Administration is the key(bunch)

[Vikram_Ramesh]

Ah!  There was a similar ask where the list of fields was supposed to be exported to non-Admin users. I thought this was related to that. 

[Amit_Jain]

Some of these might already be pointed out but here is my take:

• SFDC Field sync: As of now, Marketo sync all the fields visible to marketo user in SFDC automatically and if we already have a similar field existed in Marketo, it creates a duplicate. We have to go to Marketo support to merge those fields. It would be ideal to let admin which SFDC field needs to be sync with Marketo and merge with existing field, if needed.
• Field Management:
  • Right now, it shows the field dependency in a list and if it's being used in lot of assets, we have a "load more" option. It doesn't show the number of assets it's being used. It would be really nice to have a feature to export all the field dependencies and also a summary table that will show the number of assets per asset type like forms, smart lists etc.
  • Delete the fields instead of hiding
  • Let Admin merge the fields if needed
• Custom Objects: Custom objects are really useful at times but it comes with an overhead of developing something outside marketo to feed the data. It will be really really cool to allow custom objects to be updated right from smart campaigns. It will seriously save a lot of time developing some solution using custom object.
• SFDC-Marketo sync: Today, it just shows the last sync time or if the sync is in progress. Would be nice to have some more details on the previous sync logs and also what is current being synced between the systems and how many records, expected sync cycle completion time. Also, it would be nice to have a button to start sync cycle immediately.

[Josh_Hill13]

Amit Jain wrote:

Some of these might already be pointed out but here is my take:

  
• SFDC Field sync: As of now, Marketo sync all the fields visible to marketo user in SFDC automatically and if we already have a similar field existed in Marketo, it creates a duplicate. We have to go to Marketo support to merge those fields. It would be ideal to let admin which SFDC field needs to be sync with Marketo and merge with existing field, if needed.
  

Yes, orphaned fields are a problem and they typically appear based on their object in this case. Sometimes it's helpful, sometimes not:

Opt In (L) (C) or (A) if this happens.

But sometimes it's just on one object, sometimes not. The best thing to do in this situation is to ask Support to help you merge the fields. The challenge is to do this as soon as you notice this, or work with them BEFORE you create the field in SFDC. They can merge the fields, but it does destroy data if you don't do it right.

[Amit_Jain]

Hi Josh,

Thanks for the suggestion but the problem is that before merging the fields, you have to remove all the dependencies and then you have to update it back after the merging. Sometimes, this become a tedious exercise and kind of impossible to do it manually.

[Vikram_Ramesh]

Hello Amit,

Great inputs. Do not mind the repetition at all . More the merrier. In fact, it'll strengthen my understanding our customer pain points and asks. 

On the SFDC Field Sync, I hear you. It would be nice to have some form of self governance options for handling duplicity. 

Couple of things though. 

On Field Management, deleting the fields - what if those fields have old data? should that be removed too? On merge, similar question as well.

on SFDC-Marketo Sync - I would like to know, what data interests you about the sync. 

Also, please do put your thoughts on,

1. are there any workarounds that you use today for some of these problems?

2. if you're interested in a "data extract" feature in admin, for what would that be?

Would be happy to discuss these over a call with you. Please let me know if you could spare some time for the discussion. 

Regards,

Vikram R

email: Vikram.ramesh@adobe.com

phone: +91 988 607 4356

[Amit_Jain]

On Field Management, deleting the fields - what if those fields have old data? should that be removed too? On merge, similar question as well.

If a customer wants to delete it, they might have either migrated the data somewhere or might not need it at all. So in my opinion if someone is deleting the filed they know why and should have taken the necessary actions beforehand.

on SFDC-Marketo Sync - I would like to know, what data interests you about the sync.

As I mentioned earlier, Would be nice to have some more details on the previous sync logs like what app objects were synced in previous sync cycles, how many records per objects and the sync completion time. In addition, it would be nice to see what all objects are currently being synced between the systems, how many records and the expected sync cycle completion time.

Also, please do put your thoughts on,

1. are there any workarounds that you use today for some of these problems?

2. if you're interested in a "data extract" feature in admin, for what would that be?

#1, for the field management, I try to merge the duplicate fields and if there are fields which were created for one time use only, I try to re-use them. On the Market-SFDC sync side, I sometime use this backdoor link https://app-sxx.marketo.com/supportTools for this purpose but it will be really nice to have this as an embedded feature within Marketo Admin section with some visualization.

I would be more than happy to jump on a call to discuss this further with you. Please feel free to DM me with your availability.

[Vikram_Ramesh]

great inputs Amit. I have replied to you over a direct message with details of my availability. looking forward to connect over a call to discuss more. 

Best Regards,

Vikram Ramesh |  Product Owner  |  Adobe  |  vikram.ramesh@adobe.com

phone: +91 988 607 4356

BlueJeans | Calendly

[Casey_Grimes]

So, I'd actually like to advocate for two items that were previously on the Marketo roadmap but seem to have gone missing: Field Metadata API and User Provisioning API. The two most common things I do when in the Admin section are either creating fields or handling users—and the idea behind both of these APIs were to solve common pain points around both.

By having a Field Metadata API, third-party integrations could add/update fields as needed rather than forcing the end user to enter fields by hand. Likewise, the ability to mass hide outdated fields would be a big boon--I once spent nearly 20 hours hiding ~700 fields from a client instance, and I could have just as easily done that in 20 minutes with an API call that would let me review fields and then post an update to hide them from UI. 

Likewise, with most enterprises onboarding/offboarding marketing employees, there's automation for adding and removing Exchange inboxes, Salesforce users, HR software logins... but no way to hook Marketo into this setup. As such, you're stuck adding and removing users manually, which is a pain. There's no reason a user API couldn't just hook into Workday or other HR systems to make this part of the onboard/offboard process.

These things don't sound cool or appealing, so they tend to die on the vine--but the convenience they afford when given context makes them worth it.

[Vikram_Ramesh]

Hello Courtney,

you certainly seem to know your way around APIs well. I really appreciate that and your suggestions too.

I would like to explore why was this dropped off from the roadmap from my sources. 

If you don't mind, I'd like to learn from you on your specific asks on these APIs. 

The possibilities that you've pointed out does sound lucrative for Admins. 

Regards,

Vikram R

email: Vikram.ramesh@adobe.com

phone: +91 988 607 4356