Connectors → Salesforce v1
About Salesforce
Salesforce is a cloud-based software company that provides a customer relationship management (CRM) platform and also sells a complementary suite of enterprise applications focused on customer service, marketing automation, analytics, and application development.
Salesforce Connector
The Incorta Salesforce v1 connector uses the following Salesforce.com APIs:
- Bulk: Provides a programmatic option to quickly load data from Salesforce. It is based on REST principles and is optimized for loading or deleting large sets of data. You can use it to query, queryAll, insert, update, upsert, or delete many records asynchronously by submitting batches. Salesforce processes batches in the background.
- SOAP: Optimized for real-time client applications that update a few records at a time.
The Salesforce connector supports the following Incorta specific functionality:
| Feature | Supported |
|---|---|
| Incremental loading | ✔ |
| Encryption at ingest | |
| Performance Optimization | ✔ |
| Webhook Callbacks | ✔ |
For Release 4.6 and higher, Incorta recommends using the Salesforce v2 connector. There are known issues with the v1 connector, such as missing Salesforce objects and incompatibility with compound fields, that are resolved with the v2 connector.
Deployment Steps within Salesforce
A Salesforce Administrator may need to enable the Salesforce API. In addition, a Salesforce Administrator creates and configures Incorta as a Salesforce Connected App. Here are the steps in Salesforce:
- Verify your organization has the API feature enabled. This feature is enabled by default for Performance, Unlimited, Enterprise, Developer and some Professional Editions.
- Verify your organization has the Bulk API feature enabled. This feature is enabled by default for Performance, Unlimited, Enterprise, and Developer Editions.
- Create a Connected App for Incorta.
- Enable OAuth Settings for API Integration.
Steps to connect Salesforce and Incorta
To connect Salesforce and Incorta, here are the high level steps, tools, and procedures:
Create an external data source
Here are the steps to create a external data source with the Salesforce connector:
- Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
- In the Navigation bar, select Data.
- In the Action bar, select + New → Add Data Source.
- In the Choose a Data Source dialog, in Application, select Salesforce.
- In the New Data Source dialog, specify the applicable connector properties.
- To test, select Test Connection.
- Select Ok to save your changes.
Salesforce connector properties
Here are the properties for the Salesforce connector:
| Property | Control | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Username | text box | Enter the Salesforce username |
| Password | text box | Enter the Salesforce password |
| Login URL | text box | Enter the Salesforce login URL |
| Token | text box | Enter the Salesforce token |
| Proxy Host | text box | Optionally enter the proxy server IP address |
| Proxy Port | text box | Optionally enter the proxy server port |
| Proxy Username | text box | Optionally enter proxy server username |
| Proxy Password | text box | Optionally enter the proxy server password |
Create a schema with the Schema Wizard
Here are the steps to create a Salesforce schema with the Schema Wizard:
- Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
- In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
- In the Action bar, select + New → Schema Wizard
- In (1) Choose a Source, specify the following:
- For Enter a name, enter the schema name.
- For Select a Datasource, select the Salesforce external data source.
- Optionally create a description.
- In the Schema Wizard footer, select Next.
- In (2) Manage Tables, in the Data Panel, first select the name of the Data Source, and then check the Select All checkbox.
- In the Schema Wizard footer, select Next.
- In (3) Finalize:
- Deselect the Create joins between selected tables if foreign key relationships are detected checkbox.
- In the Schema Wizard footer, select Create Schema.
It is recommended that you create the joins between the Salesforce tables manually using the Salesforce data model for standard objects. Allowing Incorta to create the joins automatically could result in an error, or circular joins.
Create a schema with the Schema Designer
Here are the steps to create a Salesforce schema using the Schema Designer:
- Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
- In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
- In the Action bar, select + New → Create Schema.
- In Name, specify the schema name, and select Save.
- In Start adding tables to your schema, select Salesforce.
- In the Data Source dialog, specify the Salesforce table data source properties.
- Select Add.
- In the Table Editor, in the Table Summary section, enter the table name.
- To save your changes, select Done in the Action bar.
Salesforce table data source properties
For a schema table in Incorta, you can define the following Salesforce specific data source properties as follows:
| Property | Control | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Type | drop down list | Default is Salesforce |
| Data Source | drop down list | Select the Salesforce external data source |
| Incremental | toggle | Enable incremental loading for the schema table |
| Query | text box | Enter the SQL query to retrieve data from Salesforce |
| Update Query | text box | Enable Incremental to configure this property. Enter the SQL query to retrieve data updates from Salesforce. |
| Callback | toggle | Enable post extraction callback |
| Callback URL | text box | Enable Callback to configure this property. Specify the URL. |
View the schema diagram with the Schema Diagram Viewer
Here are the steps to view the schema diagram using the Schema Diagram Viewer:
- Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
- In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
- In the list of schemas, select the Salesforce schema.
- In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Diagram.
Salesforce schema diagram
The following is a Sales schema for an external data source that utilizes the Salesforce connector. This subset of the entire Salesforce entity relationship diagram (ERD) is provided for brevity.
Load the schema
Here are the steps to perform a Full Load of the Salesforce schema using the Schema Designer:
- Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
- In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
- In the list of schemas, select the Salesforce schema.
- In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Load → Load Now → Full.
- To review the load status, in Last Load Status, select the date.
Explore the schema
With the full load of the Salesforce schema complete, you can use the Analyzer to explore the schema, create your first insight, and save the insight to a new dashboard.
To open the Analyzer from the schema, follow these steps:
- In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
- In the Schema Manager, in the List view, select the Salesforce schema.
- In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Explore Data.