Category: salesforce

Salesforce – Control Access Fields There are scenarios in which we grant access to an object to a user but we also want to restrict the access to certain fields of that object. So using field level security, we can control the user”s access to see, edit or delete certain fields of an object. Field level access settings are achieved in two ways − Edit a single permission set or profile containing all the fields which require access restriction. Edit permission on a single field to be applied in multiple profiles. Example To give edit access to the field DeliverySchedule on the object DeliveryLocations, we go to the permission set named CourierObjects which we created in the last chapter. Then go to the Object settings and choose the object named DeliveryLocations. Click Edit and select the field wherein, we need to set the permission. To set the field permission for one field across all profiles we open the object through schema builder and then right click on the specific field, choose manage Manage Field Permissions. We will now get the option to set the field permissions for many profiles for this single field.

Salesforce – Dashboards Dashboards provide more insights than reports as they combine the data from many reports and show a summarized result. Looking at many reports at a time gives the flexibility of combining the results from them quickly. Also summaries in dashboards help us decide on action plans quicker. The dashboards can contain charts, graphs and Tabular data. Let us now see the steps to create a dashboard. Step 1 Go to the Dashboard button on the left menu bar in the Salesforce Home Page. Now, click on the New Dashboard and the following window appears. Fill in the name and description. Step 2 Next we add components to the dashboards. Components are graphical objects which present the summarized or tabular data with visual indicators like colors, etc. In our case we add two components as shown below. Choose the Opportunity Amount by Stage report and present it as a line chart. Similarly, we choose another component to be added. Choose the report Leads Converted All Time as shown below. Step 3 In this step, we see both the components are visible in the dashboard. We can resize the components for better visibility. And there is still more place for additional components.

Salesforce – Create a Role Hierarchy Role hierarchy is a mechanism to control the data access to the records on a salesforce object based on the job role of a user. For example, a manager needs to have access to all the data pertaining to the employees who report to him, but the employees have no access to the data that is only owned by their manager. In this manner, the access model looks similar to the org chart in an organization but it need not be exactly same as the Org chart. The role hierarchy automatically grants record access to users above the record owner in the hierarchy. This option is enabled for all objects by default. To change this, we take help of custom objects and manual aces grants. Defining a Role Hierarchy In this section, we will discuss how to define a role hierarchy. The steps are described below − Step 1 To create a Role Hierarchy, we go to the link path Setup Home → Users → Roles → Setup Roles. The default role hierarchy appears as shown below. The default view is Tree View, which is easiest to use. The other two views are sorted list view and list view. You can change this view as per your need. Step 2 In the next step, we add a role to the existing hierarchy by filling in the role details. Click on Add Role. The next window appears asking for the following details. While filling these details, we also take care to define if the users can only view the opportunities or can also edit the opportunities. On clicking save we get the Role created as shown below. Step 3 In this step, you can assign users to the roles. Click on Assign Users to Role. Upon clicking, you will be directed to a window where you can select All users form the dropdown and move users from the left box to the right box. In this way, you can create roles within the role hierarchy and add users to them. So the users can have access to the objects and data as per their roles.

Salesforce – Define Sharing Rules In this chapter, we will discuss how to define sharing rules in Salesforce. Though we can manage the access to different objects and records through organization-wide settings and role hierarchies, we come across situations wherein, exceptions are required. We need to grant access to specific data to specific users who are not able to access the required data because of their roles. For example, to see the case history when a user has only access to the current case details. In such scenarios, we take help of sharing rules. Through this mechanism, we create a public group which will accommodate all the users who need such exception and then add sharing rules to such a group. Steps to Create Sharing Rules In this section, we will discuss the steps to create sharing rules. The steps are described below Step 1 Create a public group which will have the users who need specific access. Go to the link path, Setup home → Users → Public Groups → New Group. We need to fill the required details. Also choose the group of users who will need to use the sharing rules. Keep the Grant access using Hierarchies checked so that the other users listed below in this hierarchy can inherit the access. Click Save. Step 2 Now we create the sharing rule for the above public group. Go to the link path Setup Home → Security → Sharing settings. From the dropdown of Manage Sharing settings for, choose Campaigns. Then under Campaign sharing rules, click on the button New. Provide the details for the new sharing rule as shown below. We select a criteria to give access to records for which the value of the field Campaign name is camp_x. So now all the users under the newly created public group will get access to those records of campaign object where the campaign name is camp_x.

Salesforce – Importing Data In this chapter, we will learn how to import data in Salesforce. Salesforce provides a robust platform for data manipulation. We can Insert, View, Edit and Delete the relevant data with proper user permissions. At times, we need to add a large number of records to the respective Saleforce object in one go. Most likely these records have come from another source. The format of the incoming data has to match with the format in which the salesforce object is expecting it. The import feature is available with CSV file structures from four sources. The sources are CSV, Outlook CSV, ACT! CSV and GMail CSV. In the example given below, we will use the normal csv file for importing data to the Salesforce platform. The import happens in the following three steps − Step 1 Navigate to Setup Home → Data → Data Import Wizard. A page opens which gives instruction on how to proceed with the Wizard. The most important point to remember is the record limits which restricts the number of records to be imported in one go to 50000. Click the Launch Wizard button to start the import process. The following screen appears, asking us to choose the kind of object to which we can import the data. We select Accounts and Contacts in the above screen and click Next. Step 2 In this step, we choose the file containing the data to be imported. Also we are presented with the option of Adding New Records or Updating the Existing Records or both. We choose adding the new records as shown below. We also select the field used to match the existing record with the incoming record. For this, we choose Account name and site under the dropdown Match Account by, and then we click Next. Step 3 This is the last step before the import starts. In this step, we do the very important task of matching the incoming field names with the column names of the salesforce fields. Though Salesforce does automatic matching of most of the field names, still there may be some cases where we have to match the field names manually. As you can see below, we have unmapped fields which needs to be mapped. On successfully completing the mapping, click Next and the import starts.

Salesforce – Automate Business Processes The process builder tool helps in automating business processes. For example, all that goes into a record when a courier delivery is completed. This automation involves creating the following three steps − Select an Object to start the process. Add criteria to the object to allow the start of the process. Add action to the criterial to trigger the execution of the process. Let us now create a sample process which will add a record when the courier delivery is completed. Add object to start the process Go to the link Setup home → Platfrom Tools → Process Automation → Process Builder. Click New .Upon clicking New, the following window appears which asks for name of the process and description. We fill in the details as shown and click Save. Next we get a process automation window. Click New to go to the next step. And choose the Object delivery schedule as shown below. Click Save. Add Criteria Click on the Add Criteria button in the canvas to add a condition for the process to be allowed to execute. Here we choose the delivery date as the filed which when updated will trigger the process. Click save to save the criteria. Add Action Next, we add action to trigger the start of the process when the condition is met. With this setup, when a courier delivery is completed we are able to create a record to track the completion of the delivery.

Salesforce – Using Formula Fields Many times we need to manipulate the values of the fields stored in the Salesforce object by applying a few conditions or calculations. For example, we need to get the Account number value linked to the contact object, so that we can find the Account number from the contact name. In such scenarios, we create formula field in addition to the existing fields in the object. Let us now see the steps to create formula field. Step 1 Go to the link path Setup Home → Object Manager → Contact. Then scroll down to the Fields and Relations tab and add New. Choose Formula as the data type and click Next. The following window appears. Here we choose the return type as Text and also fill in the Field Name and Field Label. Step 2 Clicking on Next brings takes you to the next window wherein, you have to select the field based on which the formula will be built. Let us now choose Account number from the Account table. Click Insert to insert this field into the Contact object. Step 3 In this step, we can see the field Account Number appear under the fields of the Contact object as shown below.

Salesforce – Schema Builder The various objects and their relationships of a Salesforce application can be easily viewed using the Schema builder. And just not viewing, but we can also design, modify and implement new data models using schema builder. Schema builder has a drag and drop interface which is used to perform all the activities. It shows all the relevant details like – field values, data types, relationship with directions etc. Accessing Schema Builder From Setup Home, navigate to Objects and Fields → Object Manager → Schema Builder. Viewing Objects We can see the various objects by selecting them form the left pane. The Element tab represents fields and relationships while the Objects tab represents the standard as well as custom objects. We have selected three objects named – Account, Delivery Schedule and Delivery Location as shown in the following screenshot. Changing Objects We can work on various schema objects by showing them in the canvas in the right pane. We can only modify the custom objects and cannot modify the standard objects as they are part of the Salesforce platform structure. In the following screenshot, we can see various actions we can take on the custom schema objects. Creating Objects We can create new objects using the schema builder. Go to the Elements Tab. Drag the element named Object into the canvas. It prompts you to fill in the details of the object.

Salesforce – Control Access Organization In an organization, different kinds of data are accessible by different types of users. Salesforce has the mechanism to limit the data access in the platform to both individual users as well as groups of users. There is a flexible but layered sharing model that makes it easy to assign different data sets to different sets of users. Also the access can be defined at the level of organization, objects, fields, or individual records. Levels of Data Access In this section, we will discuss the different levels of Data Access. There are four levels of data access. Organization Level It is created by maintaining a list of authorized users, setting password policies, and limiting login access to certain hours and certain locations. Objects Level It is done by setting permission on a particular object by allowing selective viewing, editing or deleting of any object in that record. Fields Level It is used to restrict access of users to certain fields even when the user has access to the object containing the field. Records Level This access level permits the user to access only certain records of an object. In this chapter, we are going to focus on Control Access to the Organization using the three mechanisms described below. Create and Manage Users The administrators can create one or many users using the Admin Interface. Navigate to setup home → Administration → Users. It shows the options for adding one user or many. It further asks for details of each users like Name, email Address, Role, Profile, etc. On filling those details, the users get created. Set Password Policies Password policies refer to the way the passwords are managed in the organization. For example, setting the expiry date of a password, the complexity requirement of a password and so on. All these options are customizable and we can also control the lock of policies. These password policies are set by navigating to setup home → Security → Password Policies. Restricting Access from IP Address This is an added security which allows only specific range of IP addresses to access the Salesforce platform of the organization. But if a valid user accesses the restricted page outside the trusted IP range then the system asks for additional challenge questions which should have been already configured. This is set by navigating to setup home → Security → Network Access..

Salesforce – Master Detail Relationship Unlike the relationships in relational database, the relationships in Salesforce are not through Primary and Foreign Keys. The relationships are maintained by using the Relationship Fields. It is a custom field which links one object record to another. Through the creation of relationships, we can display the data of all the related records in the record”s details page. The Master Detail relationship is used when we want to control the display of detail records based on the value in the master record. For example, in the courier company model a delivery schedule is always linked to a delivery location. If we remove a delivery location from our list, then all the related delivery schedules should also be eliminated. Such a dependency can be achieved through Master-detail relationship between the sales force objects. Features of Master-Detail Relationship In this section, we will discuss the features of Master-detail Relationship. The features are listed below − Deleting a Master Record, deletes all the detail records. A detail record cannot be created without a Master record. The permission on the detail record cannot be set. It inherits the permission from the master record. The detail record also inherits the sharing rule from master records. Both the master and detail records are automatically included in the report record types. Creating Master-detail Relationship In the courier company example, we will consider the relationship between delivery location and delivery schedule. There is a many-to-one relationship between the delivery schedule records and the delivery location record. Following are the steps followed to create this relationship − Choose the Relationship Type In setup home, find the object named Delivery Schedule. In it under the Custom Fields and Relationships related list, click New. Choose the Master-detail Relationship as shown in the screenshot below. Choose the Related Object In the next step, select the object with which this relationship will be created. We choose DeliveryLocation. Name the Relationship and Field In this step, enter the Relationship Name as well as the name of the Field. Add field to page layout In the Next step we accept the defaults and move on to add the reference field to the page layout. Add Custom Related Lists Next, we specify the title for the related list that is associated layout with the parent. This completes the creation of Master-Detail relationship between DeliveryLocation and Deliveryschedule.