phase 1 - Synchronous first for easier monitoring; retry added in Phase 4.

### Lessons Learned

- In lead management, speed matters as much as accuracy - leads go cold fast.
- An API gateway layer (like APIM) is essential when dealing with multiple external partners.
- Partner-by-partner validation with business teams is non-negotiable, even for technically identical integrations.
- A well-documented onboarding playbook outlives its author - best long-term investment for team autonomy.

### Additional context

- Partner Integration Timeline
- Jira Ticket Distribution
- Lead Flow Stages (% retention)
- Partner Integrations Per Year
- Technical Effort Distribution
- Partner Status Breakdown
- System Architecture
- Lead Lifecycle Pipeline
- End-to-end lead lifecycle from partner source to CRM
- Integrated Partner APIs
- Partner Onboarding Process

## Skills applied

_Technical and soft skills applied_

- **System Architecture & Design** - End-to-end architecture: API gateway, normalization, enrichment layer, CRM routing
- **REST API Design** - Partner-facing REST endpoints, data contracts and 5 API versions
- **Stakeholder Management** - Single technical point of contact for dozens of external partners and internal teams
- **Project Management** - Project Manager / Product Owner of the platform from 2021 to 2023
- **Communication & Collaboration** - End-to-end API integration lifecycle with external partners: specs, testing, validation, go-live
- **Web Application Security (OWASP)** - APIM credential isolation, GDPR compliance and 2023 security audit
- **Problem Solving & Critical Thinking** - Diagnosed cross-system lead flow anomalies and complex partner-config migrations
- **Monitoring & Supervision** - SOFT Monitor dashboards, real-time email alerts, per-partner flow observability
- **Adaptability & Learning Agility** - Mastered Microsoft APIM and the real-estate lead management domain from scratch

## Related journey

_Professional experience linked to this achievement_

- **Technical Lead · Flows and Products: content and enterprise integration**

## Image gallery

_Project screenshots and visuals_

## Need a partner API designed?

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**Contact me**