MSI Configure External Id in Salesforce

[arvindaiah]

Hi All, We are exploring purchasing MSI (Non Native Sync). We are relying on documentation to understand the features and if it fits our requirement.

One of the question I have is syncing the ExternalId fields from Salesforce to Marketo. As per the documentation

Sync the Salesforce Accounts to Marketo. - It says "A Marketo Company will need to be upserted for the Salesforce Account. The externalCompanyId and externalSalesPersonId fields are mandated for the upsert of the Company." , for ExternalCompanyId it says "Salesforce Account case-insensitive globally unique identifier". Does it mean, I can use any External ID on the Salesforce side or does it have to be the ID field on Account? Our Account unique identifier comes from our CDP and I would like to use that, instead of Out of the box Salesforce Id. Can anyone confirm if that is possible?

Thanks,

Arvind

[Darshil_Shah1]

Well, every company record inserted via the Sync Companies API endpoint in Marketo has a system-generated ID and user-managed ID fields. Both the ID fields and the company name are searchable fields. The latter (i.e., externalCompanyId field) is usually set as per the ID in the CRM so companies can be searched and queried based on that value, and users don't have to manage the internal map of the system-managed CRM ID to perform updates, deletes, or query operations for companies in Marketo using the API. However, AFAIK, the user-generated field need not be the same as the CRM-managed Account ID field, as without the native sync, the Account (like other objects) isn't synced by the system; the sync is the responsibility of the users.

[arvindaiah]

Thanks for the update @Darshil_Shah1 . 

What I understand from your reply is, that I can sync any CustomAccount ID field from Salesforce to externalCompanyId field in Marketo. What is not clear is, how MSI (Which sits inside Salesforce) knows which field to look up for matching the data. Nowhere in the MSI documentation do I see any configuration where I can say externalCompanyId should be matched against customAccountId field?  

Appreciate your help.

[Darshil_Shah1]

I just checked this, and it turns out that for your particular use case where you want to integrate MSI for non-native integration, you'd need to use the unique Salesforce-provided Account/Opportunity/SalespersonId unique IDs; you can't use your own custom IDs as those aren't configurable in the MSI app. You'd have to manage an external map of your custom Ids and corresponding Salesforce Ids to reference the records directly via Marketo API.

[arvindaiah]

Appreciate your help @Darshil_Shah1 

[Darshil_Shah1]

You’re welcome, @arvindaiah! Glad to be of help.