Architectural Overview

Summary

The architecture of our Akeneo App for Salesforce typically involves several components:

  • You Akeneo App:  The PIM system will serve you as your main source of truth for product data and the central repository for product data, including information about products, variants, attributes, images, descriptions, and other relevant details. 

 

  • Akeneo Catalog for Apps API: The current version of the Salesforce app uses the newly released Catalog for Apps API. This newly developed  API manages your product selection and gives you direct access to the relevant data much faster than before. It also allows you to leverage our Akeneo data mapping feature to get product data in your chosen format to your target Salesforce org. 

 

  • Salesforce:  Salesforce acts as the destination system where the synchronised product data from the PIM system is utilised for sales commerce, service, and marketing activities.

 

  • App Exchange Package: The connector app is an AppExchange App that facilitates the data exchange between the PIM system and Salesforce. This package can be upgraded when new features or bug fixes are released. This package comes with predefined or configurable settings to allow you to customise your transfer jobs to fit your data needs.  

 

  • Data Mapping: The current app allows you to select and define how the product information from the PIM system aligns with the data structure and fields in Salesforce. This mapping ensures that the data is properly transformed and accurately synchronised between the two systems.

 

  • Transfer Processes: The connector orchestrates the transfer process, which involves various operations such as data import, and updates and uses asynchronous Apex processing that allows to offload time-consuming tasks to be executed in the background. This app has currently the ability to transfer products, categories, and assets to the Salesforce Platform where they can be easily consumed by users or further transform the data in Salesforce to support your individual business requirements. 

 

  • Error Handling and Logging: The connector includes mechanisms to handle errors and log relevant information during the transfer process. It captures any inconsistencies, conflicts, or data integrity issues and provides visibility into the transfer operations for troubleshooting and auditing purposes.

 

  • Automation and Scheduling: The connector often supports automation and scheduling capabilities, allowing users to define periodic data transfer intervals or trigger transfer events based on specific conditions (e.g. last updated date of a product) . This helps to maintain data consistency and timeliness between Akeneo and Salesforce.

 

Overall, the architecture of the Akeneo App for Salesforce aims to streamline the management of product data, enhance operational efficiency, and ensure accurate and up-to-date product information within the Salesforce Platform. 

While the new API version brings exciting improvements, it's essential to be aware that there might be some imperfections or limitations initially. We appreciate your understanding and encourage you to provide feedback, report issues, and engage with our support channels to further improve our Salesforce App.

 

 

The below architecture document provides a comprehensive overview of the app's architecture, highlighting its key components, data flow, and integration points. It aims to serve as a guide for developers involved in understanding what are the data sync capabilities between these two systems.

 

The app is designed to scale efficiently to handle growing data volumes and increasing synchronisation requirements. By leveraging the asynchronous Apex processes and other programmatic Salesforce best practices it allows for higher performance and ensures seamless data synchronisation. 

 

Connector Architecture

This diagram shows the different parts of the connector and how they interact with each other.

 

Entity Relationship Diagram

This diagram shows all the Salesforce objects used by the connector, as well their fields and relationships.

 

If you have any further questions, need clarification on specific aspects, or require additional assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team. We are here to help you maximise the benefits of the app and ensure a smooth integration between Akeneo and Salesforce.