Salesforce Object Creation and Updates

Correlated makes it possible to create or update Salesforce Objects when Users or Accounts enter Playbooks. Here are some reasons why you might want to do so:

• Keep your Salesforce instance clean for Sales Reps by only creating Accounts, Leads, and Contacts that have hit certain product thresholds
• Transfer data over from Correlated to Salesforce to power views, workflows, or reports that live in Salesforce

It's easy to set things up, but there are some important implementation details to be aware of to make sure things will function in the way you expect. In this post, we'll cover both how to set up an action that creates Salesforce Objects and how our Salesforce Integration works.

Creating Leads, Contacts, and Accounts in Salesforce

In order to get started with creating Leads, Contacts, and Accounts in Salesforce, you must first create a Playbook.

Unlike solutions like Reverse ETL, Correlated does not continuously update all Leads, Contacts, and Accounts in batched jobs. Instead, Correlated triggers Object Creation when a User or Account enters a Playbook. A common Playbook to build might be to create a Lead or Contact when a User becomes a PQL.

Once you've created a Playbook, you can add an Action to your Playbook to create an Object.

You can only create Contacts or Leads with User Playbooks, and Accounts with Account Playbooks.

While configuring your Action, you can map Correlated fields to Salesforce fields (custom or standard). This means that when a User or Account enters a Playbook, Correlated will automatically create or update the correct object and also fill in the fields that you mapped.

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You must map required fields or else the action will fail!

Your Salesforce administrator may have set up required API fields that you must map on Object Creation. We will, by default, show these fields and you must map these fields (and a matching dimension must be available in Correlated to use).

Salesforce Fields that are set by default by Correlated in the background will not display in the dropdown selector. Fields that are system fields or otherwise not update-able will also not display in the dropdown selector.

The fields that Correlated set are:

• Email
• Account Name
• Salesforce Account ID
• The Salesforce Field that maps to your Correlated Unique Account ID and Correlated Unique User ID

How to Check Your Required API Fields in Salesforce

1. In Salesforce, select the Object type in question

2. In the upper-right corner, find the Setup dropdown menu and select "Edit Object"

3. In the new view, find "Fields & Relationships" from the left-hand menu. Here, you should see a list of all fields for that specific Object.

4. Click into any of the fields and select "Edit"

5. Here, you'll see a "Required" checkbox under "General Options." If the Required option is selected, then this field will also appear in Correlated as required when creating or updating an Object via Playbooks.

How Correlated Maps Correlated Entities to Salesforce Objects

Creating a Lead

1. Correlated identifies a User that matches the Playbook conditions
2. If the User has an email (required), Correlated will search for the User by both email and SFDC Lead / Contact ID if provided. If a Lead exists, Correlated will update the field mappings on all the matching Leads. If a Contact exists, Correlated will not create a Lead and will not update the field mappings. If a Contact or Lead does not exist, Correlated will create a Lead and update the field mappings.
3. At the time of updating fields on an existing Lead, Correlated will also fill in the Correlated User ID into the appropriate field if it is empty. Correlated will not overwrite the field if it is not empty, but it will update the field on an existing Lead if it is empty.

Creating a Contact

1. Correlated identifies a User that matches the Playbook conditions
2. If the User has an email (required), Correlated will search for the User by both email and SFDC Contact ID if provided. If a Lead exists but a Contact does not, Correlated WILL NOT convert the lead. Instead, Correlated will create a new Contact and map the appropriate fields. If a Contact exists, Correlated will simply update the Contact with the field mappings.
3. If a SFDC Account ID or Correlated Account ID is provided for the User, Correlated will automatically map the Contact to the right Account. Correlated does this both when creating a new Contact and when updating an existing one.
4. At the time of updating fields on an existing Contact, Correlated will also fill in the Correlated User ID into the appropriate field if it is empty. Correlated will not overwrite the field if it is not empty, but it will update the field on an existing Contact if it is empty.

Creating an Account

1. Correlated identifies an Account that matches the Playbook conditions
2. If the Account has a name (required), Correlated will search for the Account by SDFC Account ID or Account Name. If an Account does not exist, Correlated will create a new Account and update the appropriate mapped fields. If an Account does exist, Correlated will simply update the mapped fields on that Account.
3. At the time of updating fields on an existing Account, Correlated will also fill in the Correlated Account ID into the appropriate field if it is empty. Correlated will not overwrite the field if it is not empty, but it will update the field on an existing Contact if it is empty.

Debugging Your Salesforce Actions

It's easy to figure out why certain Objects may not have been created simply by visiting the "Activity History" tab in your Playbook. This tab will show you all the successful Object Creations, as well as any associated failure messages.