6 key Winter’21 Release features for Platform App Builder

1. Locate Lightning App Builder header and toolbar buttons.
2. Deploy organization-wide defaults and criteria-based sharing rules together.
3. Develop flow screen components that work for multiple objects.
4. Break up your record details with Dynamic Forms.
5. Debug flow errors in a sandbox org as another user.
6. Flow enchantments : ‘Before-Save’ and ‘Is Changed’ capabilities

1. Lightning App Builder changes

• Back button moved to far left
• Look of Refresh button is changed
• New button called Analyse in record pages to do analysis for new performance
• Colour changes of Save and activation button to Blue and white

2. Deploy OWD and Criteria based sharing rules together

You can simultaneously update “sharing model” field for an object and create new criteria based or guest user sharing rules via metadata API.

Previously: One need to do these changes in separate packages but now can be done simultaneously. Though you can still deploy owner based sharing rules separately from OWD changes.

3. Develop Flow screen elements for multiple objects

You can Create reusable flow screen components that use generic sObject and sObject[ ] data types

For multiple objects, you can build one component.

Example: If you build data table component , it would work on accounts and contacts to custom objects from any collection of records.

4. Record details break up with Dynamic forms

• It is only for lightning record pages
• You can Configure record detail fields and sections inside the lightning app builder
• With dynamic forms, easily one can migrate fields and sections from page layout as individual components
• Configure it like rest of components
• Give users only fields and sections that they need

• Now Dynamic forms enabled for everyone
• Feature is available in lightning APP Builder

• To activate that, Go to One of the Record page in Lightning App Builder and click on Upgrade Now from Record detail Properties Panel

Note: Dynamic Forms is supported on record pages for custom objects only.

5. Debug Flow errors in Sandbox as another User

• Path: Setup- Quick find box- Process automation settings – select check box- Let admins debug flows as other Users

• Open flow builder and go to Flow- debug and option would be available as to run flow as another user.

• This is only available for screen flows and auto launched floes in Non Production orgs.
• It supports flow elements and actions only
• Screen components include Aura components, custom lightning web components and some standard flow screen components such as Lookup components.

6. Flow enchantments: ‘Before-Save’ and ‘Is Changed’ capabilities

Creating or updating a record can now trigger an auto-launched flow to make additional updates to that record before it’s saved to the database. Before-save updates in flows are much faster than other available record-triggered updates. For example, a before-save update in a flow is 10 times faster than an update in a record-change process that’s built in Process Builder. 

It’s similar to ‘before Trigger’. When you save that, before save updates are executed immediately prior to Apex before Trigger

Sometimes you need to use a record-change process or an Apex after trigger to:

• Access field values that are set only after the record is saved, such as the Last Modified Date field or the ID of the new record.
• Create or update related records.
• Perform actions other than updating the record that launches the flow.

Record-Triggered Flow

Four Elements are offered for before save updates Flow;

• Assignment
  • Decision
  • Loop
  • Get Records

You can use these elements to decide whether to update the triggering record’s fields and to what values

The $Record global variable contains the values from the record that triggers the flow to run. As a result, there’s no need to add a Get Records element to obtain the record data or create flow variables to store the record data.

When the flow changes the values in the $Record global variable, Salesforce automatically applies those new values to the record. So there’s no need to add an Update Records element to save the new values to the database.

‘Is Changed’ feature

You can set the path for a flow to filter out records which are unrelated to your flow’s use case and unnecessary reprocessing of records that previously triggered the flow.

A flow that’s triggered by a record update can take different paths if the record that triggered the flow was edited to meet certain criteria.

When you configure a Decision outcome, you can now set that outcome to execute only when the triggering record is updated to meet the condition requirements.

This option gives your flows a powerful filtering feature similar to the ISCHANGED function found in Workflow Rules and Process Builder and the old Map/new Map variables found in Apex.

Build more of your automation directly in Flow Builder without requiring Process Builder or Apex to check the prior version of the data.

This option checks if the triggering record didn’t previously meet the criteria and if the $Record variable, not the triggering record, now meets the criteria.

If your flow changes any of the $Record variable’s fields before it runs the configured Decision element, the Decision checks if the $Record’s new field values now meet the criteria

Trailhead: Salesforce

https://trailhead.salesforce.com/en/content/learn/modules/platform-app-builder-certification-maintenance-winter-21?trail_id=maintain-your-salesforce-certifications

 

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Data Management in Salesforce

Data Management in Salesforce

To make the team achieve its goals, one needs Useful Data. Customer’s success depends on that well planned management of data.

There are Two keys for successful Data management; 

1. Good data management strategy 
2. Quality of the Data

Data management strategy to collect, review and verify ‘Clean’ data will impact the organization performance directly.

Data Management has two key parts

1. Import Data
2. Export Data

Import of data can be done with 2 Tools;

1. Data Import Wizard
2. Data Loader

These two can be compared by supported editions and limiting no of records to import and export;

Tool	Supported Edition	No of records to Import/Export	Import	Export
Data Import Wizard	All but no Personal Editions	Up to 50,000	Yes	No
Data Loader	Enterprise,Developer,Unlimited, Database.com Editions	50,000-5 Million	Yes	Yes

• Data Import Wizard is inside Salesforce browser with which you can import account,contact,lead,Solutions, campaign members, custom objects.
  • This provides a simple interface wherein you can specify data to import, field mappings, review and start Importing data.
  • Path: Go to Setup- Data Import Wizard- Launch Wizard

• Data Loader is an application for import/export of bulk data.
  • There are no limits for the objects. 
  • It includes Opportunity, Pricebooks and Products
  • It can be used to Insert,Update,Delete records
  • Data can be scheduled for nightly imports
  • Path: To access Data Loader by going to Settings and searching for Data Loader in Quick Find.  This is a separate app that is housed on your computer, so you will have to follow the instructions given to install the file. There is a version for either Windows or Mac.

Considerations for Import/Export files

1. Before any data Migration , one needs to format import spreadsheet
2. Label of columns in your spreadsheet should match Salesforce labels
3. If there are any picklists in your sheet, it should match Salesforce picklist values
4. Check for Required fields
5. Wherever necessary, Include Record Type ID
6. For accurate matching of Contacts, Use Contact Ids
7. Save as CSV file (comma-separated Values) 
8. Bear in mind while saving CSV file that it only saves One tab of the spreadsheet, if you have  multiple tabs, separate them in different files
9. Check the Import file after its done
10. Check also Error file if any

For Successful Import , One needs CLEAN data.  So Follow steps below and get it done.

• Ensure data meets system and custom data validation requirements.
• Resolve if there are  any duplicate records.
• Remove blanks and empty spaces.Run spell check.
• Rename column headers to match the field names  in Salesforce.
• Applying consistent standards for data formats. (Based on Territory)

Main Reasons of Import Failing ;

1. Data validation rules
2. Picklist values
3. Required Fields
4. Currency Fields

For additional Details do visit Salesforce Help Page links 

• Import Data into Salesforce
• Data Loader Overview
• Download & Install Data Loader
• Data Loader Guide
• Data Backup & Recovery Best Practices
• Recover or Restore Lost or Deleted Data
• Export Backup Data from Salesforce

What are Skinny Tables in Salesforce?

A skinny table is a custom table in the Force.com platform that contains a subset of fields from a standard or custom base Salesforce object.

By having narrower rows and less data to scan than the base Salesforce object, skinny tables allow force.com to return more rows per database fetch, increasing throughout when reading from a large object.

Force.com can have multiple skinny tables if needed, and maintains them and keeps them completely transparent to you.

Skinny Table considerations:

1. Skinny tables don’t include soft-deleted rows (i.e., records in the Recycle Bin with isDeleted = true)
2. Automatically synchronizes the rows between the base object and the skinny table.
3. Skinny tables don’t get copied over to sandbox organizations
4. Skinny tables are custom tables in the underlying Force.com database.

For each object table that’s visible to you, Salesforce maintains other, separate tables at the database level for standard and custom fields.

Fundamentals of Effective Reporting

Reporting in Salesforce is always exciting and Who doesn’t love a good report?

Since its very interactive process, it’s very important to learn the basic fundamentals of it. It is of utmost importance to create and maintain meaningful and accurate reports that could not be overstated.

But first,what is a Report?  A report is a list of records that meet the criteria you define. It’s displayed in Salesforce in rows and columns, and can be filtered, grouped, or displayed in a graphical chart.Reports only display records that meet the criteria defined in the report type. 

Out of the box, Salesforce provides a set of predefined standard report types but you can create custom report types if the standard reports don’t show you the fields, objects & relationships you want in your report.

Through the salesforce platform, its very easy to create reports,automate delivery and provide access to users based on the security model.  

Reporting is for all users, including Sales and Service Managers, business analysts and administrators who need to use Salesforce reports to analyze their data.

Before starting to build any Report ,one should know how to 

• Work with standard reports
• Establish a report building process
• Build custom reports using different reporting formats
• Group and summarize reports
• Use field filters and filter logic
• Add charts and conditional highlighting

Also, When you get asked to build a report, the request typically comes in the form of a question. The question might be something like:

• Which products are my top sellers?
• Who are my highest value prospects?
• Which marketing campaigns have been the most successful?
• How satisfied are my customers?

Before building a report, the trick is to take that question, ask follow-up questions, write requirements, and then map those requirements to report criteria

Following are 5 takeaways to keep in mind when creating a Report.

1. Understanding Requirements of the Report

Requirements would be different fromTop to bottom level and for each work group. Understand KPIs(key performance Indicators) for business and familiarize reporting and capabilities of salesforce.

Examples of Reports for Sales Team

• Pipeline by Stage and Type
• Top 5 Open deals
• Sales Leaderboard
• Month to Date Sales Trending
• Key Accounts
• Forecasting by Product Line

2. Collection of Data 

One needs to have appropriate data collection for key data points. To assist with basic platforms, one can use standard objects. Or as per requirements , build in custom report types to see the Required Report. To overcome standard functionality of salesforce , one can use custom objects and custom fields as and when necessary.

3. Increase User Adoption

It has been always a challenge for some organizations with users who are resistant to change or with a poorly designed and maintained system.But In talking with your users, you might also get helpful feedback in how to improve the usability of the application, either with additional training, an integration to another system or automation.

4. Find out best Visualization

Salesforce offers a wealth of standard reports out-of-the-box and one can find through App exchange as well to get the idea of how a report should look like.There are lots of filters to give different date ranges,chart variations ,bucket fields to represent data in the most effective way. But one needs to make sure of Data Consistency once the Report is made over the time.

5. Consider maintenance needs

This might be needed for a long time as the Business need and nature changes periodically EXpert or salesforce admin needs to change Reporting fields and types accordingly.

Conclusion:

Reporting Fundamentals is a must for all users who need to report on the data managed within their Salesforce instance.

One needs to learn to Phrase business needs from questions to answerable reporting Solutions.