Best Practices Creating Interactions via Integrations
Interactions can be used to update a single record through the Interactions Tab or through the delivered custom Actions. Interactions can also be used to load multiple records at once using a data import or integration tool. The following subsections reviews some of the best practices administrators should keep in mind when creating Interactions in mass either by manual data loading processes or integrations.
Interaction Source is a field on Interactions that tracks the method used to create the record. The purpose of this field is different from Lead Source or Campaigns because it tracks more technical information about the source of the data and can be used to customize how Interaction fields are mapped using the Skip Mapping feature of Interaction Mapping records.
Out-of-the-box, the fields (on both objects) contain the following values:
- Manual Entry
- Purchase List
- Student Information System
- Webform
Note: You can add your own values to match your business processes, but remember to add them to both Interaction Source on Interactions and Skip Mapping on Interaction Mappings.
Interaction Source can be used to report on the types of Interactions being created in the system for analysis or troubleshooting. For example, let’s say you have a student information system (SIS) you want to integrate with Salesforce that gathers data from a variety of different sources.
The various sources are tracked in that system. So, within the SIS, some records were created because of a web form, others from applications, and still others from event registrations. When you load this data into Salesforce, you map these different source values to the Lead Source values and/or add Contacts and Leads to the appropriate source Campaigns.
But what about recording that all of these records ultimately came from the integration with the SIS?
This is where the Interaction Source field comes in with a value for ‘Student Information System.’ Now, you can report on all Interactions created from data in your SIS without losing the various sources of that data.
The Interaction Source field and values can also be used to control some additional functionality provided through Interaction Mapping records. Each Interaction Mapping record has a “Skip Mapping” multi-select picklist with the same values as Interaction Source.
Any values you select in this picklist will allow the Interaction Processor (the custom code) to treat that Interaction Mapping record as if it is inactive, when an Interaction is created with the same value in Interaction Source. This is most useful when dealing with unreliable data sources.
For example, many universities receive purchase lists containing not only names but other data about potential students. These purchase lists can contain great information, but sometimes the data is messy. Maybe you’ve discovered the Salutation field is often wrong on a purchase list you routinely load, and you don’t want it to overwrite the Contact’s Salutation field in Salesforce every time the list is loaded.
However, you still want the data to write to the Interaction record so it can be added later, if desired, or included in Interaction reports. To achieve this, simply find the Salutation field’s Interaction Mapping record and update the Skip Mapping field to include ‘Purchase List,’. The Salutation field can now be included on the Interaction record, but the Contact‘s field will not be updated from Interactions with an Interaction Source of ‘Purchase List.’
See the Interaction Mappings sections of this guide and visit the other documentation for more information about Skip Mapping and other Interaction Mapping functionality.
Add or remove Interaction Source values as needed by using the following steps:
- Go to Setup > Object Manager > Interaction > Fields & Relationships
- Find the “Interaction Source” field and click on the linked name to view the current values
- Select the New button in the Values section to add your values and Save
- Click the Del link next to any value(s) you want to remove
- Select the Reorder button to update the order of the values
- Go to Setup > Object Manager > Interaction Mapping > Fields & Relationships
- Find the “Skip Mapping” field and click on the linked name to view the current values
- Click the New button in the Values section to add your values and Save
- Click the Del link next to any values you want to remove
- Select the Reorder button to update the order of the values (it is recommended that the order for both fields be the same for consistency)
Best Practice Nugget: Remember, if you are adding a value or values to the “Interaction Source” field on Interactions, you should always also add it to the “Skip Mapping” field on Interaction Mappings and vice versa.
Creating Interaction records with an integration tool is very similar to creating them manually using the Salesforce API. First, you will need to identify the tool you want to use.
Here are a few options:
- Salesforce Data Import Wizard
- Salesforce Data Loader
- Developer Console
- Other AppExchange apps for integration
Next, setup the tool you selected to create Interaction records and map the fields from the source to Interaction fields. For tools like the Salesforce Data Import Wizard or Salesforce Data Loader, this most likely means mapping the columns from your CSV file to Interaction fields.
Confirm you have mapped all fields required to match to existing Leads and Contacts and to create Contacts. By default, this means First Name, Last Name and Email. If you have customized required fields or duplicate management, those customizations should be considered.
And don’t forget about Interaction Source! Include a column or setting to default Interaction Source to a value representing the data load to make it easier to report on the records once they are created.