Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

Mike_Reynolds2
Level 10

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

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
Not applicable

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

Thanks so much Mike!

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

Hi Mike,

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

Cheers

Kassandra

Mike_Reynolds2
Level 10

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

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
Not applicable

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

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
Level 5

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

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
Not applicable

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

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
Not applicable

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

Hi,

I take it I need to uninstall the App first before creating the new salesforce fields as they need to have exactly the same API names and this would cause a duplicate error if I tried to create them whilst they still exist?

Thanks

Nick

Mike_Reynolds2
Level 10

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

UPDATED: Editing my reply here - I had a copy/paste mistake in the table. Please be sure to check the doc for exact details: Adding Marketo Fields to Salesforce

Hi Nick ,

Actually you'll want to create the new fields first. The new fields will have specific API names to use and the details can be found in the doc here: Adding Marketo Fields to Salesforce

The API names do need to be precise, so please check the doc for the specifics.

Grégoire_Miche2
Level 10

Re: Changes to Marketo Salesforce Sync – Questions and Discussion

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