When working with Signal Flows, you may sometimes encounter "ThirdParty call failed," Authorization, 401, 500, Validation, "Mandatory field," or other errors when registrations process through your Flows.  In this article, we will review some of the common errors you may encounter and the subsequent steps you may need to take to ensure that your Signal Flows are successfully processed.

Metrics > Troubleshooting 

When reviewing the Metrics > Troubleshooting area, you will see totals labeled "IN RETRY QUEUE," "TOTAL RETRIED," "RETRIED ABANDONED," and "VALIDATION ERRORS."  You can get more detailed information on the Registration, Flow, and Error Messages by clicking on the total values.

• IN RETRY QUEUE - The total number of records passed through the Signal retry Queue in the selected timeframe.
• TOTAL RETRIED - Shows the latest results for records processing via the Retry Queue
• RETRIED ABANDONED - Records that hit the max number of 3 retries were unsuccessful.  Records will no longer process automatically.
  • NOTE - These are the records to pay attention to, as they most likely indicate an issue with configuration or your Third-party systems.  To have these processes through Signal again, you would want to replay them using a Custom Signal Replay Report from the Event (re-triggering Signal for selected records via a Mass Action).

Error - "ThirdParty call failed"

These errors typically indicate that an error was generated by the system Signal is attempting to integrate with.  The record will typically include additional information about the cause and the error itself.  The information included generally depends on the system Signal reaches out to through the Flow.  Below are a few examples and recommended next steps if you see these errors in Signal.

• Unauthorized
  • Indicates that the information sent by Signal for Authorization is incorrect.
  • If you are getting this for all registrations processing through a Flow, you will want to check the Flow's Connection and make sure the credentials/endpoints set up in the Connection are still valid.
  • Suppose other registrations from other events process through the same Flow.  In that case, you will want to check the Mapping in your Flow to identify any fields used for authorization and check the corresponding field if you are getting the errors.
• Upstream request timeout
  • Normally indicates an issue with the system Signal reaches out to in the Flow.  If they have a "Status" page, check to see if they had any recent problems that could cause the errors.
  • If you consistently get this error, review the Flow's Connection setup to ensure the Endpoints used are correct.
  • If there is a problem with the Third-party, and it persists for some time, you may start to see records being "Abandoned" once they are retired and fail three times.  You will need to use a Signal "Replay" report to re-trigger the Flows for individual registrations.
• Access token is expired. / The supplied refresh token has been destroyed. 
  • Records that throw this error typically process correctly the next time the system runs them through the Retry queue.
  • If you see a large number of these errors, you will want to check your Flow Destinations to confirm their information is correct and check with your Third-party system to ensure they are not encountering issues of their own.
• Meeting ########### is not found or has expired. / Event has been expired
  • The above and similar errors are normally from Flows that work with webinars (Zoom, ON24, Bluejeans, etc.).  They indicate that the Meeting/Webinar that the system is attempting to integrate with has already ended.
  • Review your Meeting/Webinar and confirm that it matches your Event and if it has the correct Date/Time.
  • If you get this error and the Meeting/Webinar has not already passed, reach out to Certain Support.
• The user is already registered.
  • This is another error seen in many Webinar systems (GoToWebinar, Zoom, etc.).  It indicates that a registration already exists in the Webinar for the email address sent over.
• Registration has not been enabled for this meeting
  • This is an error for Zoom Webinars/Meetings.  It indicates that the Webinar is not set up in Zoom to allow Registration.  To fix this, you would need to edit the Zoom Meeting and check off the option next to Registration as "Required."
• Value too long for field / STRING_TOO_LONG / ValidationException
  • The above errors indicate that values sent by Signal are being rejected because they fail the Third-Party System's validation settings.
  • Check the Fields Mapped in the Flow Destinations and check those fields in your Third Party System.
  • Example: Eloqua Form Fields are created with a default character limit of 35.  This can be changed by editing the form field within Eloqua.
• Service Unavailable
  • Indicates there is an issue with the Third-party system or some problem with the internet is preventing information from moving back and forth between Signal and the third party.
  • If you only see one or two of these errors, you would want to see if more appear, and then check with your Third-party system to see if they are experiencing issues.
  • If this problem occurs for a long time, then records that received the error may process through the Retry Queue 3 times and become "Abandoned."  If that happens, you will need to "Replay" the Signal triggers for those records once your Third-party system is back to normal.  This can be done by creating a "Replay" report in the Event and processing a Mass action to Re-trigger the Signal Flows for selected records.

Miscellaneous Error Messages.

Below is a list of other error messages you may see and recommendations on steps to take.

• Mandatory fields missing [List of Fields]
  • The above error From Signal indicates that the Records Triggering a Flow are missing values for fields that are marked in the Flow Mapping as being Required.  As the required fields are blank, it will not send the information to the Third-party for that record.
  • If you update the Registration with the required values soon after the error is received, then the information should send when the record is run through the Retry queue.
  • If your Event is not collecting these fields for registrations, you would need to either update the Event to collect the required fields, or edit the Flow Destinations, updating the Mapping so that the fields are not required.
• Read timed out
  • Indicates that Signal did not receive a response to the request made via your Flow to the Destination/Third-party.  Signal will timeout requests after 1 minute.
  • If you receive a large number of these errors, you would want to reach out to your Third-party system to see if they are experiencing issues or if they can optimize their processes to get a response back to Signal requests in a shorter timeframe.
• Error getting auth headers
  • General authorization error.  It will normally clear up when the record is processed via Signal's Replay Queue.
  • If you see a large number of these errors, you would want to review the Connection that your Flow uses, as well as the Flow's Destination endpoints.
• Entity FAILED after MAX attempts..."[Connection Name" is not tested yet
  • This error will occur if testing hasn't been completed for a connection. 
  • Within Connection Setup, a user will need to click "Save & Test" and successfully complete the subsequent authentication.

Note

As most errors received are dependent on the Third-party that Signal is sending data to, you may see different errors than the ones listed above.  Signal attempts to isolate pertinent information from the response received and pass it along via the Metrics area.  If you encounter any errors that do not look to relate to the Third-party system that your Flow integrates with or that you are unable to understand, please reach out to our Support team at Help@certain.com.  In the email to Support, please include the error received, the Flow triggered, and one or two of the Registration Codes for the records that received the error.