Category / Salesforce Administration

by JessieRymph

Printable Donor Profile

Sometimes as a Salesforce admin I’ve been asked to do things which just seem ridiculously old school, not very efficient and may involve actual paper. When I cannot convince someone to click through a few screens, instead of printing or having an email sent to them, it gets my admin panties all in a bunch.  (Wouldn’t that be cool, to have actual admin panties?!)

Sexy Sys Admin Women's Boy Brief

Not actually surprised that these exist! Thanks Cafe Press Canada!

But when working with a nonprofit, you gotta just let it go. And that is how this printable donor profile came into being.

My pro bono client: The Cedar River Clinics, which are fantastic, independent reproductive & LGBTQ health clinics in Renton, Seattle, and Tacoma.

My task:  Create a one-page document with important donor information.  The development director will print the doc and hand it to the executive director to review before she calls a major donor.  Continue reading →

by JessieRymph

How to Include an Unsubscribe Link

Follow this tutorial to include an unsubscribe link in promotional emails sent from Salesforce. My last post gives you some reasons for considering this feature.

131206-f-it851-005

So…you did that directly in production. I see…

When the recipient clicks to unsubscribe, a flow will look for ALL CONTACTS (not leads) who have this as their preferred email address (if you’re in NPSP) or in the Email field. All contacts who meet that requirement will be marked “Email Opt Out.”  The email address owner will receive one confirmation email immediately.

For goodness sake, please try this in your sandbox or a Trailhead playground first!  Continue reading →

by JessieRymph

When to Include an Unsubscribe Link

The benefits of sending email directly from Salesforce are that you can automate when they go out, you can send up to 5,000 emails per day, and email templates are really simple to set up.

woman using white smartphone on front of table

Dear Asses and Donkeys Trust, I no longer want to receive your email. XOXO, Belinda

But any time you’re emailing groups of people, you should be mindful of the requirements of the CAN-SPAM law (which I just learned isn’t called the “Canned Spam” law). CAN-SPAM requires that emails, in certain scenarios, provide an option for the recipient to unsubscribe.

I am writing to you on my personal blog as a puzzle-solving Salesforce admin, not a Salesforce employee. Your decisions around unsubscribe options can have legal implications for your organization so please do not take anything from this post as legal guidance or means to make your communications legally compliant.  That decision is between you and your lawyers.

Continue reading →

by Maya Peterson

Use Custom Permissions To Bypass Validation Rules And Pass Unit Tests

Picture this… it’s already 9pm on deployment night (Friday night of course). You’ve pushed to three environments already and spent at least three hours resolving unit test failures. If all your tests pass this time, you can go home and enjoy a well deserved hot cocoa….

THEN THIS HAPPENS:

Unit Tests Fail

FIELD_CUSTOM_VALIDATION_EXCEPTION

Someone else deployed a Validation Rule that is causing almost half your unit tests to fail, effectively ruining your weekend and destroying all your dreams. Has this ever happened to you? Well you’re not alone…

Continue reading →

by Jon Sayer

Finding Record IDs in Bulk, Without Expensive Apps

As an admin, you sometimes just need to figure out the IDs of a large number of Salesforce records based on some data from some other source. For example, at my last job, I was often given a list of email addresses that needed to be added to a newsletter list. The first step I had to take was figure out which emails were already associated with Contacts in my instance. I had to grab the IDs of those records in order to add them to that list. Doing this by searching for records one-by-one would be prohibitively time consuming.

For what felt like ages, the best tool for me was DemandTools’s Find/Report IDs function. As an admin for nonprofit organizations, this tool was free for me, and it was easy. I just plugged in my input spreadsheet file, configured my search query, and the tool popped out another spreadsheet with the record IDs and any other fields I might need. Continue reading →

by Maya Peterson

Formulas Rule! Master Complex Assignment Rules with Formulas

This year at Dreamforce 2018 I had the opportunity to present an advanced admin session with Roan Bear. The Session, Formulas Rule! Master Complex Assignment Rules with Formulas, addressed how admins can use formulas to better manage and optimize assignment rules.

Continue reading →

by JessieRymph

Flow Loops for Nincompoops

Maya, Zach, Thomas and I traveled down to Portland for Forcelandia earlier this month for the amazing admineloper conference. I was so excited to share my love of Flow loops in my first regional conference presentation!

me presenting

Forcelandia is held at The Kennedy School, an old elementary school turned into a hotel by McMenamin’s.

Flow Loops unlock incredible power previously held only by devs. Without using any code, Admins can create an automated process to loop through all related records and take actions based on what is found there!

Demo scenario 1: Hollywood for the Holidays’ will connect you with a celebrity to spend the holidays with! Folks fill out the lead form with an interest and a holiday. Our Flow will loop through all confirmed celebrities and create an opportunity for each celebrity. Continue reading →