Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

Mia_Whitfield
Level 2

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

Mike Reynolds​ Just wanted to make sure this doesn't get lost - I'll feel a lot better if you can confirm this plan is a good approach before I actually do it 🙂  Thanks!

0. Assuming we aren't using and don't need to preserve data in the fields that will be retired

1. Uninstall MLM from both production and sandbox, which will remove the old fields(and their data)

  • Doing so will not break the sync of standard fields, correct?

2. Follow the steps you discuss here to reconnect our Marketo sandbox and Salesforce sandbox.

  • Sync will not require any package to be installed in SFDC, correct?
  • I will work with Support on disconnecting our old sandbox org ID and reconnecting to our new sandbox org ID

3. At this point, all the standard Salesforce fields will be synching.

  • If we choose to sync custom fields at any point in the future, we can do so by following these instructions

Please let me know if this sounds good or if there is anything I'm missing.

Mike_Reynolds2
Level 10

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

Mia Whitfield

That pretty much sums it up, but there's one extra note I'd put in regarding this point:

2. Follow the steps you discuss here to reconnect our Marketo sandbox and Salesforce sandbox.

  • Sync will not require any package to be installed in SFDC, correct?
  • I will work with Support on disconnecting our old sandbox org ID and reconnecting to our new sandbox org ID

The steps you referenced to reconnect the Marketo sandbox and the Salesforce sandbox is really a reference back to these docs about the configuration changes here. I'm pretty sure you're just talking about a Sandbox Org ID Switch, which Support will be able to do easily for you, but I just want to be 100% sure that the Org ID Switch is what you mean by reconnecting the sandboxes.

Also, with there not being any package to install in SFDC. Are you planning to use Sales Insight? If so, that's technically a separate package and the directions for it can be found here: Install Marketo Sales Insight Package in Salesforce AppExchange - Marketo Docs - Product Docs. If you're not planning to use any of these fields and not planning to use Sales Insight at all, then don't bother.

Mia_Whitfield
Level 2

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

Thanks, Mike.  We are planning to use SalesInsight eventually, but not right away.  I wanted to make sure the sync would work before we install MSI, and it sounds like it will?  And, that the existing sync of standard fields in Production will continue to work even after I uninstall MLM?

Also, our sandbox is a new full sandbox refreshed from production.  We previously had a partial sandbox that was synched to our Marketo sandbox.  Support told us "I enabled the OrgID Switch so you can login with your new Sandbox. Let me know if you can not connect your sandbox."  I assume that means I still need to follow Step 3 instructions from the doc I referenced before (but here's step 3 specifically)​  Is that correct?

Thanks!

Mia

Mike_Reynolds2
Level 10

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

All of the other fields will continue to sync like normal, so no problems there, even after uninstalling MLM. The only ones affected are the ones installed by the MLM package originally.

If it's a sandbox environment, the Org ID Switch should be all you need to reconnect it to a different, new sandbox. And then, yes, just following those directions should take care of the rest.

Only other thing I'd point out is that you may want to take note of the time between when Support did the Org ID Switch vs when you actually reconnect it to the new instance. If it's been a while, sometimes that Org ID Switch button needs to be pushed again right before you actually connect it. Not a big deal at all if it happens, just contact Support and we can do it again. Not overly common of an occurrence, but it happens sometimes.


Thanks,

-Mike

Mia_Whitfield
Level 2

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

Thank you, Mike, that's really helpful!

Mia_Whitfield
Level 2

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

Hi Mike,

Hopefully my last question on this topic...

  • Our production Salesforce is using the old MLM package and is synching with our production Marketo.
  • We don't care about the data in the old MLM fields
  • I would like to just uninstall MLM in production, but I'm worried:
    • Since Marketo has a running sync on those fields now, will uninstalling MLM (which removes the fields from Salesforce) create errors when the sync runs and doesn't find the expected fields?

Is there anything I need to do in addition to uninstalling the MLM in production to avoid errors?  Please advise.

As an aside, sometime in the future we plan to create new sync fields on an as needed basis.

Thanks!

Mia

Mike_Reynolds2
Level 10

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

Mia Whitfield

Don't worry about having questions, that's what we set up this thread for! Besides, if you've got the question, it's guaranteed someone else does too, so this helps out other customers too!

So the short version is that you won't have any problems with any of the above, but there are a couple things to look for, so here's some more details:

If you don't care about the data in those fields, there's no problem uninstalling the package and thereby deleting those fields from SFDC. The only thing to watch out for is other dependencies within SFDC for things referencing those fields. For example, if you have any reports, workflows, Apex Triggers or 3rd party software (other AppExchange packages) in your SFDC that reference those fields, then they'll need to be updated to remove those references. Pretty sure SFDC won't even let you uninstall the MLM package without first removing those other custom dependencies created elsewhere. We did see this come up recently with other customers, but it was different because the trouble they ran into was a result of the data backfilling into the newly recreated fields, which you won't have, so it should be a moot point here. I created a new doc about it though, so you should check that out just to be sure: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Preventative Troubleshooting

With the fields removed from SFDC but still remaining on the Marketo side, there is an error to expect, but it's extremely minor. Without recreating the new fields, the corresponding fields in Marketo will essentially be "orphaned" without fields in SFDC to sync to any longer. However, since the new fields weren't recreated in SFDC, the mapping from Marketo will still be pointing to the old SFDC fields that are no longer there. On the next sync cycle, Marketo will try to sync to those fields but will see they are not accessible. On that sync cycle, you will see an error pop up, something to the effect of "unable to sync to record..." (I forget the exact phrasing). But, the reason this is extremely minor is because once Marketo sees that a field is no longer accessible on the SFDC side, it stops trying. So, on the next sync cycle after that, it won't even bother trying to sync to these fields, so there won't be any more errors. If you change your mind down the road and want to recreate the fields to connect to these specific Marketo fields, you'll still be able to do that by creating them with the correct API name like in the doc.

None of this will stop you from being able to create other new fields later on.

So, here's a recap:

1. Go ahead and uninstall the MLM Package to delete the fields in SFDC, but watch out for other things referencing the fields in SFDC that need to be updated.

2. If you don't recreate the new fields, you'll get one error on the next sync cycle and then no other errors at all from then on.

3. If you change your mind later and want to recreate these fields, it'll still reconnect them as long as the API names are set up right.

4. You'll still be able to create other new custom fields later on as needed.

Let me know if that helps!

-Mike

Mia_Whitfield
Level 2

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

Very helpful -- thank you, Mike!

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

Thanks, thi is really helpful

Jason_Hamilton1
Level 8 - Champion Alumni

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

Hi Mike Reynolds,

I believe you have answered this question a hundred times by now but want to confirm that for the new fields we create we use the actual API field names listed in the doc provided (mkto71_...) I just want to be sure that mkto71_ is not just a placeholder.

Thanks,

Jason