Using Salesforce actions in action flows

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">Before you can include external actions in your action flows, you must connect the action builder to the external system.</p>
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<p id="docs-ai-summary-toggle">Summary: <span id="up-triangle">◀</span><span id="down-triangle">▼</span></p>
<p id="docs-ai-summary-content">You can connect action flows to Salesforce to automate tasks like creating, updating, deleting, or finding records for leads, contacts, accounts, opportunities, cases, and campaigns. Using a dedicated service account for the connection is recommended. These actions help streamline workflows by integrating Salesforce data and processes directly into your support operations, improving collaboration and data management across platforms.</p>
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<div class="p">By connecting the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8855513857306" target="_blank">action builder</a> to external systems, such as Salesforce,
admins can integrate Zendesk with external systems in automated workflows, improving
collaboration and maintaining a seamless experience across multiple platforms.<div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> The
steps associated with external systems in action flows are referred to collectively
as <em class="ph i">external actions</em>.</div>
</div>
<div class="p">This article contains the following topics:<ul class="ul" id="topic_vtz_spw_zgc__ul_omj_bj4_zgc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_urt_zpw_zgc">Connecting Salesforce to action builder</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_ej4_1qw_zgc">Using Salesforce actions in action flows</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_urt_zpw_zgc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Connecting Salesforce to action builder</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Before you can include external actions in your action flows, you must connect the
action builder to the external system.</p>
<div class="p">When connecting to external systems for use in action flows, the following best practices are recommended:<ul class="ul" id="topic_urt_zpw_zgc__d8e13">
<li class="li">All external actions performed by an action flow are attributed to the user who connected the
external system. Therefore, it's a best practice to use a dedicated service
account rather than personal credentials when connecting to each external
system.</li>
<li class="li">All integrations request access to necessary scopes. However, it's important that you review and validate the scopes before authorizing the connection to the external system.</li>
<li class="li">When managing credentials for API key-based tools, such as OpenAI, it's best to store keys in a secure vault or credential manager.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="p">
<strong class="ph b">To connect action builder to Salesforce</strong><ol class="ol" id="topic_urt_zpw_zgc__ol_psh_lk4_zgc">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_apps_integrations_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Apps and integrations</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Actions &gt; Action
flows</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8855601898266" target="_blank">Create</a> or <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9052312956570" target="_blank">edit</a> an action flow.</li>
<li class="li">Open the step sidebar.</li>
<li class="li">Under <strong class="ph b">External actions</strong>, click <strong class="ph b">Salesforce</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Connect</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Use Salesforce to authenticate the account. <div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> All external actions
performed by an action flow are attributed to the user who connected the
external system. Therefore, it is a best practice to use a dedicated
service account rather than personal credentials when connecting to each
external system.</div>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p class="p">After you've connected to the system, you'll see an indicator that it's connected and
details about the instance you're connected to, as well as the actions available for
Salesforce.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_ej4_1qw_zgc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Using Salesforce actions in action flows</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">The Salesforce action steps can be used to automate many of the actions an agent
might take as they work tickets. For example, you can use the Salesforce actions in
action flows to automatically create new leads or other Salesforce objects when a
user contacts you, automatically add notes to a Salesforce record after a customer
interaction, clean up duplicated data, look up Salesforce contact data prior to
sending a Slack message or creating a Jira issue, automatically convert highly rated
leads identified by AI scoring models, and more.</p>
<div class="p">The Salesforce actions can be used with the following Salesforce objects: leads,
contacts, accounts, opportunities, cases, and campaigns. The following actions are
available for each of these objects:<ul class="ul" id="topic_ej4_1qw_zgc__ul_tj3_3qw_zgc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_xsx_3qw_zgc">Create record</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_sk1_kqw_zgc">Update record</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_mqw_mqw_zgc">Delete record</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_qjt_nqw_zgc">Find record</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested2" id="topic_xsx_3qw_zgc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title4">Creating a record</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Use the <em class="ph i">Create record</em> action to add a new record to object (leads,
contacts, accounts, opportunities, cases, and compaigns).</p>
<p class="p">This action has the following inputs and outputs:</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="tablenoborder">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="table" frame="border" id="topic_xsx_3qw_zgc__table_ld3_lpz_hgc" rules="all" summary="">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<thead class="thead" style="text-align:left;">
<tr class="row">
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d89e201" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;"> </th>
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d89e203" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">Variables</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e201" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">Inputs</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e203" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">
<code class="ph codeph">name</code>, <code class="ph codeph">phone</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">description</code>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e201" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">Output</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e203" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;"><code class="ph codeph">id</code></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested2" id="topic_sk1_kqw_zgc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title5">Updating a record</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Use the <em class="ph i">Update record</em> action to change field values for an existing
Salesforce record.</p>
<p class="p">This action has the following inputs and outputs:</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="tablenoborder">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="table" frame="border" id="topic_sk1_kqw_zgc__table_wv2_npz_hgc" rules="all" summary="">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<thead class="thead" style="text-align:left;">
<tr class="row">
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d89e272" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;"> </th>
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d89e274" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">Variables</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e272" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">Inputs</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e274" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">
<code class="ph codeph">name</code>, <code class="ph codeph">phone</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">description</code>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e272" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">Output</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e274" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;"><code class="ph codeph">id</code></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested2" id="topic_mqw_mqw_zgc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title6">Deleting a record</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Use the <em class="ph i">Delete record</em> action to remove a lead or case from Salesforce.</p>
<p class="p">This action has the following inputs and outputs:</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="tablenoborder">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="table" frame="border" id="topic_mqw_mqw_zgc__table_wbp_npz_hgc" rules="all" summary="">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<thead class="thead" style="text-align:left;">
<tr class="row">
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d89e343" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;"> </th>
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d89e345" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">Variables</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e343" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">Inputs</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e345" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;"><code class="ph codeph">object_id</code></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e343" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">Output</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e345" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">none</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title7" class="topic nested2" id="topic_qjt_nqw_zgc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title7">Finding a record</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Use the <em class="ph i">Find record</em> action to search for a record based on identifying
information such as an email address or ID. </p>
<p class="p">The inputs and outputs vary by object:</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="tablenoborder">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="table" frame="border" id="topic_qjt_nqw_zgc__table_mvp_rpz_hgc" rules="all" summary="">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<thead class="thead" style="text-align:left;">
<tr class="row">
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d89e408" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;"> </th>
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d89e410" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">Variables</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e408" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">Inputs</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e410" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_qjt_nqw_zgc__ul_ah5_spz_hgc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Accounts</strong>: <code class="ph codeph">name</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">phone</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">description</code>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Leads</strong>: <code class="ph codeph">first_name</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">last_name</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">email</code>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Contacts</strong>: <code class="ph codeph">first_name</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">last_name</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">email</code>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Opportunities</strong>: <code class="ph codeph">name</code>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Cases</strong>: <code class="ph codeph">case_number</code>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Campaigns</strong>: <code class="ph codeph">name</code>
</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e408" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">Output</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e410" style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_qjt_nqw_zgc__ul_v3y_1qz_hgc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Accounts</strong>: <code class="ph codeph">id</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">name</code>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Leads</strong>: Full lead metadata</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Contacts</strong>: Full contact metadata</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Opportunities</strong>: Pipeline metadata</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Cases</strong>: Case metadata</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Campaigns</strong>: <code class="ph codeph">id</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">name</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">status</code>
</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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