Before loading your data into Sisense, you will have to prep it first. If you don't already have a data structure in which to store the data you retrieve, you'll have to create a schema for your data tables. Then, for each value in the response, you'll need to identify a predefined datatype (INTEGER, DATETIME, etc.) and build a table that can receive them.

Salesforce documentation should tell you what fields are provided by each endpoint, along with their corresponding datatypes. Complicating things is the fact that the records retrieved from the source may not always be "flat" – some of the objects may actually be lists.

In these cases you'll likely have to create additional tables to capture the unpredictable cardinality in each record.

Note that Salesforce provides several APIs for its different products that can easily deliver data on leads, accounts, tasks, and more. Users can easily find a list of useful APIs on one of Salesforce's helpdesk posts with directions on how and when to use each API. And by going through that post, you will get a good idea of which API will make the most sense for your specific use case. We will use the company’s REST API with Salesforce Object Query Language (SOQL), but keep in mind that the same data is also available using some other protocols.

Sisense is great as it enables quick and easy access to tables within your CSV files. You can upload data in two ways.

The first option is to upload your data file to the Sisense Server. As soon as the file is uploaded, your data would be imported into the web-based ElastiCube as it was at the time you uploaded the file. The other option is to define your file location on the Sisense Server.

You can import your Instagram data from the CSV files by following these steps:

• Create a new ElastiCube in the Data page of the ElastiCube Manager.
• Click   in the ElastiCube.
• You will see the Add Data dialog box.  To open the CSV settings, click CSV.
• Click on File Upload. To upload your data file, click Browse, and then navigate to the file that you need to upload. Now select the CSV files you want to upload and click on Next.
• You will see the Select Table list. You have to click on   to select preview the relevant columns and then display the Settings. These settings provide more options to customize your data.

You can define the following settings in the Settings area:

• Culture: This defines various settings, like the format of your date.
• First Row has Field Names: This enables you to easily specify column names in the table depending on the first-row header of the spreadsheet.
• Delimiter: This allows you to select the character which separates different values within your CSV file.

After selecting all the required tables, click Done. Your tables will be added to the schema in Sisense.

If you've made it this far, congrats! You probably have a written a program or script to extract your data and move it into Sisense.

Now it's time to think about how you will keep this data up-to-date by loading updated or new data. Of course, you can just replicate all your data every time you have updated your records, but that would be extremely manual and time-consuming.

Luckily there is a better way. The key is building your script so that it can sense incremental updates made to the data.

Thankfully, Salesforce’s API results include fields so that you can identify those records which are new since the last update you made (or since the most recent record you have copied). Once you have taken new data into consideration, you can easily set your script either as a continuous loop or cron job to pull down new data as soon as it appears.

And keep in mind that, as with most codes, once you write it, you will need to maintain it. In case Salesforce changes its API, or if the API sends a field containing a data type that your code does not recognize, you might have to change the script.

If all this sounds a bit overwhelming, don't worry -- there is an easier way to get this done!

Thankfully, products like Improvado were developed to move data from Salesforce to Sisense automatically. Using Improvado, you can easily combine the most crucial and relevant data from your ad campaign into a dashboard. You can then connect this data to Sisense.