Salesforce CRM-Independent Study

Salesforce's Marketing Power- Increase your lead conversion by contacting web visitors within minutes of completing a form

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Tue, 11 May 2010 01:11:00 +0000

I found one of the most valuable tools salesforce has to offer is the ease of creating a data entry form for capturing web visitor information. SF email templates allow you to notify staff of a new lead, create a task for a specific staff member to followup, create a customized msg to the prospective student, and call the student within minutes of the student completing the form.

Generating the html code for the web to lead form can be done in minutes, where the work comes in is editing this code. However, once you have created one form you can use it as a template and simply copy the code and make the minor adjustments such as updating the campaign id.

You also need to establish an assignment rule for these new leads. You can assign all new leads affiliated with your record type to one individual who will receive an email notification OR perhaps you want to you would like to assign a lead based on the campaign or program of interest. If you would like a group of co-workers to receive an email notification of the incoming lead then create a user queue to share the workload. It is a best practice to establish a generic email alias (with all queue users as recipients) to use as the queue email. This will ensure all staff receives a message when a new lead has been added.

An autoresponse sent to the prospective student is an optional feature but can easily be setup. Create an email template to convey a customized msg to the prospect that is automatically emailed upon creation. You can also establish multiple templates if you wish to send a specific message based on the data entered. For example, you may want to send program information based on the program of interest selected on the form.

Some of My Success Stories With Web to Lead Forms
I created a general inquiry campaign to capture new web to leads that complete a form requesting general information. One of these forms captured over 120 new leads within the past 8 months with one already converting to a student. Another program recently had two Open House events & advertised these events in the local paper directing them to the website. Within a few weeks over 70 leads were created :)

Then of course there is Google Adwords an easy an affordable way to advertise your website programs on the Google Search Engines. Web to leads can be used in conjunction with this long tail marketing technique in order to measure your Return on Investment (ROI). These forms & tracking code allow you to capture the number of converted leads from each Google Adword Campaign.

So generate your code...
edit your picklist values... set your record type, and campaing id value etc
determine which staff member(s) will receive the email notification
setup an email autoresponse to the prospect (optional)
be sure any necessary tracking code (Google Analytics/Adwords) are added to the page
and please come back and comment with success stories of your own :)

Marketing - Salesforce Web-to-Lead Forms Overview

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:59:00 +0000

Are you looking to more effectively respond to program inquiries? Would you like to enhance you websites' interactivity by adding a data entry form to request additional information about a program? Would you like an email notification sent to a co-worker each time a visitor to the site completes the form?

A web to lead provides users the ability to gather information from their website visitors which automatically tracks and stores in salesforce. You can use standard lead fields on this form such as name, address, email, phone number, lead source etc. in addition to any custom field. Perhaps you would also like to capture the prospective student's program of interest (a custom field) along with their contact information. Salesforce provide you the ability to easily add this field to the form. If you have a basic understanding of html, you can also include hidden fields, identify a specific value for these fields, as well as format the form fields.

A website could potentially contain several web to lead forms, so it is highly recommended that you create a campaign prior to generating a web-to-lead in which to associate the leads. For example, the off campus group has a "General Inquiry" campaign established in order to group all web to leads that completed the "Request Information" form as well as an "Information Session" campaign established for recruiting events. So a user to the site has the option of "Requesting information" or "Registering for an Information Session". The potential uses for a basic web to lead forms are endless.

Web to Lead Best Practices

Be sure to the following hidden fields & associated value:

Campaign ID (tracks to specific campaign)
Record type id (tracks to specific program)
Web to Lead (check box value on the lead record to denote the lead was created via web to lead)
If you would like to notify a co-worker when a new lead has been added you will need to:

Be sure the co-worker is an active salesforce user (has access to salesforce)
Establish Assignment Rules to specify criteria or rules used to determine the recipient of an email notification. For example, you may want all new web to leads for your record type to be assigned to a user(s) or perhaps you would like to notify co-workers depending on the campaign or program of interest. Assignment rules allow you to identify the necessary criteria for the rule.
Create a Queue in order to assign a lead to a group of co-workers
Create a public email template for the automatic email notification that will be sent to the co-worker.

This email can contain merged SF fields such as their contact information so there is no need to login to salesforce to retrieve this information
You may also want to include a link to easily access the record within SF

Create a lead autresponse rule to automatically send a message to the prospective student completing the form.

Create an email template for this message which can be customized with merged fields in order to make it more personalized.

If you are using Google Analytics/Google Adwords be sure to include the tracking code on the webpage of the form

Web to Lead Limitations

A max of 5,000 web to leads can be generated in one day (org wide)
Custom objects and encrypted fields are not available for use on a web-to-lead form

CRM Demand Tools - Mass Convert

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:40:00 +0000

Are you looking to convert a group of prospective students (leads) to student accounts within salesforce? Do you wish to avoid having to search & locate each student then manually click the "convert" button for each individual? Would you rather convert a group of lead records by using specific criteria? If so, the Mass Convert is the tool for you.

Mass Convert allows you to:

Enter criteria in order to identify only those leads you wish to convert. For example, I use this tool to identify all leads affiliated with the "Off Campus - Student Lead" record type with a lead status value of "Applicant".
Create an opportunity upon conversion (however currently Rutgers is not utilizing the "opportunities" object)
Specify account ownership as well as create notifications for these individuals. This is a great way to notify a co-worker of a newly admitted student and provides options to assign a follow-up task for staff member
Provides a final confirmation dialog box indicating the number of errors, converted leads, and location of the log file

CRM Demand Tools - Mass Change & Mass Impact

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 22:12:00 +0000

Both Mass Change & Mass Impact are great tools for maintaining data integrity and routine data cleansing. The MassChange tool allows you to specify a condition to find matching objects of most salesforce.com tables and set values for those tables to specific values that you choose. It is designed to allow you to quickly change hundreds of records that require a common value in minutes.

With the off campus data, there is a critical field "location of interest" that delineates student data for each off campus site. I have decided not to make this field required for various reasons but it is important that the field is populated. I have created a video demo showing how to update this field using Mass Change. Since the staff at each site is unique, I use Mass Change to update the location of interest field based on the owner of the lead. You can also schedule this update to automate the process using Mass Impact. Both Mass Change & Mass Impact are great tools to assist with managing your data from a global perspective.

However, Mass Impact is more a powerful feature as it provides the use of advanced operators as well as the ability to run scheduled scenarios, completely automating the process. For information regarding the creation of a scheduled task please click here.

CRM Demand Tools - Mass Effect

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 13:08:00 +0000

Are you looking to update a group of records within salesforce but want to avoid having to manually search, locate the record, and make your desired change? Would you rather export a group of records to Excel make the changes within the spreadsheet and simply upload the changes? Mass Effect provides you the ability to do just that and much much more.

Recommendations for using MassEffect

If you are looking to update leads/contacts that you are unsure exist within salesforce and do not have a unique identifier to identify potential matches, please utilize the "People Import" tool as it provides varying matching levels other than exact such as fuzzy, alphaclean etc
If you have just completed and import using "People Import" and wish to manipulate the data in a spreadsheet, please save the report located on the final step which includes the id field for both matched records as well as newly imported records.
If you are looking to update group of any records you know exists within salesforce, using MassEffect create a report to export the fields you wish to update and be sure to include the id field.
If the updates you perform in MassEffect are routinely completed with identical mapping and update options, simply save the scenario to avoid having to identify the mapping and update options with each process.
If the group of records you are looking to update is a routine task schedule the salesforce report to run automatically. This report can then automatically be emailed to your user group including the id, so they can simply copy and paste the data to a spreadsheet, make the desired changes, and process the updates using MassEffect.
If you are using Excel 2007 please be sure to save the file under the previous version as xlsx is not an acceptable file type.
Be sure your report does no contain duplicate id's as it will produce errors on the final stage of Mass Effect for those duplicate records and will not complete the desired update.

I have created three videos (available on the Salesforce User Guide site as well as in the Screencast video side bar of this blog) demonstrating some uses of mass effect such as:

Updating an Accounts "Program" field
Updating the "Status" field of a lead from "New" to "Contacted"
Updating a group of tasks from "Not Staretd" to "Completed"

Demand Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:38:00 +0000

People Import allows you to compare an external source, such as an excel spreadsheet, to pre-existing leads and contacts within salesforce based on the matching criteria you set. CRM Demand Tools offers several modules (as described in a previous blog post) assisting in maintaining & cleansing salesforce data. The maintenance module allows you to update leads and contacts as well as all other salesforce objects like accounts (with various update methods), task & activities, even custom objects, extending the functionality. As opposed to People Import, CRM Demand Tools is a much more robust app providing tools not available in People Import.

Over the next few weeks I plan on uploading both PowerPoint slides as well as step by step videos on the following CRM tools:

Maintenance Module

Mass Effect - DemandTools MassEffect module is the ultimate data loader for salesforce.com. Used to insert, update, delete or export information to and from almost any salesforce.com table or field. MassEffect has a large advantage over other data loaders due to its support for advanced file types such as Microsoft Access, Excel, CSV and UDL files to add support for SQL Server, Oracle and other databases
Mass Impact - The newest module that allows users to mass manipulate data across tables without importing or exporting of data. The entire process of searching and changing data between tables, all takes place directly on the salesforce.com servers.
MassChange - The MassChange module is the easiest way to mass manipulate data in salesforce.com because no import or export of data is required. The entire process of searching and changing data all takes place directly on the salesforce.com servers. Essentially MassChange allows the user to find all objects that meet a custom criteria and then effect changes on a field level to all the matching objects.

Cleansing Module

MassLeadConvert - MassLead convert allows the DemandTools customer to develop a custom criteria of Leads to look for and then have them automatically sent through the Lead conversion process. During processing ownerships, Lead source and Campaign data can be tweaked and even emails sent out to notify the new owners of the created Account and Contacts.

Demand Tools offers many more helpful tools such as de-duplication features but I will be unable to demo all of these options as I would like to conlcude with a section on marketing and web to lead forms.

People Import 5 Stages

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 01:54:00 +0000

The videos for the five stages of People Import have been uploaded to the Salesforce User Guide site and are also available in the screen cast side bar of this blog. I have detailed a brief description of these five steps below:

1. Mapping - Select the source file & map the fields (or column names) in the file (ex. spreadsheet) to salesforce fields.

If the field names match exactly use can use the "automap" button to automatically mach the fields.
You can also manually drag and drop the names to map the fields
In this stage you can also choose from field options to update the Insert, Do not update, Update, or Update only if blank for each individual mapping

Helpful Tips

Be sure to include all required fields on import which would include Last name and Company. For prospective students without a company affiliation use the "last name, first name" in lieu of this value
Be sure to include the recordtype id to ensure newly created records are affiliated with the appropriately

2. Comparison - Compare the records in the source file against all salesforce records (default) or choice to select a subset of records for comparison.

Helpful Tips

It is highly suggested you match the incoming records to those of the desired record type
Matching against a subset of records within the system will not only expedite the elapsed time but can also enhance matching precision

3. Matching - The most involved stage of all five stages where you can create various matching steps to compare source records to those in salesforce in order to avoid importing duplicate records You can match almost any field that you imported in stage 1 of the import process such as matching the first name, last name, email, phone, or address in the source file to those in salesforce (certain fields such as long text areas can't be used in this stage)

This stage also allows you to adjust the match type settings from "exact" match type to "cleaned account name" or select additional options to loosen matching capabilities with use of "fuzzy" or "alpha clean". For a complete list of match types click here
You can create multiple matching steps to increase the probability of locating a potential duplicate with Salesforce.
You can assign the leads matched with each step to a pre-existing salesforce campaign or create a new task for the matching group.
The "Final Matching conditions" step is where you specify conditions for records in the source file that did not match any of the matching steps. You can choose to import these records as "new leads", "New Contacts" or "Do Nothing"

4. Global Campaigns & Tasks - This step is optional but provides the ability to assign records not matched in Step 3 to a campaign or create a new task for these records.

5. Results & Processing - This stage is where People Import checks for dupes and matched records are retrieved. You can also review, verify, and ultimately commit & update the matched records while importing new leads that were not matched (if specified in "Final Matching Steps" of Stage 3)

People Import

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:06:00 +0000

This week we will be taking a more detailed look at the People Import tool (available on app exchange). As previously mentioned this is a stand alone app that can be downloaded and installed from the appexchange or CRM Fusion site. I have already uploaded a detailed presentation on the Salesforce User Guide site which provides information on each step of the import/update process. I will also be adding videos detailing the process within the next few days.

Do you have a list of prospective students you wish to import into salesforce but are considered there may be pre-existing salesforce records already in the system ? Are you looking to match an external spreadsheet of leads or contacts to those in salesforce to prevent duplication? Do you not have a unique field in order to exactly match the records in the external source to those records in salesforce? Are you looking for a way to match records using methods other than an exact math perhaps you are looking to match values that contain typos or varying punctuation. If so, People Import may be a valuable tool in acheiving these goals.

People Import is a great way to import new leads or contacts from an external data source into salesforce. The import process also provides the ability to match records that may already exist within Salesforce to ensure only new leads are imported (avoiding duplicate leads) and update the fields of your choosing for those records that match the system. For example, you can easily take a spreadsheet of new admits to your program and update their data in salesforce accordingly as well as add any students that may not already exist within the system. The People Import wizards provides 5 easy steps to achieve such a task.

Of course the most seamless way to integrate data from external data sources would be using the Salesforce Web API (Applicaton Programming Interface). This enables the data source to communicate directly with Salesforce to create, retrieve, update or delete records, such as accounts, leads, and custom objects.

* Please note when logging into People Import for the first time you will need to use a security token to login successfully. I have created a video on resetting and using your security token for the Oulook plugin fund on the Salesforce User Guide site.

Week 7 & 8 CRM Fusion (Introduction)

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 03:27:00 +0000

So I finally feel like this week we are able to delve a bit deeper taking a look at the toolset provided by CRM Fusion available on the Appexchange. One of the added benefits to utilizing cloud computing technology is the ability to easily install new "apps" to enhance your current use of the platform. The next few weeks we will examine both People Import as well as CRM Demand Tools for enhancing data management (both available on the app exchange). Typically these apps require fee based memberships (avg cost $5,000), however non-profits organizations (which includes Higher Education) receive these tools at NO COST :)

Below is a brief description as to the capabilities of these valuable tools.

People Import

PeopleImport is a Windows based app that is designed to allow the end user to develop customized import scenarios.
These scenarios include customized passes to ensure duplicates are not created, but rather that existing Leads, Accounts or Contacts are updated
The People Import app walks you through 5 stages (some stages contain several steps) to map a spreadsheet of prospective or current students to a record that already exists within salesforce or create a new record.

DemandTools

Provides a suite of 4 modules to enhance data management of all salesforce objects

Maintenance - Contains a number of very useful advanced tools to import, update, and maintain your data

Zipfix - ZipFix can suggest and correct the two digit state name and the spelling of the city name associated with that zip code.
MassChange - The MassChange module is the easiest way to mass manipulate data in salesforce.com because no import or export of data is required.
MassChangeBatch - The MassChangeBatch feature extends MasChange capabilities allowing you to create rules and develop schedule routines to execute in mass
Other tools within this group include MassEffect, MassImpact, and MassBackup.

Cleansing - Provides single & multi table dedup tools as well as mass lead convert features
Verification - Verifies address against USPS address
Discovery - Compares data in external data sources outside of salesforce and returns matching records (no data modified)

**Both People Import & CRM DemandTools are stand alone windows applications so users can feel free to download the app without the need to request integration to the live CRM environment.

Although salesforce does offer some standard data management tools within the platform to import, update, and manage your data, I found CRM Fusion Tools offer much more flexibility.

I have posted a more detailed introduction to People Import & CRM Demand Tools in a PowerPoint presentations located on the salesforce user guide site. Over the next few weeks I intend to add detailed presentation on both tools including a step by step features guide. In addition I will be recording short videos to demo some of the above.

Weeks 6 & 7 The Beginning of Data Management: Reports

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:25:00 +0000

This week I plan on uploading videos demonstrating how to:

Reports Overview - Browse, Search, and Organize Reports
Create a Basic Report/Modifying a Report
Using Advanced Filter Criteria
Exporting a Report (using salesforce id's)

The salesforce guide website has been updated with a PowerPoint "Step by Step Guide" to reports as well as a "Reporting Tips" document with tips on entering filter criteria.

It is important to have a firm understanding of the report feature so you are able to extract and update data efficiently. The next section will discuss CRM Fusion People Import & Demand Tools and the various ways in which to utilize it.

A Look Ahead...

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:29:00 +0000

In the weeks to follow, I will be mapping out suggested workflow processes and procedures for automatically updating and maintaining the data within salesforce from external resources and working with the SCI staff on perfecting the process. This will come in handy when working with matriculating students as their data is captured in an admissions report. However, some students may be manually entered depending on circumstance (ex. non degree seeking students)and felt it was necessary to cover the basics :)

In order to achieve this automation, it is necessary to have a basic understanding of the salesforce id's and reporting features. So this upcoming week will contain a few short videos on how to create a basic report (referencing data dictionary), Saving the report for public use, as well as exporting report data and working with id's. I would also like to provide videos on downloading and installing CRM Demand Tools.

Finally, I plan on assessing the current data dilemma regarding Filemaker Pro. I will be providing a list of suggestions as to the migration of the student data from last point of import. As well as begin research on App Exchange regarding Constant Contact (ESP) and integrated services provided for potential future installation if deemed beneficial.

Week 4 & 5 - Leads

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:36:00 +0000

Weeks four and five are all about leads. From manually creating a basic lead record, copying a lead record for more efficient data entry, finding duplicate records & merging, creating list views and filters when browsing & navigating the lead interface, using tags to create personalized lists as well as a section dedicated to associating leads with campaigns, and finally converting a lead into a person account this section gives a fairly thorough look at end user's interaction with the leads features. The PowerPoint slide show provided in the salesforce user guide also contains additional notes and insights on using these tools and as always videos are easily accessible in the screencast side bar of this blog.

Week 3 - Campaigns

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:48:00 +0000

Salesforce provides the "Campaigns" object to track marketing projects such as Open House Events, Information Sessions, Print Advertisements, Mailers, Email Blasts, etc. Campaign information fields include (but not limited to) campaign name, date, location, time, description, and budgetary information which are all stored within a campaign record. Campaigns provide a summary of member responses as well as aggregated stats such as the number of total converted students aiding in calculating a Return on Investment (ROI).

Prior to my use of Salesforce, I found it nearly impossible to calculate a ROI as the leads I did track were contained in various spreadsheets consisting of Open House attendees as well as some general inquiries. Information regarding the marketing project details were stored in my calendar, financial expenses were contained within a separate financial system, and lead emails were often left unassociated to affiliated messages in my inbox. Salesforce makes it possible for me to track this data with the use of Campaigns (and supporting information) by associating leads and tracking their converted status I am able to determine the marketing project's effectiveness. In the midst of an economic recession, it is crucial to be able to identify whether or not a marketing campaign is effective and, among many others things, salesforce provided me the ability to do just that.

Campaigns can also be associated with a Parent Campaign in order to create groupings or hierarchies. These groupings are essential when attempting to create a quick report on aggregated data as (at this point in time) many of the credit programs using salesforce are all utilizing the "Credit Campaign" record type. Parent campaigns are one way to group and differentiate your marketing projects from other groups. These parent campaigns can also be beneficial in creating a new "campaign view" to create a much more user friendly campaign list. Views allow an end user to easily navigate through the campaigns affiliated with their program removing the noise of unrelated projects.

It is a suggested best practice to utilize campaigns when creating a web to lead form. In this sense, Campaigns are used to group the leads from a particular form to the lead itself indicating which websites (or web to lead forms) are the most successful. For example, was the cost of the print ad worth the number of leads and/or converted leads generated? A properly established web to lead form affiliated with a campaign, in this case "Print Ad" campaign of some sort, allows you to track the number of responses and determine whether their prospective lead records converted into student accounts. All you would need to do is add the url of a web to lead form on the Print Ad which would track to a Print Ad campaign created within SF. I will be providing detailed information on creating a basic web to lead form in upcoming weeks.

Campaigns are also valuable when working with other Email Service Provider (ESP) apps such as Vertical Response. The ability to track campaign responses to an email blast within the individual lead record is very useful. For example, by viewing a prospective student record you could see which marketing campaigns they attended, which email bast they opened, clicked, bounced, or unsubscribed. I will be providing much more information regarding Vertical response in the upcoming weeks.

As always, a PowerPoint slide show and videos have been uploaded to the "Salesforce Guide" video page. The videos are also uploaded to screencast.com and easily accessible from the right side bar. Feel free to comment with questions :)

Week 2- Email/Calendar Integration

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:43:00 +0000

It is important to integrate your email (& Calendar Sync) service in order to track all communications with a student lead, account or contact within the sf record. By attaching an email communication to a record, you no longer have to scroll or search through your inbox looking for a msg. So I felt it was important to take some time creating a few videos that walk you through the steps of setting up Connect for Outlook as well as the setup and use of the "Email to salesforce" feature. I also created a PowerPoint slideshow that documents many of these steps. Please visit the Salesforce Guide (videos page) to access this documentation.

Despite being a salesforce user for a few years, I am quite new to these services. I did muddle my way through much of the setup, but hopefully the videos I created will prevent you from encountering the same stumbling blocks.

Connect for Outlook
Pros

Allows Outlook users to install a plugin which provides an easy to use toolbar by providing a user the ability to attach a message task to an exisiting sf lead or contact

Allows the end user to search the pre-existing records within the system for the affilated email address and provides the end user the ability to select the record in which to attach the email from Outlook

End users can also choose to affiliate an email message with a case

Email/Calendaring items/tasks can also be marked for sync to sychronize the infomration from Outlook to SF

Cons

Download/Install of Outlook plugin required
The "Quick Add" feature allows you to add a lead, contact, or case from Outlook to salesforce if a record with the affiliated email address is not located.Unfortunately, this "Quick Add" does not work well with organizations using record types as it does not allow you to specify the record type to be attached. The "Quick Add" feature automatically assigns the new lead or contact to the default record type specfied within the system. I have posted an idea (suggested improvement) to the idea exchange in hopes the "idea" will be well received by the sf community and promoted accordingly. If the "idea" receives enough votes, it could be implemented within the next version rollout. To promote this idea on the idea exchange click here to login & promote the idea :)

Connect for Outlook only supports synchronization with a single Outlook folder. If you have multiple contact folders only one can bebe specfied for synchronization.

Although the button displays promeniently on the toolbar, the "Always Marc for Sync" feature is not generally recommended as it will sync every record with no concern for record associations

Email to Salesforce/Appirio Calendar Sync

Pros

Email to Salesforce is easy to setup and use. Simply add the email address(es) you wish to send student mail (and have it stored within the sf record) to the "My Accpetable Addresses" area and copy the "email to salesforce" address provided.

Once "Email to Salesforce" is setup you can easily log an email message to a student within the sf record by placing the "Email to Salesforce" address on the BCC line of the msg.

Appirio Calendar Sync allows you to synchronize your Google Calendar with your SF Calendar

Using Appirio Calendar Synch for Google Calendar allows you to easily view shared co-workers calendars within the sf platform
A Security Token is needed for the Connect for Outlook setup. Please review the videos and/or PowerPoint slides for additional help

Cons

The DCEO Google domain is currently not configured for "Email to Salesforce" as settings require "domains support at least one of the following protocols: SPF, Sender ID, or DomainKeys. When this option is enabled, salesforce.com uses these protocols to verify the legitimacy of the email sender's server. If the server passes at least one protocol and does not fail any, salesforce.com processes the email. If the server fails a protocol or does not support any of the protocols, then salesforce.com does not process the email." I am working on resolving this issue and will keep you posted on my progress. I will also be sure the new Division of Continuing Studies (DoCS) Google domain is initally setup to accomodate the "Email to Salesforce:" feature.

A Security Token is needed for the Appirio Calendar Sync setup. Please review the videos and/or PowerPoint slides for additional help

Week 1 - Data Dictionary & Basic Overview

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:45:00 +0000

General Salesforce Overview-Navigating the CRM (13:19)
I posted a brief Camtasia video to the salesforce guide website to demonstrate how to navigate through the salesforce platform for novice users. The video is intended to provide an overview to the homepage and main objects campaigns, leads, accounts, reports, and cases.

More detailed videos entailing how to create, edit/search for specific objects, assign tasks, send emails, create a basic report/dashboard will be provided in future weeks for novice users. Other videos for the more adventurous users will be setting up Google calendar synch, Installing the Outlook plugin, and setting up Google analytics integration, creating a web to lead form, DemandTools Video package for managing data efficiently, and much more.

Data Dictionary
So for the first week I spent time reviewing my notes from my visit with the SC&I staff and realized that a good first step in proceeding with the project was to create a data dictionary of all fields currently being used by the program. This has proven to be quite a daunting task as the fields for each object leads, accounts, contacts etc must be manually typed into a spreadsheet to achieve such a goal. SC&I also uses various record types for leads and accounts which adds to the work load (4 record types for leads, 5 record types for accounts)...so needless to say I have only gotten that far. The data dictionary that is currently uploaded to the Salesforce Guide will continually be updated to list fields and supporting information for all objects including, campaigns, contacts, cases etc..

The data dictionary is not only useful in understanding the data managed within the CRM, but it also aids in data migration (importing/exporting data). One of the points mentioned during my first meeting with the SC&I staff is the inability to create a report as they were unsure which fields belonged to their record type. The data dictionary will be very helpful when creating a custom report and aid in preventing such confusion.

Salesforce Independent Study for SC&I Overview

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:11:00 +0000

For the Spring 2010 semester, my final semester here at Rutgers University's School of Communication & Information (SC&I), my last class will consist of an independent study during which my goal is to assist selected SC&I programs with data management and enhancing current data processes via the use of Salesforce. Each week I plan on documenting my work via this blog as well as a via a "Salesforce Guide" website. I also hope to add external links to other useful salesforce centric sites & feed subscriptions...stay tuned!!

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