Overview of Interactions for Student Recruitment
- Custom Fields on Standard Objects
- The EDA Component
- How Interactions Function - The Interaction Models
- Apex Classes and Other Metadata
Interactions for Student Recruitment helps you make the most of your recruiting processes by utilizing the great standard technology Salesforce provides along with some exciting new features.
No more tracking prospects on spreadsheets and post-it notes, or wondering which marketing efforts are the most successful in recruiting the best students. Interactions for Student Recruitment puts the power in your hands with a complete recruitment solution for the recruiters and marketing teams at your university!
The Interactions custom object, the centerpiece of this package, serves as a staging table that automates the matching and creation of records specifically built for student recruitment. Whether Interactions are created through an integration or manually, the results are the same: existing records are updated and new records are created by simply logging a single Interaction!
We strongly recommend you review the [LINK HERE] User Guide if you haven’t already. The User Guide shows how the standard and custom objects used in the package work together and uses real-world examples to demonstrate how automation can help recruiters at your university.
It is important to note the new fields on Salesforce Standard objects before installing Interactions for Student Recruitment. Refer to the [LINK HERE] “Overview of the Interactions Package” and “Standard Objects Used” sections on the User Guide page of this wiki for information on each standard object with notes on the new custom fields.
Note: This section will only touch on fields that are especially important to understand as an administrator.
For a complete list of all the fields included in the package (for all objects) including their help text, values for picklist fields and much more, see the Data Dictionary.
Constituent ID
- Added to both the Lead and Contact objects
- An ID field for integration or manual data loading purposes
- It can also be used in Duplicate Matching rules (see Create Duplicate and Matching Rules)
- Not delivered on either object as unique or as an external ID field, but it can be configured that way after installing
Application Number
- An ID field used for housing an identifying Application number
- Not delivered as unique or as an external ID field, but it can be configured that way after installing
Application Submitted Date
- A date field that displays the date the Opportunity went from the Inquiry to Applicant record type, updated by a workflow rule
- This field may also be updated manually or via an integration
Opportunity Key
- A calculated text field that is used to determine whether an Interaction will create a new Opportunity or update an existing Opportunity record
- Built out-of-the-box using the Contact’s 18-digit ID, Career, Term’s 18-digit ID, and Plan’s 18-digit ID (if applicable) to ensure it is unique and supports both a centralized and decentralized business process
- Delivered as a unique external ID field
- Learn more about this field in The Opportunity Key section
Campaign Key
- Added to the Campaign object
- Can be used to set a custom external ID field for integrations
- If it is populated, the Interaction Processor code will use it to match to a Campaign and create Campaign Member records instead of the standard Salesforce ID
- Delivered as a unique external ID field
Campaign Member Key
- Added to the Campaign Member object
- Set to Lead ID + Campaign ID and updated via workflow
- The Interaction Processor code will use it to update existing Campaign Members instead of creating new records
- Delivered as a unique external ID field
Out-of-the-box, Interactions for Student Recruitment leverages standard Salesforce functionality as well as parts of the Education Data Architecture (EDA) including Affiliations, the EDA Term object, and the EDA Account Record Type model.
Affiliations are junction object records between Contacts and Accounts (for example, Educational Institutions or Business Organizations) that can be created by logging an Interaction. The package uses the EDA Term object to segment Interactions and Opportunities (this can be setup in a variety of ways). It also utilizes EDA Account Record Types to create a meaningful data model.
If you are not familiar with EDA, complete the Manage Your Higher Ed Data with HEDA trail in Trailhead and review other relevant EDA documentation to learn the basics.
Each Interaction record that is created has the potential to:
- Convert an existing Lead record into a Contact
- Create or update up to two Campaign Members
- Create or update a Contact
- Create or update an Opportunity
- Create or update an Affiliation
But how does this auto-magic happen? By using the custom code in Interactions for Student Recruitment called the Interaction Processor.
When an Interaction is logged, the Processor searches for any existing Lead or Contact records via Lead and Contact Matching Rules. If existing records are found, they are updated (as applicable), and new records are created if no records exist.
Depending on other data provided on the Interaction (e.g. Recruitment Interest and Term, Affiliated Account data, and/or Campaign and Campaign Member Status), other related records may be created or updated (e.g. an Opportunity, Affiliation, and/or Campaign Membership, respectively).
We have included two Interaction models in the documentation to demonstrate when and which records are being created or updated when a new Interaction record is saved, including the other objects and processes involved (such as Duplicate Management and Lead Conversion).
These models can be found in the [LINK HERE] User Guide and on the Appendix page of this guide. Take a moment to review the models if you have not seen them already.
Note: We discuss best practices for setting up Duplicate Management and how it comes out-of-the-box in the Create Duplicate and Matching Rules section later on.
A list of all Apex Classes and Triggers as well as all other metadata components included in Interactions for Student Recruitment are available in the Data Dictionary. Visit the [LINK HERE] Technical Implementation Guide for additional information on how the code functions and tips on customization.