Lashonna McBride

The Wonderful World of Conga Composer Parameters

As the insanity that would be the year 2020 begins to wind down, now is a great time to reflect on all that you’ve learned this year and the work you’re especially proud of. I’ve gotten the opportunity to work on a lot of functionality and development of features this year, but for me the project that stands out the most is the configuration of a doc gen solution that involved Conga Composer and Conga Trigger. I had some previous experience with Conga Composer, but through this project, I learned more specifically about how robust Conga parameters are. Quick breakdown of how this solution works: the parameters are used to control the behavior of your doc gen solution (i.e., when and in what format your document generates and/or sends out via email) and can be built into a custom button that, when clicked, triggers generation with the parameters you’ve put in place. You can also go one step further with the use of Conga Trigger, which involves converting the custom button into a formula field, then integrating that field into a Workflow Rule and Action.

My First Time at Forcelandia: A New Admin’s Account

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend my very first Forcelandia. This was the fifth year for the event, and it was also the first year it was sold out. I must admit, I was pretty pumped. Not only was this the first Salesforce-related conference I was attending, but I was excited to get a glimpse at the developer side of the Salesforce landscape. I may have played ACDC’s “Thunderstruck” a few times on the way down, you know, just to get in the mood.

Forcelandia is a conference that may appear intimidating at first glance to the new Salesforce admin, as it is mostly tailored to the developer. Having attended though, I can say I got tremendous value out of the experience as a newbie. Below are some of my takeaways:

3 Tips for Troubleshooting (And Staying Calm While Doing It) as a New Salesforce Admin

The experience of becoming a Salesforce Administrator can be a whirlwind of new information, building relationships with your fellow administrators and most of all, trying to develop a thorough understanding of the Salesforce stratosphere so you can best serve your user base. As someone who has essentially learned Salesforce Administration backwards (I received the title of Salesforce Admin, then scrambled to learn how it works), I can vouch for having encountered some white-knuckled, fist-clenching troubleshooting challenges. At first, I allowed myself to succumb to my frustration. After all, how could I not have all the answers? However, in my short time as a Salesforce Admin, I have discovered that not only am I not alone, but there are a ton of resources at my finger tips to help me as I navigate through my learning. Throughout my experience, I have picked up 3 tips that have been essential to my process: