This article gives step-by-step setup instructions for Channeltivity’s Organization Sync integration with Salesforce, which keeps your Partner Organizations and, if applicable, Distributor Organizations synced with your Partner and Distributor Accounts in Salesforce. Please note that Distributors are only included for customers who have purchased the Distributor module.

For an overview of the Organization Sync integration with Salesforce, check out this article.


Set Up Salesforce Fields

  1. Log in to Salesforce.com CRM as an Admin.
  2. Go to Setup > Object Manager > Accounts > Fields & Relationships > New. 
  3. Add a custom checkbox field to the Account Layout and call it "Sync with Channeltivity" (or anything you want). 
  4. There will also need to be a picklist field on the Salesforce Account to denote the Organization's status in Channeltivity (Active, Prospective, or Inactive). You can create a new picklist field and name it "Channeltivity Organization Status" by going to Setup > Object Manager > Accounts > Fields & Relationships and adding the following values:
    1. Active Partner
    2. Prospective Partner
    3. Inactive Partner
    4. Active Distributor (for customers with the Distributor module)
    5. Inactive Distributor (for customers with the Distributor module)
Note: If you're using an existing Salesforce picklist field (such as the built-in Account Type field), please ensure it contains only the values listed above. This is because the field will be mapped to a system field in Channeltivity called "Type," which accepts only those specific values. System fields in Channeltivity are fixed and cannot be modified, added to, or removed.


Prep Salesforce Organization Data  


IMPORTANT: 

To avoid duplicate records being created, it is of critical importance that all your Partner and Distributor Accounts in Salesforce are properly categorized with the appropriate status value (active, prospective, inactive) and have the sync flag set.

  1. Log in to Salesforce CRM
  2. Go through any Partner and Distributor Accounts that already exist in Salesforce and make sure each of them has the "Sync with Channeltivity" flag checked and the "Channeltivity Organization Status" field set to one of the status values listed above. 
    You can change multiple records at once using the same technique outlined in this article. 



Configure Channeltivity 

  1. If you haven't done so already, you'll want to connect Channeltivity to Salesforce using the instructions in this article. 
  2. Once connected, you'll go to Settings > Salesforce Integration > Organization Sync.
  3. Toggle the switch labeled "Integration Status" to the ON position to enable the integration. 


5. By default, Channeltivity will automatically sync Active Partners created in Channeltivity to Salesforce. If you'd like to also sync Prospective Partners, Inactive Partners, Active Distributors, and Inactive Distributors, you can enable this by selecting the corresponding checkboxes below. 


You'll also set the Account field dropdown menu to the "Sync with Channeltivity" field that you created in Salesforce as part of the prep work. 

***The Sync with Channeltivity checkbox and the Channeltivity Organization Status field will both be used to flag and categorize Salesforce Accounts that you wish to sync to Channeltivity.***  


Note (Optional): If you use different Record Types in Salesforce for Partner and Distributor Accounts and Contacts, you can specify which one Channeltivity should use when creating Accounts and Contacts in Salesforce by toggling the switch labeled "Specify Record Types" to the ON position. 


6. Scroll down to the field mappings configuration section to view the mappings. The mappings determine the two-way flow of data between Partner/Distributor Organizations in Channeltivity and Accounts in Salesforce. The system will display all of the standard Partner/Distributor and Contact fields in Channeltivity on the left and all of the standard Account and Contact fields in Salesforce on the right. You will need to map the built-in "Type" field to the picklist field that you created at the beginning of this article.  


        To map the Type field, click the plus sign and select the picklist field from the dropdown menu > Add.


Next, you'll map each picklist value in Channeltivity to its corresponding value in Salesforce. All Partner values must be mapped, even if you're not syncing Prospective or Inactive Partners. If you're also syncing Distributor Organizations, be sure to map the Active and Inactive Distributor values to their respective values in Salesforce as well.


Note: All dropdown values are pulled directly from your Salesforce portal. If you change them in Salesforce, you'll need to refresh the page to have them appear.


7. When you are finished, you can update the data flow for existing mappings by clicking on the buttons between the mappings. You can also add additional field mappings by clicking the “Add Mapping” button. Learn more about this topic in this article: Salesforce Integration: Field Mapping Configuration.


8. Once all your mappings are complete, press the "Save" button at the very bottom of the page to finish the setup process. Depending on the details of your Salesforce configuration, the saving process can take up to 30 minutes. 


9. When the saving process completes, you will be redirected to the Organization matching wizard, which allows you to link existing Partner/Distributors from both systems to prevent the creation of duplicate records. The wizard suggests Partners/Distributors based on Salesforce Account name and allows you to link each Organization in Channeltivity to an existing Account in Salesforce or create a new Account. Any Contacts/Users will be matched solely based on their email addresses.


10. During the matching process, Channeltivity will merge data from matched records and then update both systems with the merged data. Merging data is done field-by-field so that if one side has data but the other side doesn't, the side with data is selected to create the final data. The Master System determines which side is used if field data exists in both Channeltivity and Salesforce. Check the box to indicate that you've completed the preparation process and select the "Master System."

Tip: You can change the Master System as you go along.



11. Press the "Continue" button to display a list of your Organizations from Channeltivity, along with suggested matches from Salesforce. In the screenshot below, you see Channeltivity Organizations on the left and the suggested Salesforce Account matches on the right. You can now do one of the following:
  • Select the suggested Salesforce Account by pressing the "Link" button. 
  • Manually select a different Account using the "Please Select" dropdown and corresponding "Link" button.

  • Create a completely new Account in Salesforce by pressing the "Create New Account" button in the bottom right.
  • Permanently exclude the record from synchronization by pressing the "Do Not Sync" button on the left.

  • Tip: If you need to make changes on either side, make the changes and then hit the "Refresh Data" button at the top, which reloads all Partner data from both systems.


12. When you've matched all your Organizations and the matching process is complete, a confirmation page is displayed, and Channeltivity will start syncing the records.


That's it, you've completed the Salesforce Organization Sync setup. Get a general overview of our Organization Sync integration with Salesforce, or head to our website to read about our PRM integration with Salesforce.