Certain Signal Connector: Eloqua Native Integration Guide

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Keywords: Certain Signal Connector, Eloqua, Signal Connector

Document ID: https://platform-support.certain.com/hc/en-us/articles/42131710653207#split1

This document is a guide to using Certain Signal Connector to integrate with Eloqua. Certain Signal Connector also integrates with other products, including Marketo and Salesforce via native integrations and others via Webhooks or Advanced Webhooks. Certain Signal Connector is not included with Certain Platform by default. If you’re interested in Certain Signal Connector after reading this document, email , including your account name.

Contents

What is Signal Connector? How does it work?

Certain Signal Connector processes data from your events in real time.

Certain Signal Connector passes processed data from Certain Platform to your instance of Eloqua.

This real-time integration empowers sales and marketing teams to take intelligent, prompt action on the right event data.

Signal Connector processes information at the account level. Signal Connector processes information from the events in your account.

Signal Connector processes event-level information based on the custom tags attached to data. The document explains attaching tags for event-level information. Important: Signal Connector processes outbound information. Signal Connector processes information from Certain and sends it to Eloqua.

Prerequisites

Data-Flow Considerations

The document asks whether you capture data in registration questions that will be synced to Eloqua.

If you capture data in registration questions, you need to apply tags to those questions.

The document asks whether you have different data mappings based on registration status or attendee type. If you have different data mappings, you need to apply tags to those items.

The document asks how many Eloqua campaigns you need. The document asks whether you use one campaign common to all events or one campaign per event. If you use one campaign per event, you need an Event Question for the Campaign ID.

Eloqua Credentials

To set up a Connection in Signal Connector, you need to decide which authentication option to use.

The authentication options are OAuth2 or Basic Credentials.

The document recommends OAuth2.

The choice of authentication option determines which information you require in advance.

OAuth2

Your Eloqua administrator needs to create an OAuth2 app in Eloqua.

To create the OAuth2 app, go to Settings > App Cloud Developer > Create New App.

The Eloqua administrator needs to provide the following details:

Basic Credentials

This option uses an Eloqua user:

The user is likely to be an integrations-only user. The document gives an example user like (MyOrganization/Integration). The user could also be a regular user.

The user needs access in Eloqua to:

Overview of Setup Steps

Step See Page On Certain Platform

1. Add tags in the account 3

2. Apply those tags 4

3. Add Event Question for Campaign ID 5

4. Answer that question in events 5

In Certain Signal Connector

1. Add Connection 6

2. Configure a Flow 8

Setting up Tags

What Are Tags?

Tags identify event-level data using labels set at the account level.

You can apply those tags to generic items in events.

You can apply tags to custom registration statuses and custom registration properties for use in Certain Signal Connector.

Tags can be used for other purposes. This guide does not cover other purposes.

The document gives an example scenario with several custom registration statuses. You can apply the same Tags to more than one status. You can also choose to give each status its own Tag.

When you set up a Flow in Certain Signal Connector to send data to Eloqua when an attendee’s Registration Status changes, you specify tags applicable to those statuses. You do not specify the statuses themselves.

Specifying tags means the flow can apply to any event in your account.

Setting Tags Up for an Account

1. As an Administrator, go to Account Settings > Management >Tags.

2. Enter a Name and a Label for the tag.

3. Select the Object(s) to which the tag can apply.

For example, ‘Registration Statuses” and/or “Custom Registration Properties”.

4. Click Add.

5. Repeat as required for as many tags as you need.

6. Important: Add enough tags to apply to all of the following that you will use in flows (see page 10):

1. Registration Statuses

2. Custom Registration Properties

7. Also add enough tags to apply to all of the following that you will use in filters for flows (see page 10):

1. Attendee Types

2. Events

Applying Tags in an Account

In each event from which you want information to flow through Certain Signal Connector, apply tags to:

You can also tag:

Attendee Types and Events tags allow filtering registration records by attendee type or event. See Filters on page 10.

Default Registration Statuses apply to all events.

An Administrator applies the tags at the account level.

1. Go to Account Settings > Management > Registration Statuses. 2. Select the Tags for each status. 3. Add or more Tags for each status. 4. Important: Even if you don’t use standard registration statuses, best practice is to set up tags for all of them. 5. It is essential to tag at least the ‘ New ’ status. 6. Certain uses the ‘ New ’ status “behind the scenes” when first processing each registration. 7. If you do use standard reg statuses, it’s essential that you tag them all. 8. Tagging standard reg statuses allows using them in the Flows configured in Signal Connector.

Applying Tags in an Event

Custom Registration Statuses apply when flows watch or activate for changes of Registration Status.

1. In each event, go to Plan > Event Setup > Custom Statuses. 2. Select at least one tag for each status.

Custom Registration Properties apply when flows activate for Custom Reg Properties.

1. In each event, go to Plan > Configure. 2. Under Custom Registration Properties, select at least one tag for each custom reg property in the event.

Standard Registration Properties are set up automatically.

The names match the properties themselves.

The document lists the properties:

You only see standard registration property tags in Signal Connector. Signal Connector can activate flows for these tags. There is nothing to edit on Certain Platform.

Attendee Types are optional.

Attendee Types support use with filters.

See Filters on page 10.

1. In each event, go to Plan > Event Setup > Attendee Types. 2. Select one or more Tags for each attendee type on which you may wish to filter registrations. See Filters on page 10.

Events are optional.

Events support use with filters.

See page 10.

1. In each event you may wish to include in a filter. The filter example is to ensure that only registrations for that event are passed to Eloqua. 2. Go to Plan > Event Setup > Details. 3. Select one or more Tags for the event.

Registration Questions are optional.

Registration Questions support mapping Certain fields to Eloqua fields.

See page 11.

1. In each event in which you use registration question to capture data from attendees, and wish to pass those answers and/or questions to Eloqua: 2. Go to Plan > Event Setup > Questions. 3. Select just one Tag for each question. Selecting more could result in duplicate data in Eloqua.

Recording an Event’s Campaign Name

If any flow will include an action to ‘Trigger Campaign’ or ‘Create/Update Contact’, and the campaign is set per event rather than using the same campaign for all events, then you need an event question.

The event question records the Campaign Name for each event.

1. As an Administrator in Certain Platform, go to Account Settings > Management > Event Data. 2. Add an Event Question, such as ‘Eloqua Campaign Name’.

In each event: 1. As an Event Planner or Administrator in Certain Platform, go to Plan > Event Setup > Custom Event Data. 2. Enter the Eloqua Campaign Name for that event in the custom question field.

Opening Certain Signal Connector

When Signal Connector is activated for your account, the Account Settings > Implementation menu includes an extra option available to Administrators.

The extra option is:

Click the link to open Certain Signal Connector in a separate window. Certain Signal Connector runs separately from Certain Platform.

To return from Signal Connector to Certain Platform at any time, click the return control in Signal Connector.

Setting up a Connection

What are Connections?

A Connection in Certain Signal Connector specifies how to connect to your instance of Eloqua.

Eloqua is the Target application.

You can have multiple connections. You can connect Eloqua and another application. Other target applications are covered in separate guides.

Each Flow requires a Connection. Multiple flows may use the same Connection.

You can set up a Connection before configuring your first Flow. You can also set up a Connection while configuring a Flow. This guide assumes you set up the Connection first.

Adding a Connection

As an Administrator you may set up one or more Connections for your account.

You need to set up Connections only once.

You can then use Connections in the Flows you set up.

1. Go to Account Settings > Implementation > Signal Connector Real-Time Data Integration. 2. Certain Signal Connector opens in a separate window. 3. Click Connections in the left navigation panel. 4. Click Add A Connection in the Connection List page that opens. 5. Enter the details in the Connection Setup screen that opens.

Connection Setup fields

Example: ‘Eloqua’ or ‘Eloqua Connection’.

Enter the part starting with “https://” and ending with “eloqua.com”.

Example: https://secure.p03.eloqua.com

Options: ‘ Basic Authentication ’ or ‘ OAuth2 ’.

Basic Authentication fields

The document suggests an integrations-only user like ‘MyOrganization/Integrationuser’.

The user could be a regular user.

The user must have the minimum permissions described on page 1.

OAuth2 fields

The document lists these OAuth2 fields:

If selected, Eloqua updates an existing record for the Contact when details in Certain differ.

The document gives an example: updating the phone number.

6. Click Save & Test. 7. If the test is successful, click Close. 8. If the test is not successful, check that the values in step 5 are all correct.

Setting Up Flows

What is a “Flow”?

A flow is a configuration to manage the flow of data from Certain to Eloqua.

You create Flows from the landing page in Signal Connector.

The document references a section: configuring a flow.

You may configure several flows for an account. Multiple flows might use the same Connection. You only need to configure a flow once at the account level.

When a flow is complete, it will start picking up data for each event in that account within about a minute. The document explains the minute delay because Signal Connector runs independently from Certain Platform.

If you edit a flow, a similar delay occurs before the changes take effect in processing registrations.

The Flow List

As an Administrator in Certain Platform, go to Account Settings > Implementation > Signal Connector Real-Time Data Integration.

Certain Signal Connector opens in a separate browser window.

The main screen in Signal Connector is the Flow List. The Flow List lists all flows. The Status column shows whether a flow is completely set up. The Active column shows whether the flow is running.

Use the toggle button to change a flow from Active to Inactive, or vice versa.

Configuring a Flow

Click ADD A FLOW to start setting up a new flow.

The configuration consists of:

‘Live’ or ‘Test’

The Live toggle switch determines whether your Flow is Live or Test.

A Live Flow picks up all live registrations in live events. A Live Flow ignores test registrations, even in live events.

A Test Flow picks up all test registrations. Test registrations include all registrations in test events. Test registrations also include registrations marked as ‘Test’ in live events.

Best Practice: Set a new flow up as Test.

Test the flow before setting the flow to Live.

Flow Data Source

Specify the Source of data for the flow.

Applying Filters is optional.

The Source of a Flow is what the Flow will watch for in your data in Certain. The Source also determines when the Flow will activate based on that data.

For example, a flow might watch for a change to a Registration Status. The flow would activate when the attendee’s status has changed to a status tagged as ‘Registered’.

Available sources

You set a flow to watch for any one of these:

Note: You can always save an incomplete Flow and complete it later.

After a flow becomes complete, it starts picking up data after the usual minute’s delay.

Activate for …

Choose what the flow should activate for by selecting one or more tags in each appropriate object’s drop-down list.

You can activate for tags applied to:

Other options may be added depending on what the Flow is watching for.

The tags available for selection are the tags set up for that object.

Registration Status tags include Registration Status tags you can apply to:

Flow Filters

You can filter the data going into a flow by selecting fields in any of these three filter types:

The flow includes a registration only if the registration meets the rule(s) specified in the filter.

Note: For custom fields, you can only select “enumerated” questions.

Enumerated questions have pre-configured answers.

Enumerated question types include:

Flow Destination

Select Eloqua from the integrations set up by Certain for your account.

Eloqua may be the only integration.

Setting up a Destination

1. Give the Destination a name of your choice.

2. Select the Connection to use.

Note: You can instead click New Connection to add a connection.

The process to set up a connection is the same as described earlier.

3. Select the action for this connection from those listed as available:

If the action is ‘External Activity’, two fields are displayed.

Select values in each drop-down list.

The values are automatically populated by Eloqua.

If the action is ‘Form Post’, complete the following:

Select target fields and map them to source (Certain) fields.

Mappings

The Available Mappings option is available for most actions.

A mapping specifies how each target field in Eloqua matches a source field in Certain.

Select a mapping from the drop-down list. If no mappings exist, or if you need something other than existing mappings, click New Mapping.

To add a new mapping:

1. Give the mapping a name of your choice.

Best Practice: For multiple mappings used for different flows, make the mapping names self-explanatory.

Example: ‘Contact Mapping’ and ‘Form Mapping’.

2. The left column lists Eloqua fields as target fields.

Each target field lists the default source field in Certain.

Example: target field ‘Company’ defaults to source field ‘Organization’.

3. By default, only the First Name, Last Name and Email fields are mandatory.

Select the checkbox next to a target field to make it mandatory.

This is not normally fixable.

The flow does not go into the Retry Queue.

4. Click the x after a source field label to delete that field.

Click to add a new one.

Note: You can concatenate multiple source fields for the same target field.

You can also type fixed text.

The document lists Certain fields available as sources for data sent into target fields in Eloqua:

This is one field for the question and one for its answer.

Example: Event Code and Event Name

Example: Current Date

Transformations can be applied per field using the second column transformation option.

Default transformation is no selection. No selection sends data to Eloqua unchanged.

Transformation options include:

Trim removes extra spaces.

You can select more than one transformation for a field. The document gives an example of choosing Proper Case and trim.

If you do not find a target field you expected in an existing mapping, use Refresh Target Fields. Technical note: Target fields are cached when a connection is tested. A refresh updates cached mappings.

Buttons enabled when you select a mapping:

A third button:

Campaign ID

The Campaign ID is required if the action is ‘Trigger Campaign’ or ‘Create/Update Contact’.

Note: In Signal Connector, “Campaign ID” refers to the ‘ Campaign Name ’ in Eloqua.

There are two options:

Use a custom event question to specify the Campaign Name when you have a unique campaign for each event.

Select that question here.

To move all attendees to a single campaign regardless of event, enter the campaign Name here.

Note: If you specify both an event question and an account-level Campaign ID, the event question-based campaign takes precedence.

Form Post

If the selected action is Form Post, complete the fields in the destination configuration:

Metrics Dashboard

To see statistics available in Signal Connector, click Metrics in the left navigation panel while viewing flows.

The new navigation panel links depend on the flows and their targets. The first link is Insights.

Other links may include:

These links work in the same way as Account Insights.

Account Insights

Select whether you want to see:

Select the period for which you want to see the data.

Examples listed are:

There are three tabs:

Summary tab

The Summary tab is the default tab on the Insights page.

The document states figures depend on flows and actions.

For some figures, you can click the number to drill down further. For example, click Unique Registrations to see registrations processed by any flows in the selected timeframe. The document says you can filter when drilled down. The document gives an example filter on an Event Code.

Figures in the Summary tab are shown for the whole account. The Summary tab figures cover all events and registrations.

The Summary tab figures are:

The number of registrations processed.

Changes Processed increments each time a registration is created or updated in Certain and then processed by a flow in Signal Connector.

Note: This often includes the same registration more than once.

Example: creating a registration and then updating it twice totals three “changes”.

The number of registrations processed counting each single registration once.

The document says this is likely the most relevant figure on the page.

The document says it’s likely lower than Changes Processed.

Example: if Joe Citizen’s registration was processed three times, Changes Processed would increase by 3, but Unique Registrations would increase by 1.

The number of actions triggered by flows.

If you have one flow with one action, Actions Triggered could match Changes Processed.

More flows and more actions configured increases the number of actions triggered.

Only displayed if registrations were processed by flows without actions being triggered.

The document gives an example cause: a registration having an untagged status.

The number of flows processing registrations during the selected period.

The document says this is not related to whether the flow is shown as ”Active” or ‘Inactive” on the Flow List.

The number of External Activities created in Eloqua by flows.

Relevant for Form Post actions.

The number of form posts.

The number of leads created in Eloqua by flows.

The number of leads updated in Eloqua by flows.

Overview information.

A pie chart comparing failures and successes.

Drilling down into failures provides a high-level view for troubleshooting. If you address a failure cause, you can expedite the fix in Signal Connector by going back to Flows. Then click Retry in the left navigation panel. The document references Retry Queue on page 16.

Troubleshooting tab

The Troubleshooting tab is the second tab on the Insights page.

The document lists information useful for troubleshooting.

The document gives an example: if registrations are not processed because a Registration Status isn’t tagged, the Troubleshooting tab gives chance to rectify tagging. After rectifying tagging, registrations can be processed on the next retry.

The document lists Troubleshooting tab numbers:

If an action fails, it joins the Retry Queue and will be tried again.

The document lists a maximum automatic retries per action of 3.

The number of retries.

Example: an action retried twice adds 2 to this number.

Actions that failed three retries.

No retries possible because failed validation.

The document gives an example: a contact cannot be created because a mandatory target field had no value in the source field.

The example references ‘Mappings’ on page 11.

A chart showing retries by time.

A chart showing retries by category, including “General”, “System”, “Config”, “Connection”, etc.

A chart showing activity per connection over time.

Activity Feed tab

The Activity Feed tab is the third tab on the Insights page.

The Activity Feed lists registrations processed.

It notes success or failure and includes Registration Code, Event, Flow, and other items.

The document states the Activity Feed is a rolling history by date. The document says it is another way to access lower-level data you could see by drilling down in Summary or Troubleshooting tabs.

The Retry Queue

When an action fails, it usually joins the Retry Queue.

The Retry Queue runs the action again.

Failures that cannot be resolved, such as missing mandatory fields, are exceptions. Those failures do not join the queue.

An action can be retried up to three times. After three retries, the action does not rejoin the queue.

To see the Retry Queue, click Retry in the left navigation panel on the Flows page.

The document lists causes of failure:

Where you can resolve a failure cause, resolve it. The action should succeed when retried.

For other failures that do not resolve themselves, contact your administrator or ask Certain for help. The interval between retries depends on the severity of the reason. More serious reasons retry sooner.

Filtering the Queue

You can filter records in the Retry Queue using these three filters:

Probably only one option, ‘Eloqua’, unless you have multiple integrations set up.

Options are ‘All Statuses’, ‘Retry’, ‘Error’, ‘Failed’, or ‘Done’.

Options include ‘All Categories’, ‘General’, ‘System’, ‘Config’, ‘Certain API’, ‘Connection’, etc.

Submitting to the Queue

When you click an item in the Retry Queue, you see full details.

If full details are enough to solve the problem, submit the item straight to the front of the queue.

The document calls this action: Submit to Retry Queue.

Replaying a Flow

If you change an aspect of a flow while it has been running for some time, you may want to replay that flow.

The replay should process the same registrations as before.

The replay should run as if the changes had been made earlier.

You cannot do this directly. You can ask Certain to arrange it for you.

You may be able to specify a date range. You may be able to specify an event.

© 2020 Certain, Inc.