Alfresco for Salesforce Questions

[omat]

Hello! The documentation on this is not entirely in agreement and I'm looking for some clarity on this topic before we install the addition to Salesforce. The primary Alfresco page (http://www.alfresco.com/products/integrations/salesforce) indicates one can use "Alfresco One to synchronize your Salesforce content with your on-premise document repository" which is exactly what we're looking to do. So, based on what I've read, here are my questions:

1. It appears the integration sends the content items to an Alfresco in the Cloud (AitC) site that is chosen in the configuration step within SF. Is this true?

2. If so, we would need to establish synchronization between that AitC site and the duplicate site in on-premise Alfresco One (AO). Is this true?

3. This means all SF content lives in a single bucket/site within AO?

4. If we don't want Marketing folks to see Legal's contracts,  we'd need to establish specific groups of access within that one site, yes? What if both marketing and legal have contracts being synched from SF? Do they all get 'dumped' into the same Contracts folder in AO?

5. What happens when a piece of content is declared a record? Can it still be accessed from SF?

6. The setup video for configuring Alfresco For Salesforce shows a single user logging into an AitC account - is all content checked in as them or are they just the authorizing entity for Alf/SF to access the API?

7. Do we have to configure all the custom metadata coming from SF into our AO site?


I know this is a big ask of time for someone here to answer all these but I can't seem to find answers to these questions anywhere. It'd be a huge help and greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[jottley]

Lots of questions here but hopefully I can help.

First, before we jump in, there is a new version of the connector that is in Limited Availability.  It is for cost.  This is the first difference between this and the older connector. I'll get into the other differences below.

1. It appears the integration sends the content items to an Alfresco in the Cloud (AitC) site that is chosen in the configuration step within SF. Is this true?

The new connector works directly against an on-premise version of Alfresco.  It does require that the instance is "visible" to Salesforce from the browser. The browser acts as the proxy between Alfresco and Salesforce.  If Alfresco is behind the firewall the user needs to be accessing Salesforce from behind the firewall. You can expose Alfresco, specifically Share, through the firewall...use some whitelisting connections, etc. VPN should work as well.

2. If so, we would need to establish synchronization between that AitC site and the duplicate site in on-premise Alfresco One (AO). Is this true?

Previously yes.  Since you are connecting directly to the onPrem instance this would no longer be needed.

3. This means all SF content lives in a single bucket/site within AO?

It did. Now you can select a site as a default location for the content. Or, you can map objects (standard or custom) to sites. You can also use rules to move the Salesforce record folder to anywhere in the repository.  It will be discoverable by the integration.

4. If we don't want Marketing folks to see Legal's contracts,  we'd need to establish specific groups of access within that one site, yes? What if both marketing and legal have contracts being synched from SF? Do they all get 'dumped' into the same Contracts folder in AO?

This still applies.  But gives you some flexibility.  You can silo content from a specific object into a specific site that marketing does not have access to.  You can set permissions on folders.  You can have rules/policies/behaviors that when a Salesforce record folder is created that folders are created with the permissions you want in place. There are lots of options here.

5. What happens when a piece of content is declared a record? Can it still be accessed from SF?

Records Management is supported.  You can leave the content available in the Salesforce record folder.  You can hide it from the Salesforce record folder so that it only shows up in the file plan.  There are some limitations with RM 2.5.3 but none the stop you from declaring content as a record and managing from the Share side.

6. The setup video for configuring Alfresco For Salesforce shows a single user logging into an AitC account - is all content checked in as them or are they just the authorizing entity for Alf/SF to access the API?

The new connector has each user login to Alfresco from Salesforce.  All interactions through Salesforce to Alfresco are done as that user.  There is no impersonation, super user, or service level account that is used.

7. Do we have to configure all the custom metadata coming from SF into our AO site?

We capture some basic metadata: Id, record name, and type. For more custom capturing you can create mappings of object properties to an Alfresco Model.  This is done on the Salesforce side, but it does require that you are using Alfresco 5.1.x or higher. We create the model (an aspect) based on the properties you choose.  This works with standard and custom objects and properties.