SALESFORCE_INTEGRATION.md

Integration of Salesforce (external system) with local system's customer catalog

1. Potential Salesforce Integration:

• Salesforce Contact Object can be used to connect with our local Customer list as it offers similar functionality and has the required fields as well for intergation.
• Reference: https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.object_reference.meta/object_reference/sforce_api_objects_contact.htm

2. Environment Setup:

• The 'simple-salesforce' module can be used to interact with the Salesforce Contact Object through REST APIs.
• Reference: https://pypi.org/project/simple-salesforce/
• A developer account will be required along with credentials to login to the Salesforce instance through the module.

3. Integration Module:

• Create a new module for the Salesforce integration (e.g., salesforce_integration.py).
• Define functions and classes to interact with Salesforce, such as creating, reading, updating, and deleting customer records.

4. Customer Model:

• Create a corresponding Customer model in your application (e.g., SalesforceCustomer) that matches Salesforce's structure. It should inherit from a common Base model.

5. API Endpoints:

• Create API endpoints for Salesforce-related operations, similar to the ones we have for Stripe integration.
• These endpoints should handle the creation, retrieval, updating, and deletion of customer/contact records in Salesforce.

6. Kafka Topics:

• Establish separate Kafka topics for Salesforce events, such as salesforce-customer-created, salesforce-customer-updated, and salesforce-customer-deleted.
• This will help in the queueing of Salesforce events and their processing by the consumer/worker.

7. Producer:

• Create a separate producer for Salesforce events to ensure loose coupling.
• Implement logic to produce events when a customer is created, updated, or deleted in the local system, as well as when these actions happen in Salesforce.

8. Consumer:

• Create a new Kafka consumer to handle Salesforce events to ensure loose coupling.
• Implement event handlers to create, update, or delete customers in the local system based on Salesforce events.
• Ensure that the consumer can distinguish between events originating from Stripe and Salesforce.

9. Webhook Configuration:

• If Salesforce supports webhooks or push notifications, configure the application to listen for Salesforce events and translate them into Kafka messages.

10. Authentication and Authorization:

• Implement Salesforce authentication mechanisms to access Salesforce APIs securely.
• Ensure that user roles and permissions are well-defined for the Salesforce integration.

11. Testing:

• Extensively test the integration to ensure data consistency and error handling.
• Perform integration testing to confirm that both Stripe and Salesforce data is synchronized correctly.

12. Monitoring and Error Handling:

• Implement logging and monitoring to keep track of integration events and errors.
• Implement strategies to handle errors and exceptions.