Salesforce Synchronization and API Usage
The AlumnIQ Salesforce Integration is designed to keep eligible AlumnIQ data synchronized with Salesforce while minimizing unnecessary Salesforce API consumption.
Synchronization Behavior
During each synchronization, AlumnIQ performs an upsert of all eligible records.
Eligible records are sent regardless of whether AlumnIQ has detected a change since the previous synchronization. This approach helps ensure that Salesforce remains consistent with AlumnIQ and avoids requiring additional API queries to determine whether individual records already exist or have changed.
Because AlumnIQ is the source of truth for fields managed by the integration, changes made directly in Salesforce to AlumnIQ-managed fields may be overwritten during a subsequent synchronization.
Salesforce API Usage
Salesforce limits the number of API requests that an organization can make. These limits are shared across the Salesforce organization, meaning AlumnIQ is only one of potentially several applications or integrations consuming the available API capacity.
The API request allocation for a Salesforce organization depends on factors including the organization’s Salesforce edition and the number and types of user licenses provisioned to the organization.
Salesforce measures daily API usage using a rolling 24-hour period. This is not a limit that simply resets at midnight. Instead, Salesforce continuously evaluates the number of requests made during the preceding 24 hours.
For example, if an API request was made at 10:00 AM yesterday, that request stops contributing to the rolling 24-hour usage calculation after 10:00 AM today.
How AlumnIQ Minimizes API Consumption
The AlumnIQ synchronization process is designed to reduce the number of Salesforce API requests required to synchronize data.
Records Are Batched
AlumnIQ can send up to 200 records in a single Salesforce API request when performing an upsert.
For example, synchronizing 1,000 records does not require 1,000 API requests. Those records can generally be divided into batches of up to 200 records, significantly reducing the number of API requests required.
Upsert Avoids Preliminary Record Queries
AlumnIQ uses Salesforce’s upsert functionality to create records that do not yet exist and update records that already exist.
Because the synchronization can identify records using their configured external identifiers, AlumnIQ does not need to first query Salesforce for every record to determine whether it exists before sending the data.
This reduces the number of API requests that would otherwise be required for a query followed by a separate insert or update operation.
Monitoring API Usage
AlumnIQ monitors the Salesforce API usage and limits exposed through the Salesforce connection.
Salesforce administrators can also review their organization’s API usage from Salesforce Setup. Salesforce provides both the organization’s current API request limit and the number of requests consumed during the preceding 24 hours.
Because the API allocation belongs to the Salesforce organization as a whole, other integrations, applications, data-loading processes, and automated systems can also contribute to the organization’s API usage.
Adjusting Synchronization Frequency
If Salesforce API consumption becomes a concern, AlumnIQ can reduce API usage by adjusting how frequently synchronization occurs.
Depending on an organization’s requirements, synchronization can be configured at intervals such as:
- Every 15 minutes
- Hourly
- Every four hours
- Twice per day
- Once per day
Reducing the synchronization frequency decreases the number of synchronization operations performed during a 24-hour period while still allowing AlumnIQ and Salesforce data to remain synchronized at an interval appropriate for the organization.
Additional Salesforce Documentation
For additional information about Salesforce API limits and processing behavior, refer to Salesforce’s documentation regarding:
- API Request Limits and Allocations - Salesforce API allocations are determined at the organization level based on edition, license count, license type, and any additional API capacity purchased.
- API Limits and Monitoring Your API Usage - Describes the Daily API Request Limit, monitoring options, and the rolling 24-hour calculation.
- Understanding API Rolling Limits - Explains how Salesforce’s rolling 24-hour API usage window works.
- Accessing Object Data with Salesforce Platform APIs - Documents Salesforce REST API options, including sObject Collections and the ability to upsert up to 200 records of the same object type in a single request.
Eligible Records By Module
EMS Record Eligibility
Events are automatically synchronized when both of the following conditions are met:
- The event is not closed.
- The event contains at least one activity.
- The event must explicitly allow “Sync with CRM”. (note this is enabled for each event by default)
Once an event is closed, AlumnIQ no longer automatically pushes updates for that event. As a result, changes made directly in Salesforce after an event is closed would not normally be overwritten by a subsequent automatic synchronization.