Tony McCune of Big Picture Digital presented "How to Extend & Integrate Salesforce Nonprofits to Websites" at the March 20 Atlanta Salesforce Nonprofit User Group meeting. Topics covered:
• Common AppExhange options with external integration
• Sites.com and the power of the Force.com platform.
• The Salesforce API, how does it work & why should I care?
• Risks & considerations when connecting to Salesforce
Thank you, Tony.
Big Picture Digital Atlanta Salesforce Nonprofits User Group presentation 3-20-13
1. Integration with SF
SNUG – March 20, 2013
Tony McCune
Principle at Big Picture Digital
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2. About Big Picture
Atlanta Based –
Nonprofit Focused
• Salesforce
• Website Branding
•Social Fundraising
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3. Agenda
Business objectives for integration
Review integration options
Discuss challenges
Review case study examples
Assumptions – Salesforce nonprofit (Enterprise)
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4. Business Goals
Business objectives for integration
Extending the SF application to allow self service
functionality
Pushing SF data into external applications
Payment processing integration
What would you like to do?
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5. Challenges with SF Integration
Security and authentication
API integration requires a security token
Site.com guest user options are limited
Style matching
Site.com options can leverage SF CSS
Custom visualforce pages allow total flexibility but
requires a higher degree of development expertise
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6. Methods of Integration
Salesforce provided integration Web 2 Lead, Email 2
Case
Form submission applications - Wufoo, Form
Assembly
Appexchange applications with Visualforce Site
features.
API development to Salesforce
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7. Standard integration
Web-2-Lead
Populates the Lead object
Uses a form Post to a predefined SF URL endpoint
Provides pre-defined workflows and auto-responders
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8. Email-2-Case
Populates the case object
Auto-responders
Knowledgebase integration
Self-Service Portal (Knowledge base)
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9. Form Integration Apps
Wufoo $
Great for basic form-to-lead or Contact
Simple setup, basic post to object.
Custom CSS, integrated reporting
Form Assembly $$
Supports integration to multiple objects
Can create multiple records from a single form
Integrated reporting
Form Site $
Similar to Form Assembly
multi-page and workflows
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11. Form App Benefits & Issues
Benefits
Quick integration
No coding required
Professional look and feel
Issues
There is typically a monthly cost
Unidirectional communication
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13. Volunteers for SF Example
Real-time validation
and submission to
Salesforce
Auto-response
emails
Online signup for
volunteer jobs
14. Benefits & Issues
Benefits
Handles the visualforce views
Security is handled
CSS can be matched up
Issues
Uses an iFrame – Some issues with display on mobile
Managed SF packages – Limited customization
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15. Force.com
Force.com sites ….
Runs on your SF enterprise organization account
Have direct access to SF objects
No coding required if standard SF layouts used
Public access options
Considerations for giving public access –
Read & create on most standard objects
Read, Create, Edit & Delete on custom objects
Careful data security is essential
https://na14.salesforce.com/help/doc/en/sites_public_access_settings.htm
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17. The Salesforce API
SOAP and REST based Options
Granular options to access any object or field
Works with any Web technology
Bi-directional integration allows you to extend the SF
model into any other application
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19. Risks & Considerations
Custom coding can be expensive and difficult to
support
Design problems can result in data security issues
SF has daily API call limits that could impact high
volume sites
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