Salesforce
Overview
Providing superior customer experiences requires that all stakeholders work together. Yet if the software development and delivery teams are using one set of tools, and the customer-facing teams are using other tools, their ability to work together smoothly is often fractured. But if the tools were integrated and the information automatically flowed, communication would be enhanced and the whole team would become more effective.
For example, when customer service professionals identify a problem and open a case in Salesforce Service Cloud, that information should automatically flow to the development team’s defect tracking tool. Or, if the sales and marketing team find an interesting new idea, that Salesforce Idea should automatically flow to the tool the development team is using to manage enhancement requests.
Because Planview Hub can handle both standard and custom Salesforce objects, there are virtually limitless possibilities for integrating Salesforce products with the tools used in software delivery.
Key Features and Benefits
- Improve team collaboration and effectiveness by connecting Salesforce to third-party tools and synchronizing artifacts across the software delivery lifecycle
- Streamline the flow of information between customer service and the development team by synchronizing cases (or a custom “problem” record) from Salesforce to defects in the development team’s Agile tools
- Connect sales and marketing to the development team by automatically sharing ideas from the customer facing team to the development team
- Provide the data needed to identify the bottlenecks that are increasing your MTTR (Mean Time To Resolution)
- Support cross-tool traceability and reporting, removing the need for manual processes and spreadsheets
Common Integration Patterns
Demo Videos
Supported Tools
Hub supports the following Salesforce tools:
- Salesforce Sales Cloud
- Salesforce Service Cloud
- Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Additional Salesforce applications and plug-ins not listed above are not officially supported.
Supported Editions
Planview Hub only provides support for editions of Salesforce that allow API access.
Note: While Hub only provides support for Salesforce editions that allow API access, not all editions with API access are supported.
Connector Setup Details
This section describes the basic steps needed to prepare your Salesforce instance for use with Hub. Note that additional fields for synchronization or configuration of queries may be required depending on the requirements of your integration.
Minimal User Permissions & Hub User
We recommend that you create a new user within your external tool, to be used only for your Hub integration. This is the user information you will enter when setting up your repository connection within Planview Hub. By creating a new user, you will ensure that the correct permissions are granted, and allow for traceability of the modifications that are made by the synchronization.
In general, your user account should have sufficient permissions to create, read, and update artifacts in your repository. However, depending on the use case, your user may need different permissions. For example, if you are only interested in flowing data out of your repository, your user may not need to have full CRUD access, as the 'create' and 'update' permissions may not be needed.
Your user should have a secure password or token. Please be aware that Hub will not allow you to save a repository connection utilizing a weak password/token, such as 'tasktop.'
See instructions on how to create a user in Salesforce.
List of minimal user permissions:
Salesforce Classic
Planview Hub: 19.2.3 and later
Go to Manage Users, then Profiles and select your User. Under the Apps section, click on Object Settings, and ensure the following:
-
- Read, Create, Edit, and Delete are set for all object types (Account, Case, Solution, Contact, Lead, Engagement Case, Events, Tasks, Ideas).
- This should also be done for any custom objects that are created.
Go to the System section, then click on System Permissions.
- Ensure that Insert System Field Values for Chatter Feeds is enabled. This is necessary for comment impersonation.
If you'd like to flow attachments, go to Feature Settings, then click Chatter > Chatter Settings.
- Ensure that Chatter Settings are enabled.
Planview Hub: 19.1 - 19.2.2
Go to Manage Users, then Profiles and select your User. Under the Apps section, click Object Settings, and ensure the following:
-
- Read, Create, Edit, Delete, View All and Modify All are set for all object types (Account, Case, Solution, Contact, Lead, Engagement Case, Events, Tasks, Ideas).
- This should also be done for any custom objects that are created.
Go to the System section, then click System Permissions.
- Ensure that Insert System Field Values for Chatter Feeds is enabled. This is necessary for comment impersonation.
If you'd like to flow attachments, go to Feature Settings, then click Chatter > Chatter Settings.
- Ensure that Chatter Settings are enabled.
Planview Hub: 17.1 - 18.4
Go to Manage Users, then Profiles and select your User. Under the Apps section, click Object Settings, and ensure the following:
-
- Read, Create, Edit, Delete, View All and Modify All are set for all object types (Account, Case, Solution, Contact, Lead, Engagement Case, Events, Tasks, Ideas).
- This should also be done for any custom objects that are created.
Go to the System section, then click System Permissions.
- Ensure that Insert System Field Values for Chatter Feeds is enabled. This is necessary for comment impersonation.
Salesforce Lightning
Planview Hub: 19.2.3 and later
Go to Users, then Profiles and select your User. Under the Apps section, click Object Settings, and ensure the following:
-
- Read, Create, Edit, and Delete are set for all object types (Account, Case, Solution, Contact, Lead, Engagement Case, Events, Tasks, Ideas).
- This should also be done for any custom objects that are created.
Go to the System section on the Profiles screen, then click System Permissions.
- Ensure that Insert System Field Values for Chatter Feeds is enabled. This is necessary for comment impersonation.
If you'd like to flow attachments, go to Feature Settings on the left sidebar, then click Chatter > Chatter Settings.
- Ensure that Chatter Settings are enabled.
Planview Hub: 19.1 - 19.2.2
Go to Users, then Profiles and select your User. Under the Apps section, click Object Settings, and ensure the following:
-
- Read, Create, Edit, Delete, View All and Modify All are set for all object types (Account, Case, Solution, Contact, Lead, Engagement Case, Events, Tasks, Ideas).
- This should also be done for any custom objects that are created.
Go to the System section on the Profiles screen, then click System Permissions.
- Ensure that Insert System Field Values for Chatter Feeds is enabled. This is necessary for comment impersonation.
If you'd like to flow attachments, go to Feature Settings on the left sidebar, then click on Chatter > Chatter Settings.
- Ensure that Chatter Settings are enabled.
Planview Hub: 17.1 - 18.4
Go to Users, then Profiles and select your User. Under the Apps section, click Object Settings, and ensure the following:
-
- Read, Create, Edit, Delete, View All and Modify All are set for all object types (Account, Case, Solution, Contact, Lead, Engagement Case, Events, Tasks, Ideas).
- This should also be done for any custom objects that are created.
Go to the System section on the Profiles screen, then click System Permissions.
- Ensure that Insert System Field Values for Chatter Feeds is enabled. This is necessary for comment impersonation.
Connecting to the Salesforce Repository
Standard Authentication
Required Fields:
- Location/Connection URL
- Example Format: https://server.salesforce.com
- Username
- Password
- Consumer Key (see details below)
- Consumer Secret (see details below)
- Case Comment Type (see details below)
Optional Fields:
- Throttling Settings: This field indicates the number of API calls that can be made per minute. See details here.
- Note: This field should only be set under the guidance of customer care as the ideal value is highly dependent on each customer's unique environment.
- Connection Security: If checked, insecure connections to this repository will be allowed. See details here.
Note: If you are unable to log in after entering the required fields, please follow the steps outlined here to retrieve your security token and attach the security token directly to the end of your password.
Find Consumer Key and Consumer Secret
Note: You must be logged in as the administrator to access the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret.
Navigate to the Setup window.
In the left panel, find Build > Create > Apps
Scroll to the bottom of the page and see the Connected Apps section.
Either select an existing application that allows integration, or click New to create a new one. If creating a new one, specify required fields and enable OAuth Settings and add Full access:
Once saved, select your Connected App from the list.
You will see the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret on that page. Enter those values in the appropriate fields on the Hub Repository Connection screen.
You must also ensure that the user using your Connected App is authorized and not using a restricted IP.
To do this, click Manage at the top of the Connected App page to verify and edit your OAuth policies.
Navigate to the Setup screen.
In the left panel, click Apps > App Manager
Either select an existing application that allows integration, or click New to create a new one. If creating a new app, specify required fields and enable OAuth Settings and add Full access:
Once saved, select your Connected App from the list.
You will see the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret on that page. Enter those values in the appropriate fields on the Repository Connection screen.
You must also ensure that the user using your Connected App is authorized and not using a restricted IP.
Click Manage on the App Manager screen to verify and edit your OAuth policies.
If you'd like to edit your OAuth policies, click Edit Policies.
SSO Authentication
Additionally, Salesforce supports the following SSO implementations:
- Script (HTTP cookies)
- X.509 Certificate
Learn more about how to set up your repository in Planview Hub here.
Other Configuration Settings
Attachments
Planview Hub: 19.1 and later
Files were introduced in the Salesforce Spring '16 Release. Details on the concept of Files object and its differences compared to the legacy attachment object can be found here. Files uploaded to the Notes & Attachments related list on records in Salesforce Classic are now Salesforce Files objects, rather than the old attachment objects.
In versions earlier than 19.1 and 4.17, attachments were synchronized to and from the legacy Notes & Attachments list. Starting with Hub 19.1, attachments are now read from both Notes & Attachments and Files and only written to Salesforce as Files.
Note: Files are visible in Salesforce Classic under the Notes & Attachments list.
More details about Salesforce Files can be found here.
Learn more about how to configure attachment flow in Planview Hub here.
Comments
Comments in the format of activity feed are supported for all artifact types.
The only outlier is regarding Cases. With these artifacts, comments are supported in two formats. You can select the format in your repository configuration window when connecting to your repository.
- Case Comments: When selecting this option, you will be able to retrieve only the Case Comment type for Case artifacts (NOTE: this does not affect other artifact types — just cases). You will not be synchronizing the comments made in the activity feed section of an artifact. These comments are private by default.
- Activity Feed: When selecting this option, you will only be able to retrieve the public facing activity feed comments that are added in the activity feed window.
Learn more about how to configure comment flow in Planview Hub here.
Person Reconciliation
For person reconciliation, the following fields are available:
|
Fields Used for Hub’s Default Person Reconciliation Algorithm |
Field Names for Person Reconciliation Extensions (Note that these are case sensitive) |
Label in Salesforce |
|---|---|---|
|
ID |
Id |
Alphanumeric, case sensitive value found in the URL when viewing a user’s profile – see image below |
|
Username |
Username |
Username |
|
|
|
|
|
N/A |
FirstName |
First Name Note: Due to third party functional limitations within Salesforce, First Name can be used to reconcile persons flowing outbound from Salesforce, but cannot be used to reconcile persons flowing inbound to Salesforce. |
|
N/A |
LastName |
Last Name Note: Due to third party functional limitations within Salesforce, Last Name can be used to reconcile persons flowing outbound from Salesforce, but cannot be used to reconcile persons flowing inbound to Salesforce. |
|
N/A |
Name |
Name |
The ID is a numeric value found in the URL while viewing a user's profile:
Salesforce Classic
Salesforce Lightning
Learn more about how to configure person reconciliation in Planview Hub here.
Full Scan
Due to third party API limitations, updates to the following fields may not trigger change detection or cause a synchronization immediately. To ensure these updates synchronize, a high fidelity full scan must occur or another qualifying change must be made to the artifact:
- Comments (changes in the Activity Feed)
- Attachments
- Relationships (Multi-Links)
- Web Links (Google Docs are synchronized as Web Links)
Learn more about how to configure change detection and full scan intervals in Planview Hub here.
Supported Features
Special Features Supported
|
Feature |
Custom Type Supported? |
Applicable Hub Versions |
Applicable Repository Versions |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(For cases) (Planview Hub 20.1 and later) |
Not Supported |
Planview Hub: All |
Any supported repository version: |
|
See Files section for more information on the new object introduced in the Salesforce Spring '16 Release. |
N/A |
Planview Hub: All |
Any supported repository version: |
|
N/A - State Transitions (Salesforce does not use state transitions. Status can flow out of or into Salesforce as a single-select.) |
N/A |
Planview Hub: All |
Any supported repository version: |
Time Worked (Worklogs)
Comments
Supported Artifacts
Supported Work Items
Learn about the difference between containers and work items in Planview Hub here.
|
Supported Work Item Type |
Applicable Hub Versions |
Applicable Repository Versions |
Unique URL? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Case |
Planview Hub: All |
Any supported repository version: |
Yes |
| Idea |
Planview Hub: All |
Any supported repository version: |
Yes |
|
Any object (custom or out of the box) type |
Planview Hub: All |
Any supported repository version: |
Yes |
Supported Containers
Learn more about containment in Planview Hub here.
|
Containers that can synchronize between repositories |
Applicable Hub Versions |
Applicable Repository Versions |
Unique URL? |
|---|---|---|---|
|
N/A |
|
|
|
|
Containers used to define the boundary of a collection (When clicking 'Manage Projects' on a Collection) |
|
|
|
|
N/A (entire repository serves as container) |
Planview Hub: All |
Any supported repository version: |
N/A |
|
Containers used for artifact routing |
|
|
|
|
N/A (entire repository serves as container) |
Planview Hub: All |
Any supported repository version: |
N/A |
Supported Field Types
Note: If one field of a given type is supported, others that are also that type in theory should also work. However, sometimes there are instances in which this is not the case due to the repository. So, while we can claim support for fields at the type level, there is a chance that some specific fields of a given type will not synchronize properly.
|
Standard Field Type |
Does Hub support custom fields of this type? |
How is field type referenced in the repository? |
Sample Repository Fields Supported |
Particular Repository Fields NOT Supported |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Text |
Contact Phone Contact Mobile Contact Email Subject Description Case Number Photo URL |
|
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|
Picklist |
Case Type Case Reason Case Origin Type Status Priority Record Type |
|
|
|
|
Picklist (Multi-select) |
|
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|
|
|
Checkbox |
Deleted New Self-Service Comment Self-Service Commented |
|
|
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|
Date |
|
|
|
|
|
Date/Time |
Closed Date Created Date Last Modified Date Last Referenced Date Last Viewed Date |
|
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|
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|
Number Currency Percent |
|
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|
Lookup (User) |
Owner ID Created By ID |
|
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|
|
Learn how to configure relationships in Planview Hub here. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rich Text Area |
Description |
|
|
|
|
Google Docs URL |
Google Docs |
|
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|
|
|
Functional Limitations
|
Category |
Limitation |
Applicable Hub Versions |
Applicable Repository Versions |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Feature Unsupported |
Remedyforce The Salesforce connector does not support the Remedyforce extension. |
Planview Hub: All |
Any supported repository version: |
|
Configuration Requirement |
Email-to-Case To enable the synchronization of emailed attachments on the Case artifact, set the system property com.tasktop.connector.salesforce.retrieveEmailToCaseAttachments.enabled to true. |
Planview Hub: 22.2 and later |
Any supported repository version: |
|
Known Defect |
Options Restricted by Record Type When options are restricted by Record Type and an invalid option is synchronized, a Salesforce validation error will appear. |
Planview Hub: 20.3 and later |
Any supported repository version: |
|
Third Party Functional Limitation |
Projects Because Salesforce does not support the notion of ‘projects,' the following behaviors may be observed when using Hub:
|
Planview Hub: All |
Any supported repository version: |
|
Third Party Functional Limitation |
Dependent Picklists Any picklist that depends on another picklist will not be available in Hub for field mapping if the user profile permissions per field for both picklists have not be made accessible to the Hub user. |
Planview Hub: 18.3 and later |
Any supported repository version: |
|
Feature Unsupported |
Dependent Picklists Any Picklist that depends on a boolean field will not be available for integration. |
Planview Hub: All |
Any supported repository version: |
|
Third Party API Limitation |
Single Selects Any Picklist values that are added and 'inactive' in the UI will not be shown in the single-select options listing. It is thus impossible to set any inactive/new values through options mapping. |
Planview Hub: All |
Any supported repository version: |
|
Third Party API Limitation |
Rich Text Salesforce has limited rich text support (see discussion on Salesforce forum here). The changes synchronized into Salesforce from another repository may result in loss-of-formatting when synchronized from Salesforce. |
Planview Hub: All |
Any supported repository version: |
|
Best Practice |
Formatted ID The Formatted ID smart field has been mapped to Salesforce's name field which may be, but is not necessarily unique (text fields are not, and auto-numbers are, so long as they are not reset). For any search requiring an artifact identifier, it is recommended to use a field unique to the object such as location or an external-id field. If the Object does not have a name field, an exception will be thrown. |
Planview Hub: All |
Any supported repository version: |