How do I know when a Salesforce update syncs to Zendesk?

Question

How can I track when an update in Salesforce attempts to sync an account, contact, or lead record to Zendesk?

Answer 

Zendesk's sync process relies on the Salesforce streaming API, specifically a subscription to a push topic. Assuming you've enabled syncing in Admin Center and the updated records meet the sync criteria, you can use a third-party tool called Workbench to see the sync process in action and check whether changes to the SFDC create events in the push topic stream.

1. Open Workbench and log into the appropriate environment, production or sandbox, using Salesforce API version 45.0.
2. Select Queries > Streaming Push Topics.
3. For Push Topic, select the appropriate for the type of sync you want to test.
   
4. Click the Subscribe button to start to listen for events related to that object.
5. When you change one of the fields mapped in Admin Center, this creates a new message event within the push topic stream.
   

If the change made to the SFDC record doesn't create an event within the push topic stream, then no Zendesk sync can take place.

One example of a field that doesn't create an event is the formula field type. To trigger a sync when a formula field has changed, consider a workflow process as described in this article: How to initiate a sync from Salesforce based on a formula field update.

Note: Workbench is not a tool that is officially supported by Salesforce and may not work properly for fetching streaming push topics, even when configured correctly. If you see the following error but you have confirmed that you have the necessary permissions, you may need to find an alternate method to test push topics:

For more information, see Salesforce's official recommendation in this article: Example: Subscribe to and Replay Events Using a Java Client (EMP Connector).