Examine an Integration Use Case

Learning Objectives 

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Describe the challenge of keeping customer service cases in Salesforce in sync with case notifications in Slack.
• Explain how to use MuleSoft Composer to integrate customer service cases in Salesforce with case notifications in Slack.
• Prepare to create a flow.

Before You Start

This module builds on MuleSoft Composer Installation and Configuration, so make sure you've completed it before you continue. Recall from that module, you need to have the MuleSoft Composer User permission set if you want to build and run integration flows.

In this module, we assume you’re an authorized MuleSoft Composer user. If you’re not a MuleSoft Composer user, that’s OK. Read along to learn how they perform the steps. Don’t try to follow the steps in a Trailhead Playground, because MuleSoft Composer isn't available in the Trailhead Playground.

To learn about MuleSoft Composer’s integration features, flow components, and flow creation tasks, take MuleSoft Composer Basics.

In this unit, you step into the role of admin for Northern Trail Outfitters (NTO), an outdoor and recreational gear retailer. First, you examine an integration challenge faced by NTO, and then you learn about a MuleSoft Composer integration solution. Finally, you learn how to prepare to create your flow.

Integration Challenge

Let’s take a look at an integration challenge NTO is facing. Your customer support team at NTO manages and maintains customer service cases in the NTO org’s Service Cloud. For best customer service, the team also collaborates with other stakeholders such as sales, product, and technical support teams to resolve cases, using a Slack channel.

Currently, the customer support team is performing these tasks manually. Every time there’s a support case, the team creates or updates the case in Service Cloud. Then, depending on whether the status of the case is escalated or not, they send a message with relevant case details to either the support regional leader or a Slack channel to which all the stakeholders subscribe. This process is time-consuming and highly error-prone, so the team wants to automate it.

Integration Solution

As a solution, you need to automate the integration between the NTO org’s Service Cloud and Slack in order to achieve near real-time integration. To do this, you use MuleSoft Composer to create an integration flow that automatically syncs the creation or update of customer service cases in Service Cloud with case notifications in Slack. Specifically, the flow must perform the following tasks.

1. Find any new or updated case in the NTO org’s Service Cloud.
2. Evaluate if the status of the case is set to “Escalated.”
   • If it is, send a direct message with the case details to the support regional leader.
   • If it isn’t, send a message with the case details to the predefined Slack channel.

To implement the solution using MuleSoft Composer, you need to perform these flow creation tasks.

• Prepare to create a flow.
• Design and test a flow.
• Activate a flow.
• Monitor and troubleshoot a flow.

You learn how to perform these tasks in the rest of this module.

Prepare to Create a Flow

Ready to get started?

First, you need to gather all required information about the systems and assets your flow is going to use. The following table describes the systems the flow needs to connect to and the information you need to have for those systems.

As a best practice, ensure the NTO org has a sandbox org you can connect to when you design and test your flows. Similarly, ensure you have a test Slack workspace and channel to test your case notifications. 

Next, you learn about the prerequisites for your Slack environment.

Create a Slack Workspace and Channel

To send case notifications about customer service cases to a predefined Slack channel, you need a Slack workspace and channel. Follow these steps to create a test Slack workspace and channel.

1. Access slack.com, click LAUNCH SLACK, and then select Create a new workspace.
2. Enter your email address and click Continue.
3. Check your email for a confirmation code sent by Slack and enter it in Slack.
4. Enter NTO as the name of your company, and click Next. NTO will be your workspace.
5. Enter customer-support as the project your team is working on, and click Next. Your channel will be customer-support.
6. When prompted to add people, click Skip this step, click Skip Step, and then click Let’s Go to go straight to your workspace and channel.

Set Up Permissions for Your Slack Workspace

Also be ready to grant MuleSoft Composer the following permissions to your Slack workspace.

• View content and info about channels and conversations.
• View content and info about your workspace.
• Perform actions in channels and conversations.

You’ve taken the first steps to prepare to create your flow with MuleSoft Composer. In the next unit, you learn how to design and test your flow.

Resources 

• Trailhead: MuleSoft Composer Basics
• Trailhead: MuleSoft Composer Installation and Configuration