Skip to main content

How do I add Community join interactions to a user record timeline in Slate?

You can configure your Unibuddy Slate integration so that when a prospect joins a Unibuddy Community, the Community join is recorded as an interaction on their Slate record.

Written by Laura Hillman

An "interaction" in Slate is an event that appears on the user record activity history.
​
​See an example below:

To create an interaction when a user joins a Community, follow the steps below.

PLEASE NOTE:

Important: For Community interactions to be imported correctly, the Unibuddy applicant_id must be mapped to a unique identifier in Slate.

If you haven't completed this yet, follow How do I map the Unibuddy applicant ID to a unique ID in Slate? before continuing.

Step 1 — Create the Unibuddy interaction code

In Slate:

  1. Select Database from the navigation bar.

  2. Under Records, select Activity & Interaction Codes.

  3. Select Insert.

  4. Enter the following:

  • Type: Interaction

  • Code: unibuddy_interactions

  • Parent Code: Leave blank

  • Label: Unibuddy Interactions

  • Status: Active


    5. Select Save.
    ​

Step 2 — Create the Community interaction code

Select Insert again and enter:

  • Type: Interaction

  • Code: Community

  • Parent Code: Unibuddy Interactions

  • Label: Joined Unibuddy Community

  • Status: Active

Select Save.

This creates the Community interaction beneath the Unibuddy interaction grouping.

Step 3 — Add the Community fields to your Source Format

Navigate to the Unibuddy Source Format you created during the initial Slate setup.

Open the Format Definition and add the Community fields immediately before the closing </layout> tag.

We recommend configuring up to 10 Community interactions because Slate's XML Format Definition does not allow a dynamic array/list size. 

<f id="community_1_code" s="community[0]/interaction_code" />
<f id="community_1_subject" s="community[0]/interaction_subject" />
<f id="community_1_date" s="community[0]/interaction_date" />

<f id="community_2_code" s="community[1]/interaction_code" />
<f id="community_2_subject" s="community[1]/interaction_subject" />
<f id="community_2_date" s="community[1]/interaction_date" />

<f id="community_3_code" s="community[2]/interaction_code" />
<f id="community_3_subject" s="community[2]/interaction_subject" />
<f id="community_3_date" s="community[2]/interaction_date" />

<f id="community_4_code" s="community[3]/interaction_code" />
<f id="community_4_subject" s="community[3]/interaction_subject" />
<f id="community_4_date" s="community[3]/interaction_date" />

<f id="community_5_code" s="community[4]/interaction_code" />
<f id="community_5_subject" s="community[4]/interaction_subject" />
<f id="community_5_date" s="community[4]/interaction_date" />

<f id="community_6_code" s="community[5]/interaction_code" />
<f id="community_6_subject" s="community[5]/interaction_subject" />
<f id="community_6_date" s="community[5]/interaction_date" />

<f id="community_7_code" s="community[6]/interaction_code" />
<f id="community_7_subject" s="community[6]/interaction_subject" />
<f id="community_7_date" s="community[6]/interaction_date" />

<f id="community_8_code" s="community[7]/interaction_code" />
<f id="community_8_subject" s="community[7]/interaction_subject" />
<f id="community_8_date" s="community[7]/interaction_date" />

<f id="community_9_code" s="community[8]/interaction_code" />
<f id="community_9_subject" s="community[8]/interaction_subject" />
<f id="community_9_date" s="community[8]/interaction_date" />

<f id="community_10_code" s="community[9]/interaction_code" />
<f id="community_10_subject" s="community[9]/interaction_subject" />
<f id="community_10_date" s="community[9]/interaction_date" />

What do these fields contain?

Each Community interaction contains three pieces of information:

  • community_x_code — the Community ID.

  • community_x_subject — the name of the Community.

  • community_x_date — the date the prospect joined the community.

Step 4 — Create a test Community interaction

Before configuring the field mappings, create a real test Community join so that Slate has sample Community data available to map.

Who creates the test prospect?
​
If your Slate integration is still in the testing/setup stage, the Unibuddy team will create and complete the test Community interaction for you.

If your integration is already live in production and you are adding Community data to an existing integration, you can create the test interaction using a new test user in your live university environment by following the steps below.

  1. Invite a new test user to your Unibuddy Community.

  2. Log in as the test user.

  3. Accept the invitation and complete Community registration.

  4. Make a note of:

    • the test user's email address;

    • their Unibuddy applicant ID;

    • the Community they joined; and

    • the date they joined.

  5. Wait until the next Unibuddy-to-Slate sync.

Unibuddy sends data to Slate at:

6am, 12pm, 6pm and 12am UK time.

Step 5 — Check the Community data in Remap

After the next scheduled sync:

  1. Open your Unibuddy Source Format in Slate.

  2. Select Remap.

  3. Check that the Community source fields are available.


For the first Community interaction, you should see:

community_1_code
​community_1_subject
​community_1_date

If the test prospect has joined more than one Community, additional sets may also contain data.

Step 6 — Map the Community fields

On the Field Mappings page, map the first Community interaction as follows:
​

  • Source: community_1_code
    ​ Destination: Interaction → Interaction: Code

  • Source: community_1_subject
    ​ Destination: Interaction → Interaction: Subject

  • Source: community_1_date
    ​ Destination: Interaction → Interaction: Date

  • Set the Group to 1.
    ​
    ​

The three fields belonging to the same Community interaction should use the same Group.

Repeat the same process for the remaining Community field sets.

Step 7 — Configure Prompt Value Mappings

Once your Community data is available and your fields have been mapped:

  1. Open your Unibuddy Source Format.

  2. Select Remap.
    ​

  3. Select Prompt Value Mappings.
    ​

  4. Select the incoming community_1_code.
    ​

  5. Under the Destination Value, update to "Unibuddy Interactions - Community Joined."
    ​

  6. Repeat this for each community_x_code field you've configured.

For example:

community_1_code
​community_2_code
​community_3_code

and so on.

Step 8 — Activate Remapping

If you're completing Community setup as part of your initial Slate integration setup, make sure all of your required mappings are complete before activating Remapping.

Once you're ready:

  1. Open Edit Source Format.

  2. Change Remap Active to Active.

  3. Select Save.

Note: If your Slate integration is already live and you're adding Community to an existing integration, Remapping should already be active. You do not need to activate it again — simply save your new Community mappings.

You're all set 🎉

Once you've confirmed that the Community join interaction appears correctly on the expected Slate user record, your Community interaction setup is complete.

If you're still completing your initial Slate integration, return to Slate Setup Part 2: Syncing with Unibuddy to finish testing the rest of your integration.

Did this answer your question?