Create your First Catalog

Summary

Everything starts with the mapping. You want to define what information in Akeneo should be transferred to Salesforce. It is not only this, you also want to make sure that the information is put at the correct place.

The mapping process starts in Salesforce, where you decide which fields you want to fill with data from Akeneo.

In the second step you move over to Akeneo where you define which data should be used.

Let us walk you through this step by step.

Select the catalog

What is a catalog?

A catalog fulfils two main functionalities. 

  • First, the filter criteria for the products you want to transfer from Akeneo are defined.
  • Second,  the field mappings for those products are defined.

On top of that, scheduled transfer are defined on the catalog level.

 

From the main menu, select <<Akeneo Catalogs>>. You are presented with an overview of all available catalogs and the option to create a new catalog.

Let's start with creating a new catalog. You want to enter a new name that is not yet used by any other catalog. You could also select an existing catalog from the list.

Creating a field to field mapping

You are following a 3 step process to create the field by field mapping. That process is indicated on top of the catalog details inside the mapping schema.

  • Select Fields
  • Update Akeneo Catalog
  • Schema Overview

Select the Salesforce product fields

After creating the catalog, you are ready to configure the mapping on this screen.

In Salesforce fields can be required. Required fields have to be mapped and filled with information from Akeneo as without data in those fields the product record can not be saved.

Optional fields can be selected by you. Please see the overview of supported Salesforce field types:

Salesforce Field Type Supported
String YES
Text Area YES
Text Area (Long) YES
Text Area (Rich) YES
Picklist YES
Multi Picklist YES
Date YES
Checkbox YES
Number YES
Percent NO
Currency NO
Date/Time NO
Encrypted String NO
Time NO
Email NO
Phone NO
Address NO
Geolocation NO
URL NO

Once you selected all fields, click on <<Save & upload>>. The fields are sent over to Akeneo where you can select the specific source fields. Let's continue with this process step.

Select Akeneo fields in Akeneo Catalog App

You don't have to do much to find the correct catalog in Akeneo. Just click on <<Go to Catalog>>. The mapping process is described here in the Akeneo documentation.

We suggest you only map the following Akeneo field types into the respective Salesforce field types although other mappings are not restricted by the connector.

Salesforce Field Type Akeneo Field Type
String
  • Identifier
  • Text
  • TextArea
  • Family
Text Area
  • Identifier
  • Text
  • TextArea
  • Family
Text Area (Long)
  • Identifier
  • Text
  • TextArea
  • Family
Text Area (Rich)
  • Identifier
  • Text
  • TextArea
  • Family
Picklist
  • Simple Select
Multi Picklist
  • Multi Select
Date
  • Date
Checkbox
  • Boolean
  • Product Status
Number
  • Number
  • Measurement
  • Price

Choose your source parameters

Akeneo PIM supports multiple values per field. 

Target Fields sent to Akeneo are considered as localisable targets. When a field is a non-localisable target on the PIM, the connector will use the unique value that is  common across all locales.

Fields can also be configured as multi-channel so that you can have a different value per channel. You configure the channel to be transferred in the mapping.

For the Akeneo field types measurement and price Akeneo you have to define the unit or the currency to be transferred.

 

Configure special mappings

A product needs more information than what is directly mapped to a product. Your products should be organised in Salesforce and might have pictures and other files attached to it.

Why do I have more fields to map than I selected?

You might wonder why you have more fields to map than you selected. The reason is categories, attachments and Akeneos unique identifier.

  • Asset Types have to be mapped individually and are created and configured as Custom Meta Data Types within Salesforce.
  • Category Tree to be mapped
  • Akeneo UUID is automatically mapped
 

 

Categories

You can structure your products in Akeneo in (multiple) categories. If you want to transfer them to Salesforce you have to provide a mapping.

The relevant Salesforce target is named Category. Please select the Akeneo field categories and select the “code”.

Salesforce Field Name Akeneo Field Name and parameter
Category
  • Categories
    • code

We have a custom object for categories

Categories are available for multiple Salesforce clouds by having a custom object. This custom object can be easily transferred to the B2B data model.

 

Assets (Pictures and Attachments)

In order to enrich your products, you can transfer assets from Akeneo to Salesforce.  You can define the assets to be transferred completely free. 

Just head over to the Custom Meta Data in Salesforce Setup and define your asset types. Each of the asset types can be mapped to a specific Asset Collection in Akeneo.

Please make sure that only publicly available links for pictures and attachments are used. If your assets are not publicly available links then UI Components (for e.g. Product Media Gallery) won't be able to display the media content inside the Product page in Salesforce. 

 

The connector is coming with pre-configured asset types that are corresponding with the assets you need for a commerce implementation. If your Salesforce org has B2B Commerce enabled, you can use the Assets to create your CMS records.

You can map the configured Asset types to the corresponding Asset Collections in Akeneo using the Akeneo Catalog App.

For each Product all assigned assets are transferred to Salesforce and create respective Akeneo Product Asset records. 

Enable your catalog

When you are done with the mapping of all fields, assets and categories you can proceed with enabling the catalog in the Akeneo Catalog Mapping App. Please also see the Akeneo documentation on how to enable a catalog

Confirm step is completed

When you are ready with all mapping activities in Akeneo, head back to Salesforce and confirm it.

 

Check the mapping schema

In the last step you can check your mapping schema for completeness. You can see all product fields that you have selected in the first step without all other Product2 fields to have a better overview.

If you enabled your catalog, you can proceed to previewing your products.

Update your mapping schema

After the initial creation of the mapping schema, it can always be updated. Please keep in mind that Akeneo is the source of truth.

If you remove a field from the mapping it won't be transferred anymore so the data in Salesforce might become outdated.

If you change the source of data in the mapping, the data in Salesforce will be overwritten.

If the asset type is removed from the mapping, the assets will be deleted in Salesforce

Preview Products

 

Start Data Transfer  

Transferring the products can be handled in two ways.

  • Instantly
  • Scheduled