Maintaining the CRM mapping table

The CRM mapping table in Ajera is the map of the data linked between Ajera to the data in CRM.These tables let the synchronization know what information to update between the two products.

When no information for projects, contacts, clients, or employees exist in the mapping table, the synchronization process will compare all records in Ajera to all records in CRM and add any records that contain the exact description on both applications to the mapping table.

  • For projects, if the description in Ajera is 40 characters or under, it is compared to the Short Name in CRM. If it is over 40 characters, it is compared to the long name.
  • For clients, the client description in Ajera is compared to the Client Name in CRM.
  • For contacts, the contact First, Middle, and Last Name is compared the First, Middle, and Last Name in CRM.
  • For employees, the employees First, Middle, and Last Name is compared to the First, Middle, and Last Name in CRM.
  • For Vendors, the vendor description in Ajera is compared to the Vendor name in CRM.

How it works

The first time information is being added to the mapping table either with an automatic or manual sync, Ajera searches for records with the same name and will add those existing records to the mapping table.Once there is information in the mapping table for the record type, Ajera will not search for additional existing records to add to the mapping table. For projects, you can run the manual sync and mark Map Unsynced Ajera projects to existing CRM projects option to achieve the same thing.

To sync consultant vendor information that was entered in Ajera prior to turning on the vendor sync, Sync historical project consultants to CRM updates CRM with any consultant vendors entered to mapped CRM projects, when using the manual sync option,

Once the mapping table contains information, only information that is marked to Sync to Ajera or Sync to CRM will be considered in the synchronization process. Records set to sync between Ajera & CRM will always check for an existing record with the same name. If that record is found, the two records will be mapped together.

For example: If you add a new client in CRM called ACME SUPPLIES and set it to Sync to Ajera, the sync process will first look for a client with the description Acme Supplies. If it finds that client and the client is not currently mapped to another CRM record, then it will map the two records together. If the sync process does not find an existing record, then a new client will be created. Ajera does not support two records with the same name so if it finds the client with the same name mapped to another client in CRM, an error will appear on the integration log.

Once records are added to the mapping table, the information between the two applications will be updated during the sync process, if the records change. The sync process uses the last modified date in each application to determine what needs to be changed. If the record has not changed since the last sync, it will not be included.

Syncing Projects

If the amount of projects that need to be synced from Ajera to Vantagepoint CRM exceeds 500, the projects will sync in batches of 500 at a time. This means the sync process will need to be run multiple times to completely sync all of the projects. The Integration Log will track your progress. For example, if you have 1600 projects to update from Ajera to CRM, your Integration log will contain a message like:

"The sync contained more than 500 projects. Please re-run the manual or auto sync 3 more times to sync all remaining projects."

You will need to finish syncing all of the project batches before the normal project syncing will proceed. Once all the batches have been synced, a ‘Sync Completed’ message will appear on the Integration Log and there will be no mention of additional batches. Additional processing involving projects being created in CRM or information updated from CRM will also have occurred.

Removing records from the mapping table

If records are added to the mapping table and subsequently deleted in either application, those records will be deleted during the next sync. If the record is deleted in CRM, you must make a change to the mapped record in Ajera to have that record removed from the mapping table.

You can also manually delete the record from the mapping table. You may want to do this if the record was inadvertently mapped to the incorrect record. To delete the record from the mapping table, add the gallery item CRM Sync Details Administration. Find the record you want to delete and select Delete.

Since the record no longer exists on the mapping table, it will be considered for new mapping when the next synchronization is run.