CRM Integration: External Calls

Important:  The Fall '14 product documentation is available on our new help website.
The information below describes functionality up until our Summer’14 Release.

KB.I.1.1.0 CRM Integration: External Calls

This article includes:
  Introduction
  Managing Internal Events
  Managing External Calls

Introduction

The Outbound tab allows you modify outbound data that gets written into your CRM system. More specifically, you can Enable/Disable the Marketing Activity Events from writing into the CRM system. Additionally, you have the ability to modify which fields are being written to your CRM via the External calls.

When you first navigate into the Outbound tab, you will see that it's further broken down into two tabs:

Managing Internal Events - Internal events determines which series of external calls to trigger and in which order. These are further broken down by Activity, Campaign, and Custom Events which include the Lead/Contact actions.

Managing External Calls - External Calls are the external CRM systems calls that Eloqua uses to perform an action such as Create Lead, Update Contact, etc. These are further broken down into calls that retrieve data from the CRM and calls that send data to the CRM.

Managing Internal Events

The Internal Events tab allows you to manipulate which External Calls will get triggered when a particular Internal Event occurs. An Internal Event is an action that can be executed through a Program Builder action when a marketing activity occurs (i.e. email click-through, email bounceback, etc.), or through Integration Rules. You can do one or more of three things with an Internal Event:

• Enable/Disable the Event
• Modify the default External Call mappings for the Event
• Modify the External Call mappings for a specific asset in the Event

Enabling/Disabling an Internal Event

To enable/Disable an Internal Event:

1. Navigate to Setup > Integration.
2. Click the Outbound tab.
3. Click the Internal Events tab.
4. Expand the relevant folders until you find the Internal Event of choice
5. From the menu choices next to the Event, select Enable/Disable Internal Event

Setting Defaults for an External Call Triggered by an Internal Event

To modify External Call mappings for an Internal Event:

1. Navigate to Setup > Integration.
2. Select the Outbound tab.
3. Select the Internal Events tab.
4. Expand the relevant folders until you find the Internal Event of choice.
5. From the menu choices next to the Event, select Map Existing External Calls.
6. In this screen you will see which External Calls are mapped to the Internal Event. Depending on the Event (for example, Hypersite Visit or Form Submit), you will be able to select All (the default) or create an Event Mapping for a specific instance (select it using the picklist).
7. You may Edit the External Call, Delete Mapping where the External Call will become unassociated with the Internal Event, change the Execution Order of the External calls, or Add Existing External Call, which will add another External Call to be triggered.
8. Click Save to confirm any changes.
   
9. Repeat these steps as required for any other forms that you want to exempt from the default update settings for form submissions.

Setting Defaults for an External Call Triggered by an Internal Event

If you are updating field values in your CRM from submitted form data for All forms (using the Form Submit Activity), then these are used as the defaults for any form that does not have specific external calls configured. You can exclude selected forms from the default settings so that the CRM data is updated a different way or not updated.

The following procedure shows you how to set up External Calls from form submissions for a selected form that you don't want to update using the default settings; in this case, it's set not to update CRM data when the form is submitted.

To modify External Call mappings for one or more forms from the defaults:

1. Navigate to Setup > Integration.
2. Select the Outbound tab.
3. Select the Internal Events tab.  Expand the Internal Events folder, then the Activity folder.
4. Expand the relevant folders until you find Form Submit. From the menu choices next to Form Submit, select Map Existing External Calls.
5. In almost every case, unless the form was previously configured independently, there will be no external calls listed for submissions for this form. The defaults used by this form are provided under the settings for All forms. However, the local settings will override the default settings. Click Add Existing External Call.
6. By default, the setting in the picklist is set to (None). If you save this event mapping with the External Call set to (None), then this overrides the default settings for All. In other words, when this form is submitted, there will be no external call to update field values in the CRM system. Click Save to save the setting for this form.
   
7. Repeat these steps as required for any other forms that you want to exempt from the default update settings for form submissions.

Managing External Calls

External Calls are actions that interact with your CRM system. Eloqua triggers a call and then an action is invoked in the CRM system. The setting under the External Call tab are set to determine which data is being transferred back and forth from Eloqua to the CRM System when a particular action is executed. For example, if a Lead is being updated in your CRM system, the external call performs the action on your CRM system and updates only the fields specified in the External Call itself. It uses a field mapping to determine which Eloqua fields will update the corresponding Lead record fields in the CRM. The External Call is triggered by an Eloqua Internal Event. When navigating into the External Call tab, you'll notice the tab is broken down into two folders:

• Retrieve Data - Data that Eloqua requests from your CRM system.
• Send Data - Data that Eloqua sends to your CRM system.

These folders are further broken down into the various CRM Entities that Eloqua can manipulate. These include Leads, Contacts, Accounts, Campaign Members, etc. Each CRM entity has a series of External Calls that perform an action on that entity.

The External Calls will have a series of menu options that you as the Customer Administrator can manipulate. Depending on if the External Call is in the Retrieve or Send folder, the call can have different menu options.

Retrieve Data

The menu next to individual External Calls in the Retrieve Data folder consist of the following options:

• Edit External Call - This option allows you to change the details of a call including the name and CRM user that can execute this call. This action should not require modification once Eloqua completes the CRM integration for your organization.
• View Field Selection - This option will allow you to view the fields that are being retrieved from the CRM system. You may modify the fields and field mappings that you wish to retrieve from this menu option. The retrieve External calls are used as a Data Source to facilitate Auto Synchs. The Data Source uses the retrieve External Calls to get the data from the CRM and then feeds the Auto Synch so that it can update your Eloqua® System.
• View Filter Details - This option allows you to filter the results retrieved in the External Call. For example, if you want to retrieve all leads from your CRM but limit it to ones that were newly created in the Last 3 days, you would use a filter that looks at the Date Created within Last 3 days. This option should not require modification once Eloqua completed the CRM integration for your organization.
• Copy External Call - This option allows you to copy an existing External Call with all its settings. This option should not be needed as Eloqua will create all the necessary calls for your CRM Integration.
• Move to Folder - This option allows you to move an External Call to another folder in the External Calls tab. For most organizations, the External Calls should already be organized into a folder structure so this option will rarely be required.
• Delete External Calls - This option allows you to delete a particular External Call and all its settings. It is not recommended that this action be used as this can affect your existing CRM integration. Should you need to delete an External call, please contact Eloqua Support for assistance.

To modify the field selection on retrieve External Calls:

1. Navigate to Setup > Integration.
2. Select the Outbound tab.
3. Select the External Calls tab.
4. Expand the Retrieve Data folder to locate the External Call of choice.
5. From the menu next to the External Call, select View Field Selection.
6. You will be presented with a new screen in the task pane that allows you to select the fields you want to retrieve. Simply check all the fields you want to select. You will also see all related lists in this screen. You can collapse or expand the related lists by clicking on their title.
7. Click Save on the bottom toolbar.

Notes:

• Only the fields that are available to the CRM user for read/write access will be displayed on this screen. If you are looking for a field that's not displayed, verify with your CRM administrator that the CRM user in Eloqua has the proper access to the fields.
• You can set default fields to specific mappings for advanced integration. For example, you can include a City-to-City mapping as a default setting for new external calls. Also note that if you are triggering a call from a form submission to a Data card, you can include information from a linked Contact record (for instance, a Net Promoter score) to create those fields in your integrated CRM system as well.

Send Data

The menu next to individual External Calls in the Send Data folder consists of the following options:

• Edit External Call - This option allows you to change the details of a call including the name and CRM user that can execute this call. This action should not require modification once Eloqua® completes the CRM integration for your organization.
• View Field Mapping - Allows you to modify the field mapping for the data being sent to your CRM. This option will display which Eloqua fields are used to perform the action and the corresponding CRM fields that will be updated.
• Copy External Call - This option allows you to copy an existing External Call with all its settings. This option should not be needed as Eloqua will create all the necessary calls for your CRM Integration.
• Move to Folder - This option allows you to move an External Call to another folder in the External Calls Tab. For most organizations, the External Calls should already be organized into a folder structure so this option will rarely be required.
• Test External Call - This option allows you to test out an External call to verify is functioning as expected. This option uses a test record in Eloqua and allows you to observe the before and after results.
• Export Fields - This option will allow you to export a report with the list of Eloqua and CRM field mappings for the External Call chosen.
• Delete External Calls - This option allows you to delete a particular External Call and all its settings. It is not recommended that this action be used as this can affect your existing CRM integration. Should you need to delete an External call, please contact Eloqua Support for assistance.

You can also manage external calls for an internal event.

To modify the field mapping in Send External Calls:

1. Navigate to Setup > Integration.
2. Select the Outbound tab.
3. Select the External Calls tab.
4. Expand the Send Data folder until you find the External Call of choice.
5. Select View Field Mapping from the menu next to the External Call you wish to modify. You will be presented with a new screen in the task pane. Drag the Eloqua field from the right side to the corresponding CRM field in the left. Repeat for every field you wish to map.
6. Click Save on the bottom toolbar.

Notes:

• Only the fields that are available to the CRM user for read/write access will be displayed on this screen. If you are looking for a field that's not displayed, verify with your CRM administrator that the CRM user in Eloqua® has the proper access to the fields. In addition, if a corresponding Eloqua field is not available for mapping, you will be required to create that field and return to this field mapping page to complete the mapping.

To test an External Call for Sending Data to the CRM system:

1. Navigate to Setup > Integration.
2. Select Outbound > External Calls tab (at the top of the Tree View).
3. Expand the relevant folder (Send Data and one of the sub-folders) and select Test External Call from the menu next to the External Call you wish to test. The External Call Testing page opens, the features depending on what type of Call you are testing. For this procedure, we'll assume that it's an Update Contact External Call in the Contacts folder.
4. In the External Call Parameters section, select a Contact by performing a Search and entering a search query.
5. Once you have located the appropriate record, from the menu next to the record, choose Select this record.
6. Once you are back at the original screen, click Prepare for Test. This will show you a snapshot of the data in your CRM before and after the test.
   
7. Click Execute Test to complete the test.