This guide walks you through the steps to restore your integration features: Community Data Export, Account Import, Case Escalation, and Federated Search.
Our team is always available to help, and you'll find support options at the end of this document.
Before You Begin
Participants Needed
To complete reconnection smoothly, you'll want the following people available:
| Role | Why Needed |
|---|---|
| CC Admin / Community Manager | Navigates Control settings, configures integrations, and verifies data flow |
| Salesforce Admin | Required for Salesforce OAuth authorization and permission verification |
| 💡 Tip: If your Salesforce Admin isn't available, please schedule a short joint session with them before you begin. |
Understanding the Impact
The CC Salesforce integration consists of four distinct features, all of which were affected by the security advisory:
| Integration Feature | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Community Data Export | Pushes community member info and activity (posts, replies, topics) to Salesforce |
| Account Import | Pulls Account/Contact data from Salesforce to link community members to their accounts |
| Case Escalation | Manually create Salesforce Cases from community posts |
| Federated Search | Pulls Salesforce Knowledge Articles into the community search engine |
Document Your Current Settings
Before making any changes, take screenshots of your current configuration:
- Which of the 4 integration features are currently enabled
- Community Data Export field mappings (Contact, Community Member, Activity objects)
- Account Import matching criteria and picklist field configurations
- Case Escalation field mappings (Subject, Description, Origin)
- Federated Search settings and Knowledge Article configuration
| ⚠️ Warning: Your screenshots are your safety net for quick reconfiguration. Full Reinstallation will reset ALL integration settings. |
🔄 Full Reinstallation
| ℹ️ What This Means: To restore your connection, you'll need to uninstall and reinstall the Salesforce app. After reinstalling, you'll need to reconfigure which features to enable and their field mappings. This is why we asked you to document your settings! |
Step 1: Uninstall the Salesforce App
- Log in to your Gainsight CC Control environment
- Navigate to Control → Integrations → Apps → Salesforce
- Before uninstalling, make sure to document & screenshot each of your settings: Community Data Export field mappings, Account Import matching criteria and picklist configurations, Case Escalation mappings, Federated Search settings and Knowledge Article configuration
- Click the Uninstall button
- Confirm the uninstallation when prompted
Step 2: Re-Authenticate & Install
- Select your instance type: Production or Sandbox (for test environments)
- Click the Install button
- A pop-up window will appear asking you to log in to Salesforce
- Your Salesforce Admin logs in and approves the connection
- When Salesforce prompts "Allow Access", click Allow
- Confirm the status changes to Installed
| ⚠️ Multiple Salesforce Sessions?: If you're logged into multiple Salesforce orgs, use an incognito/private browser window to ensure you're authenticating with the correct org. |
Step 3: Reconfigure Your Integrations
After reinstalling, re-enable and configure each integration feature you were using. Refer to your screenshots from earlier.
Community Data Export
- Navigate to Integrations → Salesforce → Export community member & activity data to Salesforce
- Enable the integration
- Save your configuration
| ⛔ Critical: The Salesforce user must have Create, Read, Update, Delete permissions on all three objects for this integration to work. |
Account Import (If Used)
- Navigate to Integrations → Salesforce → Import Salesforce Account data to Customer Communities
- Enable the integration
- Configure which Account picklist field identifies customers
- Set up matching criteria between CC members and Salesforce Contacts
- Save your configuration
Case Escalation (If Used)
- Navigate to Integrations → Salesforce → Case Escalation
- Enable the integration
- Configure Case field mappings: Subject, Description, Origin
- Save your configuration
Federated Search (If Used)
- Navigate to Integrations → Salesforce → Federated Search
- Enable the integration
- Configure which Knowledge Article fields to search (Id, Summary, Title)
- Save your configuration
| 💡 Tip: Federated Search restoration is immediate once enabled. No data is stored locally—results come directly from Salesforce Knowledge Base. |
📊 Data Sync & Backfill
What Syncs Immediately
Re-authenticating successfully restores the connection for new data moving forward:
- Member Records: Will automatically refresh and sync the latest status
- New Activity: Posts, replies, and activity created after restoration will sync normally
- Historical Activity: Activity during the outage period requires backfill (see below)
Historical Data Backfill
| 🚧 BACKFILL PROCESS Community activity (posts, comments, votes) that occurred during the outage period will not appear immediately after restoration. We are finalizing our backfill plan to restore this missing data. What to expect once available:
|
🔧 Troubleshooting
If you encounter issues during restoration, here are common problems and solutions:
| Symptom | Likely Cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| OAUTH_APP_ACCESS_DENIED | App blocked in Salesforce | Go to Setup → Connected Apps OAuth Usage → Unblock Gainsight CC |
| Authorization popup doesn't appear | Browser blocking popup | Allow popups for CC domain; try incognito mode |
| "Access Denied" in SFDC | Insufficient permissions | Verify user has API Enabled and object permissions |
| Wrong org connected | Multiple SFDC sessions | Log out of all orgs, use incognito browser |
| Data not syncing | Integration not re-enabled | Re-enable each integration feature individually |
| Federated Search no results | Toggle disabled | Enable the SFDC Knowledge Base toggle in settings |
| Data appears stale | Backfill processing | Allow sync cycles to complete; historical data via backfill |
| ⚠️ Before Contacting Support: Please gather: error messages (screenshot), timestamp of the issue, Salesforce user being used, and steps you've already attempted. |
✅ Final Verification Checklist
🔄 Base Connection
- Salesforce app shows Installed status in CC Control
- No error messages on the Salesforce integration card
- Correct Salesforce org is connected
📊 Community Data Export (if used)
- Integration enabled and field mappings configured
- Community member data appearing in Salesforce
- Activity data syncing to Salesforce
🏢 Account Import (if used)
- Integration enabled with matching criteria configured
- Community members linked to their Salesforce Accounts, verify in the Engagement Dashboard
🎫 Case Escalation (if used)
- Integration enabled with field mappings configured
- Test case created successfully from community post
🔍 Federated Search (if used)
- Integration enabled
- Knowledge Articles appear in community search results
- Articles open correctly in Salesforce
Getting Help
Our team is here to support you through the restoration process:
- Gainsight Support: https://gainsight.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
- Check Ticket Status: https://gainsight.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests
- System Status: https://status.gainsight.com/
- Your CSM: Reach out for guidance on restoration priorities
| ℹ️ Note for Large Communities: If you have a large community (>100,000 members; >500,000 posts) with significant data volume, backfill operations may take longer. Your CSM can help coordinate with the Gainsight team to monitor and optimize the restoration timeline. |
| 🌟 Thank You! We appreciate your patience and partnership throughout this process. Your community is in good hands, and we're grateful you chose Gainsight Customer Communities. If you have any feedback on this restoration process or how we can better support you, please don't hesitate to reach out. We're always listening! |
