Introduction Salesforce Einstein Activity Capture (EAC) automatically associates emails and events to Salesforce records, keeping your sales reps updated without manual entry. EAC comes with Einstein Analytics, allowing sales reps to get AI-driven insights based on these captured activities. This tutorial will help both admins and developers navigate and exploit the features of EAC.
Table of Contents
- Overview and Benefits
- Setting Up Einstein Activity Capture
- Configuring for Admins
- Configuring for Developers
- Best Practices
- Troubleshooting
1. Overview and Benefits
Einstein Activity Capture: EAC lets users automatically capture emails and events from Google Workspace, Microsoft Exchange, and Office 365, associating them with Salesforce records. Once captured, these activities are visible in the Salesforce Activity Timeline.
Benefits:
- Reduces manual data entry, increasing productivity.
- Provides a comprehensive view of customer interactions.
- Fuels Einstein Analytics with fresh data for AI-driven insights.
2. Setting Up Einstein Activity Capture
Prerequisites:
- Salesforce Enterprise Edition or above.
- Admin access to the Salesforce Org.
- Einstein Analytics license.
Steps:
- Navigate to Setup.
- Use Quick Find to search for “Einstein Activity Capture”.
- Click on “Getting Started” to kick off the setup.
3. Configuring for Admins
3.1 Connecting Email Accounts:
- Navigate to the EAC settings page.
- Under “Email Connections”, select the type of email account (Google Workspace, Microsoft Exchange, or Office 365).
- Follow the on-screen prompts to authenticate and connect the email system.
3.2 Setting Sharing Settings:
- Choose who can view captured activities: either set it to be visible to only the owners and shared users or allow anyone with access to the related Salesforce record to view it.
- Understand that emails marked as private in the email system remain private in Salesforce too.
3.3 Customizing the Activity Timeline:
- Navigate to the page layout editor.
- Drag and drop the “Activity Timeline” component where you want it to appear on the record’s page layout.
- Save the layout.
4. Configuring for Developers
4.1 Accessing Captured Data:
- EAC doesn’t store activities in the standard
Activityobject. Instead, it uses theEmailMessageandEventobjects. - Use SOQL queries to access this data. E.g., to get all emails related to an account:
SELECT Id, Subject, ToAddress, FromAddress, TextBody FROM EmailMessage WHERE RelatedToId = :someAccountId
4.2 Customizing EAC with Apex:
- While direct modification of captured data is not possible, developers can use triggers or batch jobs to perform actions based on new activities.
4.3 Integrating with External Systems:
- Use Salesforce APIs to sync the captured activities with external systems. The REST or SOAP API can extract activity data, which can then be pushed to other platforms.
5. Best Practices
- Privacy: Always inform users that their emails and events will be captured. Ensure GDPR and other data protection regulations are adhered to.
- Training: Regularly train sales reps and users on how to effectively use the captured data for insights and how to work with the Activity Timeline.
- Monitor Usage: Periodically review the usage of EAC to ensure it’s meeting business needs.
6. Troubleshooting
Issue: Activities not appearing in Salesforce
- Check the email connection.
- Ensure the email or event is related to an existing Salesforce record.
Issue: Performance Issues or Delays
- Large volumes of emails and events might delay syncing. Wait for some time or contact Salesforce support if delays persist.
Issue: Activities appearing for the wrong record
- Check the email connection settings.
- Ensure correct email matching rules are in place.
Conclusion
Einstein Activity Capture can immensely benefit Salesforce users by eliminating manual data entry and offering a comprehensive view of interactions. Both admins and developers play a pivotal role in setting up, customizing, and maximizing the utility of EAC. With this guide, you should be equipped to integrate EAC smoothly into your Salesforce operations.
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