Publish to Fields in Salesforce Maps Territory Planning

This article answers the question: how does Publish to Salesforce Fields work in Salesforce Maps Territory Planning, and what should I know before using it? Publish to Salesforce Fields writes territory assignment values from Territory Planning directly onto Salesforce records, updating them as the running user.

How Publishing Works

This feature publishes changes as the running user. However, it does not respect platform sharing mechanisms. If the user has access to records in Territory Planning, they can publish to those same records in Salesforce regardless of whether they have direct access to them. This allows objects to shift ownership during the territory planning process, regardless of the previous owner.

While performing the update, the publish respects any validation rules present on the object. If any records fail during publishing, the number of failed records is shown to the user. Territories without a defined owner are skipped when publishing to Owner Id.

Important: Consider making this feature available to Approvers Only to restrict access. This setting is available under Salesforce Maps | Configure | Territory Planning | Publish Options.

Considerations

This feature can be used at multiple legend levels, and each level has its own matching method. You can only add a level once per publish, so you'll need to publish more than once if you need to update multiple Salesforce objects from the Territory Planning area.

Area Levels

The first value in the dropdown is the Territory Planning areas. You'll see an item for each level of the alignment's Territory Model (for example, Region, District, Territory). The matching criteria for areas is the Area Name (for example, update all records that match the Territory Name).

• Description: Area description (captured in the Edit Area screen)
• UnitCount: Total number of units, regardless of unit type
• OwnerName: Text of the Area Owner Name
• OwnerId: Id of the Area Owner
• Parent Area(s): Name of the parent(s)
• Numeric Attributes: Any numeric attribute included in the data source or as an external attribute, rolled up to the area level
• Calculated Attributes: Any calculated attribute created in the application, rolled up to the area level

Note: Since Publish to Salesforce Fields is update only, any new territories created in Territory Planning must be added manually before publishing. Similarly, any territories deleted in Territory Planning must be deleted manually.

Container Levels

The next value in the dropdown is the container(s) selected as Territory Boundaries when creating the data set (for example, United States POSTAL CODE, Canada FORWARD SORTATION AREAS). The matching criteria for containers is the Container Name (for example, update all records that match the zip code).

• Area Assignments: Name of the assigned Area (the assigned Area at the lowest level of the hierarchy)
• Unit Count: Total number of units, regardless of unit type
• Owner Name: Text of the Container Owner Name (the user name for the assigned Area at the lowest level of the hierarchy)
• Owner Id: Id of the Container Owner (the user Id for the assigned Area at the lowest level of the hierarchy)
• Container Metadata: Information included in the container set, such as ADMIN[N] fields (for example, ADMIN2 is the State for the United States POSTAL CODE container)
• Numeric Attributes: Any numeric attribute included in the data source or as an external attribute, rolled up to the container level
• Calculated Attributes: Any calculated attribute created in the application, rolled up to the container level

Note: Unlike publishing to ETM or extracting to CSV (Comma-Separated Values), publishing to fields at the container level does not add back in point zips for the United States POSTAL CODE container.

Important: Standard object data, such as Accounts or Leads, should be updated carefully, since this updates every object that matches the container name, not a subset. Consider using unit-level publishing, or publishing to Salesforce Maps or ETM, if you want to update a targeted subset of records.

Unit Levels

The final value in the dropdown is the unit(s) selected as a data source when configuring the data set. The matching criteria for units is the Unit Id (for example, Account Id, Lead Id).

• Area Assignments: Name of the assigned area (the assigned area at the lowest level of the hierarchy)
• Container Assignment: Name of the assigned container (for example, the Postal Code value)
• Owner Name: Text of the unit owner (the user name for the assigned Area at the lowest level of the hierarchy)
• Owner Id: Id of the unit owner (the user Id for the assigned Area at the lowest level of the hierarchy)
• Unit Attributes: Any of the unit attributes can be published back to the unit

Unit-level publishing can be used instead of exporting to CSV and re-uploading, and is useful for quickly applying changes made in Territory Planning to your Salesforce objects (for example, updating all accounts in your alignment to a new territory owner).

Publish to Fields Steps

You can update a large number of records immediately using this feature, so it's recommended that you back up your data first. To use this feature, follow these steps:

1. Click Publish in the top right corner of your Territory Planning tab.
2. Select Salesforce Object.
3. Choose a Publish Scope:
   • Alignment: Publish the entire alignment.
   • Focus: Publish your currently open focus.
4. Select a Territory Planning Object to publish from the dropdown.
5. Specify the Target Salesforce Object that will be updated.
6. Specify the Target Identifier that will be used to match the objects.
7. Specify the Source and Target fields for updating. Select Add Field to update more fields.
8. Add additional objects as needed — each object can be specified once per publish.
9. Click Next to review your publish.
10. Click Publish to start publishing.

Note:

1. Do not close or minimize the page while the publish is running. It's also recommended that this feature be controlled by Approval and set to Approvers Only to restrict access.

2. All publish options can be subject to Approval. If you don't see the option to publish, check with your company's Salesforce Administrator to see if that publish method is enabled.