Introduction to the Oracle Eloqua Salesforce Integration App

Why this migration mattersCopy anchor link ⬎

In January 2021, Oracle Eloqua's legacy Salesforce integration was retired and is no longer supported. If you are still running it, you cannot make edits to your configuration — and if you pause or disable any actions, you will not be able to switch them back on.

That is a real problem for any business that has not yet moved across or taken the time to understand the differences between the old and new configurations. This guide is a simple introduction to the new Salesforce Integration App to help you get started. If you want hands-on configuration support, get in touch — and for the full detail, Oracle publishes official Salesforce Integration documentation worth bookmarking.

Accessing the Salesforce Integration AppCopy anchor link ⬎

The Salesforce Integration App for Oracle Eloqua is downloaded from the Oracle Marketplace. The first thing you will notice is that everything now lives within the Apps section of Eloqua — the dedicated 'Integration' section becomes redundant once you have fully migrated.

Open the app via Apps > Salesforce Integration > Config. A window opens inside the application where you manage the entire configuration from one place.

The sections inside the appCopy anchor link ⬎

The app is broken into a handful of easy-to-navigate sections, each with a clear job:

• Status and Reporting — check the volume and status of imports and exports, by day and by action, including any failed updates.
• Actions — configure all the data you want to send from Eloqua to Salesforce.
• Imports — configure all the data you want to pull from Salesforce into Eloqua.
• Marketing Activities — bundle and send the marketing activity logged in Eloqua to a Salesforce object (Tasks or a custom object).
• Campaigns — configure campaign responses and manage how campaign members' responses flow to Salesforce.
• Connections — connect Eloqua to one or many Salesforce instances.
• Notifications — set up alerts for successful and failed integrations.

Setting up actions and importsCopy anchor link ⬎

Most of your data transfer is handled by Imports and Actions, which work much like the legacy integration's External Calls and Internal Calls. Each action or import sets up a one-way dialogue between a single Salesforce object and a single Eloqua object — Eloqua Contacts to Salesforce Leads or Contacts, for example.

Because every object-to-object connection needs its own action or import, you will build up a portfolio of them over time to manage the daily synchronisation between both platforms. Actions are configured by mapping fields line by line, or by adding custom information to a destination field, such as a timestamp or a descriptive message.

Helpful tip: build LITE and FULL actions

Salesforce operates as an accept-none integration, which means a single field that errors will stop the entire sync from completing. To protect yourself, create a 'LITE' version of each import that syncs the minimum critical data, followed by a 'FULL' action with everything else. That way a stray data error can't block mission-critical information from getting through.

Setting up marketing activitiesCopy anchor link ⬎

Marketing activities differ from the legacy integration in that activities are bundled into send packages. When building yours, create an activity bundle for each type of activity — 'Email Clicks', for instance — and add multiple actions within it for the different variations you want to send.

For example, send richer data about a clickthrough for contacts tied to prospect accounts (where sales may want to follow along), and a lighter tally of opens and clicks for everyone else. It is also worth splitting data by email group, since operational or transactional emails usually warrant less data than marketing messages.

Setting up campaign responsesCopy anchor link ⬎

Campaign responses work much like the legacy campaign responses section, and are really only needed if you actively use campaign response rules in your current implementation.

Where you do, we recommend the UPSERT action for campaign members and handling responses against specific criteria, rather than sending every response rule for every campaign. You cut down the volume of calls to Salesforce and stay far more deliberate about exactly what you sync.

The game-changer: actions on the Campaign CanvasCopy anchor link ⬎

The single biggest improvement is how easy it now is to add Salesforce actions directly inside your campaigns. With the old setup, Program Builder was a disjointed experience — you configured an action, sent data to a program, then went back to check whether everything had validated and run.

With the new app you can open a program and configure every Salesforce action — create lead, update contact, update campaign membership, trigger lead assignment — complete with error rules, right from the Campaign Canvas. There is no need to shuttle data off to another section of Eloqua. For teams unfamiliar with integration settings, that single change makes the whole process far less intimidating.

There is also more control under the hood: schedule imports from every 15 minutes up to every 24 hours, choose the days each call runs, use Salesforce SQL (SSQL) to write the conditions that fire each import, and run any call manually to test it. Consolidating activity sends into fewer, batched calls generally makes for a more stable integration too.

The interface is much more intuitive — anyone who felt overwhelmed managing multiple data-processing steps can get up to speed and feel comfortable with the tool quickly.

For a quick run-through and video guide of the integration app, please watch the video below — and keep an eye out for more posts covering specific integration topics.

Wrapping upCopy anchor link ⬎

The new Salesforce Integration App keeps all the functionality of the old integration, centralises your data processing in one place, and makes day-to-day management genuinely easier. If you are still on the legacy integration, the safest move is to plan your migration now — before you need to change something you can no longer edit.

Keep an eye out for follow-up posts covering specific integration topics in more depth. If you would like a hand mapping your migration or untangling an existing configuration, that is exactly the kind of work we do.