Replicate NetSuite SuiteAnalytics Data in Heroku for Use in Salesforce Connect

CData Sync is a standalone application that supports a wide range of replication scenarios, including replicating both sandbox and production instances into your database. By replicating NetSuite SuiteAnalytics data to a PostgreSQL database in Heroku, you can access NetSuite SuiteAnalytics external objects (via Salesforce Connect) alongside standard Salesforce objects.

Requirements

For this replication example, you need the following:

1. CData Sync (trial or licensed), along with a license (full or trial) for NetSuite SuiteAnalytics replication.
2. A Heroku app with the Heroku Postgres and Heroku Connect add-ons provisioned.
3. A Salesforce account.

Configure the Replication Destination

Using CData Sync, you can easily replicate data from NetSuite SuiteAnalytics data to a PostgreSQL database on Heroku. For this article, you will need an existing PostgreSQL database on Heroku. To add your PostgreSQL database as a replication destination, navigate to the Connections tab.

1. Click Add Connection.
2. Select the Destinations tab and locate the PostgreSQL connector.
3. Click the Configure Connection icon at the end of that row to open the New Connection page. If the Configure Connection icon is not available, click the Download Connector icon to install the PostgreSQL connector. For more information about installing new connectors, see Connections in the Help documentation.
4. To connect to PostgreSQL, set the following connection properties:
   • Connection Name: Enter a connection name of your choice for the PostgreSQL connection.
   • Server: Enter the host name or IP of the server that hosts the PostgreSQL database. The default server value is localhost.
   • Auth Scheme: Select the authentication scheme. The default auth scheme is Password.
   • Port: Enter the port number of the server that hosts the PostgreSQL database. The default port value is 5432.
   • User: Enter the user ID provided for authentication with the PostgreSQL database.
   • Password: Enter the password provided for authentication with the PostgreSQL database.
   • Database: Enter the name of the database. If not specified, use the default database.

5. Once connected, click Create & Test to create, test and save the connection.

You are now connected to PostgreSQL and can use it as both a source and a destination.

NOTE: You can use the Label feature to add a label for a source or a destination.

Configure the NetSuite SuiteAnalytics Connection

You can configure a connection to NetSuite SuiteAnalytics from the Connections tab. To add a connection to your NetSuite SuiteAnalytics account, navigate to the Connections tab.

1. Click Add Connection.
2. Select a source (NetSuite SuiteAnalytics).
3. Configure the connection properties.
   
   

   Prerequisites

   Before you can connect to NetSuite SuiteAnalytics, you must set up SuiteAnalytics Connect in your NetSuite account:

   1. Enable the Connect Service feature.

      1. Ensure that your Account Administrator has enabled your Account and Role with the Connect Service feature.

      2. Navigate to Setup > Company > Enable Features.

      3. Click the Analytics tab and check the SuiteAnalytics Connect box.

   2. Add the SuiteAnalytics Connect permission to an existing Role.

      1. Navigate to Setup > Users/Roles > User Management > Manage Roles.

      2. Click Customize next to the name of the role for which you would like to add the SuiteAnalytics Connect permission.

      3. Click the Setup tab under the Permissions tab.

      4. Add the SuiteAnalytics Connect permission.

      5. Click Add and Save.

   3. Verify the Suite Analytics Connect permissions.

      1. Find the Settings portlet on your home page and click Set Up SuiteAnalytics Connect.

      2. Click Your Configuration to view your service host and account ID information. These settings map directly to Server and Account ID connection properties.

   Add the NetSuite SuiteAnalytics Connector

   To enable Sync to use data from NetSuite SuiteAnalytics, you first must add the connector, as follows:

   1. Open the Connections page of the Sync dashboard.

   2. Click Add Connection to open the Select Connectors page.

   3. Click the Sources tab and locate the NetSuite SuiteAnalytics row.

   4. Click the Configure Connection icon at the end of that row to open the New Connection page. If the Configure Connection icon is not available, click the Download Connector icon to install the NetSuite SuiteAnalytics connector. For more information about installing new connectors, see the Connections section in the Help documentation.

   Authenticate to NetSuite SuiteAnalytics

   After you add the connector, you need to set the required properties.

   • Connection Name - Enter a connection name of your choice.

   • Server - Enter the value of Service Host you previously found.

   • Account Id - Enter the value of Account Id you previously found.

   • Role Id - Enter the Role ID you previously updated.

   • User - Enter the username that you use to authenticate to your NetSuite account.

   • Password - Enter the password associated with that account.

   
4. Click Connect to NetSuite SuiteAnalytics to ensure that the connection is configured properly.
5. Click Save & Test to save the changes.

Configure Queries for Each NetSuite SuiteAnalytics Instance

CData Sync enables you to control replication with a point-and-click interface and with SQL queries. For each replication you wish to configure, navigate to the Jobs tab and click Add Job. Select the Source and Destination for your replication.

Replicate Entire Tables

To replicate an entire table, navigate to the Task tab in the Job, click Add Tasks, choose the table(s) from the list of NetSuite SuiteAnalytics tables you wish to replicate into PostgreSQL, and click Add Tasks again.

Customize Your Replication

You can use the Columns and Query tabs of a task to customize your replication. The Columns tab allows you to specify which columns to replicate, rename the columns at the destination, and even perform operations on the source data before replicating. The Query tab allows you to add filters, grouping, and sorting to the replication with the help of SQL queries.

As you make changes using the interface, the SQL query used for the replication changes, going from something simple, like this:

REPLICATE [Account]

to something customized and more complex, like this:

REPLICATE [Account] SELECT [AnnualRevenue], [NumberOfEmployees] FROM [Account] WHERE [Industry] = Life Sciences

Schedule Your Replication

Select the Overview tab in the Job, and click Configure under Schedule. You can schedule a job to run automatically by configuring it to run at specified intervals, ranging from once every 10 minutes to once every month.

Once you have configured the replication job, click Save Changes. You can configure any number of jobs to manage the replication of your NetSuite SuiteAnalytics data to PostgreSQL.

Run the Replication Job

Once all the required configurations are made for the job, select the NetSuite SuiteAnalytics table you wish to replicate and click Run. After the replication completes successfully, a notification appears, showing the time taken to run the job and the number of rows replicated.

The NetSuite SuiteAnalytics data tables are now replicated in Heroku PostgreSQL database.

Connect to Your Replicated NetSuite SuiteAnalytics Data as an External Data Source

Once your NetSuite SuiteAnalytics data is replicated to the PostgreSQL database on Heroku, configure the OData interface for Heroku and connect to the database as an external data source via Salesforce Connect.

Configure the OData Service for Heroku

The first part of connecting to NetSuite SuiteAnalytics data replicated to a PostgreSQL database on Heroku is configuring the Heroku External Objects for the database.

1. In your Heroku dashboard, click the Heroku Connect Add-On.
2. Select External Objects. (If this is the first time using Heroku External Object, you will be prompted to create the OData service's login credentials)
3. View the OData service URL and credentials (noting the URL and credentials to be used later from Salesforce Connect).
4. In Data Sources, select which replicated tables to share.

Refer to the Heroku documentation for more detailed instructions.

Configure an External Data Source in Salesforce

After the OData service for Heroku is configured, we can connect to the replicated NetSuite SuiteAnalytics data as an external data source from Salesforce Connect.

1. In Salesforce, click Setup
2. In the Administration section, click Data -> External Data Sources
3. Set the data source parameter properties:
   • External Data Source: the name you wish to display in the Salesforce user interface
   • Name: a unique identifier for the API
   • Type: Salesforce Connect: OData 4.0
   • URL: Enter the OData endpoint from Heroku Connect (above)
   • Format: JSON
4. Set Authentication:
   • Identity Type: Named Principal
   • Authentication Protocol: Password Authentication
   • Username: the Heroku Connect username
   • Password: the Heroku Connect password
5. Click Save.

Synchronize NetSuite SuiteAnalytics Objects

After you have created the external data source in Salesforce, follow the steps below to create NetSuite SuiteAnalytics external objects that reflect any changes in the data source. You will synchronize the definitions for the NetSuite SuiteAnalytics external objects with the definitions for NetSuite SuiteAnalytics tables.

1. Click the link for the external data source you created.
2. Click Validate and Sync.
3. Select the NetSuite SuiteAnalytics tables you want to work with as external objects and click Sync.

Access NetSuite SuiteAnalytics Data as Salesforce Objects

At this point, you will be able to connect to and work with your replicated NetSuite SuiteAnalytics entities as external objects just as you would with standard Salesforce objects, whether you are simply viewing the data or building related lists of external NetSuite SuiteAnalytics data alongside standard Salesforce objects.

Download a 30-day free trial of CData Sync and replicate your NetSuite SuiteAnalytics data for use with Salesforce Connect today!