Data Applications → Install and Configure Salesforce for Incorta Cloud

About the Salesforce Data Application for Incorta Cloud

Salesforce provides customer relationship management (CRM) service and enterprise applications focused on customer service, marketing automation, analytics, and application development.

The Incorta Salesforce data application provides a new, faster, more effective option for analyzing and understanding your data, with no data modeling or transformation required. You will get instant access to up-to-date, consolidated customer relationship management, finance, and sales data. You can build all of the high-performance reports you need on your own.

With an extensive library of pre-built content, Salesforce users gain immediate access to rich content areas and sample dashboards that are easily customizable and logically grouped by department and persona to help answer their most-pressing business questions even more quickly. In addition, the Incorta Salesforce data application expedites your organization’s migration from legacy reporting tools and drastically speeds your Salesforce-based reporting and analytics project’s time to value. It also lets you more quickly add new data sources to your Salesforce analysis to:

  • Provide key insights about sales numbers to executives
  • Understand sales representative productivity
  • Predict revenue goals based upon historical win rates
  • Make decisions based upon a complete picture of all sales metrics on a near real-time basis
Following are the Salesforce functional areas available in the Salesforce data application for Incorta Cloud:

Questions Answered

By using the Incorta Salesforce data application, you can have answers to multiple important questions including the following:

  • Is there a sufficient pipeline to support sales forecasts?
  • Are we accelerating our sales velocity per strategic objectives?
  • Do our sales representatives maintain accurate and up-to-date information regarding ongoing sales cycles?
  • Are marketing campaigns effective in generating qualified leads?
  • What milestones in the sales cycle are leading indicators of closing a deal?
Note

The Salesforce data application is available through the Incorta Cloud Admin Portal (CAP) for clusters that run the Incorta Cloud 2021.3.1 release and later, and this document introduces the steps to install the data application on these releases.

The Salesforce data application is not available by default for releases before 2021.3.1 due to the differences in the data structure between older releases and the 2021.3.1 and later releases. For releases before 2021.3.1, contact the Incorta Support team to obtain a backup for a tenant with the Salesforce data application. You will need to restore the tenant and perform a load from staging for the data application physical schemas to view the demo data. You can also follow the steps provided in this document to customize the data application and connect your own Salesforce data.

Install the Salesforce Data Application

Here are the steps to install the Salesforce data application on a tenant in your cluster:

  • Sign in to the Incorta.
  • In the Navigation bar, select Marketplace.
  • Select the Applications tab.
  • For the Salesforce data application, select Install. You can use the Filter panel or the Search bar to find the Salesforce data application.
  • The Install Salesforce data application dialog appears. Edit the Cluster, Tenant, Username, and Password properties as necessary.
  • Enable Include Sample Data to include Salesforce sample data in the data application installation, which will allow you to preview the data application dashboards and insights before you connect to your Salesforce instance and configure the data application for your instance.
  • Select Install.

Salesforce Data Application Components

Here are the Incorta Salesforce data application physical schemas and business schemas.

For details about the available folders, dashboards, and insights, refer to the suitable functional area.

Physical Schemas

The Salesforce data application physical schemas in Incorta contain tables and fields that replicate the structure of the Salesforce data. Here are the predefined Salesforce data application physical schemas:

  • Date_US: Date dimensions that include Gregorian calendar
  • SFDC: All of the standard objects which drive reporting for Sales, Finance, and Marketing out of the box.
  • SFDC_History: Key objects which allow Incorta to provide analytics on opportunity stages history.

Business Schemas and Views

Business schemas are alternative representations of the data, potentially combining data from multiple tables, that can help you better understand and utilize the data. Here are the predefined Salesforce data application business schemas and their associated views:

  • SFDC_Finance: Contains the following business views for
    • FinanceMetrics: All financial metrics such as forecast, upsell, closed amount, and more
    • Date: Variations of common date attributes for date-based analytics
    • Pipeline: All the opportunities in pipeline and the associated details
    • Organization: All organizations and their departments, regions, and division
  • SFDC_Marketing: Add new views to combine data from multiple tables. You can either add tables and drag the needed columns into your new view or create the view in the Analyzer.
  • SFDC_Sales: Contains the following business views
    • OpportunityHistory: Details about the opportunity amount, expected revenue, close date, and more
    • OpportunityStageDates: Details about the opportunity dates of creation, negotiation, closure, and more
    • SalesMetrics: Details about the opportunity amount, forecast, target, win rate, and more
    • Date: Details about the Gregorian calendar for date dimensions
    • Pipeline: Details about the pipeline opportunity, sales stage, owner team, industry, company, country, dates, and more
    • SalesTeam: Details about the team member names, role, city, department, and more
    • SalesActivity: Recorded activities IDs, type, location, and end date

Salesforce Data Application Data Model

The following figure illustrates the data model of the Salesforce data application:

Configure the Salesforce Data Application

There are required and optional steps to configure the Salesforce data application.

To connect the data application to your Salesforce instance, the following steps are required:

You can optionally apply Salesforce customizations to the data application. These steps are covered in detail below.

Configure the Salesforce Data Application Data Source

To connect the data application to your Salesforce data, follow these steps:

  • Sign in to the Incorta CAP.
  • In the Navigation bar, select Clusters.
  • Select the cluster you installed the Salesforce data application on.
  • Select Incorta Analytics.
  • In the Navigation bar, select Data.
  • In the Data Manager, in the Context bar, select the External Data Source tab.
  • In the List View of external data sources, for the Salesforce data source (SFDC), select Edit (pen icon).
  • Enter the required Salesforce connection properties for your instance:
    • Username
    • Password
    • Token
  • Optionally, enter the Concurrent Connections, and enable and configure a connection through a Proxy server.
  • Select Ok.

For more information, refer to Connectors → Salesforce v2.

Perform a Full Load of the Salesforce Data Application Physical Schemas

After changing the data source properties, you must perform a full load for the data application physical schemas. Load the physical schemes in the following order:

  • Date_US
  • SFDC
  • SFDC_History

Here are the steps to load a given physical schema:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
  • In the Schema Manager, select the Schemas tab.
  • In the physical schema list view, select the row of the given physical schema to open it.
  • In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select LoadFull Load to load all objects in the physical schema.

You can run future full or incremental loads to keep your Salesforce data current. With incremental loads, you can update configured tables, for example, the Opportunity table in the SFDC physical schema, with only records newly added to or updated in Salesforce.

Update Session and Global Variables

Due to differences in how organizations leverage and name fields in Salesforce, there are a set of centrally managed session variables and global variables which drive the reporting content. You need to update these variables according to your Salesforce master data.

Here are the steps to update a session variable:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
  • In the Schema Manager, select the Session Variables tab.
  • In the session variable list view, for a given session variable that you want to edit, select any part of the row, or select Edit (pen icon).
  • In the Internal Variable dialog, select the Query box to open the Formula Builder to edit the query expression of the session variable and save the updates.
  • In the Internal Variable dialog, select Save.

Here are the steps to update a global variable:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
  • In the Schema Manager, select the Global Variables tab.
  • In the global variable list view, for a given global variable that you want to edit, select any part of the row, or select Edit (pen icon).
  • In the Edit Global Variable dialog, edit the global variable value.
  • Select Ok.
Note

In releases older than the 2022.4.0 release, you specify a global variable by manually defining a data type and a static value. Starting the 2022.4.0 release, a global variable is the outcome of a query or queryDistinct expression, which can be a scalar value or an array of scalar values.

The following table shows the session and global variables that you need to update according to your Salesforce master data:

Variable NameTypeDescriptionFormula
AmountSession VariableThe opportunity amountquery('SFDC.Opportunity.Amount')
CurrentQuarterSession VariableThe default value of the current quarterquery('Q3/2020')
CurrentWeek_SeqSession VariableThe default value of the current weekquery(SFDC_Sales.Date.week_seq, SFDC_Sales.Date.Date = $currentDate)
Forecast_Level01Session VariableThe label of the most likely opportunity forecastsquery('Commit')
Forecast_Level02Session VariableThe label of the intermediate opportunity forecastsquery('Upside')
Forecast_Level03Session VariableThe label of the unlikely opportunity forecastsquery('Best Case')
SFDC_URLSession VariableThe URL to the Salesforce application The URL should contain the server or instance name.query('https://incortasandbox--incorta.my.salesforce.com')
SalesFilterSession VariableA variable used to filter the reporting content specifically on the Sales team The query uses logic on the UserRole.Name field to identify Sales users. In the example query, the values returned will all contain the pattern “Field Sales Rep”.queryDistinct(SFDC.UserRole.Name, like(SFDC.UserRole.Name, 'Field Sales Rep%'))
Sales_Stage_01Session VariableThe first stage in a typical opportunity lifecyclequery("01-Discovery")
Sales_Stage_02Session VariableThe second stage in a typical opportunity lifecyclequery("02-Demo")
Sales_Stage_03Session VariableThe third stage in a typical opportunity lifecyclequery("03-POC")
Sales_Stage_04Session VariableThe fourth stage in a typical opportunity lifecyclequery("04-Negotiation")
Sales_Stage_05Session VariableThe fifth stage in a typical opportunity lifecyclequery("05-Redlining")
Sales_Stage_06Session VariableThe sixth stage in a typical opportunity lifecyclequery("06-Closed Won")
Sales_Stage_07Session VariableThe seventh stage in a typical opportunity lifecyclequery("07-Closed Lost")
Sales_Stage_08, Sales_Stage_09, and Sales_Stage_10Session VariableRespectively, the eighth, ninth, and tenth stages in a typical opportunity lifecycle. In the sample data, each session variable is a placeholder in case that there are additional stages added.query("")
WinRateTargetSession VariableThe default value of the win rate targetquery('.2')
NewBusinessGlobal VariableThe type of opportunities related to new accountsNew Logo
UpsellGlobal VariableThe type of opportunities related to existing accounts and considered upsell or expansionUpsell
UpsellRenewalGlobal VariableThe type of opportunities related to existing accounts and considered a standard renewalRenewal

Update Business Schemas

There are some columns within the delivered business schemas that you can update based upon specific attribute fields that your organization wishes to leverage for Salesforce reporting. The value of a business schema is that you can update these fields centrally, and all downstream content will be updated accordingly.

Note

When updating a running business view column, you can reference a different column from your Salesforce master data or you can reference a custom column that you have added to the physical schema. You can also use a formula to calculate the column value as appropriate.

The following table shows the columns that you may want to update. Columns are introduced in the following format: <business_schema>.<running_business_view>.<column>.

ColumnDescriptionDefault Reference
SFDC_Sales.Pipeline.Opp_Region_cThe sales or sales representative regionSFDC.Account.AccountBillingCountry
SFDC_Sales.Pipeline.AccountCountryAccount countrySFDC.Account.AccountBillingCountry
SFDC_Sales.Pipeline.AccountStateAccount state or provinceSFDC.Account.BillingState
SFDC_Sales.SalesMetrics.AmountOpportunity amountSFDC.Opportunity.Amount
SFDC_Finance.Pipeline.Opp_Region_cThe sales or sales representative regionSFDC.Account.AccountBillingCountry

Apply Optional Customizations to the Salesforce Data Application

If you have a standard Salesforce object with a custom attribute or a custom ID field, or you have a custom object, you can add these custom fields or objects to the Salesforce data application.

Following are common Salesforce customizations that you can optionally incorporate into the data application:

Note

When you add custom attributes, IDs, or objects to the data application physical schemas, you will need to load the updated physical schemas or objects.

Add a Salesforce Custom Attribute Field to a Standard Object

If you have a standard Salesforce object with a custom attribute field, you can add this custom attribute field to a standard object in the Salesforce data application. An example will demonstrate the steps involved. In this example, you will add the Salesforce custom attribute field, TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN, to the Opportunity table in the SFDC physical schema.

Add the Custom Attribute Field to the Data Application Physical Schema Table

Here are the steps to add TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN to the Opportunity table:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
  • In the Schema Manager, select the Schemas tab.
  • In the list view of physical schemas, select the SFDC physical schema to open it.
  • In the Schema Designer, in the Tables section, select the Opportunity table to open it.
  • In the Table Editor, select the Salesforce SQL icon to open the Data Source dialog.
  • In the Data Source dialog, in Query, add TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN to the end of the SELECT statement as shown below, and then select Done.
  • Select Validate.
  • In the Action bar, select Done.

Load the Data Application Physical Schema Table

After updating the query of the data application physical schema table, you must perform a full load of it. In the Schema Designer, in the Tables section, for the table you have updated, the Opportunity table in the example, select the down arrow at the far right, and then select Load Table.

Add the Custom Attribute Column to the Data Application Business Schema

Here are the steps to add TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN to the SFDC_Sales business schema:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Business Schema.
  • In the Business Schema Manager, select the SFDC_Sales business schema to open it.
  • In the Business Schema Designer, for the Pipeline business schema view, select More Options (⋮ vertical ellipsis).
  • Select Edit.
  • To add TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN, drag and drop it from the Data panel to the business schema view.
  • In the Action bar, select Done.
Add the Custom Attribute Column to the Data Application Dashboard Insight

Here are the steps to add TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN to a data application dashboard insight:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Content.
  • Select a dashboard to open it.
  • For an insight on a dashboard tab, select Edit (pen icon).
  • In the Analyzer, in the Data panel, add the Pipeline business schema view if it has not already been added.
    • To add the Pipeline business schema view, select Manage Dataset. In the Manage Data Sets panel, in Views, expand the SFDC_Sales business schema, and then select Pipeline.
  • In the Data panel, drag and drop TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN to a tray in the Insight panel.
  • In the Action bar, select Save.

Add a Salesforce Custom ID Field that References a Standard Object

You can add a custom ID field that references a standard object to a data application as a foreign key. An example will demonstrate the steps involved. In this example, a Salesforce custom ID column, TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN_ID, references a standard list, STANDARD_OBJECT. You will add the STANDARD_OBJECT object to the SFDC physical schema and add the TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN_ID column to the Account table in the SFDC physical schema.

Add the Custom ID Column to the Data Application Physical Schema Table

Here are the steps to add TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN_ID to the Account table:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
  • In the Schema Manager, select the Schemas tab.
  • In the list view of physical schemas, select the SFDC physical schema to open it.
  • In the Schema Designer, in the table section, select the Account table to open it.
  • In the Table Editor, select the Salesforce SQL icon to open the Data Source dialog.
  • In the Data Source dialog, in Query, add the TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN_ID column to the end of the SELECT statement, and then select Done.
  • Select Validate.
  • In the Action bar, select Done.
Add the Referenced Standard Object using the Schema Wizard

Here are the steps to add STANDARD_OBJECT to the SFDC physical schema using the Schema Wizard:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
  • In the Schema Manager, select the Schemas tab.
  • In the list view of physical schemas, select the SFDC physical schema to open it.
  • In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select +NewSchema Wizard.
  • In Select a Datasource, select SFDC.
    • Select Next.
  • In Manage Tables, in the Edit panel
    • Select the STANDARD_OBJECT table.
    • Select Next.
  • In Finalize
    • Uncheck Create joins between selected tables if foreign key relationships are detected.
    • Select Finish.
Create a Join between the Standard Object Tables

Here are the steps to create a join between Account and STANDARD_OBJECT:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
  • In the Schema Manager, select the Schemas tab.
  • In the list view of physical schemas, select the SFDC physical schema to open it.
  • In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select +NewJoin.
  • For Child
    • Select the Account table.
    • Select the TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN_ID column.
  • For Parent
    • Select the STANDARD_OBJECT table.
    • Select the ITEM_ID column.
  • In the Action bar, select Done.
Load the Standard Object Tables

Perform a full load of the Account and STANDARD_OBJECT tables. Select the down arrow at the far right of each table and select Load Table.

Add the Referenced Standard Object to the Data Application Business Schema

Here are the steps to add STANDARD_OBJECT or any of its columns to the SFDC_Sales business schema:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Business Schema.
  • In the Business Schema Manager, select the SFDC_Sales business schema to open it.
  • In the Business Schema Designer, for a given business view, select More Options (⋮ vertical ellipsis).
  • Select Edit.
  • To add STANDARD_OBJECT or any of its columns, drag and drop it from the Data panel to the business schema view.
  • In the Action bar, select Done.
Add the Referenced Standard Object to a Data Application Dashboard Insight

Here are the steps to add STANDARD_OBJECT or any of its columns to a data application dashboard insight:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Content.
  • Select a dashboard to open it.
  • For an insight on a dashboard tab, select Edit (pen icon).
  • In the Analyzer, in the Data panel, add the SFDC_Sales business schema if it has not already been added.
  • In the Data panel, drag and drop STANDARD_OBJECT or any of its columns to a tray in the Insight panel.
  • In the Action bar, select Save.

Add a Salesforce Custom ID Field that References a Custom Object

You can add a custom ID field that references a custom object to a data application as a foreign key. An example will demonstrate the steps involved. In this example, a Salesforce custom ID column, TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN_ID, references a custom list, TEST_CUSTOM_LIST. You will add TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN_ID and TEST_CUSTOM_LIST to the SFDC physical schema.

Add the Custom ID Field to the Data Application Physical Schema Table

Here are the steps to add TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN_ID to the Account table:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
  • In the Schema Manager, select the Schemas tab.
  • In the list view of physical schemas, select the SFDC physical schema to open it.
  • In the Schema Designer, in the Tables section, select the Account table to open it.
  • In the Table Editor, select the Salesforce SQL icon to open the Data Source dialog.
  • In the Data Source dialog, in Query, add the TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN_ID column to the end of the SELECT statement, and then select Done.
  • Select Validate.
  • In the Action bar, select Done.
Add the Referenced Custom List using the Schema Wizard

Here are the steps to add TEST_CUSTOM_LIST to the SFDC physical schema using the Schema Wizard:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
  • In the Schema Manager, select the Schemas tab.
  • In the list view of physical schemas, select the SFDC physical schema to open it.
  • In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select +NewSchema Wizard.
  • In Select a Datasource, select SFDC.
    • Select Next.
  • In Manage Tables, in the Edit panel
    • Select the TEST_CUSTOM_LIST table.
    • Select Next.
  • In Finalize
    • Uncheck Create joins between selected tables if foreign key relationships are detected.
    • Select Finish.
Create a Join between the Standard Object Tables

Here are the steps to create a join between Account and TEST_CUSTOM_LIST:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
  • In the Schema Manager, select the Schemas tab.
  • In the list view of physical schemas, select the SFDC physical schema to open it.
  • In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select +NewJoin.
  • For Child
    • Select the Account table.
    • Select the TEST_CUSTOM_COLUMN_ID column.
  • For Parent
    • Select the TEST_CUSTOM_LIST table.
    • Select the ITEM_ID column.
  • In the Action bar, select Done.
Load the Standard Object Tables

Perform a full load of the Account and TEST_CUSTOM_LIST tables. Select the down arrow at the far right of each table and select Load Table.

Add the Referenced Custom List to the Data Application Business Schema

Here are the steps to add TEST_CUSTOM_LIST or any of its columns to the SFDC_Sales business schema:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Business Schema.
  • In the Business Schema Manager, select the SFDC_Sales business schema to open it.
  • In the Business Schema Designer, for a given business view, select More Options (⋮ vertical ellipsis).
  • Select Edit.
  • To add TEST_CUSTOM_LIST or any of its columns, drag and drop it from the Data panel to the business schema view.
  • In the Action bar, select Done.
Add the Referenced Custom List to a Data Application Dashboard Insight

Here are the steps to add TEST_CUSTOM_LIST or any of its columns to a data application dashboard insight:

  • In the Navigation bar, select Content.
  • Select a dashboard to open it.
  • For an insight on a dashboard tab, select Edit (pen icon).
  • In the Analyzer, in the Data panel, add the SFDC_Sales business schema if it has not already been added.
  • Drag and drop TEST_CUSTOM_LIST or any of its columns to a tray in the Insight panel.
  • In the Action bar, select Save.