Monthly Archives: January 2017

Salesforce Integration & Customization Capabilities Overiew

Posted in CRM, Salesforce.com by

Integrating Salesforce with external systems (Ex. ERP); building custom web extension apps/batch programs to meet the specific business requirement is quite common when we work on large scale Salesforce projects.

Before we attempt to develop such solutions, having a good understanding of various integration (+custom extension & batch) scenarios we generally come across and the provisions provided by Salesforce to implement each of these scenarios helps us to pick the most efficient, scalable & reliable implementation approach.

The objective of this blog article is to list all possible integration (+custom extension & batch) scenarios and to introduce/brief various provisions provided by Salesforce to implement each of these scenario.

salesforce-integration-5-reasons-learning-management-system-needs

General Integration (+custom extension & batch) scenarios,

  1. Outbound Integration
  2. Inbound Integration
  3. Automated Batches
  4. Bulk Data Management/Migration (Export/Import)
  5. Custom Web Extensions (Web – Mashup, Links, Applets, Tabs,..)
  6. Custom Mobile Solutions

Now let us go through the provisions provided by Salesforce in order to implement each of the above scenarios,

  • Outbound Integration: can be implemented in Salesforce using the below features,
    • Apex Callouts
    • Outbound Messaging
  • Inbound Integration: The following options are available to implement Inbound Integration,
    • SOAP Web Services API
    • REST Web Services API
    • Apex Web Services

These options can also be used in combination with Outbound Integration approaches for some specific solutions.

  • Automated Batches: We can write the automated batches using APEX & run these batches as per the required frequency using APEX Scheduler. Triggers & Process Builder can also be considered for automation based on the requirement.
  • Bulk Data Management: The following are the available options for Bulk Data Management. Based on the data volume, right option should be decided.
    • Import wizard
    • Data Loader
    • Batch Apex
    • Bulk API
  • Custom Web Extensions (Web – Mashup, Links, Applets, Tabs,..):
    • To develop a custom web page/app Salesforce provides Visualforce, Lightning Design System, AURA, APEX development framework
    • To render the custom web pages developed outside salesforce within Salesforce, Canvas & Connected Apps features can be leveraged
  • Custom Mobile Solutions: Salesforce provide Mobile SDK to build custom Mobile Solutions. The Salesforce Mobile SDK supports three development approaches for building mobile apps: native, HTML5, and hybrid.

Factors to be considered to pick the right approach among the available options will be covered in the subsequent blogs.

Prashanth N