Question

Best Practices for integration of Person Model with SFDC Contacts/Related Contacts

  • 27 November 2018
  • 2 replies
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Userlevel 7
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It appears that a lot of future development of Gainsight functionality (i.e. email to timeline) is going to center around the Person model.



We are cross-functionally dependent on the Salesforce Contacts/Related Contacts model, which in itself already causes confusion internall. I am very concerned that adding the Person model on top of that is going to blow our Gainsight end-users minds.



I would very much like to see a detailed writeup on how to integrate the Salesforce Contacts/Related Contacts model with the Gainsight Person model, and best practices for maintaining both models so that they do not become out of sync.



2 replies

Userlevel 7
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Hi Jeff,



 



Please follow this video and let us know if you need more details here.


Userlevel 7
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Thanks Sai, but I know how to create a rule to load data from one object to another.



My concern here is that for customers on the Salesforce platform who are already heavily reliant on the Contact object (and increasingly on the Account Contact Relationship Object for the Related Contacts feature) this now creates a 2nd or 3rd layer to be concerned with when it comes to managing individuals who related to an Account/Customer/Company.



Our CSMs already struggle with the Contact/Related Contact concept, and are heavily involved in the ongoing creation and maintenance of those records. This additional layer would now be another they would have to maintain and try to keep straight. Adding the Company Person on top of it - another layer - is just too complex.




  • If a CSM makes a change to a Person record, does it sync to the Contact record (if it's a direct contact) or to the Account Contact Relationship object (if it's a related contact)? I doubt it does.


  • When emailing individuals via Journey Orchestrator - now what objects are the right objects to use to ensure we're emailing the right contact on the right account? And will those sync back appropriately?


  • With Email Assist - if a CSM added a Person but no one added a Contact/Related Contact, will they be able to send an email to that person?


  • With regular Timeline entries - currently you can only select someone in the Contact object. Eventually Account Contact Relationship object is coming (I think) - how is this affected by the additoin of the Person and Company Person objects (if at all)?

Those are just a few questions I don't have the answer to.



If I'm overcomplicating it I hope someone will tell me... but this feels like a feature that was developed for the "native" Gainsight product and customers on SF are an afterthought.



Ultimately since the bulk of your customers are on Salesforce I would have liked to see you start with an Email to Timeline solution that leverages the Salesforce objects. Aside from that, I'd like to see Gainsight put forth some sort of detailed best practice guide on how they envision customers on the Salesforce platform using and managing all these objects together rather than just say "here, just copy records from Object A to Object B and you're good to go."


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