Signal Integration with Marketo Guide

Source:

Keywords: Signal, Marketo, Integration, Tags, Connections, Flows, Campaign ID, Mappings, Retry Queue, Metrics

Document ID: https://platform-support.certain.com/hc/en-us/articles/10901541136151#split1

Audience is Administrators using Certain Signal to integrate with Marketo.

What is Signal? How does it work?

Signal is a real-time data integration between Certain Platform and Marketo.

Signal is a real-time data integration.

Signal processes data from events in your account.

Account-level configuration governs most setup.

Event-level information is based on the custom tags you attach to data such as Events, Custom Registration Properties, or Registration Statuses.

Signal processes outbound information because it is sent from Certain to Marketo.

Prerequisites

Data-Flow Considerations

Data-Flow Considerations is a concept describing how data flows from Certain to Marketo.

If you capture data in registration questions that will be synced to Marketo, you must apply tags to those questions (see Registration Questions).

If you have different data mappings based on registration status, or attendee type, you must apply tags to those items (see Registration Status or Attendee Types).

Consider how many Marketo campaigns you will use.

If you have one campaign for all events, you can use a single campaign.

If you have one campaign per event, you need an Event Question for the Campaign ID (see Campaign ID).

Marketo Credentials

Marketo Credentials are required to set up a Connection in Signal.

The Marketo administrator creates an OAuth2 app in Marketo via Admin > Integration > LaunchPoint > New Service > Service: Custom > Create.

The administrator provides:

Overview of Setup Steps

1. Add tags in the account (Setting up Tags)

2. Apply those tags (Applying Tags)

3. Add a Connection (Adding a Connection)

4. Configure a Flow (Setting up Flows)

Setting up Tags

What Are Tags?

Tags are a way of identifying event-level data using labels you set at the account level.

Tags can be applied to generic items in events, especially custom registration statuses and custom registration properties for use in Certain Signal.

Tags can be used for other purposes, but this guide doesn’t cover that.

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 (e.g., Registration Statuses and/or Custom Registration Properties).

Click Add.

Repeat as required for as many tags as you need.

Add enough tags to apply to all of the following that you will use in your Signal Flows (see Flow Data Source):

Also, add enough tags to apply to all of the following that you will use in filters for flows (see Flow Filters):

Applying Tags in an Account

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

You can also tag Attendee Types and Events to filter registration records by attendee type or event (see Flow Filters).

Default Registration Statuses

These apply to all events, so an Administrator applies the tags at the account level.

Go to Account Settings > Management > Registration Statuses.

Add or modify tags for each status as needed.

Applying Tags in an Event

Custom Registration Statuses (Essential)

1. In each event, go to Plan > Event Setup > Custom Statuses.

2. Select at least one tag for each status.

Custom Registration Properties (Optional) If any of the Flows you configure in Signal will 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 (Automatic) These tags are set up for you automatically, with names identical to the properties themselves: Complete, Badge Printed, On To Do List, Invoice Generated, and Test. You only see them in Signal, where you can activate Flows for them (see Activate for). There’s nothing to edit on Certain Platform.

Attendee Types (Optional– for use with filters – see Flow Filters) 1. In each event, go to Plan > Event Setup > Attendee Types. 2. Add one or more Tags for each attendee type you may wish to filter registrations by.

Events (Optional– for use with filters – see Flow Filters) 1. In each event you wish to include in a filter, go to Plan > Event Setup > Details. 2. Add one or more Tags for the event.

Registration Questions (Optional– for mapping Certain fields to Marketo fields – see Mappings) 1. In each event where you use registration questions to capture data from attendees and wish to pass those answers and/or questions to Marketo, go to Plan > Event Setup > Questions. 2. Select just one Tag for each question. Selecting more could result in duplicate data in Marketo.

Opening Certain Signal When Signal is activated for your account, the Account Settings > Implementation menu includes an extra option: Signal Real-Time Data Integration. Click that link to open Certain Signal in a separate window.

Setting up a Connection

What are Connections?

A Connection in Certain Signal specifies how to connect to your instance of Marketo – your Target application.

You can have multiple connections (e.g., Marketo and another application).

Each Flow requires a Connection.

Multiple flows may use the same Connection.

Adding a Connection

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

You only need to do this once and can reuse them in flows.

1. Go to Account Settings > Implementation > Signal Real-Time Data Integration.

2. Open Connected Signal in a separate window.

3. Click Connections in the left navigation panel.

4. Click Add A Connection on the Connection List page.

5. Enter the details in the Connection Setup screen:

6. Click Save & Test.

7. If the test is successful, click Close; if not, verify all values in step 5.

Setting Up Flows

What is a “Flow”?

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

You can create several Flows for an account.

A Flow uses a Connection.

A Flow becomes active after completion and will start processing data from each event in the account within about a minute.

The Flow List

In Certain Signal, the Flow List shows all flows.

The Status column shows whether a flow is completely set up.

The Active column shows whether the flow is running.

Click the toggle to switch a flow between Active and Inactive.

Configuring a Flow

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

The configuration includes:

Live vs Test

Best Practice: Create a Flow as Test, test it, and only then set it Live.

Flow Data Source

Specify the Source of data for the flow and optional Flow Filters.

The Source determines what the Flow watches for in Certain and when it activates.

Available sources include:

Note: You can save an incomplete Flow and complete it later; once complete, data flow starts after the usual delay.

Activate for …

Choose which objects to activate for by selecting one or more tags in each object’s dropdown:

Flow Filters Flow Filters allow filtering data by Event fields, Profile fields, and Attendee Type tags. The Flow will only include a registration if it meets the filter rules.

Flow Destination

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

Setting up a Destination

1. Give the Destination a name.

2. Select the Connection to use.

3. Optional: click New Connection to add a new connection (same process as Setting up a Connection).

4. Choose an action for this connection:

Mappings

The Available Mappings option is available for most actions.

A mapping defines how each target field in Marketo matches a source field in Certain.

You can create a New Mapping if needed.

Campaign ID

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

Two options:

If both options are specified, the event-question-based Campaign takes precedence.

Form

If the selected action is Form Post, complete:

Metrics Dashboard

To view statistics in Signal, click Metrics in the left navigation panel when looking at flows.

The Insights page shows:

Account Insights

On the Insights page, there are tabs:

Summary

Drilling down into failures shows a high-level view for troubleshooting.

If needed, replays can be triggered from the Retry Queue.

Retry Queue If an action fails, it joins the Retry Queue and will be retried. Maximum retries per action is 3. To see the Retry Queue, click Retry in the left navigation panel on the Flows page. Causes of failure include issues you control (e.g., an untagged registration status) and technical issues (e.g., a connection being down). To resolve a failure, tag a registration or adjust a flow and retry. If failures persist, contact an administrator or Certain for help. The retry interval depends on the reason’s severity.

Retry Queue Filtering

Filter the Retry Queue by:

Submitting to the Queue Click an item to view full details. If you can solve the issue, click Submit to Retry Queue to move the item to the front.

Replaying a Flow If a flow is updated while running, you can request Certain to replay the flow for the same registrations as before. This is not self-service; you may specify a date range or an event.

The Retry Queue (continued)

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