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Defining and Using the CRM Integration
Defining and Using the CRM Integration
Lauren Campbell avatar
Written by Lauren Campbell
Updated over a week ago

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What is the Simpleview CRM?

The Simpleview CRM is a Customer Relationship Management system designed specifically for destination organizations. The Simpleview CRM helps organizations manage their data, which may include information about visitors, business partners, leads and events.

What is the CRM Integration?

The CRM integration enables destination organizations to power their events with attendee information from Simpleview CRM while leveraging the Eventsforce system’s robust event management capabilities.

How Do I Get the CRM Integration?

The CRM integration requires a contract with Simpleview, plus a signed work order for the Simpleview CRM Eventsforce integration. From there, your Simpleview team configures your CRM to connect with Eventsforce.

Contact your Customer Success Representative to discuss the procurement process in more detail.

How Do I Use the CRM Integration?

The process of creating and managing an Eventsforce Event in the CRM begins with its creation in Eventsforce. The next steps include populating one or two fields’ dropdown values and then accessing the Eventsforce Event from CRM so you can add the attendee list.

The Eventsforce integration allows the Event to display on the Benefits Summary in CRM for invitees, attendees and stakeholder accounts that serve as host locations.

Creating an Event in Eventsforce

Log into your Eventsforce account and use the guidance provided on the Eventsforce platform to create an Event. You’ll use the functionality within Eventsforce to set up Event costs and manage the registration portal.

Some Eventsforce Event fields must contain information for the CRM integration to function correctly. These are the sections and their fields that you must complete on the Eventsforce platform:

  • Event Details:

    • Event name

    • (Event) Status

    • Start date and time

    • End date and time

  • Venue:

    • Maximum venue capacity

  • Registration Settings:

    • Allow new registrations ‘To’

      • This date field provides the cutoff date for registrations for the Event

  • Simpleview CRM Integration

    • Simpleview CRM Integration for this event is

      • Set this to “On”

Populating Dropdown Values in CRM

Because of Eventsforce’s powerful capabilities and Simpleview’s initial configuration of your Eventsforce integration in CRM, your organization has minimal setup to complete.

Please consider the guidelines below before using the CRM Integration.

Event Type: Before adding attendees to any synced Event, use the Admin menu to populate the ‘Event Type’ dropdown values for your Eventsforce user group. Add Event Types to include the default User Groups from which you will add Contacts to Eventsforce Events.

Attendee Type: Upon sync of an Event from Eventsforce to CRM, the Attendee Type field is populated with the same value from Eventsforce. If the Eventsforce Attendee type is not an option in CRM, it will be created as a new value in the dropdown for the Events user group in which the event was synced. Because of this, you do not need to create new values for the Attendee Type dropdown.

Cost / Payment Fields: Due to Eventsforce’s payment capabilities, you do not have to populate any of the Cost- or Payment-related Dropdown fields in your Eventsforce user group. Eventsforce takes care of invoices, itineraries and other payment configurations.

Event Status: Your organization does not need to add Event Statuses because these values (e.g., “live,” “notlive,” “canceled”) are auto-populated during the sync with Eventsforce.

Adding the Event in CRM

After you have created the Event in Eventsforce and created Event Types within your Eventsforce User Group, use the following steps to add attendees:

  1. Click the ‘Add New Event’ button to open a new Event form.

  2. Enter the Eventsforce Event ID in the first field on the form.

  • You will find this ID in Eventsforce in the upper left corner of an Event.

3. Click the Magnifying Glass Icon to search for the Event.

  • If the Event ID is already synced with another event in the CRM, you will see this message: “Eventsforce ID is already tied to CRM Event ID [CRM EventID].”

    • Click ‘OK,’ and the system will clear the ID.

    • Type in an Event ID that is not yet synced.

  • If the Eventsforce Event has not already synced to an Event in CRM, you will see the following message:

    • Click the ‘OK’ button.

  • If the integration’s search does not find the Event ID in Eventsforce, this message will appear: “Event Not Found. Please enter an Eventsforce ID.”

    • Verify that the Event ID is correct and try the search again.

4. Once the system locates the Event ID in Eventsforce, complete the remaining required fields and any optional fields within the Event Information section in CRM on the Event Detail page.

  • The read-only fields appear in grey and display information pulled from the Eventsforce platform.

  • Complete these required fields:

    • Event Type: Select the Event Type associated with the user group containing the Contacts you will be inviting as Event attendees. Your organization can pull in Attendees from multiple user groups for an Event’s Attendee list in CRM.

  • CVB Contact: Select the staff member at your organization who is responsible for the Event.

  • Consider this optional field:

    • Show On Benefits Summary: This field controls whether or not the Event will display on the Benefits Summary for Accounts with invitees or sponsorship for an Event.

  • The Eventsforce platform populates the rest of the Event Information fields. Most fields are self-explanatory, but some merit explanation:

    • Event Capacity: This field displays the largest daily venue capacity from all days of the Event. This value reflects the setting for the ‘Maximum venue capacity’ field in Eventsforce.

      • If you did not limit the venue capacity in Eventsforce, the integration leaves this field blank in CRM.

      • If you need to set a venue capacity limit after syncing the Event via the integration, update it in Eventsforce and resync the Event in CRM by completing Steps 2-4 of this process.

    • RSVP Cutoff Date: This is the Registration end date your organization set in Eventsforce for the ‘Allow new registrations ‘To’ field.

5. Complete the Event Location section’s fields.

  • Event Location: Use this field to identify the stakeholder Account location where the Event will be held. This information displays on the Benefits Summary if you choose to show it.

  • Contact: Choose a point of contact from the selected stakeholder Account.

  • The remaining fields reflect the address of the Event Location Account.

6. Click the 'Save' button.

Managing Synced Events

Once you have synced the Eventsforce Event with the Event in CRM, you can resync and unlink Events as needed. Use the Magnifying Glass Icon and the red Delete Icons as outlined below.

Updating a Synced Event in CRM

When your organization updates an Event in Eventsforce, the information will not automatically update in the CRM. To resync the Event information, follow these steps:

  1. Click ‘Edit’ to access the Event Detail page.

  2. Next, click the Magnifying Glass Icon.

    • The integration will resync the Event details from Eventsforce to CRM, updating the Event details in CRM.

Unlinking a Synced Event in CRM

If you need to remove the link between a CRM Event and Eventsforce, use the red Delete Icon next to the ‘Eventsforce ID’ field.

When you remove the sync, the Event changes in the following ways:

  • The system unlinks the Event from Eventsforce.

    • The system will no longer pull updates to the Attendees list into Eventsforce.

    • The Attendee list will no longer be available in Eventsforce.

  • CRM removes the Event Information fields populated by the Eventsforce integration and makes them editable.

Creating Attendee Lists in CRM

Attendee management follows the same processes in all Event type groups in Simpleview CRM. For detailed information, refer to these CRM Knowledgebase articles:

Attendee Management Steps

The following steps include importing Contacts from CRM into Eventsforce and sending email invitations from Eventsforce. These steps highlight what displays in CRM as a result of the Eventsforce integration.

  1. Add your attendees to the Event in CRM, either one at a time or using the Add Mass Attendees process.

    • Eventsforce will manage all Attendee status settings. You will not be able to set Attendee status through the CRM for Eventsforce-linked Events.

  2. Once your Attendee list is complete in CRM, trigger the attendee import from within the Eventsforce platform.

    • Eventsforce only imports correctly formatted email addresses.

  • If one or more attendees from your CRM list are not syncing to Eventsforce, verify that the emails are formatted correctly on the Contact record. Then trigger the import again.

  • Triggering the import again will bring in all Attendees, not just updated ones.

  • Use the Remove Duplicates functionality in Eventsforce to remove the duplicate unregistered attendees.

3. Email Event invitations from the Eventsforce platform.

  • After sending the invitation emails, Eventsforce will automatically update the Event in CRM to show “Invited = Yes” for Attendees.

4. Attendees will register for the Event through the Eventsforce registration portal.

  • As Attendees complete their registrations, the integration will update the Attendee records in CRM to show “Attending = Yes.”

5. As Attendees check into the Event through Eventsforce kiosks or attendee check- ins, the integration will update the Attendee records to display “Attend(ed) = Yes” CRM.

6. If Attendees decline their invitation or cancel their registration through Eventsforce, the integration will update the Attendee records in CRM to show the date of their Decline/Cancellation.

CRM Attendee Grid Display: Questions and Answers

These questions and answers address Attendee use cases and indicates what displays in CRM for each scenario.

  • What displays on the Attendee grid in CRM if an Attendee, who is not currently on the synced Attendee list, registers for an Event from the Eventsforce portal?

  • The Integration will create the new Attendee in the linked CRM Event.

    • “Attending = Yes” will display on the Attendee grid.

    • “Invited = No” will display because the Attendee registered for an Event via Eventsforce and was not sent an invitation.

  • Suppose a Stakeholder purchased an Event ticket for an additional person not previously present on the CRM Attendee list imported from CRM. Does the Eventsforce integration populate the ‘Guest?’ and ‘Guest of’ columns on the Attendee grid in CRM?

  • The integration does not populate the guest-related fields.

    • In this case, the additional person will be added as a stand-alone Attendee and not a designated guest of the Attendee who bought the ticket.

  • Can our organization still use the standard Attendee grid functions of sending out Communications from CRM?

  • Regular core attendee functions are present for the CRM Attendee grid so that your organization can send those email Communications out from CRM as needed.

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