Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

[Mike_Reynolds2]

Updates to the Marketo Salesforce Sync Configuration

This discussion thread has been set up to ensure you get answers to your questions regarding the upcoming configuration changes between Marketo and Salesforce. It is being monitored by the Marketo team so please post any questions you have and we’ll be happy to get you answers!

Quick Overview

Due to changes to the SFDC integration architecture, action is required soon to continue syncing a small number of fields to your Salesforce instance. There are 16 fields affected, but most customers are only using a couple of these fields in their Salesforce instance – Lead Score and Acquisition Program. The configuration update will shut off the sync of data to the MLM package and these fields, so the data in those fields in SFDC will become stale and won’t update.

You can keep syncing this data to SFDC but it requires creating new custom fields. When the fields are re-created, a drip process will be triggered to backfill existing data from Marketo into the new fields in SFDC. If you aren’t using these fields, or aren’t using SFDC at all, this doesn’t apply to you and there’s nothing for you to do.

When to Make the Changes

The configuration changes are being scheduled over time into month-long groups. Please see the Release Schedule for specifics.

Important Note About Schedule Requests

Fields Affected

Lead Score Acquisition Program Acquisition Program Id Acquisition Date Original Search Phrase

Original Source Info Original Source Type Original Referrer Original Search Engine Inferred Company

Inferred Metropolitan Area Inferred Phone Area Code Inferred State Region Inferred City Inferred Postal Code Inferred Country

Where to go for More Information

Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Frequently Asked Questions

Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync - Overview

Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Release Schedule

Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Under The Hood

Adding Marketo Fields to Salesforce​

Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Preventative Troubleshooting

New Related Discussion Threads

Is the Marketo lead management app still available? Initial set up required for Marketo to salesforc...​

Weird bug with "Score" field type?

All score fields have stopped to sync from SFDC to Marketo 

[Anonymous]

Hi Mike,

I have done all this, do we need to just uninstall the app to continue or await the time we are scheduled in for the uninstall and sync?

Nick

[Mike_Reynolds2]

Nick Mirams​

You'll definitely want to wait until the scheduled time for your company to do the deployment. This will make sure we spread out the workload of the backfill and resync within the right times so that we don't overload the pipelines between our servers and SFDC. If the timing doesn't work, we can definitely accommodate rescheduling it for you, but we want to keep track so that we don't overload other groups along the way. Please Contact Marketo Support and we'll be happy to set up a new time for you.

Thanks,

Mike

[Grégoire_Miche2]

Hi Mike Reynolds​,

The Acquisition program Id is listed twice in the table. Is this an error or is there a rationale behind it?

-Greg

[Mike_Reynolds2]

UPDATED: Editing my previous reply -- just saw what I missed before.

Hi Greg,

Apologies --  Looks like I had a copy/paste mistake there. Give me a minute and I'll get it fixed up. Official documentation on the process with correct details is right here: Adding Marketo Fields to Salesforce

Mike

[Grégoire_Miche2]

Hi Mike,

This I know

But the table has the ID field twice, on line 4 and 16th. So either one field is missing or the count should only be 15 fields.

-Greg

[Mike_Reynolds2]

Greg,

The count is 16 fields. I just copy/pasted incorrectly is all. The documentation shows all 16 fields but it's broken into two separate tables, so I had tried to combine them together into one table to make it easier but must have overlapped one line.

The 16 fields listed as the affected fields are the exact same 16 fields detailed in the documentation.

- Mike

[Grégoire_Miche2]

Thx

[Anonymous]

Wanted to check the response to a previous question above.

What happens if we create the new fields before our backfill window starts?    Will these show  up in Marketo as separate, new fields?

Thanks,

Pam Hudadoff

[hena_wells]

Hi Pam,

If you start before your window, it will work too and we will start backfilling immediately. No new fields will be created in MKTO.  We batched folks up to manage the overall load. However, we are mostly seeing requests to push out the date vs pull it in.

So if you want to do it earlier, its fine. If possible, could you let support know?

Aj

[Anonymous]

Arjun,

   Thanks for confirming what will occur.   I was actually planning on just transitioning the Lead Score field at this time and all of the other fields later.   But given how you are handling the transition (and the impact in SFDC), I am just going to hold off and do all together in our transition window.  (That is if I got to the SFDC team that is creating the field in time.)

Appreciate your response,

-Pam

[Anonymous]

Hi Mike,

Once we re-create the 16 fields do we need to refresh the schema?

Cheers

Kassandra

[Mike_Reynolds2]

Hi Kassandra Burgess

That's a really good question. The answer is no - no need to refresh the schema at all. Part of the configuration change from the Marketo side was to create an "event listener" that monitors the sync cycle for the recreated fields. So, when you recreate the new fields, on the very next sync cycle, the sync picks up the fact that the new fields have been created and automatically maps them to the correct corresponding Marketo fields. This in turn kicks off the backfill process, but once the fields have been created, the rest from there is automatic.

Thanks,

Mike

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Creating those new custom fields and mapping them is no problem. However,

1. 1. should I do it based on the scheduling (we’re group C – Sep1)? What happens if I do it before?
2. 2. Since we’ll create the new custom fields, what to do with the old ones? They have the same field name, so this can be confusing.
3. 3. To be 100% I get this correctly – after I create the new custom fields – I can uninstall the MLM package? If so, will this solve the issue of the question #2?
4. 4. What will happen if I will rename the API name of the original fields? Meaning, instead of “mkto2__Acquisition_Program__c” to “mkto71_Acquisition_Program_Id__c” assuming I will not uninstall the MLM package.
5. 5. All of those fields are in the Lead object only, right?

Thanks,

Guy

[Mike_Reynolds2]

Hi Guy Alfia​

Good questions. I'll go through each in turn, but I wanted to start by saying that it will be important to stick to the deployment schedule.

1. The release schedule has been created with the size of the lead databases of our customer base in mind. It's been split alphabetically by Account String into different numbers of customers and the determining factor for how the splits were made was total database size. For example, Group 2 is only the three letters A, B and C while Group 3 has the nine letters of D through L. However, based on the lead database sizes of the customers within those groups, Group 2 and Group 3 have approximately the same number of leads in them. The schedule has been divided this way to avoid causing traffic jams in data flowing back and forth with SFDC.

Marketo continuously makes significant strides forward in our software offerings as well our hardware serving that software, such as with Project Orion that was detailed in this year's Summit. Check out the webinar located here for a description of Orion (starts at 28min in). Even with the best software and hardware out there, data can only be pushed through an API call so fast. (Whether you use a garden hose or a fire hose, it still takes time to empty a whole water tower.) The servers have set lines of communication with SFDC and all of the customers share those lines. We've created new pipelines to be devoted just to the backfill process so that it doesn't compete with the regular SFDC sync cycle, and if everyone sticks to the schedule, we know those communication lines will keep up with the traffic. But if customers don't stick to the schedule, it throws it off. (What happens if someone parks a second water tower next to yours and asks to share your one fire hose?) That's why we ask everyone to stick to the schedule. We know this schedule may not work for everyone, so you're welcome Contact Marketo Support to request a schedule change.​ We'll be happy to accommodate as best we can.

2. The old fields being replaced can be deleted by uninstalling the MLM package. The details of cleaning up SFDC can be found here and here are SFDC's instructions for Uninstalling a Package​. One thing to note is that if you have any reports or workflows in SFDC that reference these fields, SFDC won't let you uninstall it until those dependencies have been removed. Once data stops flowing to the old fields, they'll be obsolete, so there's no real need to keep them.

3. The old fields and the MLM package can be removed as soon as the the fields have been created. Just be sure to update your workflows and SFDC reports if you have any to connect to the new fields like noted above. All of the details can be found in our Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Under The Hood documentation.

4. The fields do need to be recreated as new fields. The configuration change will shut off communication to the existing fields and new fields must be created in SFDC to replace them. Changing field names on the existing fields won't work unfortunately. You can find the info on keeping field data in SFDC in the documentation for Adding Marketo Fields to Salesforce here.

5. The fields currently exist in SFDC on the Lead and Contact objects already, and it's strongly recommended that you recreate them on both the Lead and Contact objects. It isn't required. You can do it on just the Lead object, but as it says in our FAQ doc, it's best to create them on both the Lead and Contact as well.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much Mike!

[Anonymous]

Once our new fields are created in Salesforce and the backfill of data has occurred, is it safe to assume that the old MLM fields can be deleted?

[Mike_Reynolds2]

Yes, as soon as the new fields are in place, the old fields in SFDC will essentially be obsolete, so go ahead and delete them. You can also just leave them there and let them be obsolete, but that could make your SFDC instance a little messy.

One thing to note, if you have any reports or workflows that pull data from these fields in SFDC, you'll need to remove those dependencies before it'll let you delete them. Uninstalling the MLM AppExchange package will remove any dependencies created by the MLM package itself, but any others that you may have would still need to be removed before deleting the fields.

Check out the Cleaning up SFDC section of our Under the Hood doc here: https://nation.marketo.com/docs/DOC-3836#jive_content_id_Cleaning_Up_SFDC and let me know if you have any other questions at all

[hena_wells]

Kristina Campos​, yes, that is correct.

Just keep in mind that that the act of deleting the "old MLM fields" is done by uninstalling the MLM package in sf.com (which in turn deletes all the fields that were created by the package). Sf.com documentation on Uninstalling a Package .

Aj

[Annika_Leihkauf]

Hello Mike!

We don't just use one Lead Score field in Marketo, but have product-specific ones. Do they all need recreation in SFDC?

Thanks,

Anni

[Mike_Reynolds2]

Hi Anni,

Custom lead scores that you've created will still work the same way. The only ones affected here will be the fields created by the MLM package when it was installed. You can see those listed here: https://nation.marketo.com/docs/DOC-3836#jive_content_id_Fields_Affected  If you're using these fields, they're the ones affected. If they're different custom fields, there's nothing to do.

Also, not sure how you have your Sales Insight set up, but if you've customized your Stars and Flames to be based off of the other custom fields, the Stars and Flames will still work in Sales Insight without any changes needed. You can check out the details on that part right here: https://nation.marketo.com/docs/DOC-3836#jive_content_id_Stars_and_Flames_Still_Function_the_Same_Wa...

[Anonymous]

We have had some Marketo Insights degradation since yesterday... and everything slowly came back in a rolling fashion over the course of today. Was this related???