Companies often have large sums of data generate from their ongoing business operations. And they often use more than one data storage systems to safeguard and segregate these data accordingly.
But there will be times that data from various sources need to be linked together. Salesforce provides a solution for this by linking external data sources to their own platform.
Salesforce Connect for Integrating Data
Salesforce Connect is a feature that lets users link, create, modify, search, and view data stored from external sources. Through data mapping, Salesforce Connect links external data for use within the org. The feature does not import or copy data; it only connects the data via external objects, so that these external data never becomes stale inside the Salesforce platform.
What External Data Sources are Connected to Salesforce?
These data systems are compatible for use in Salesforce as external data sources:
- Microsoft Dynamics NAV
- IBM WebSphere
- SAP Netweaver Gateway
- Google Drive
- Microsoft Sharepoint
- OneDrive for Business
Creating External Data Sources
These steps will help users define a new external data source through Salesforce Connect:
- Go to Setup.
- Type External Data Sources in the Quick Find Box.
- External Data Sources will appear. Click on this selection.
- Choose New External Data Source.
- Different fields will appear. Fill these fields with pertinent information. Some fields may be present or absent, depending on the external data source that will be used. Here are some common fields that are usually called for:
- Label
- Name
- Type
- URL
- Enable Search
- Certificate
- Identity Type
- Choose the authentication protocol to be used. This could either be Password Authentication or OAuth 2.0.
- Enter the username and password for the Password Authentication, or complete the fields called for on OAuth 2.0.
- Save everything. The new external source will then be visible on the Salesforce org.
Check that the new external data source connection is successful by clicking on Validate and Sync. If the user wants to manually select tables for syncing, he may do so by choosing the tables and hitting Sync for each chosen table.