I know what you’re thinking. You’re reading the title saying to yourself “C’mon Cheryl, yes it is, in just a few clicks I can add a field. What are you talking about?” In theory, yes, you are correct. However, I wanted to share an example from a recent User Group Meeting that may not be so simple. One of our new members--who is also a new admin--was asking for help adding a field. The admin’s sales team requested a field called Billing Frequency on the Opportunity with 4 Choices: Annually, Quarterly, Monthly and Ad Hoc.
After discussing the request with her it became apparent the technology wasn’t the problem, it was the requirement itself. She showed me their org. They had three opportunity record types with three page layouts and nine profiles. She wasn’t sure which opportunity record type this field should be on, where it should go on the page layout, or who should have access. We looked at the record types and page layouts and we could make an assumption, but we all know what happens when you assume…
I explained that she needed to refine the requirement for the field with the sales team. I helped her draft an email asking everything she needed to know to a new field. She sent the email while still at the user group meeting and approached me after one of the presentations as the sales manager had already responded. It turned out the field should only be on two of the three record types, it should always be required for one of the opportunity record types when it’s closed won, and should only be required for a certain opportunity type when it’s closed won. There was also a requirement that only sales and sales management should be able to change this field, and all other users would have read only access to the field.
The sales manager also asked if he could get an email anytime an opportunity was closed with a Billing Frequency of Ad Hoc. He also asked if there was a way she could load the data in for any closed opportunities from 2015 for one of the record types.
After reading through her email with her the simple additional field requirement became:
· Add a field to two record types and page layouts
· Set up field level security for the field
· Create a validation rule to require the field in the certain circumstances
· Create a workflow rule and email template to fire when an opportunity was closed where this field was filled in with a certain value.
· Extract opportunities with criteria mentioned in above validation rule with ID’s so sales could update spreadsheet
· Load data into the Billing Frequency Field
From the above you can see why adding a field can be more than a simple request, especially if you are adding a field to an object with multiple record types, page layouts, with multiple profiles. This is why I always use the 5 W’s of Salesforce Administration when reviewing enhancement requests from users:
· Who - Who wants the request, who should be able to use or view the new configuration.
· What - What will they do with the data collected in the configuration? What is the long-term goal?
· Where - Where should this configuration be available?
· When - When should this configuration be available, when should it be required?
· Why - Why do they want this new feature, what is their end goal and how will they use it and how will it benefit our business?
When the admin I mentioned above started asking her business users the 5 W’s of Salesforce Configuration, she was able to assist them faster and more efficiently. She was able to determine what was needed upfront by asking the right questions.
What questions do you ask your business users when they submit a request to make a change in Salesforce? I would love to hear from you!
As always, thank you for reading!
Cheryl
Showing posts with label AwesomeAdmin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AwesomeAdmin. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Monday, November 17, 2014
Dear Salesforce Product Management...Thanks For The Wings!
Dear Salesforce Product Management,
Before you start reading, I want to let you know that this
isn’t another post telling you all of the ideas you need to implement
yesterday, this is a post to say thank you.
I sit here writing this post just after playing with Lightning Process
Builder and re-building a fairly complex process we currently have in
code. I was able to re-build 90% of this
process that updates cases and inserts new records when certain things happen
on a case. If I could reach out and hug
you through my MacBook I would.
After sitting here trying out my new process in a developer
org I started to think, really started to think why I love Salesforce the
company and the platform so much. It’s because
of tools like this. It is because people
like me, who have zero coding experience can easily build out a huge complex
process in less than an hour. I re-built
most of this in 43 minutes. Yes, I timed
myself, because I was curious.
This brought me back to why I first fell in love with the
Salesforce platform and why I think the company has been so successful. It is because Salesforce has made its
platform configurable to a businessperson.
Someone who really understands his or her business can set the platform
up pretty quickly and easily to meet business needs.
My thoughts naturally turned to my own career path wondering
what my career would have been like if Lightning Process Builder had come
about seven or eight years ago. Then, I
started to think about the people I met at Dreamforce this past October who are
just starting out their Salesforce Admin careers. Some aren’t full time Salesforce Administrators;
actually most of people I met after my sessions or in the Admin Zone were their
company’s Salesforce Administrator plus something else (secretary, operations
analyst, office manager, etc.). I
realized that this isn’t just a tool to help automate business process; this is
a tool for career path. I guarantee
you there is someone sitting at their job right now, who isn’t happy, who
catches on, gets certified and gets a better job; a higher paying job; a job
that they love where people treat them with respect because they are the
subject matter expert for a tool that that their company relies on to do
business.
Each time you build something like this for Administrators
and Developers to use, you aren’t just making the platform better, faster and
easier to configure. You are giving
someone his or her wings. Wings to a
career path, wings to fly out of a job they maybe stuck in because they need to
pay bills, take care of their families.
I’ve had my wings for just over ten years now and my career
is soaring at over thirty thousand feet.
If it weren’t for the Salesforce platform I may still be answering
someone else’s phone.
If anyone in product management reads this, please take a
moment to go into the community today and see what you have built, what you
have really built. Look at all of the ideas posted, the conversations happening in the various groups, and
the people helping each other on Answers. We exist
because of you.
Thank you,
Cheryl Feldman
Owner
of Awesome Admin Wings
Monday, October 6, 2014
My Sessions at Dreamforce
I am so excited for Dreamforce 2014! This is the first year I'm presenting and I'm presenting five times! Here is the list of sessions where I'm presenting.
Monday
Admins and Business Analysts: Agents of Change
1:00 PM -
1:30 PM
Moscone Center West,
Admin Theater Zone
Tuesday
10:15 AM -
10:35 AM
Moscone Center West,
Admin Theater Zone
11:15 AM -
11:45 AM
Moscone Center West,
Community Lounge
Wednesday
11:00 AM -
11:40 AM
Hilton San Francisco Union Square,
Plaza A
Thursday
8:30 AM -
11:00 AM
Moscone Center West,
2020
These are sessions that I will be attending and you should too!
Monday
9:00 AM -
10:00 AM
San Francisco Marriott Marquis,
Golden Gate A,B
I'll be in the Admin Zone at Mascone West for most of the day, so come by and say hello, especially since it will be my Birthday :)
Tuesday
1:30 PM -
3:30 PM
Moscone Center South,
Main Keynote Room
9:00 AM -
10:00 AM
Hilton San Francisco Union Square,
Grand Ballroom B
5:00 PM -
5:40 PM
San Francisco Marriott Marquis,
Yerba Buena - Salons 10, 11, 12
Thursday
2:00 PM -
3:00 PM
Moscone Center West,
Product Keynote Room
See you in less than a week!!
Cheryl
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
We Are Admins…Hear Us Roar
Dreamforce 2014 is going to be epic and not just because
Bruno Mars is performing. It’s going to
be epic because history is going to be made right in front of our eyes. For the first time ever, Admins are going to
have a place to call our own; a place where you can grow as an admin, get your
questions answered, get help on that formula field or validation rule, or think
about what’s next in your career path; a place where Admins are appreciated and
recognized for your achievements on the Salesforce platform, where you will
realize that you aren't just a Salesforce Admin, but an Awesome Admin.
The place I’m referring to above is the Admin Zone. If you are a Salesforce Admin, want to be a
Salesforce Admin, or a Developer that is looking to do more with clicks you
need to be in the Admin Zone as much as possible. There are so many great sessions and things
to take away from the Admin Zone that you will be able to learn everything from
creating basic apps to being a MacGyver Admin.
In addition to this history-making Admin Zone, we are going
to have a Keynote! Our
very own Admin Keynote on Wednesday, October 15th at 9 AM, this is
when the real history will be made. This
is where all of us Admins will Roar together with one loud voice.
It doesn’t just stop there, the Admin Keynote will have surprise
Guest Speakers, Salesforce swag, Awesome Admins that you know and love from the
Salesforce Community. I am telling you,
as an Admin, this Keynote is not to be missed.
If you’re an Admin, this is where you need to be to show the world how
awesome it is to be a Salesforce Admins and that we are the heartbeat of our
Salesforce implementations.
If all of that wasn’t awesome enough, what if I told you
that you could be in the front row of the Admin Keynote?! Be up close and personal with some of your
favorite admins, including Mr. Button Click Admin himself, Mike Gerholdt! I have the honor of giving away two front-row
seats to the Admin Keynote!
To enter the contest to win one of two front row seats you
will need to do ALL of the following:
- Make sure you’re registered for the Admin Keynote here
- Comment on this blog post telling me you want to be in the front row of the Admin Keynote
- Share this blog post on twitter or the community with the hashtag #AwesomeAdmin letting everyone know that you want to be in the front row of the Admin Keynote.
Winners will be selected at random on October 10th,
2014.
As always, thank you for reading!
Cheryl
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