Aligning Content in Veeva CRM using Align

Content alignment enables customers to give the right users access to the right Approved Email and CLM content by using content groups, grouping users and content together.

Align admins can simplify and automate content group administration by creating content groups and automatically assigning users as content group members based on their territory and field force assignments.

Configuring Content Alignment

Configuring Content Alignment involves configuration in both Veeva CRM and Align.

Veeva CRM Configuration

To configure this feature for Veeva CRM:

  1. Ensure Aligning Approved Email and CLM Content is enabled in Veeva CRM.
  2. Grant the Align Integration User following permissions:

    Object

    OLS

    Record Types

    Fields

    FLS

    Content_Group_vod

    CRUD

    Content_Group_vod

    • Id
    • Name
    • Status_vod
    • Description_vod
    • Country_vod
    • Language_vod
    • Product_vod
    • Detail_Group_vod
    • External_Id_vod
    • Master_Align_Id_vod

    Edit

    Content_Group_Users_vod

    CRUD

    Users_vod

    • Content_Group_vod
    • User_vod
    • VExternal_Id_vod
    • RecordTypeId
    • Master_Align_Id_vod

    Edit

Align Configuration

To configure this feature in Align:

  1. Grant the following permissions to the end users in Align:

    Object

    Object Permission

    Fields

    Field Permission

    content_group__aln

    Create, Edit, Delete

    • country__aln
    • crm_record_id__aln
    • description__aln
    • detail_group__aln
    • external_id__aln
    • language__aln
    • last_sent_to_crm__aln
    • master_align_id__aln
    • product__aln
    • source__aln
    • veeva_crm_org__aln

    Edit

    content_group_membership__aln

    Create, Edit, Delete

    • content_group__aln
    • external_id__aln
    • field_force__aln
    • master_align_id__aln
    • source__aln
    • territory__aln

    Edit

  2. Ensure the manage_crm_features__aln field is added to the veeva_crm_org__aln object page layout.
  3. Ensure end users have access to the Content Groups tab.
  4. Add the Content Group Memberships related list to the following object page layouts:

    • field_force__aln
    • territory__aln
  5. Edit to the appropriate veeva_crm_org__aln record.
  6. Ensure Enabled is selected for the Manage CRM Users field.
  7. Add the Content Groups and Membership value to the list of selected values on the manage_crm_features__aln field.

Content Group Field Mapping Between CRM and Align

After Content Alignment is enabled in Align, mapping for Align-mastered content groups can be customized:

  1. Navigate to Integrations > Align Integrations.
  2. Select the Gear icon next to the CRM org in the Veeva CRM section.
  3. Select View Field Map.
  4. Select the Align Objects tab.
  5. Navigate to the Content Groups section.
  6. Select Describe & Edit.
  7. Select Save.

Creating Content Groups

Content groups can either be data loaded based on existing Content_Group_vod records in Veeva CRM, or created in Align.

Data Loading Content Groups

Data loading content groups is recommended if Content_Group_vod records already exist in Veeva CRM when this feature is first enabled. This ensures correct association between records in Veeva CRM and Align, eliminating duplicate records. To data load content groups:

  1. Use the data loader in Veeva CRM to extract all Content_Group_vod records from the appropriate org. Ensure the Id field is included.
  2. Use the data loader in Align to upsert new content_group__aln records using the extracted file from Veeva CRM. This ensures content groups are assigned a Master Align ID.
  3. Use the data loader to extract the created content_group__aln records from Align. Ensure the following fields are included:

    • master_align_id__aln
    • crm_record_id__aln
  4. Update Content_Group_vod records in Veeva CRM using the extracted file, matching on the crm_record_id__aln field. This ensures content groups in CRM are linked to those in Align via the Master Align ID field.

Creating Content Groups in Align

To create content groups in Align:

  1. Navigate to Entities > Content Groups.
  2. Select New.

  3. Populate at least the following fields:

    • Name
    • External ID – Ensure the ID is unique to the record
    • Status – Select Active
  4. Select Save.

When a content_group__aln record is created in Align, a Group record with a type of Regular is also created.

Assigning Memberships to Content Groups

Membership to content groups can be assigned either from territories, field forces, or content groups by creating content_group_membership__aln records. Individual roster member assignment to a content group membership is determined by the roster member’s assigned field force and territory, based on the following fields on the content_group_membership__aln record:

  • If the field_force__aln field is populated, all users assigned to a territory within that field force are associated with the content group. For example, assigning all users in the Cardiology field force to a certain content group.
  • If the territory__aln field is populated, all users assigned to that territory or any of the territory’s descendents are associated with the content group. For example, if the content_group_membership__aln record has a territory of Western US, users in the child territory of California are assigned to the content group.
  • If both fields are populated, only users assigned to both the selected field force and the selected territory or any of its descendents associate with the content group. For example, assigning all users in the Western US territory and the Cardiology field force to a content group.

Similar to permission sets inherited from a functional profile, inherited content_group_membership__aln records calculate when pushing to Veeva CRM and are not stored as distinct records in Align.

Assigning Content Group Membership from Territories

Creating a content_group_membership__aln record from a territory automatically populates the new record’s territory__aln field based on the selected territory:

  1. Navigate to the Content Group Memberships related list of the appropriate territory.
  2. Select New.

  3. Populate the following fields:

    • Content Group – Select the appropriate content_group__aln record to assign to members of the territory and its descendents
    • Field Force – This field is optional. Populating this field limits content group membership to roster members associated with the territory and its descendents who are also in the selected field force.
  4. Select Add Row to repeat this process as needed.
  5. Select Save.

Assigning Content Group Membership from Field Forces

Creating a content_group_membership__aln record from a field force automatically populates the new record’s field_force__aln field based on the selected field force:

  1. Navigate to the Content Group Memberships related list of the appropriate field force.
  2. Select New.

  3. Populate the following fields:

    • Content Group – Select the appropriate content_group__aln record to assign to members of the field force
    • Territory – This field is optional. Populating this field limits content group membership to roster members in the field force who are also associated with the selected territory or its descendants.
  4. Select Add Row to repeat this process as needed.
  5. Select Save.

Assigning Content Group Membership from Content Groups

Creating a content_group_membership__aln record from a content group automatically populates the new record’s content_group__aln field based on the selected content group:

  1. Navigate to the Content Group Memberships related list of the appropriate content group.
  2. Select New.

  3. Populate one or both of the following fields:

    • Field Force – Select the appropriate field_force__aln record to assign the content group to all roster members related to territories in the selected field force
    • Territory – Select the appropriate territory__aln record to assign the content group to all roster members related to the selected territory and its descendents
    • If both fields are populated, the content group is only assigned to roster members assigned to the selected field force who are also assigned to the selected territory or any of its descendents
  4. Select Add Row to repeat this process as needed.
  5. Select Save.

Revoking Content Group Membership

To revoke a membership to a content group, delete the appropriate content_group_membership__aln record from any of the following detail pages:

  • territory__aln
  • field_force__aln
  • content_group__aln

When users attempt to delete a content_group_membership__aln record, a warning displays with information about the territories, field forces, and individual roster members impacted by the deletion.

Additionally, users can delete content_group__aln records to revoke all membership associated with the content group.

Deleting a content_group__aln record in Align results in the corresponding Content_Group_vod record and its related Content_Group_User_vod records in Veeva CRM also being deleted during the next push.

Pushing Content Group Memberships to Veeva CRM

Once all content groups are created and membership to those groups defined, users can push the assignments to Veeva CRM.

Content_Group_User_vod records are updated or created in Veeva CRM as part of the push from Align based on content_group_membership__aln records applying to the associated roster member.

For example, if Content Group A has a content_group_membership__aln record associating the content group to Territory 1, and a roster member is associated with Territory 1, the corresponding Content_Group_User_vod in Veeva CRM associates the User record with Content Group A.

See Creating and Managing Content Alignment using Align, CRM, and Vault for more information on assigning PromoMats or MedComms content to Align-sourced content groups.