How to connect Veeva Vault to Beefree - simple integration
Beefree
/@create-with-beefree
Published: October 5, 2023
Insights
This video provides a focused, step-by-step tutorial on integrating the Beefree email design platform with Veeva Vault, a specialized cloud-based content management system tailored for the highly regulated pharmaceutical and life sciences industries. The core purpose of this integration is to enable commercial and medical affairs teams to utilize a user-friendly, no-code email builder (Beefree) for rapid content creation while ensuring that all resulting assets are centrally managed, approved, and compliant within the strict regulatory framework of Veeva Vault. The integration is presented as a solution for streamlining content creation, accelerating approval workflows, and significantly reducing compliance risks associated with marketing asset management in the life sciences sector.
The tutorial details the technical process for exporting a finished email design from Beefree into Veeva Vault. The workflow begins on the Beefree platform, where the user selects the "Export" function, choosing the "Push to your sending system" option, and then selecting the Veeva Vault connector. Crucially, the video emphasizes the necessary security protocols, noting that only authorized personnel—specifically owners, admins, and managers—are permitted to connect and authenticate the Veeva Vault account using the required URL, email, and password, underscoring the importance of strict access control in regulated environments.
A critical phase of the export process involves meeting Veeva Vault’s content requirements. Users must populate several mandatory fields, such as Name, From, and Subject, which are essential for content tracking and audit trails. The video highlights that pharmaceutical organizations frequently configure additional mandatory fields within Vault to enforce internal marketing policies and regulatory adherence. Once these fields are completed, the email is exported and lands directly within the Veeva Vault platform as a draft. This allows regulatory and medical review teams to immediately access the content, review custom fields, and initiate the multi-stage approval workflow required before the campaign can be deployed.
Furthermore, the integration addresses a key compliance challenge related to digital asset management. The Beefree connector automatically handles the seamless hosting of all images used in the email design directly within Veeva Vault. This feature is vital for maintaining compliance with internal privacy policies, ensuring proper version control, and guaranteeing that all visual assets are managed under the same regulatory umbrella as the textual content. The current workflow dictates that if design changes are needed, users must return to Beefree to make edits and then use the "update existing" function during the re-export process, ensuring that Veeva Vault remains the single, compliant system of record for the final, approved email draft.
Key Takeaways:
- Compliance-Focused Integration: The primary value proposition of the Beefree-Veeva Vault connector is bridging the gap between rapid, creative content development and stringent regulatory compliance requirements inherent to the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries.
- Veeva Vault as the System of Record: The integration positions Veeva Vault as the centralized content management platform responsible for final approval, version control, and compliance tracking, even though the design work occurs externally in Beefree.
- Streamlined Commercial Operations: By allowing commercial teams to use a drag-and-drop builder, the process accelerates the creation of impactful email campaigns, reducing the time-to-market for compliant marketing materials.
- Mandatory Field Adherence: Successful export requires users to populate standard fields (Name, Subject) and any organization-specific mandatory fields configured in Veeva Vault, which are essential for maintaining comprehensive audit trails and adhering to internal marketing policies.
- Strict Access Control: Connecting the platforms requires high-level permissions (Owners, Admins, Managers), reinforcing the need for robust governance and security protocols when linking external systems to regulated content platforms like Veeva Vault.
- Automated Asset Management: The connector automatically hosts all images directly within Veeva Vault, solving a common compliance challenge related to ensuring that all digital assets are properly stored and managed according to internal privacy and regulatory policies.
- Regulated Workflow Progression: Once exported, the email lands in Veeva Vault as a draft, ready to enter the formal review and approval phases (e.g., Medical, Legal, Regulatory review), enabling teams to manage custom fields and progress through campaign phases.
- Round-Trip Editing Workflow: The current process requires that all design modifications be made in Beefree, followed by re-exporting and selecting the "update existing" option in the connector. This ensures the integrity of the content within Vault while leveraging the external platform’s design capabilities.
- Future Development Potential: The video notes that direct editing of exported emails within Veeva Vault is not currently possible but is a future development goal, indicating the ongoing evolution of integration solutions to further streamline content management in regulated systems.
Tools/Resources Mentioned:
- Veeva Vault: Cloud-based content management platform for healthcare, pharmaceutical, and life sciences industries, used for content approval workflows and compliance risk reduction.
- Beefree: A drag-and-drop email builder utilized for creating impactful email designs.
Key Concepts:
- Content Management Platform (CMP): A centralized hub (Veeva Vault) for managing marketing assets, ensuring they meet regulatory and internal policy standards before deployment.
- Compliance Risk Reduction: The integration facilitates compliance by centralizing content and approval workflows, ensuring that all communications adhere to strict industry regulations.
- System of Record: Veeva Vault functions as the definitive, auditable source for the final, approved version of the email content.