Update custom fields to null in SFDC through Z-360 sync

[Zuora-Community]

Blank fields are not syncing with SFDC when a custom field is updated to null/blank in Zuora - this is a known issue that needs to be fixed for data integrity.

[jbrown]

This is super important.  When a billing address is updated in Zuora and then synced to Salesforce, a mismatch can (and does for us) lead to incorrect data.

For example, if the initial billing contact is in New York, New York USA and then is changed to an address in another country, the billing team will remove the value from the State/Province field...but this won't update the State/Province field in Salesforce.  So now, when we pull that address onto a contract, it has 123 Something Street, Other City, Other Country New York.

Although the Salesforce API does not support updating values to NULL, it does support the passing of an empty string.  Please consider this for one of the upcoming releases.

[Jamie]

Note that this is not limited to custom fields. This behavior also affects standard fields on Zuora records.

In addition, Salesforce API's do allow for setting values to null making use of "fieldsToNull" 

https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api.meta/api/sforce_api_calls_concepts_core_data_o...

[ehavens]

We also have been dealing with this issue since we started using Zuora and the 360 since 2013.  It would be good for Zuora to resolve this issue.  data integrety is critical.

it would be good to have an update on where Zuora stands on this issue.

[sakshi]

Any update on this?

[Liangqi]

This does look like a defect for me. Though we may need to consider that for some customers they may already get used to current behaviors. Changing current behaviors would have side mpacts for them even it may be the right thing to do.But we will evaluate this enhancement very soon in engineering team internally and will keep you updated about this.

[Jamie]

@Liangqi This is clearly a defect that needs to be resolved so that Zuora data in Salesforce accurately matches what is in Zuora.

[ehavens]

@Liangqi, I agree with @Jamie that this is a defect and should be resolved.

[Liangqi]

@Jamie @ehavens We may add a new permission to still let customers to not sync over "null" value for custom fields just in case some customers may want the old behavior due to any reasons. But by default, they should be able to sync over "NULL" value.

We will get back to you regarding the progress soon.