Monday, October 24, 2016

Salesforce Data Loader on Linux? Can it be?

I've been a Salesforce Admin and Developer for about 6 years, and throughout this entire time I've just used my Windows work computer.

In my past, though, I loved using Linux and missed that feeling of experimentation, messing with system-level settings, and freedom- not being tied to Microsoft's operating system. Some issues with my Windows installation recently made me extremely frustrated - enough so that I just said "Enough! I'm going back to Linux!"

So I backed up my computer, and decided to install Ubuntu - a very popular distribution of Linux.
After a few hours of setting things up 'just like I want' and challenges getting my company's email set up - I felt like I have a good working environment, and went back to my actual work.

One of the first things I needed to do was use Dataloader to update a large amount of records.
Oh oh.
What?
There is NO version of Data Loader for Linux?
What the hey, Salesforce?

Friday, October 21, 2016

Want to be a Salesforce Developer? Well look what we have here!


As a co-leader of the New York City Developer User Group I've had the please of running a series called "Apex Workshop" with Luke Cushanick .

The series was designed to teach users with established Salesforce Administrators experience to start the amazing journey to kick-start a developer career, or simply to allow administrators to understand code and know more about how the platform works.

On our first couple of runs, we held the classes in NYC once every two weeks.

Now, however, we have been teaching these classes as Webinar - which means you can join us and/or catch up with all the previous sessions!

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Know Your Users But Make Sure They Know You

users [yoo-zers] : Those pesky annoyances making it difficult for you to complete your work, always interrupting with their questions and requests.
As an administrator of a Salesforce Organization you likely spend much of your time dealing with your users. How much time depends on how your company utilizes Salesforce, what adoption rates are at, the size of your team, and many other factors.
But how does knowing your users help you do your job better?
Even more important - should you make sure your users know you?
What does that even mean?
How would you even go about it?

Let's dive in.

Friday, August 5, 2016

Journey To The Center of A Salesforce Career

This post is not like the others.

I started this blog with a very specific goal in mind: provide value-added knowledge to the community; things I've learned, discovered, or came up with over the past few years. I didn't want to bog down this blog with abstract stories or repeat what is already plentiful on the interwebs.

With that said, I was recently encouraged by Cheryl Feldman  - a dear friend, a leader in NYC community, and a Salesforce MVP to share a little about myself, and tell a small part of my story.

This post is about my journey.
If you are just getting into the Salesforce world, I'd like to share with you how I got into Salesforce. How it boosted my career and gave me a sense of satisfaction that is still strong years later.

Friday, July 29, 2016

Celebrate Your Contacts' Birthday Without Code!


UPDATE 2: Additional feedback highlighted another issue - the process would not 're-schedule' the post correctly when changing the birthdate. This has now been resolved by tweaking the entry criteria for the second step from Great than 'TODAY()' to Not Equal 'PRIORVALUE([Contact].Next_Birthday__c)

UPDATE:After posting this article, reader's feedback made me realize there were a few things that needed 'improvement' - specifically, I've updated the entry criteria for the first action to account for updates to the birthdate field, and overhauled the formula used to calculate the next birthday to address birthdays which occur later in the year.

Salesforce provides many automation tools that allow administrators to get a lot done without writing one line of code. In some instances creating the automation is straight-forward and quick, and others require a bit of thinking and planning.
There are definitely some things that are still not possible to achieve without writing some code, but that list continues to get smaller as Salesforce improves their tools and release new ones.

NYC User Group Leader, and recently appointed Salesforce MVP David Giller  posted a question on the Success Community yesterday, asking if there is a way to use Process Builder to automatically post a chatter notice, mentioning a contact owner on a contact's birthday.

This may seem impossible, or very simple - depending on your experience with Process Builder.
The same process can be used to e-mail a contact a happy birthday e-mail, or really anything you can do from Process Builder.

Read below for a step-by-step guide on how to implement this.

Monday, July 25, 2016

Easily Use Salesforce to Track Your Salesforce Work

We keep telling our users that 'If it's not in Salesforce it does'nt exist'
The benefits for the Sales and Customer service teams is evident and significant - so why shouldn't you heed your own advice?
Are you already using Salesforce to track the work you do on the platform?
If you are not, think about what you can immediately gain:
  1. Master List
    No more forgetting about an e-mail you received a just before you left for vacation
  2. Report on your success
    Create reports that you can share with your boss or even with your users
  3. Keep your users in the loop
    did you start working on their request already? Is it complete?
  4. Audit / History
    What did you do over the last month? Who asked for it? Did someone approve this change?
  5. Use Chatter
    Chatter is an amazingly useful collaboration tool - use it to work and communicate with your users
Yeah, that does make sense, doesn't it?
But what is the fastest way to set something like this up?

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

7 Really Good Reasons to Join a Salesforce User Group

If you have been a part of the Salesforce world for more than a few months you have no doubt heard whispers of excitement about Salesforce User Group or Salesforce Success Communities. The User Groups are customer (read: volunteer) driven local groups that are focused on providing value to the communities around them.

Curious? (Yes!)
Want to know more? (Of course you do!)
Just keep reading.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

A Simple Way to Make Approvals Easier for Your Users

I know your users asked you: 
"What is wrong with this record? Why can't I submit for approval?"
You want to make it easier for them. If only there was a way to show them when and why a record can't be submitted for approval!


Monday, July 11, 2016

5 Must Have Chrome Extensions for Admins (+1 for developers)



I spend most of my days navigating between Salesforce Orgs, screens, and features.
Over time, I found tools that made it easier for me to do this faster and more effectively.
The Chrome extensions reviewed below may be small, or very specific - but they may make life just a tiny bit easier - and who doesn't like it when things become easier?

Most Salesforce admins and developers will find this list a mandatory one!

Without further ado, here they are!

Friday, July 8, 2016

Using Custom Settings to Control Validation Rules and Workflows

As you customize your Salesforce Org you will undoubtedly create many Validation Rules and Workflows.
These are the bread and butter tools of a Button-Click Admin (a term used to describe an Administrator that can develop new functionality on the Salesforce Platform without writing one line of code). 

While very powerful, there are some scenarios where you may want to have more granular control over how and when they work. For example:

  • Create a Validation Rule or Workflow that only applies to some users or profiles (instead of hard-coding profile names into the rule itself)
  • Have the ability to turn on/off many Validation Rules/Workflows centrally
  • Turn off Validation Rules that interfere with Code Deployment, but only for the user that is performing the deployment
  • Create 'Sets' or 'Groupings' of Validation Rules that can be turned on/off centrally
There are many other scenarios and the technique that I am about to share with you can be adapted to many other cases.

Though I only explain here how to utilize this technique for Workflows and Validations, it can easily be adapted to control Triggers as well - and in fact I use this extensively in my Orgs.

One Caveat: as of the time of this writing, this method CANNOT be used with Process Builder, since Custom Settings values are not accessible in this tool yet.


Thursday, July 7, 2016

Are you a Salesforce Professional in NYC?

<You don't actually have to be a professional...>

If you happen to be in New York City on Wednesday next week (7/13/2016) - do yourself a favor and come hang out with an extremely vibrant community of Salesforce lovers!

You will meet new people, eat free food, learn new things, and overall have a great time!

Go Register Now:
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/nyc-salesforce-ug-meetup-july-2016-tickets-26088674929?




Search your Salesforce directly from the Chrome Address Bar



One of the most used tricks I like to use is searching my Salesforce org right from the address bar.
I used to have every time I wanted to search something in Salesforce without losing my current tab, I had to clone a tab first (or open some link in a new tab), wait for it to load, and only then type in your search?

A cool trick I LOVE to use is to create a custom 'Search Engine' in Chrome that allows me to search quickly right from the address bar.

Almost every time I show this to someone new - I get a 'OMG' moment from them, so I though sharing would be a great idea.