Rules engine update ideas: Post to Chatter and Concatenate

Related products: CS Data Management & Integrations

I've been building new rules to automatically provision accounts in Gainsight.The "Load to SFDC Object" action is really very useful!





But in doing that I've figured out 2 places where it's falling short:





1) I want to be able to build up a text string. Just like I do in the comments of CTA, I need to build up a string for a description or title. Right now I can only use a field I was able to get into the query. So back under Setup Rule, I'd love to be able to bring together multiple fields and static text to create a field I could then make use of.





2) I want to post to Chatter. In this particular instance, I'd like to post an update to the case I just created for the onboarding team. Ideally after creating a new record, the new record ID would be appended as an additional column in the results set. Then I could use that in the following action and post to that record's Chatter feed.





Both of these are easily achieved using Flows, but I'd love to keep all the logic in one place!
Thanks Jeff for these ideas. Frankly we have not brainstormed these but I can see how much value this can deliver. Will keep you posted on these after discussion with the team internally
+1 from another Gainsight customer on giving the rules engine an action to post text and tokens directly to chatter. Thanks!
Devin - Can you expand on that a bit?
The use case was when a CTA closes - posting a unique update to Chatter with text and tokens.
You can post directly to Chatter from Gainsight using an integration platform called Azuqua. Azuqua is one of Gainsight's technology partners, and allows you to connect to applications for which Gainsight doesn't have a native integration. Using Azuqua, you can monitor for a CTA closing (or any other event in Gainsight), and then post that update to Chatter. If you're interested in learning more, feel free to email me directly at support@azuqua.com.
We are also looking to tokenize within a post to chatter to enable easier access to survey results. I've figured out how to leverage tokenizing to rebuild the view only access link to the survey, but I am unable to post that newly built link to chatter. This would take what is a 4+ click process (+ loading time -- likely more of the issue) down to 1-click. Today, CSMs need to go to the C360, click surveys, click survey results, click the eye icon.
I'll just add that currently I can pull the tokens in to chatter, build the tokenized URL, but when I run/save the rule, the URL disappears and it's like i never did anything.
Hi all -- quick update here. Thank you to @Christopher Sanderson who helped me figure this out.





If you remove the https:// from the survey link -- the URL stays in the CTA Comments box. Now we have created a one-click access flow from the CTA to each unique survey response.





Steps:


1. I built a data space using NPSSurvey Response as the base object and pulled in SurveyId and ParticipantId.


2. I grabbed the URL from an existing Survey Result to get the URL structure that the SurveyID and Participant ID would plug into.


3. In the Rules Engine, I then built my CTA trigger, tokenizing the SurveyID and participantID in the URL of the create CTA comments section.





Example of a tokenized URL: xxxx.xxxxxx.force.com/apex/SurveyResponse?mode=REPORT_PREVIEW&surveyId=@SurveyID&participantId=@ParticipateID&showBack=0





**I wasn't sure how much of the first part of the link is org specific -- I removed everything before force.com.
I figured out a workaround for the chatter post that is interesting. I wanted to post to the chatter feed of a contact. I was able to add the Feed Item object to the Rules Load Actions configuration, specifically the Parent Account and Body fields. (It's important to note that the Parent Account field that shows is actually just the Parent ID field and will take any acceptable ID.)





My rule returned the Contact ID I wanted to update. So I did an Update SFDC Object and inserted a new Feed Item. The Contact ID mapped to the Parent Account field. And then I put my text into the Body field.





Only downside is that the comment text is a constant, but that worked in this case!
Bumping this thread.  We have a different, but similar use case whereby we want to build up a text string from several fields (numbers, dates, strings) and write the resulting sentence to an MDA field. It will subsequently be displayed in reports.





Is there a way to do this that I'm unaware of, or an update on this feature request?  Thanks in advance!
We are planning to introduce a formula field option in Transformation task (A.K.A Aggregate task) in Bionic rules where you will be able to concatenate the string. This is in roadmap, will keep you updated on the ETA
Thanks Sundar.  Can you comment on the estimated timing (months, years, etc.)? We're trying to decide if we can hold off, or if we need to find another solution now. Feel free to email me directly if you prefer. Thanks!
This is part of our Fall release (Nov'2017) approx. I'll keep you posted on when the work starts on this. 
Thank you Sundar.  We are anxiously awaiting this functionality.  If you need/want to understand our specific requirements in more detail, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.  
Is it funny or sad when you go searching Google for how to concatenate in a bionic rule and find your own post? :-)





Can't wait for the Fall update!
is this  available in Sandbox now ? I would want to concat a date and string field to string field. Eg: Date: 11/20/2017, String=2 days, Output: 2 days, 11/20/2017
Jahnavi,





You will be able to concatenate only string fields as of now. Date fields cannot be concatenated.





Regards,


Jitin