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.

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!

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!

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.

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.