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Agile ConnectLink™ User Guide

Step-by-Step Instructions

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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 can ConnectLink™ 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?

During the onboarding process 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 so that 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. They will also determine the schedule for data syncs to fit your needs. The update also checks existing records with a ConnectLink™ Key to see if any fields should be populated or updated. 

ConnectLink™ does not delete any records, or data on records, but it may overwrite data if system settings are set to prefer Agile Data over SalesForce data. Please check with your SalesForce administrator on system settings.

Your Licensing management team has selected which data is included in your license. This includes personnel, institutions, and data points. More information on unlicensed records and how we can help manage your unlicensed data can be found below. 

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 Agile account team can 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 Salesforce administrator syncs by running a bulk update via ConnectLink™, licensed personnel will be imported to Salesforce® either as contacts or leads, depending on the settings chosen by your Salesforce administrator. 
  • Licensed personnel that are already in Salesforce® will be reviewed and updated by ConnectLink™.
  • Agile updates the database weekly. If you feel like your data is not up to date, please check with your Salesforce admin to ensure your data has been updated via a Bulk Update or Bulk Update All. 

Records in Salesforce® that do not meet the specifications of your company’s license are unlicensed. Your license management team has already determine whether or not your unlicensed records are going to be managed/updated.  Unlicensed records may be handled in the following ways:

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Unlicensed personnel in Salesforce® that are unmatched and thus do not have a ConnectLink™ Key will not be touched by ConnectLink™.
  • Fields that are updated may include job title, email address, status, as well as all mapped fields.

ConnectLink™ Fields

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

  • ConnectLink™ Key – Agile’s unique identifier. Note: May also be referred to as the Institution UID or Personnel UID.
  • ConnectLink™ Parent Key – Agile’s unique identifier for the associated district.
  • Created by ConnectLink™ checkbox indicating whether the record was imported through the ConnectLink™ application.
  • ConnectLink™ Last Sync Date – Field that indicates when the record was last synced with the Agile database.
  • 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
    • Parent Account will not update on records with this box checked.
  • Email Hard Bounce checkbox
    • Indicates that the standard email address on the record has been hard bounced in the Agile database.
  • Report CL Data Problem
    • The ability to report a data question directly from the account or contact that the Agile team will review. Once our data team has reviewed the feedback, they will get back to you with changes that have been made on our end if applicable.

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.

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®.
  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 and state, or name and 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. You may need to loosen your search criteria to find the correct record.
    • 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.

Best Practices

Report ConnectLink™ Data Problem

  • ConnectLink™ offers a direct connection between the client and Agile’s Data Compilation team. Use the “Report ConnectLink™ Data Problem” button to report any data discrepancies to the team.
  • A data specialist will review the feedback, will research the discrepancy, and will email the user a response indicating whether a change was made and why.
  • Note: This button requires that the record is not marked “Do Not Update” and has been synced in the last seven days.

Do Not Update Hierarchy Checkbox on Account, Contact, and Lead Records

  • Parent Account will not update on records with this box checked.

Email Hard Bounce Checkbox on Contact and Lead Records

  • Indicates that the standard email address on the record has been hard bounced on the Agile database.
  • Be sure to exclude these records from email communications.

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 90 days.

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?)

ConnectLink™ Status

  • Contacts: A=Active, U=Unlicensed, I=Inactive
  • Accounts: A=Active (open), C=Closed
  • Any Closed (Status C) accounts should be pulled out of any sales/marketing efforts.
  • 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.

Dashboards

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Email Hard Bounce

  • Be sure to exclude these records from email communications.

Agile Data Dictionary

Download it here. For additional information or questions, please contact your Agile account management team.

Contact Account Manager for Support

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

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