# Connection manager

Connection objects are designed so that plugins in Mahara are able to interact with external systems via web services.

The plugins themselves handle what information is sent to the external source, what web services to call, and how to process the response.

In the 'Add connection' form, you define the institution for which the connection is set up, how the web services access the external site, and which custom web service functions are to be called on the external site.