I generate reports in Salesforce that then have to be exported to Excel then imported into Access 2007 (yes, I know...we are STILL using 2007), but I am looking to cut out the middleman by importing directly from Salesforce into Access 2007? What is the process?
Import from Salesforce into Access (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter ALewis06
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if you can export to a csv or similar, the process becomes much easier. It isn't real time integrated, but its fairly simple.
using a (paginated) report is harder, and also probably limits you to a restricted number of characters.
using a (paginated) report is harder, and also probably limits you to a restricted number of characters.
When you say export to a .csv or similar, do you mean via a manual process? Because that is what I am doing now: I run a report in SFDC, export it to Excel, then import that file from Excel to Access.
In order to get even close to realtime, I would have to repeat this process each time. It becomes especially problematic when I release an accde file to an end user who is expecting current data each time they run a macro to refresh the other data. My SFDC data will not be always be current.
In order to get even close to realtime, I would have to repeat this process each time. It becomes especially problematic when I release an accde file to an end user who is expecting current data each time they run a macro to refresh the other data. My SFDC data will not be always be current.
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yes. that's what I meant.
if (say) a daily update is not sufficient, and there is no way of connecting real time to salesforce, - then I think really you need to be thinking about whether salesforce is the right product.
ultimately software is a compromise. At some point you need to decide how important a particular function is.
if (say) a daily update is not sufficient, and there is no way of connecting real time to salesforce, - then I think really you need to be thinking about whether salesforce is the right product.
ultimately software is a compromise. At some point you need to decide how important a particular function is.
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well if you can't get the salesforce data in real time., the alternative is to import the latest data at set times during the day, and accept that it will be out of date to a minor extent. I can't see any alternative.
if it's so mission critical that it has to be achieved, then maybe it's worth talking to salesforce to see if they can give/sell you an ODBC link or similar.
if it's so mission critical that it has to be achieved, then maybe it's worth talking to salesforce to see if they can give/sell you an ODBC link or similar.
@Gemma-the-husky It appears from https://help.salesforce.com/HTViewSolution?id=000109985 that the data could be obtain anytime if not in real time through a WEB interface. So challenge would be to create the the code to connect to the WEB site from Access and create a table from the returned HTML. Seems odd that this hasn't already been done by someone.
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At this point, if your tech people disallow use of that API then you kick this can up to your boss with the statement, "It is not possible to have true real-time data. What is the greatest amount of data latency that is acceptable?" (Bring your documentation of what you have researched.)
If your boss says, "Not acceptable to have ANY latency" then your answer is "Can you please talk to our Tech Support folks about this? It is above my head, authority-wise and for political rather than technical reasons."
In essence, to get past this point you have to make it someone else's problem first to handle (or personally encounter) your company's internal barriers.
If your boss says, "Not acceptable to have ANY latency" then your answer is "Can you please talk to our Tech Support folks about this? It is above my head, authority-wise and for political rather than technical reasons."
In essence, to get past this point you have to make it someone else's problem first to handle (or personally encounter) your company's internal barriers.
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I don't see any difference between using the web idea, and importing an excel dump. it's just another way of getting out of date data.
Am I missing something?
Am I missing something?
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From the discussions, the perception of the boss here is that the web data is the best there is at the time. Doing it via the spreadsheet is less than the expectations of the next (or higher) management and therefore the issue is political rather than technical. Dave, you are probably absolutely right - but the problem is to make someone else realize that fact. Hence my suggestion to make it "someone else's problem."
ALewis's problem is that at the moment, his boss sees this as "somebody else's problem" and thus the difficulties are invisible to him. (I am reminded of Douglas Adams and the "Somebody Else's Problem" field that was used for invisibility so that the most horrendous creatures could roam freely in New York City without being noticed. The field was psychic and made anyone seeing a horrendous creature immediately realize that the creature was somebody else's problem.)
Once there is a realization of the degree of difficulty, ALewis has a chance to do something a bit less difficult with only a slight penalty in data latency.
ALewis's problem is that at the moment, his boss sees this as "somebody else's problem" and thus the difficulties are invisible to him. (I am reminded of Douglas Adams and the "Somebody Else's Problem" field that was used for invisibility so that the most horrendous creatures could roam freely in New York City without being noticed. The field was psychic and made anyone seeing a horrendous creature immediately realize that the creature was somebody else's problem.)
Once there is a realization of the degree of difficulty, ALewis has a chance to do something a bit less difficult with only a slight penalty in data latency.
My understanding was that the spreadsheet transfer required manual intervention. So data latency is the number of hours it takes whoever has this job to get around to doing it. That might end up to be more than a slight penalty.
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I agree with the Doc Man.
It's certainly out of ALewis' hands.
It's up to the guy who pays the bills to decide how he wants to proceed.
Maybe ALewis could ask SalesForce whether what he wants is possible at all, and how much it would cost, before kicking it upstairs. That would show the right attitude, I think.
It's certainly out of ALewis' hands.
It's up to the guy who pays the bills to decide how he wants to proceed.
Maybe ALewis could ask SalesForce whether what he wants is possible at all, and how much it would cost, before kicking it upstairs. That would show the right attitude, I think.
