Signal passes data from Certain Platform to Eloqua.
This real-time integration empowers sales and marketing teams to take intelligent, prompt action on the right event data.
Almost everything is set up at the account level.
Signal processes information from the events in your account.
For event-level information, this is based on the custom tags you attach to data such as Registration Statuses.
Signal processes outbound information, and sends it to Eloqua.
Prerequisites
Data-Flow Considerations
Do you capture data in registration questions that will be synced to Eloqua?
If yes, apply tags to those questions (see page 5).
Do you have different data mappings based on registration status, or attendee type?
If yes, apply tags to those items (see page 4).
How many Eloqua campaigns?
One campaign that’s common to all events, or one campaign per event?
If one per event, you’ll need an Event Question for the Campaign ID (see page 5).
Eloqua Credentials
You must decide which authentication option to use when setting up a Connection: OAuth2 (recommended) or Basic Credentials.
OAuth2 requires an OAuth2 app in Eloqua.
Basic Credentials use an Eloqua user with appropriate access.
Your Eloqua administrator will provide endpoint, client id, client secret, and callback URL for OAuth2.
For Basic Credentials, you must supply Eloqua username and password.
The user must have access to Create Contacts, Add Contacts to a List, and External Activities.
Overview of Setup Steps
On Certain Platform:
1) Add tags in the account.
2) Apply those tags.
3) Add Event Question for Campaign ID.
4) Answer that question in events.
In Certain Signal:
5) Add Connection.
6) Configure a Flow.
The setup steps establish tagging, event-level configuration, and the data flow from Signal to Eloqua.
Setting up Tags
What Are Tags?
Tags identify event-level data using labels set at the account level.
Tags can be attached to data such as Registration Statuses and Custom Registration Properties.
Tags can be used for other purposes as well, but this guide does not cover those uses.
Setting Tags Up for an Account
As an Administrator, go to Account Settings > Management > Tags.
Enter a Name and a Label for the tag.
Select the Object(s) to which the tag can apply (for example, Registration Statuses and/or Custom Registration Properties).
Click Add.
Repeat as required for as many tags as you need.
Add enough tags to cover all Registration Statuses and Custom Registration Properties you will use in flows (see page 10).
Also add enough tags to cover all Attendee Types and Events you will use in filters for flows (see page 10).
Applying Tags in an Account
In each event from which you want information to flow through Certain Signal, apply tags to the relevant information: Registration Statuses and Registration Custom Properties.
You can also tag Attendee Types and Events to filter registration records by attendee type or event (see Filters on page 10).
Recording an Event’s Campaign Name
If any of your Flows in Signal will include an action to Trigger Campaign or Create/Update Contact where the campaign is per event, you must set up an event question to record the Campaign Name for each event.
Steps:
As an Administrator in Certain Platform, go to Account Settings > Management > Event Data.
Add an Event Question, such as Eloqua Campaign Name.
In each event, as an Event Planner or Administrator, go to Plan > Event Setup > Custom Event Data.
Enter the Eloqua Campaign Name for that event in the custom question field.
Opening Certain Signal
When Signal is activated for your account, the Account Settings > Implementation menu includes:
Signal Real-Time Data Integration
Click the Signal Real-Time Data Integration link to open Certain Signal in a separate window.
To return to Certain Platform, use the provided navigation option.
Setting up a Connection
What are Connections?
A Connection specifies how to connect to your Eloqua instance.
You can have multiple connections for different target applications.
Each Flow requires a Connection.
Multiple flows may use the same Connection.
Adding a Connection
Go to Account Settings > Implementation > Signal Real-Time Data Integration.
Click Connections in the left navigation panel.
Click Add A Connection on the Connection List page.
Enter the details in the Connection Setup screen:
Target: Select Eloqua as the third-party app to connect to.
Connection Name: Enter a name of your choice (e.g., Eloqua Connection).
Service URL: Enter the Eloqua URL prefix (e.g., https://secure.p03.eloqua.com).
Authentication Type: Choose Basic Authentication or OAuth2.
If Basic Authentication:
User Name: Eloqua user (often integration user).
Password: Eloqua password.
If OAuth2:
Grant Type: Authorization Code.
Client Id: Provided by Eloqua admin.
Client Secret: Provided by Eloqua admin.
Access Token URL: Use the default value.
Refresh Token URL: Use the default value.
Scope: Use the default value if present.
Test Connection URL: Use the default value.
Force Update: Update existing Eloqua records if Certain data differs.
Click Save & Test.
If the test is successful, click Close. If not, verify the values in step 5.
Setting Up Flows
What is a “Flow”?
A flow manages the flow of data from Certain to Eloqua.
You can create multiple flows for an account.
Flows can share the same Connection.
A flow becomes active after its setup completes and begins processing data within about a minute.
The Flow List
The main screen in Signal is the Flow List.
The Flow List shows Status (whether the flow is completely set up) and Active (whether the flow is running).
Use the toggle 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 includes:
Name
Live or Test status
Source: What data the Flow watches for
Filters: Optional filters to narrow data
Destination: Where the data is sent in Eloqua
Live vs Test:
Live Flow: processes all live registrations in live events.
Test Flow: processes all test registrations and any registrations marked as Test in live events.
Best Practice: Start with a Test flow and test before setting to Live.
Flow Data Source
The Source defines what the Flow watches for in Certain data.
Available sources:
Registration Create Update
Registration Status Change
Session Registration Status Change
Event Create Update
Activate for: Choose which tags the Flow should activate for, such as:
Registration Statuses
Registration Properties
Event Statuses
Session Registration Statuses
Flow Filters:
Filter by Event fields, Profile fields, and Attendee Type tags.
Filters narrow down flow data; a registration must meet the rule(s) to be included.
Flow Destination:
Choose Eloqua from the available integrations.
If needed, select or create a new Connection.
Flow Data Destination: Mappings and Campaign ID
Mappings
Available Mappings let you map Eloqua target fields to Certain source fields.
Create a new Mapping if needed.
Give the mapping a clear name (e.g., Contact Mapping, Form Mapping).
The left column lists Eloqua target fields.
The right column lists Certain source fields.
By default, First Name, Last Name, and Email are required; you can mark fields as mandatory.
You can concatenate multiple source fields for a single target field.
Transformations (lower case, Proper Case, UPPER CASE, Trim) can be applied per field.
You can add additional target fields and map them to source fields.
If a field is mandatory and missing, a validation error occurs at flow update time.
Use the Preview Mapping feature to validate mappings.
Campaign ID
The Campaign ID is required if the action is Trigger Campaign or Create/Update Contact.
Options:
Select Campaign ID Based on Event Question: use an event question to specify the Campaign Name per event.
Campaign ID: move all attendees to a single campaign by entering the campaign name.
If both an event question and an account-level Campaign ID are specified, the event question-based campaign takes precedence.
Form
If the selected action is Form Post:
Select A Form: choose the Eloqua form to post data to.
Form URL: automatically populated based on the selected form.
Mapping: target fields are pre-populated; map them to the source fields as described in Mappings.
Metrics Dashboard
To see statistics in Signal, click Metrics in the left navigation panel when viewing flows.
The Metrics panel shows data depending on the flows and their targets.
Key sections include Account Insights, which have:
Summary
Troubleshooting
Activity Feed
Insights includes data such as Changes Processed, Unique Registrations, Actions Triggered, Actions Not Triggered, and Active Flows.
Troubleshooting provides details for failed actions and how to address them.
The Activity Feed lists processed registrations with their status and related metadata.
The Retry Queue
When an action fails, it joins the Retry Queue.
Retries can occur up to three times.
If a failure cannot be resolved (e.g., missing mandatory fields), it may not retry.
You can view and manage items in the Retry Queue from the Flows page.
Causes of failure include untagged statuses and technical issues such as a down connection.
To fix a failure, address the underlying cause, then retry.
Replaying a Flow
If you change a flow while it has been running, you may want to replay it for the same registrations.
Replaying is not done directly in the UI; request from Certain to arrange it.
You may specify a date range or event for the replay.
Closing notes
This guide covers the end-to-end setup for integrating Certain Signal with Eloqua.
It includes prerequisites, tagging, connections, flows, mappings, and dashboards for monitoring.
If you need additional help, contact help@certain.com with your account name.
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