It's critical for Sales Leaders and Managers to have insights into the influence of Guided Selling activity on conversion within your sales pipeline. With Guided Selling Sequence attribution, we are able to provide transparent reporting on the influence of sequence activity on activity outcomes and revenue generation.

Within Guided Selling Version 8.19+ a new custom object called Sequence Attribution Events is introduced into the package. With Sequence attribution, you can:

1. Enable and configure sequence attribution
2. Define rules for Activity and Opportunity creation to be attributed to specific Sequences
3. Report on opportunity and task volume associated with sequences

This guide will take you through the process of configuring and leveraging this functionality.

Configuring Sequence Attribution

To setup Sequence Attribution you will need to execute the following steps to enable go-forward attribution to sequences.

Log into Salesforce and select the Setup icon in the main navigation

Step 1 - Configuring Custom Settings

The first step is to search for and select "Custom Settings."

Scroll through the list of custom settings and select "Guided Selling Attribution"

Within the Guided Selling Attribution custom settings page you will see details about the custom setting including visibility settings and other relevant data. Click the Manage button

Click the Edit Button

Click Enable, then Save

You have now successfully updated the Sequence Attribution and can move on to configuring custom settings

Step 2 - Configuring Custom Settings

Go to Setup and Search for Custom Metadata Types

Find and select Sequence Attribution Event

Scroll to the bottom of the page and select the Edit option associated with the "Sequence Attribution Event Layout"

On the Sequence Attribution Event page layout management screen ensure that all of the fields are added to the page layout and select Save.

After returning to the Sequence Attribution Event Custom Metadata page select the Manage Sequence Attribution Events button.

Within the manage record page, you can view a series of sample attribution events. Here we have a number of pre-configured events. An attribution event will have the following data points which you can manage to designate the rules for specific types of attribution you want to achieve:

1. Object: Acceptable Values are "Event", "Task" or "Opportunity"
2. Attribution Window:
   1. For Opportunity Creation, the number of days before or after the Sequence Exit within which this event will be attributed to the Sequence.
   2. For Task/Event attribution number of days before the Sequence Exits within which this event will be attributed to the Sequence.
3. Keyword: Use for Task/Event attribution only. For example, if Events with a Subject containing "Meeting" are attributable events, provide "Meeting" in this keyword field.
4. Field Name: Use for Task/Event attribution only. Only accepts String fields. Field name within which Guided Selling will detect the given keyword

When creating a new Sequence Attribution Event and if the Object type is Event or Task, you must input a value in Keyword and Field Name. Leaving these fields blank will result in errors which prevent participants from exiting Sequences in Guided Selling.

Select the (Sample) Opportunity Creation record as an example to see this in practice. 

The configuration of this sample event will associate an opportunity that is created within 7 days of a sequence participant's exit of a sequence.

Navigate back to the list of Attribution Events. Now you can clone and edit any of the examples or create a new sequence attribution event. Note that the name of the attribution event must not contain any special characters (e.g., parentheses) to become active. As a result, each of the sample events will not be active due to containing these special characters. 

Step 3 - Enable Sequence Attribution for Participants

The last step in configuring Sequence Attribution is to enable attribution for participants. 

To do this navigate to Custom Settings and select the GS-Public Settings option from the list.

Select the Manage button on the GS Public Setting Page

Select the Edit button

Ensure that the <Participant> Enable attribution is set to true and then select Save.

Step 4 - Update the Sequence Attribution Event Record Page Layout

Navigate to the Object Manager tab within Salesforce Setup

Search for or scroll through the list and select the Sequence Attribution Object

Select the Page Layouts navigation tab and the Sequence Attribution Layout

Drag and organize Sequence Attribution fields to the page layout

Once you have added fields to the layout, select save.

Step 5 - Designate Sequence Attribution Event Field Level Security

The next step in configuring Sequence Attribution it to ensure that the right users can view data for a Sequence Attribution Event record. 

Navigate to the Object Manager and select the Sequence Attribution object after either searching for or finding the object in the list.

Select the Fields and Relationships Tab of the object

For each field, you can designate field level security to allow visibility or read only access to a Sequence Attribution record. Upon selecting any of the fields within the object select the Set Field Level Security button.

Once selected, you can designate view access and read only access to each profile in your Salesforce organization. Given the sensitive nature of attribution and ensuring that you are presenting the proper data our recommendation is to make the fields read only.

Repeat this step for all fields in the object to designate the appropriate field-level security for your team.

Step 6 - Add the Sequence Attribution object to a Tab

By default, the Sequence Attribution object will not be visible within any of your Salesforce applications. To remedy this, you can create a new tab to add to applications and allow users to directly view sequence attribution records.

Navigate to the Tabs page within the Salesforce setup and select the New Button

On the create tab form select the Sequence Attribution object, designate a tab type, and add an optional description. When you have added relevant information select the Next Button

On the next page, you can add the tab to profiles and designate if you want the tab by default to be on or or, or set profile level configurations. Upon making your selection, scroll to the bottom of the page and select next. 

The last step in creating your tab is designating if you want to add it to any existing applications. Designate the applicable applications that you want to associate with the tab. Upon designating applications, select Save to create your new tab.

Step 7 - Configure Sequence Attribution Report Type

By default, Guided Selling provides an out-of-the-box Sequence Attribution Record Type. Given that record types installed via managed packages are not editable, you will want to create a report type to help you surface insights from records that are generated by Guided Selling using your default and custom data.

Navigate to the Salesforce setup and Select Report Types

On the Report Types page select the New Custom Report Type Button.

On the New Custom Report Type screen, you need to enter in detail values for the Report Type

• Set the Primary object to Sequence Attributions
• Add a Report Type Label
• Add a Report Type Name
• Add a Description to the Report Type
• Select a category to store the Report Type
• Designate. the Deployment Status of the Report Type. (Note that if you do not select Deployed, you will have to later edit the report type prior to being able to create reports using your new Report Type.)

Once you have designated the report type description and fields, select the Next Button.

In the final step, you can simply select Save, we do not need to add any child objects to the report type as we are going to configure additional fields via the edit layout option.

Now that you have a saved Report Type, navigate to the individual report type and select the Edit Layout Button. 

By default, the report type will have a single section that contains each of the fields in the Sequence Attribution object. You will want to customize the object with custom and default fields in your Salesforce org that are associated with the Sequence Attribution object. 

Select the Add fields related via lookup » option listed below the Sequence Attribution Fields dropdown.

On selection, you will see a lookup modal that allows you to pull in fields into the report type based on the lookup relationships of the object. To start, select the opportunity Object

You can now select both default and custom fields from the Opportunity object that you want to use in reporting. As you are free to pull in as many fields as you wish we recommend at minimum pulling in the following

• Stage
• Won
• Closed
• Amount
• Type
• Owner Name

Once you designate the fields that you wish to pull into the report type you can organize blocks of field using the Create New Section button. 

As a best practice, our recommendation is that at minimum your Report type contains the following:

• Sequence Attributions
  • Attributed
  • Event Date
  • Attribution Window
  • Created By: Full Name
  • Created Date
  • Last Modified By: Full Name
  • Last Modified Date
• Opportunity
  • Opportunity: Type
  • Opportunity: Amount
  • Opportunity: Won
  • Opportunity: Closed
    Opportunity: Opportunity Owner: Username
• Participant Sequence History
  • Participant Sequence History: Attribution Threshold
  • Participant Sequence History: Contact Id: Full Name
  • Participant Sequence History: Conversion Attributed
  • Participant Sequence History: Converted Opportunity Id: Opportunity Name
    Participant Sequence History: Created By: Full Name
  • Participant Sequence History: Created Date
  • Participant Sequence History: Exit Criterions Met
  • Participant Sequence History: Last Completed Participant Action: Participant Action Name
  • Participant Sequence History: Last Modified By: Full Name
  • Participant Sequence History: Last Modified Date
  • Participant Sequence History: Lead/Contact Status
  • Participant Sequence History: Lead Converted Date
    Participant Sequence History: Lead Id: Full Name
  • Participant Sequence History: Opportunity Contact Role Id
  • Participant Sequence History: Participant Id
  • Participant Sequence History: Participant Iteration
    Participant Sequence History: Participant Sequence History ID
  • Participant Sequence History: Participant Sequence History Number
  • Participant Sequence History: Participant Snapshot
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Entry Date
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Exit Date
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Exit Type
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Name
  • Participant Sequence History: Unique Id
• Sequence
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Action Count
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Created By: Full Name
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Created Date
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Delegated Owner Lookup
    Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Drip Participants per Day
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Drip Prioritization
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Entrance Criteria
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Entrance Criteria PE
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Exit Criteria
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Exit Criteria PE
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Is Multi-Sequence Enabled?
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Last Modified By: Full Name
    Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Last Modified Date
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: matching priority
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Name
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Owner: Full Name
    Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Participant Activation
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Record Type
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Reentry Enabled
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Sequence ID
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Status
  • Participant Sequence History: Sequence Id: Total Participants

Congratulations! You have now configured Sequence Attribution with Guided Selling and can start to gain deeper insights into conversion events being driven by Guided Selling

Gaining Insights on Sequence Attribution Event Records

Great! You have now configured Sequence Attribution with the Guided Selling package. Now it's time to leverage the insights associated with the Sequence Attribution Event records that are created based on the attribution rules that you put into place. 

Sequence Attribution Records

With your newly created Sequence Attribution Tab, you can access the attribution records that are created based on the rules that you created. You can drill into each of the records to view relevant details for each attribution event.

Within those records are the following fields:

• Attributed Event Date - The time that the attributable event took place
• Attribution Window - Number of days before or after Sequence Exit within which this event will be attributed to the Sequence
• Created By - A lookup on the user that triggered the attribution record
• Last Modified By - A lookup on the user who last updated the attribution record
• Opportunity - A lookup to the opportunity record that is associated with the attribution event.
• Owner - A lookup on the user who owns the attribution record.
• Participant Sequence History - A lookup on the participant history record that is associated with the attribution event.
• Related Record ID - Salesforce Id of the record being attributed to the Sequence (Task, Event or Opportunity)
• Sequence Attribution Name - A text field designating the name of the attribution event. This name will be based on the attribution event record created in the custom metadata settings.

Reporting on Sequence Attribution

To be able to view insights and analytics across Sequence attributions, you can leverage the custom report type via the Attribution configuration steps. 

Navigate to the reports tab and select the New Report Button

Select the Sequence Attribution custom report type that you created during configuration.

Let's say that you want to gain insight into the amount of closed won pipeline that has been created by Guided Selling and view that by type of opportunity. To achieve this you could create a new report with the following configuration:

• Grouped Rows
  • Sequence Attribution Name
  • Opportunity Type
  • Opportunity Name
• Columns
  • Opportunity Amount
• Filters:
  • All Attribution Records
  • Opportunity Won = True

The result of this is a chart that you can clearly view the attribution of guided selling to your pipeline. 

While this is an example you can create any number of insights and views into attribution using the report type created and the extended data set that is visible via the lookup relationships that the Attribution records provide. We can't wait to see what you build. 

Backfilling Sequence Attribution

Upon configuring Sequence Attribution, you will likely want to run a backfill job to process historical data and create a view into past attribution based on the configuration set. 

Retroactive Attribution

Within Salesforce you can run two processes to backfill lead conversion and activity conversion data. Note that Opportunity attribution can only be done on a go-forward basis once you have configured and enabled Sequence Attribution.

Execute these steps to backfill attribution data for historical sequence participants.

Lead Conversion Attribution

1. Use Dataloader to retrieve the ID, and CreatedDate fields of all Participant Sequence History records.
2. Open the retrieved CSV.
3. Copy the CreatedDate field into a new column named Sequence_Exit_Date__c.
4. Use Dataloader to update the Participant Sequence History records.
5. Execute this script in the Developer Console:
   

Database.executeBatch(
new RDNACadence.BackfillConversionAttributionDataBatch()
);

Activity Conversion Attribution

1. Execute this script in the Developer Console:Database.executeBatch(

new RDNACadence.BackfillActivityAttributionDataBatch()
);