Home > DupeBlocker Advanced Functions > Auto-Convert

Auto-Convert

NEW IN DUPEBLOCKER 2!

Note:  Auto-Convert WILL NOT work for Person Accounts.

Overview

Lead to Contact and Lead to Account scenarios now have an additional "Match on Insert Action" option, Auto-Convert.  If a Lead matches an existing Contact based on a Lead to Contact scenario it can automatically be converted and merged into the matching Contact.  If a Lead matches an existing Account based on a Lead to Account scenario it can automatically be converted to a NEW Contact on the matching Account.

Auto-Conversions are ONLY triggered when a Lead is being inserted.  If a Contact or Account is being inserted that matches to an existing Lead it will not trigger an auto-conversion.

This option can be used with any Lead to Contact or Lead to Account scenario, however, its primary purpose is to auto-convert records being entered via an automated process that performs a single insert.  Combining this feature with the new Scenario Filter option, deduplication Scenarios can now be developed to effect just a sub set of Leads, Account or Contacts  (i.e. Web to Lead inserts, filtering on Lead Source).  Filtering on custom fields is available, therefore, a flag could be set to identify records that are inserted via an automated process.

Note:  It is also recommended that this option ONLY be used with relatively strict matching criteria to avoid merging records that are NOT duplicates.

The conversion itself can be customized as to which record the new record should be merged into if there are multiple matches: 
  • Oldest Record
  • Newest Record
  • Last Updated Record
Additionally the conversion can be customized as to how the fields should be converted.  Salesforce's conversion mappings are used as defaults, but individual mappings can be added or updated to customize the conversion on a field by field basis:
  • Ignore
  • Update if Blank
  • Overwrite
  • Merge (for multi-select, text area & checkbox fields)
Opportunities can be created as part of the conversion if desired.

Tasks can also optionally be created to track the data on the new record prior to the conversion.  All fields can be included in the task or just specific fields.
    Since auto-convert was designed for automated processes that insert records where no user interaction takes place, no immediate "message" is sent to the Salesforce User Interface indicating that the record was just auto-converted.  If a user was entering a new record via the Salesforce user interface, it will appear that the new record was inserted.  However, as soon as they try to edit the record in any way (update a field, or add a task etc.), they will see a message that the record was converted and what Contact, Account and/or Opportunity it was converted into.



    If an Opportunity is created as part of the auto-conversion process, an email notification can be sent to the Opportunity owner.

    The auto-convert option is best used with DupeBlocker Scenario Filters as described above.  Scenarios that will be triggered for end users should ideally be set to either "Do Not Insert", "Redirect to Existing" or "Report Duplicate" where the user can be notified immediately that a duplicate was detected.

    Selecting the Auto-Convert Lead Option

    In the DupeBlocker Scenario Detail screen, select "Auto-Convert Lead" from the drop down list of options for "Match on Insert Action" options.



    Auto-Convert Settings

    Click the Auto-Merge/Convert Settings button at the top of then screen to review the default settings and customize as needed.


    Primary Settings (Task settings described separately)


    Step 1:  Conversion Target

    If multiple matching records are found, specify which record the incoming data should be converted into:
    • Oldest Record (based on created date) DEFAULT
    • Newest Record (based on created date)
    • Last Updated Record (based on last modified date)
    Step 2:  Conversion Priority

    This field specifies the order in which multiple auto-convert scenarios are acted upon.  The lower the number the higher the priority.

    This is ONLY used when multiple scenarios are matched for a single record.

    Note:  If a Lead matches to both a Lead scenario set to auto-merge and a Lead to Contact or Lead to Account scenario set to auto-convert, the auto-conversion will take precedence over the auto-merge.  Additionally, Lead to Contact auto-convert takes precedence over Lead to Account auto-convert.

    Step 3:  Converted Status

    Status to apply to the Lead during an auto conversion.  The status must be a converted status.  DEFAULT:  Closed-Converted.

    Note:  if Lead processes are defined (due to the use of Record Types for Leads) then the status selected must be included in the Lead process associated with the Record Type for that Lead.

    Step 4:  Created Contact Owner (only applies to Lead to Account auto-conversions where a new Contact is being created)

    Owner of the new Contact that is created when the Lead is auto-converted in a Lead to Account Scenario:
    • Account Owner
    • Current User
    • Lead Owner: DEFAULT
    Step 5:  Create Opportunity

    Check this box if an Opportunity should be created when the Lead is converted to a Contact.  When checked, additional options regarding the creation of the Opportunity will be displayed:

    Step 1:  Opportunity Owner:  Who should own the Opportunity?

    • Account Owner
    • Contact Owner
    • Current User
    • Lead Owner:  DEFAULT
    Note:  If "Bypass Security" is checked on the scenario, and the Opportunity Owner is set to either "Lead Owner" or "Current User", and that particular user typically DOES NOT have access the the Account or Contact (private sharing model), they will now have read only access to both the Account and Contact, due to the Opportunity being owned by them.

    Step 2:  Opportunity Name - A DEFAULT name of "DupeBlocker Auto-Conversion Opportunity" is provided but can be updated.
    Step 3:  Opportunity Close Date - Close Date for the Opportunity.  DEFAULT "1 Month", but various options for future dates are provided via a drop down list.
    Step 4:  Opportunity Stage -     DEFAULT "Prospecting", but can select any Opportunity Stage available in Salesforce via a drop down list.
    Step 5:  Send Notification Email - Check this box to send an email to the Opportunity Owner notifying them that an Opportunity was just created during the auto-conversion process:




    Field Mappings
    The Conversion field mappings as defined in Salesforce will apply when using DupeBlocker's auto-convert option, including custom field mappings.  Mapping fields in the auto-convert settings allows the ability to override the settings in Salesforce (i.e. overwrite data from the Lead to the matching object vs. update only if blank), or map one field to multiple fields in the related Salesforce table (Accounts, Contacts or Opportunities).  For example:
    • Address fields on the Lead can be mapped to Shipping Address fields on the Account.  The default Salesforce mappings for Lead address data will still apply (populate Mailing and Billing address fields), but the same fields will ALSO be mapped to the Shipping fields on the Account.
    • Data from the Lead can OVERWRITE data on the Account, Contact or Opportunity, i.e. can choose to keep the email address that was on the Lead vs. the email address that was on the matching Contact.
    When initially setting up an auto-conversion, DupeBlocker automatically maps Lead fields to Accounts, Contact and Opportunity fields if the fields have the same API name and Salesforce data type.

    Default "Conversion Actions" are also set for each field that is auto mapped:
    • Update if Blank - for non-mergeable fields:  If the field is empty on the Master Record, then update that field with incoming data, if provided.
      • This is the same behavior as converting directly in Salesforce
    • Merge - for mergeable fields: Combine the data on the Master Record with the incoming data, i.e. for a multi-select picklist field, if the incoming record contains "apples" and the Master Record contains "bananas", the merged multi-select picklist field will contain "apples;bananas".
      • This overrides the "update if blank" behavior in a typical Salesforce conversion and instead merges any new values with existing values on the target record.  If merging is not desired then simply delete the mapping for this field (reverts back to "update if blank" per Salesforce), or optionally change the action to "overwrite" to completely update the values on the target object with the data from the Lead.
    Mergeable Fields include any text area or long area text fields (NOT regular text fields), multi-select picklists, and checkbox (true/false) fields.  Merging a checkbox field will always keep a True value over a False value, i.e. "True always wins".  All other fields are considered non-mergeable fields.

    Note:  The Company field from the Lead table will be auto-mapped the the Account Name field even though the API names are not the same.  Additionally the Record Type ID from the Lead will NOT be auto-mapped to Record Type ID fields on the Account, Contact, or Opportunity tables as the Record Type ID's are not compatible across tables.

    By default all converted fields will be included in the auto-convert Task, if the "Save as Task" box is checked in the Primary Auto-Conversion Settings.

    One Lead field can result in multiple mappings if a field with the same name exists on more than one of the Target Objects (Account, Contact or Opportunity tables), i.e. the Lead Description will map to Account Description, Contact Description and Opportunity Description.



    Default mappings can be updated, deleted and new mappings can be added.

    When will default mappings need to be added, updated or deleted:

    • Mappings should be added if:
      • A Lead field should be mapped to multiple fields in the Target Object, i.e. additionally mapping Lead address fields to Shipping or Other address fields in the Account or Contact.
      • A new field is added to the Lead table AND included in the Salesforce conversion mappings HOWEVER the default conversion setting "update if blank" in Salesforce should be overridden by either merge or overwrite
    • Mappings should be updated if:
      • The "conversion action" for a mapped field should be changed to overwrite, ignore or merge.
      • A field was auto-mapped by default, but should not be included in the auto-conversion Task.  In this case update the mapping to uncheck the "Include in Task" checkbox.
    • Mappings should be deleted if:
      • A field was auto-mapped by default, but it should not be included as part of the conversion.
      • A field is later deleted from the Lead table or any of the Target Objects (Account, Contact or Opportunity tables) the related auto-convert mapping will need to be deleted.  Auto-conversions that take place after a field has been deleted, but the mapping has not been deleted, will fail with the following DupeBlocker Error:

    *** Trigger: DB_AutoConvert.asyncConvert

    *** isMerge value: false

    *** Trigger.new size: 0

    *** Trigger.old size: 0

    *** Exception Type: System.SObjectException

    *** Exception Cause: null

    *** Exception Message: Invalid field "deleted_field_name" for Lead

    Customizing Field Mapping

    Adding a New Mapping



    Step 1:  Lead Field - Select the field from the Lead that should be mapped from the drop-down list of all convertible fields.

    Step 2:  Target Object     - Select the object the field should be mapped to:
    • Account
    • Contact
    • Opportunity
    Step 3:  Target Field - Select the field of the target object the Lead field should be mapped to from a list of applicable fields provided in the drop-down list.
    • Applicable fields will include fields with the same data type as the Lead field.
    • Regular text fields can be mapped to any other text field of the same length or longer.
    Step 4:  Conversion Action - Specify how data on the incoming Lead should be handled during the conversion:
    • Ignore:  Use if the field should NOT be converted, but DO include it in the Task creation
    • Field Mappings as defined in Salesforce CANNOT be overridden with ignore.
    • Update if Blank:  If the field is empty on the Target Record, then update that field with Lead data.
    • Overwrite:  Overwrite the field on the Target Record with the Lead data.  Blanks on the Lead data are ignored (will not overwrite data on the Target Record with a blank).
    Note:  It is recommended that field history tracking be turned on for any key fields that may be overwritten in an auto-convert.
    • Merge:  Combine the data on the Target Record with the incoming data, i.e. for a multi-select picklist field, if the Lead record contains "apples" and the Target Record contains "bananas", the converted multi-select picklist field will contain "apples;bananas".
    Step 5:  Include in Task (Only applies if Tasks are being created per the Auto-Convert Primary Settings)
    • If "Default include in Task Value" is checked in the Auto-Convert Primary Settings, then this box will be checked by default.
    • If "Default include in Task Value" is NOT checked in the Auto-Convert Primary Settings, then this box will be unchecked by default.
    • Check or uncheck to include or exclude the field in the Task.
    Step 6:  Add - Click "Add" to add the new mapping.

    Updating an Existing Mapping

    First locate the Mapping that should be updated, and select Edit.


    Select the options to update.


    Step 1:  Conversion Action - Select the appropriate action from the drop-down list.
    Step 2:  Include in Task - Check or uncheck this box.
    Step 3:  Save - Click "Save" to save the changes.

    Deleting an Existing Mapping
    First locate the Mapping that should be deleted, and select Delete.



    ONCE ALL NEW MAPPINGS HAVE BEEN CUSTOMIZED CLICK "SAVE" IN THE PRIMARY SETTINGS TO SAVE ALL CHANGES.

    Task Settings

    Tasks can optionally be created to track the data that was on the Lead record.  All fields or selected fields can be included in the Task.

    The task will be created on the Contact record that the Lead was converted to, and by default will be owned by the user that entered the incoming data.



    Step 1:  Save as Task

    Check this box to have a Task Created.

    Step 2:  Task Subject

    Enter the subject for the resulting task.  A DEFAULT subject of "    DupeBlocker Auto-Convert - Original Lead Data" is provided but can be updated.

    Step 3:  Task Owner

    Select who the owner of the task should be
    • Lead Owner:  DEFAULT
    • Account Owner
    • Contact Owner
    • Current User
    Step 4:  Task Status

    DEFAULT "Not Started", but can select any Task Status available in Salesforce via a drop down list.

    Step 5:  Default Include in Task Value

    Check this box to include all fields by default in the Task.  DEFAULT: checked.

    Step 6:  Task Due Date

    DEFAULT "Immediate", but various options for future dates are provided via a drop down list.

    Example of a Task created from Lead converted and merged into an existing Contact.



    Example of Contact History related list entry after an auto-convert:  History Tracking enabled in Salesforce



    Example of Account History related list entry after an auto-convert:  History Tracking enabled in Salesforce