Search
Close this search box.
Agile Education Marketing block logo

Agile ConnectLink™ User Guide

Step-by-Step Instructions

Download as PDF ↓

Table of Contents

Introduction

Congratulations on your ConnectLink™ subscription! This application connects your Salesforce® org to Agile’s database, enabling you to receive updated information directly where and when you need it.

This guide is designed to be a handy source for of information about how ConnectLink™ and Salesforce® work together, and what that means for you.

ConnectLink™ is brought to you by Agile Education Marketing. The only exclusive-to-education data provider; Agile compiles and maintains a comprehensive database of institutions and personnel in public, private, and Catholic schools and districts, as well as higher education, childcare, and libraries. Our unique, rigorous data validation method and year-round, universal update processes ensure that our clients have accurate and timely institution, contact, and demographic information.

As a frequent Salesforce® user, you will notice some new data and added functionality to help you become more productive and efficient. This guide will help you understand these changes and how to get the most out of your licensed data.

ConnectLink™ Overview

What is ConnectLink™ and what it can do for you.

As the first—and longest running—native education data Salesforce® App, Agile’s ConnectLink™ is easily accessed via the Salesforce® user interface. ConnectLink™ provides organizations with the most comprehensive, streamlined, and secure CRM integration available. Update your data with one click to ensure you have the most current and accurate information to effectively execute campaigns.

Here is a quick video overview of ConnectLink™ and how it can help you.

How does it work?

We matched your Salesforce® data to the Agile database and appended Agile’s unique identifier, the ConnectLink™ Key. This creates the connection between your data and Agile’s so your records can be updated.

When an update is run, ConnectLink™ imports licensed personnel records that are not already in Salesforce®. Your Salesforce® admin determines whether new personnel are imported as contacts or leads. The update also checks existing records with a ConnectLink™ Key to see if any fields should be populated or updated.

They will also determine the schedule for data Syncs to fit your needs.

ConnectLink™ does not delete any records.

Your team chose which data (accounts/contacts/data points) are included in your license, and whether to update unlicensed records. Your team also chose whether they want the Agile data to overwrite your data, enhance the data only if the field is empty, and/or create an extra field specifically for the Agile data

ConnectLink™ License

What is in your license?

Each company is unique. Your company has licensed a data set from Agile specifically determined to address needs for your sales and marketing teams’ plans and leadership analytics. During the term of the agreement, the data licensed from Agile may be used by your company for marketing campaigns, for sales and service staff to communicate with customers and prospects, for internal tracking and analysis, etc. It may not be sold or shared with other companies.

Your account team will share a brief description of your company’s license so you can better understand the data that is made available to you in Salesforce® via ConnectLink™. The description may contain the following:

  • The types of institutions included in your license, e.g., public, private, and/or Catholic schools, districts, higher education, early childhood, public libraries.
  • A list of job titles for the personnel included in your license.
  • Criteria (such as geography, grade level, institution size, etc.) used to select your licensed records.
  • A summary of data points provided for the licensed records.

Licensed vs. unlicensed records

  • Licensed records are carried into Salesforce®, and kept updated, via ConnectLink™. When your administrator syncs to Agile via ConnectLink™, licensed personnel will be imported to Salesforce® either as contacts or leads, depending on the settings chosen by your administrator.
  • Licensed personnel that are already in Salesforce® will be reviewed and updated by ConnectLink™.
  • If consistent updates are not being made you may find some outdated information – we would suggest asking your admin to run a Bulk Update at least monthly as our database is updated weekly and we want to ensure you are viewing and working with the most up to date information.
Records in Salesforce® that do not meet the specifications of your company’s license are unlicensed. These records are contacts or leads that may have already been in Salesforce® and may or may not have been assigned a ConnectLink™ Key during the match. Unlicensed records may be handled in the following ways:

  • If your company chose to use ConnectLink™ to manage unlicensed records, then records that are not licensed but did receive a ConnectLink™ Key during the match will be updated during syncs.
  • Fields that are updated may include job title, email address, status, as well as all mapped fields.
  • If your company’s agreement does not include managed records, then personnel records that have been matched to the Agile database but are not licensed will not be updated. They can be identified by a “U” in the ConnectLink™ Status field. Check with your SF administrator on where to find that field.
  • Unlicensed personnel in Salesforce® that are unmatched and thus do not have a ConnectLink™ Key will not be touched by ConnectLink™
 

ConnectLink™ Fields

What is new on your screen?

Accounts

Fields created by ConnectLink™ that should be on your Account/Contact screens:

Records in Salesforce® that do not meet the specifications of your company’s license are unlicensed. These records are contacts or leads that may have already been in Salesforce® and may or may not have been assigned a ConnectLink™ Key during the match. Unlicensed records may be handled in the following ways:

  • If your company chose to use ConnectLink™ to manage unlicensed records, then records that are not licensed but did receive a ConnectLink™ Key during the match will be updated during syncs.
  • Fields that are updated may include job title, email address, status, as well as all mapped fields.
  • If your company’s agreement does not include managed records, then personnel records that have been matched to the Agile database but are not licensed will not be updated. They can be identified by a “U” in the ConnectLink™ Status field. Check with your SF administrator on where to find that field.
  • Unlicensed personnel in Salesforce® that are unmatched and thus do not have a ConnectLink™ Key will not be touched by ConnectLink™
 
Fields created by ConnectLink™ that should be on your Account/Contact screens:

  • Created by ConnectLink™ checkbox indicating whether the record was imported through the ConnectLink™ application.

  • ConnectLink™ Key – Agile’s unique identifier. Note: May also be referred to as the Institution UID or Personnel UID.

  • ConnectLink™ Last Sync Date – Field that indicates when the record was last synced with the Agile database.

  • ConnectLink™ Parent Key – Agile’s unique identifier for the associated district.
  • ConnectLink™ Status – Very Important. This indicates whether the account, contact, or lead is active on the Agile database.

    • Possible Status Values:

      • ACCOUNT: A = Active; C = Closed; U = Unlicensed
      • CONTACT: A = Active; I = Inactive; U = Unlicensed
      • LEAD: A = Active; I = Inactive; U = Unlicensed
  • ConnectLink™ Do Not Update – A checkbox that allows the user to “freeze” the record. The hierarchy and mapped fields will not be updated. This should rarely be used so please use it with extreme caution. If you want to mark many records as Do Not Update … please have your team reach out to their Agile Account Manager. There may be a setting that needs to be changed.

  • Do Not Update Hierarchy

  • Email Hard Bounce checkbox

  • Report CL Data Problem

Making the Most of ConnectLink™

How do you make the most of ConnectLink™?

ConnectLink™, when used effectively, can save you time and effort and improve the accuracy of your Salesforce® database. That means you can spend more time selling your company’s solutions, delivering excellent account support, and efficiently creating reports for outreach and analysis.

How does ConnectLink™ update Salesforce® records?

Bulk Updates: Your Salesforce® admin can schedule bulk updates that will sync all Salesforce® records with ConnectLink™ Keys. The bulk update will pull information from Agile to update each record when data/fields change for a specific institution or educator. All changes and new records that Agile captures are loaded weekly—check with your Salesforce® admin to determine how often ConnectLink™ bulk updates are run.

Individual Records: If you are working with a record that has a ConnectLink™ Key, you can use the ConnectLink™ Sync button to make sure that the record is up to date.

New Accounts

There are two ways to create accounts using the integration:

  • The Search tab is a way for users to import institutions on a one- off basis by searching for them with either the zip code, city/ state, or name/ state.

  • Your Salesforce® admin has permission to add multiple accounts.

Adding new accounts, contacts, and leads

With the ConnectLink™ subscription, you now have access to a set of records that were licensed by your company.

Before adding a new record to Salesforce®, follow these instructions:


  1. Do a search to see if the record already exists in Salesforce®. You may need to loosen your search criteria to find the correct record.
  2. The Search tab is a way for users to import accounts on a one-off basis by searching for them with either the zip code, city/ state, or name/ state.
  3. Enter a partial record, then use the ConnectLink™ Matching button. ConnectLink™ will help search for the record and allow you to merge or sync your new record to an existing record or match it to the Agile database.
    • For accounts, an account name and state are required to use the ConnectLink™ Account Matching button.
    • For contacts, an email address is required to use the ConnectLink™ Contact Matching button.
    • For leads, an email address is required to use the ConnectLink™ Lead Matching button.
  4. Using these matching buttons will ensure that ConnectLink™ Keys are added to your records whenever possible, which allows ConnectLink™ to help keep that record updated. When you Sync the account, it will import licensed contacts for that account.
  5. If a record is still not found after searching and using the ConnectLink™ Matching buttons, use the New Institutions Tab to see if an Account should be created by ConnectLink™ for your record. You can search the list of New Institutions, select your account, and ConnectLink™ will create an account record. If you have contacts to add, you can do that if needed after you create and sync the account.

Understanding the related accounts and contacts objects

An educator may be associated with multiple institutions. For example, a principal may also serve as a curriculum coordinator for their district, or a social worker may serve in more than one school. When you are looking at an account record, you can view all the contacts that are related to that account. When you are looking at a contact record, you can view all the accounts that are related to that contact – even if they are for past roles – such as for a district director who was previously an assistant principal at a school in that district, these fields are called ConnectLink™ Roles and ConnectLink™ Inactive Roles.

ConnectLink™ Roles and ConnectLink™ Inactive Roles

Best Practices

For various reasons, there may be some accounts, contacts, or leads that we were not able to match (typically there is not enough data for us to match or they are accounts we do not have (non-education accounts).

Report ConnectLink™ Data Problem

You can use the Report CL Data Problem button to report data discrepancies directly to our data compilation team.

Do Not Update Hierarchy

Lorem ipsum dolor…

Email Hard Bounce checkbox

Lorem ipsum dolor…

Do Not Update Flag

This should be used very sparingly! There are certain use cases for temporarily checking the “Do Not Update” button but do not forget to uncheck it when done. To ensure your data updates are not compromised by forgetting the uncheck step, we recommended that your Salesforce® administrator remove the checked Do Not Update Flag on records that have not been updated in the past two months.

Why would you use this flag?

  • If you are currently working on a deal with a potential customer and want to ensure the account or contact information is not changed during the process.
    • Example: Your pricing is based on school enrollment, and you don’t want the enrollment in Salesforce® to change while working on the deal.

Why would you remove it?
  • If you want the record to be updated with Agile information each time a Bulk Update is run.
  • If you have closed your open deal and are ready for Connect Link™ to update the record.

Search

  • Make sure you are searching for an account, contact, and/or lead before adding it so you do not create a duplicate. If a matching record already exists, the page will give you an option to “View” the existing record and decide whether to Merge the two. The Matching Button can be used to sync/merge duplicates, as well as fill in a missing ConnectLink™ Key.
  • If there is no match, what do you do next (follow instructions for New Institutions on pg. X; New Inst tab or Search tab?)

Related Accounts/Contacts object

Lorem ipsum dolor…

Roles & Inactive Roles

  • Any Inactive contacts should be pulled out of any sales/marketing efforts. It is up to your organization to determine how to process/manage these inactive contacts/roles.
  • In SFDC, how does CL relate accounts to contacts and vice-versa?
  • Brief account hierarchy info so users understand parent accounts.
  • Contacts: A=Active, U=Unlicensed, I=Inactive
  • Accounts: A=Active (open), C=Closed

Active vs Closed

  • Any Closed (Staus C) accounts or contacts should be pulled out of any sales/marketing efforts.

Email Hard Bounce

Lorem ipsum dolor…

Sync

  • Sync an individual contact/account/district.

Agile Data Dictionary

Download it here.

Speak with a Consultant     |     866.782.0241 x 108     |     [email protected]

We use cookies to give you the best online experience. Cookies keep our site secure and reliable. They allow us to personalize agile-ed.com to you and help us analyze how the site is used.

Accept
Decline
Skip to content