Maintaining Your Org’s Setup for Optimal Efficiency Launa Saunders

Sr. Business Analyst

San Diego Salesforce User Group Co-Leader

@LaunaSaunders

Jayvin Arora

Applications Development Manager

Philadelphia Salesforce User Group Leader

@JayvinArora

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Launa Saunders Sr. Business Analyst

San Diego Salesforce User Group Co-Leader

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Jayvin Arora Applications Development Manager

Philadelphia Salesforce User Group Leader

Agenda

• Why should you care?

• What is Metadata?

• Initial Setup

– Field Considerations

– Naming Conventions

– Field Sets

– Defining Standards with your team

– Documentation

• Ongoing Maintenance

– Code Freezes and Scheduled Deployments

– Communication

– Analyze, Analyze, Analyze

– Managing Change

Maintaining your org set up- Why should you care?

•Poor designs can lead to rework down the road. Fixing them costs resources and

prevents your team from working on current projects.

•Just like financial debt, unresolved issues incur

interest on top of interest, making it cumbersome to

build a project.

•Having a thoughtful setup and long term

maintenance strategies will limit IT debt!

Use to

introduce a

demo, video,

Q&A, etc. What is “Metadata”

What is Metadata, and why is it important?

• Definition:

– …you can consider the source code for the application itself as data that provides the information

on how your application looks, feels, and functions. You can refer to this information as metadata.

(An Introduction to Force.com Metadata, https://Developer.Salesforce.com )

• In laymen's terms please…

– Data is what you put into the database, while Metadata, is the configuration itself. Fields, page

layouts, workflow rules, etc., are all Metadata

Metadata

Use to

introduce a

demo, video,

Q&A, etc. Initial Setup How to set yourself up from the beginning

Initial Setup Field Considerations

• Always use the Help Text & Description

• Use Pick-lists for better reporting

– Provides for better consistency across your org. Better Reporting!

• Avoid using checkboxes when possible

– Makes for harder reporting: 1/0 v true/false

• Avoid using Multi-Select Pick-lists when possible

– Reporting on multi-select pick-lists does not allow for a clear picture of the selected values

Initial Setup Naming Conventions

• Reports and Dashboards

• Validation Rules, Workflow Rules, and

Triggers

Initial Setup Utilizing features available – Custom Settings

• Custom Settings - Background

– Custom Settings shrink your code and makes the logic in your

formulas, validation rules, etc easier to maintain and understand.

– Custom Settings are like custom objects and allow admins and developers to create sets of

data/variables. Also, you can make the variables apply to everyone in your org or just certain

users/profiles.

– Two Types - Hierarchical and List Custom Settings.

• You can access Hierarchical Custom Settings in formulas, workflows, approvals, validation rules, default

values, apex, etc.

*Great talk at DF13 last year by @shannonsans http://bit.ly/1vfQatU

Initial Setup Utilizing features available – Custom Settings (con’t)

• For example, you have to create a workflow/field update to calculate a shipping

rate. For most users, it’s $20. However, if the user is in Customer Support/

Customer Retention the rate is $10. Also, for Jayvin the rate is $0.

Initial Setup Utilizing features available – Custom Settings (con’t)

• Common Use Case # 2- Use Custom Settings to update records and bypass

validation rules.

– Some orgs have exceptions for certain users, but what do you do when those users leave the

company? You’ll have to update all the validation rules for the new admin!

– Custom settings allow you to solve this issue in more scalable and long term way.

Initial Setup Utilizing features available – Custom Settings (con’t)

Utilizing features available – Custom Settings (con’t)

Initial Setup Utilizing features available – Field Sets

• Field Sets- Background • Field sets are a technical consideration by developers that

makes your admins happy, and make them look like a rock star.

• Field sets are groups of fields that that are used in multiple

places in your org, that can be grouped together using the point

and click UI, and used in VF pages, Integrations, VF Email Templates,

or custom code.

• Bridge from Developer to Admin

• When a project is developed, it’s important to keep these in mind / request them from your developer.

• As an admin, you don’t have a good line of sight to this, but you benefit .

Initial Setup Utilizing features available – Field Sets (con’t)

– Additional Notes:

• Resources: DF13 talk by @RoyGilad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o79m4zu0aqk

Initial Setup Defining Standards with your team

• Page Layouts

– Tabbing Direction across fields

• Don’t make users think! Come up with a standard approach so it becomes second nature to them

– Sections

• Utilize sections to guide the user through record completion

– Page layouts for admins (all fields)

• When you org has multiple page layouts and record types, create a custom “Admin only” page layout

which includes all fields.

Resources: ButtonClickAdmin.com

Initial Setup Documentation

• Standardized documentation

– Start at the beginning, and update as changes occur

– Makes maintaining your org scalable

• TIP!

– Use the inexpensive ($30/month for the entire org) app,

Drop my Dossier, to quickly document your org’s setup in

Word Format!

• Output document allows admins to enter notes, and images

for context

• Document objects and their relationships!

– Fields (types, values, etc.), Record Types, Apex, Visualforce

pages, ERD

• Use to build Technical Specifications – Great for regulated

instances!

Use to

introduce a

demo, video,

Q&A, etc. Ongoing Maintenance How to “Spring Clean” on a regular basis

Ongoing Maintenance Regularly Scheduled Code-Freeze

• A Code Freeze is a period of time where fixes,

system updates become more strict.

• Opportunities of a code freeze:

– Annual System Maintenance (i.e. refresh your .full Sandbox, confirm functionality of core objects,

delete fields that are no longer being used, measure project success on key initiatives and determine

reasons for success/failure).

– Catch up on previous year road map items.

– Define future road map items

– Also, depending on your team, it’s a time for your team to schedule vacations/ trainings.

• Components for a successful Code Freeze

– Define your goals and communicate

Ongoing Maintenance Development Standards

• Have a release management schedule

– http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/dev_lifecycle/salesforce_development_lifecycle.pdf)

• Communicate your changes and schedule to users

– Chatter

– Create a ‘What’s changed?’ tab, to document your changes, so users

can stay looped in.

– Use the home page to display major changes.

Ongoing Maintenance Analyze, Analyze, Analyze

• Determine the fields that are in use and which can be deprecated:

– Free App: Field Trip

Ongoing Maintenance Analyze, Analyze, Analyze – Cont’d

• Buttons on Page Layouts – see if they

are being used: • Developer Assistance Required to get started

• Reports on Reports

– Reports | Administrative Reports |

Reports

– Move reports to a “Quarantine” folder

– Send an email notification out

– Mass Delete after “xx” time using the new

“mass delete” feature from Spring ’14

• Setup | Data Management | Mass Delete

Records | Mass Delete Reports

Reference: ButtonClickAdmin

Ongoing Maintenance Managing the change - Eclipse IDE

• Eclipse IDE - It’s not just for developers, it’s for Admins too!

– Impact analysis See where stuff is referenced

– Mass updates to reports, validation rules,

workflow rules, etc., when changing picklist values

Ongoing Maintenance Managing the change - Eclipse IDE (con’t)

• Additional resources to learn how to use the Force.com IDE

– Check Agenda Builder for sessions.

– Just Your Average Salesforce Admins – Mass moving Reports from one folder to another Using

the Eclipse IDE

– Teach Me Salesforce – Updating reports with Eclipse and the Force.com IDE

Ongoing Maintenance Managing the change – Cont’d

• Additional Tools to check out in maintaining your Metadata

– Snapshot : compare setups of multiple instances. View changes across profiles, record types and

permission sets

– Panaya ChangeGuru: Analyze and estimate change impacts in a flash!

– Metadata Search: Query Metadata quickly

References

https://developer.salesforce.com/page/An_Introduction_to_Force.com_Metadata

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_debt

https://help.salesforce.com/HTViewHelpDoc?id=cs_about.htm&language=en_US

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nF0XYx4m80

https://help.salesforce.com/HTViewHelpDoc?id=fields_about_field_sets.htm&language=en_US

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o79m4zu0aqk

http://www.buttonclickadmin.com/spring-cleaning-simplifying-your-salesforce-reports/

http://www.buttonclickadmin.com/how-to-make-your-salesforce-page-layouts-awesome/

http://youraveragesalesforceadmin.blogspot.com/2011/05/mass-moving-reports-from-one-folder-to.html

http://teachmesalesforce.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/updating-reports-with-eclipse-and-the-force-com-ide/

Re-Cap • Why should you care? –Ensure your org is scalable for future growth.

• What is Metadata? – The configuration of the system. UI, automations, etc.

• Field Considerations: Use Help Text and Descriptions, Use Pick-lists instead of: text fields,

checkboxes, or multi-select pick-lists.

• Naming Conventions: For reports, dashboards, validation rules, etc., to drive consistency

• Field Sets: Easily update visualforce pages with clicks, not code!

• Defining Standards: page layout setup and maintenance to drive user adoption.

• Documentation: Start at the beginning, update when possible. Training &testing made easier!

• Code Freezes and Scheduled Deployments: Give your team time to ‘Spring Clean’.

• Communication: Communicate schedules and changes to users on a regular basis. Informed

users = adoption.

• Analyze, Analyze, Analyze: Continuous analysis of reports, field use, etc., keeps your org

clean.

• Managing Change: Search the Appexchange to many tools available to help you manage

change. Eclipse IDE, Snapshot, and Panaya are just a few!

Success Boarding Pass: Your ticket to success