Mkto/SFDC Sync overwrite SFDC even when values are identical

[Kristen_Peterse]

Is it true that when Marketo Syncs to SFDC it will update/overwrite Contact First Name and Last Name even if there is no change in the field values? Our SFDC admin team created a validation rule to prevent Marketo from Updating Contact First and Last Name and this is causing Contact sync failures.  I am trying to make the case to remove this blocker but i want to have all the concerns addressed before I bring it to the SFDC Admin team.

thoughts?

and thanks in advance.

[Josh_Hill13]

If there's no change to the field, why would it update the field in SFDC?

Did you test the scenario?

[Kristen_Peterse]

No I have not tested because our Sync is very messed up and we are trying to fix it.  I am asking someone to confirm or deny this is the case.  Right now our Sync is mostly one directional (SFDC to Marketo) and a Custom Sync on Contacts where there is currently a sfdc validation rule in place to prevent Marketo from updating First Name and Last Name.  This is causing many Contacts not to sync where First and Last Name are not identical.  We have a plan to fix but my SFDC team is under the impression that Marketo overwrites identical data on every sync.  It just doesn't seem likely to me.

[Iryna_Zhuravel4]

SFDC admins are often suspicious of Marketo in my experience

Marketo won't try to update a field in SFDC if there were no changes to that field value. Marketo logs an activity "Sync Person Updates to SFDC" every time it tries to sync any updates into Salesforce, you can see exactly what fields with what values it is trying to update, just click into that activity.

If your admins don't want Marketo updating certain fields, it is cleaner to block field updates on the Marketo side. Go to Admin -> Field Management -> Click into the field -> Block field updates. You can block field updates from all sources except for the SFDC sync. This way Marketo will populate the field if it is blank, if it is not blank it will not update it and will not try to overwrite it in SFDC.