Category: salesforce

Salesforce – Custom Objects The organization’s data will always not fit into the existing standard objects. So we can extend and customize many sales force objects to meet this need. For example, a courier company can create a custom object to store the schedule and dispatch details for every week. So these objects store the data that is unique to the business. The custom objects can also have custom fields along with the standard fields available in Salesforce. Custom Object features Following are the features available on Custom Objects. The features help you perform the following features − Build page layouts to control which fields users can view and edit when entering data for the custom object record. Import custom object records. Create reports and dashboards to analyze custom object data. Create a custom tab for the custom object, to display the object’s data. Track tasks and events for custom object records. Import custom object records. Create a Custom Object To create a custom object, we go to the line path as shown in the following screenshot − Now we fill in the details of the custom object we want to create. There are mandatory fields which should be filled before the object can be saved. In our case, we give the object a name called Delivery schedule and save it. Create a Custom Field To Add more granularity to the business data, we can add custom fields on the custom object we created. In this case, let us add a field called delivery date to the custom object named Delivery schedule. To do this, we follow the path Setup Home → Objects and Fields → Object Manager → Deliver Schedule. Later, scroll down to the Fields and Relationship tab and click New. The page to add custom field appears wherein, we fill the details as shown below. Next, we can verify the successful addition of the above custom field by following the same link path as above. The custom field appears as shown in the following screenshot −

Salesforce – Standard Objects The Salesforce Platform stores data in relational tables. The records in these tables contain data for the structure of the platform itself as well as user created data. For example, the data about the configuration and settings of an account are already in-built as a relational table. But you can also create your own tables to store data specific to your business like the ”dispatch schedule” for a week assuming you are a courier company. These relational tables are roughly referred to as API Objects or only objects in Salesforce. There are three kinds of Salesforce objects. Standard Objects − The objects already created for you by the Salesforce platform. Custom Objects − These are the objects created by you based on your business processes. External Objects − The objects which you create map to the data stored outside your organization. In this tutorial, we will focus on the standard objects in Salesforce platform. Standard Objects These are the objects which already exist in the Salesforce platform to manage the configurations and settings of the environment. Once you log in to the salesforce platform, you can see the available objects. Example The most commonly referred standard object is called the Account Object. It is the object which stores the preliminary information about a customer, partner, competitor or another organization. We can explore the account object by following the steps below. Step 1 Login to the Salesforce platform and follow the link path Settings → Setup Home → Object Manager – Account. Step 2 In this step, click on the Schema Builder. It shows the complete Account table with field names and data types. There are fields marked red. The fields marked red indicate that it is mandatory to fill the fields when an account is created. Using the similar steps as above we can explore all the standard objects available. Important Standard Objects In this section, we will discuss the important standard objects in Salesforce. The following table lists down the objects − Object Name Meaning Usage Account Represents an individual account, which is an organization or person involved in the business like customers, competitors, partners, etc. Use this object to query and manage accounts in your organization. Account History Represents the history of changes to the values in the fields of an account. Use this object to identify changes to an account. Case Represents a case, which is a customer issue or problem. Use the case object to manage cases for your organization. Contact Represents a contact, which is an individual associated with an account. This object is used to manage individuals who are associated with an Account in the organization. User Represents a user in the organization. This object is used to query information about users and also helps to provide and modify the information concerning the users. Asset Represents an item of commercial value, such as a product sold by the company or a competitor that a customer has purchased and installed. This object is used to track assets previously sold into customer accounts. With asset tracking, a client application can quickly determine which products were previously sold or are currently installed at a specific account. Domain Read-only object that represents a custom Web address assigned to a site in your organization. This read-only object is used to object to query the domains that are associated with each website in your organization.

Salesforce – Lookup Relationship A Lookup relationship involves finding value of a field based on the value in another field in another object. It is mostly used in the case of commonly shared data between two objects. Example In the courier company, we have a delivery location which must be related to a delivery schedule. So we have a field “DeliverySchedule” in the object Delivery location that looks up for values from the other custom Object named “Delivery Schedule”. Let us now see the steps to create such a lookup relation. Step 1 First we identify the objects and the fields which need to have the relationship. In our example, these two objects are Delivery Schedule and Delivery Location. Step 2 Create a Custom Object named DeliveryLocation as we did in the previous chapter. In it, go to the tab fields and relationships. Click New → Custom Filed → Lookup Relationship. Choose the field type as lookup field and enter the details as shown below. Step 3 You can verify the lookup relationship created by going to the schema builder and choosing the two objects for display.

Salesforce – Visualforce Pages Visualforce pages are webpages that belong to Salesforce. These webpages are created using a unique tag-based Mark-up language. It is similar to HTML but it”s primary use is to access, display and update the organization’s data. The page is accessed by using a URL similar to that of a traditional webserver page. Each tag in visual force language corresponds to some user interface component like section of a page, a list view or a field of an object. Interestingly, it can be easily mixed up with HTML markup, CSS style and Java libraries, etc. Creating a Visualforce Page Go to the link developer console → File → New → Visualforce page. The new window opens asking for a page name. Let us now call it HelloworldPage. Let us now write the code as shown in the following diagram. Click Save. Then, click on Preview. This opens a new webpage showing the result as shown in the following screenshot. Adding components In this section, we will learn how to add components to a program that is already created. Let us add some user interface components to the program created above. We add a block and a section in that block by using the following code. On previewing the page, we get the following output. Setting Preferences We can set the various settings for easy navigation by going to Help → Preferences.

Salesforce – Exporting Data In this chapter, we will discuss how to export data from Salesforce. You can choose the objects from which data needs to be exported and also schedule a regular export form those objects. There is also a filtering option on how much data to export based on the age of the record. Let us now see the steps to export data from Salesforce − Step 1 Navigate to the link Setup Home → Data → Data Export. It will present a window to schedule an export by mentioning the frequency along with the start and end date to select the records to be exported. Step 2 In the next step, we choose the Salesforce objects the data of which need to be exported by selecting the check boxes as shown below. Step 3 Upon clicking Next as in the above step, you will be directed to a window which mentions that you have to wait for some time for the exported data to be ready for download. So in this step, we wait for the download link to appear in the same screen. Also a hyperlink to download the data is sent to the email id of the person who scheduled the export. Step 4 The Download links appear in this step.

Salesforce – Control Access Objects The access restriction for different objects is managed by using profiles and permissions. The type of access (view, edit, create, etc.) can also customized thorough this mechanism. A user can have only one profile, but can have multiple permission sets. So through profiles the minimum basic permissions for the selected objects is granted while, through permission sets additional permissions beyond the profile can be granted. Let us now see the details of the profiles creation and granting permission to understand how the object access is managed. User Profiles Profiles are created to address the requirements of a particular business function. For example, the HR department needs a profile which will have access to work history, medical history and attendance of employees. While the finance department will need profile which will access the attendance and remuneration details of an employee. Now depending on the user’s job role, the profile is attached to the user. Only one profile can be allocated for a user. Creating a Profile Go to the link path Setup Home → Users → Profiles. You can see some existing profiles which are pre-built in the salesforce platform. We can create new profiles by cloning the existing profiles and customizing them further based on our requirements. Let us now see an existing profile named the standard user. It shows all the types of settings available to this profile. For example, we can set object permissions for both standard objects as well as custom objects. We can also set different administrative permissions and general user permissions and so on. In order to control the permission to each of the objects through this profile, we can scroll down and find the list of both standard objects and custom objects. Here we can use the check boxes to customize the object access. Assigning a Profile Once a new profile has been created, it can be assigned to users by going to the link path Setup Home → Users → Users. Now click on the edit to the left of the user name. You will be directed to a new window where in, you can change the profile from the dropdown. Permission Sets Permission sets are additional access given to a user on some objects which are not covered through their profiles. So it just extends users access to some objects based on their profiles. For example, when a new custom object is created, we create a permission set for those objects and attach those permission sets to the users who will need access to those objects. The same logic applies when we want to grant temporary access to specific objects for a user. Creating a Permission Set We create a permission set by going to the link path Setup Home → Users → Permission Sets. Click on the New button to create a new permission set. Once created, we can edit the permission set and choose Object Settings. Here we can see the list of objects and the level of access to these objects. We can edit the access types for each of these objects.

Salesforce – Reports Creating reports in Salesforce is not a very complicated process. The reports are created on top of one or more Salesforce objects. It has the flexibility of applying filters and joining data sets to create sophisticated reports. The interface is called the Report builder. Go to the Reports icon in the left bar menu of the Lightning Experience Home Page. Follow the steps below to create a report. Step 1 Click on Create New Report. Upon clicking, the following screen appears. We choose Accounts and click Create. Step 2 In this step ,we define certain settings for the report and get the resulting rows. We choose “My Accounts” from the dropdown Show. It brings all the records owned by the creator of the report. Next we choose the created date filter as All Time as shown below. We proceed by saving the report with the name – Accounts report. Step 3 Now, we will apply a filter to the above report. Click on the Add filter option in the white space just below the date filed filter. Choose the field Billing State/Provinces. Choose the equal to operator and type the value NY in the next text box. This filters out the row for NY as shown below.

Salesforce – Service Cloud This part of Salesforce platform is focused on providing support and help to the customers. This helps in retaining the customers, increasing their satisfaction and loyalty. Its uniqueness lies in providing faster service compared to traditional methods, giving individual attention to each customer needs and taking a proactive approach to customer issues. That ultimately enhances the customer’s experience hence loyalty which in turn creates a good impact on sales. Following are the key business Goals achieved by using the Service Cloud − Personalized Service − Give each customer a good service experience based on their unique problems and history of purchases and complaints. Always-on Service − Make the service available 24/7 Multi-channel support − Meet the customers on their preferred channels like mobile, phone, chat etc. Faster support − Managing various service needs from a single console helps in delivering support services faster. Key Features of Service Cloud In this section, we will discuss the key features of Service Cloud. These features help in accomplishing the business goals mentioned above. The features are described below − Console for Service It is a unified platform for managing all cases assigned to an agent so that it can help in prioritizing the tasks at hand. This also helps give personalized experience to the customer of each case. Knowledge base Customer interactions and resolutions are captured and organized into a knowledgebase. This helps in faster issue resolution. Social Customer Service As more and more customers connect with the organization through social media, this feature helps deliver service on the social media platform itself without asking the customer to visit separate web pages for interaction. Live Agent This feature provides real-time online help with its unique chat service. Mobile Platform Salesforce1 platform is the mobile platform to manage customer service from any device and any place. Service Cloud Communities It allows customers to help themselves by helping each other. Many tools are available for self service on various trouble shooting requirements.

Salesforce – Navigating Setup The Salesforce developer uses the setup area to configure and customize the interface. It is also used to add and support other users, and build various other functionalities. There are many paths to reach the same setup button. In this tutorial, we will see the most commonly used setup paths and configurations. The Salesforce Home page has both classic and modern Lighting User Interface. We are referring to the modern lighting interface. All most all the features are available in both The classic and Lighting User Interface come with many features that prove beneficial to the users. Setup Location The setup link is located in the top right corner of the page as shown in the screenshot below. Clicking on the setup home takes us to the setup home page. Setup Home Below page shows the setup home where we see all the options available for the developer to configure and customize the option. Setup Options The following table lists down the important features which are frequently used in setup activity. Sr.No Setting & Purpose 1 Users Create, Remove Users. Manage User profiles and Permissions. 2 Company Settings Information related to your org. Like – Language, Maps and Locations, Domain etc. 3 Security Expire Passwords, Access Policies, Session Management and Setup Audit Trails. 4 Environment Jobs, Logs and Sandboxes. 5 Objects and Fields Object Manager and Schema Builder. 6 User Interface App Menu, Custom Labels and Lighting App Builder. 7 Custom Code Custom Metadata Types, Email Services, Remote Access etc. 8 Analytics Reports and Dashboards.

Salesforce – Architecture Salesforce delivers a highly customized experience to the customers, employees, and partners of an organization. Such a platform is used to customize standard functionality and create custom pages, components, apps, etc. Also it is done faster, mainly because of the superb architecture on which it is built. Below is a brief introduction to the Salesforce Architecture. Architecture Salesforce The architecture of Salesforce can be put into layers for better understanding. The purpose and function of each layer is described below − Trusted Multitenant Cloud Here multiple instances of one or multiple applications operate independently in a shared environment. The instances are referred as tenants and they logically separate from each other while physically remaining in the same hardware. It is called trusted because of both its robust nature and high security. Scalable Metadata Platform The metadata driven platform makes it easy for customization and scaling up as the amount of data or concurrent user instances increase. Enterprise Ecosystem The Enterprise Ecosystem of Sales is very large as a large number of partners contribute by creating and maintaining applications in this platform. CRM and Related Functionality Salesforce includes all aspects of CRM in its list of features and also extends it by providing features for creation of apps and integrating analytics, etc. APIs Salesforce provides powerful suite of APIs. This helps to develop and customize the Salesforce1 Mobile App.