Configuring external calls to send data to Salesforce

Important: The Salesforce native integration was deprecated February 1, 2021. We recommend using the the Salesforce Integration app in its place. Learn more in our product notice.

External calls are the external CRM system calls that Oracle Eloqua uses to keep the systems synchronized. For general information about external calls, see Managing native CRM external calls.

There are two types of external calls:

  • Retrieve Data: Calls that requests data from your CRM system. These are used by auto synchs.
  • Send Data: Calls that send data to your CRM system. These are triggered by internal events.

When sending data to Salesforce, the external call settings determine what data to send from Oracle Eloqua. External calls use a field mapping to determine which Oracle Eloqua fields to send. External calls are triggered by internal events and internal events are executed through a Program Builder program.

After running the CRM Integration Wizard, Oracle Eloqua setup the following external calls to send data for each Salesforce entity (leads, contacts, accounts):

  • Create Lead: This call is used to create a new lead in Salesforce.
  • Update Lead: This call is used to update an existing lead in Salesforce (based on Salesforce LeadID).
  • Update Contact: This call is used to update an existing contact in Salesforce (based on Salesforce ContactID).
  • Associate Lead with Campaign: This call is used to associate campaign members (based on Salesforce LeadID) with a Salesforce campaign. If you are implementing closed-loop reporting, see Closed-loop reporting with Salesforce for more information on setting up external calls for campaign associations.
  • Associate Contact with Campaign: This call is used to associate campaign members (based on Salesforce ContactID) with a Salesforce campaign. It also updates the status of the campaign response. If you are implementing closed-loop reporting, see Closed-loop reporting with Salesforce for more information on setting up external calls for campaign associations.

Before you begin:

To configure outbound external calls for your Salesforce integration:

  1. Click Settings An image of the Settings menu icon, which is represented by a black cog..
  2. Click Integration under Platform Extensions.
  3. Click the Outbound tab.
  4. In the left panel, expand the Custom folder under the Internal Events tab, then expand Custom Contact Events.
  5. Click on name of the event to be modified. Choose one of the following:
    • Create Lead.
    • Update Contact
    • Update Lead
  6. Click Edit next to the external call you want to edit.

    An image of the Event Mapping screen with the Edit button highlighted.

  7. Review and edit the configuration details if necessary.
    • Action: The action that is performed and can include Create or Update.
    • Entity: The Salesforce entity that is affected in this call.
    • Trigger Salesforce Default Assignment Rule: Enable only if you are using lead assignment rules in Salesforce. Typically, leads are assigned only upon lead creation.
    • Send Email Notification: Enable only if you have specific lead owners who need to receive Salesforce-generated email notifications when a new lead is assigned.
    • External Call Return Value: These options allow you to select which Oracle Eloqua field is used to store the reference ID returned by Salesforce. This needs to be specified only for the Create Lead external call.
  8. Select the Options menu, then select View Field Mapping. Confirm that the fields are mapped as follows:
    External CallSalesforce Lead FieldsOracle Eloqua Fields
    Create LeadCityCity
    CompanyCompany
    CountryCountry
    EmailEmail Address
    FaxFax
    First NameFirst Name
    Last NameLast name
    Mobile PhoneMobile Phone
    PhoneBusiness Phone
    RatingSFDC Lead Rating
    State/ProvinceState or Province
    StreetAddress 1 Line Break Address 2 Line Break Address 3

    Tip: For Salesforce fields that need to be mapped from multiple Oracle Eloqua fields (such as the Salesforce Street field, which maps to Oracle Eloqua Address 1, Address 2, and Address 3 fields), use the drop-down next to the Salesforce field name to add line breaks between each of the Oracle Eloqua fields.

    TitleTitle
    Zip/Postal CodeZip or Postal Code
    Update LeadLead IDSFDCLeadID
    All of the Salesforce fields for Create LeadAll of the Oracle Eloqua fields for Create Lead
    Update ContactContact IDSFDCContactID
  9. If you need to create a field mapping, drag the corresponding Oracle Eloqua field from the Eloqua Fields column to the Field Expressions column.
  10. Click Save after you complete the mappings for the external call.
  11. If you are not implementing closed-loop reporting, also review the campaign association events:
    • Associate Lead with Campaign
    • Associate Contact with Campaign

    These external calls should have the following field mappings:

    External CallSalesforce Lead FieldsOracle Eloqua Fields
    Associate Lead with CampaignCampaign IDLast SFDC Campaign ID
    Lead IDSFDCLeadID
    StatusLast SFDC Campaign Status
    Associate Contact with CampaignCampaign IDLast SFDC Campaign ID
    Contact IDSFDCContactID
    StatusLast SFDC Campaign Status

Creating a custom campaign association external call

If you are not implementing closed-loop reporting, you must create an internal event that triggers both the Create Lead and Associate Lead with Campaign external calls. First the Create Lead API call is executed, then after the Salesforce lead ID has been returned, the Associate to Campaign API call is executed.

An image of the Event Mapping window with two External Calls defined for SFDC integration.

Note: You can only execute these Salesforce campaign association calls if you are not implementing closed-loop reporting. See Closed-loop reporting with Salesforce for more information on setting up external calls for campaign associations.

To create a Salesforce campaign association call:

  1. Click Settings An image of the Settings menu icon, which is represented by a black cog..
  2. Click Integration under Platform Extensions.
  3. Click the Outbound tab.
  4. In the Internal Events tab, expand the Custom folder under All Internal Events, then expand Custom Contact Events.
  5. Click An image of the drop-down button. next to Custom Contact Events, then click Create New Custom Event.
  6. In the Custom Event window, enter the following Custom Event Name: Create Lead and Associate with Campaign.
  7. Click Save. The new event appears in the navigation pane under Custom Contact Events.
  8. Click the name of the new event.
  9. From the Event Mapping window, click Add Existing External Call twice (you need to add two existing calls).
    • Select Create Lead as the first external call.
    • Select Associate Lead with Campaign as the second external call.

    An image of the Event Mapping window with two External Calls defined for SFDC integration.

  10. Click Save. A confirmation message appears if the save is successful.

After you finish: Continue to Testing the external calls to Salesforce

Learn more

Testing the external calls to Salesforce

Managing native CRM external calls

Integrating Oracle Eloqua with Salesforce