Salesforce Development Services Archives - gettectonic.com - Page 5
Salesforce Flow

Salesforce Flow

Flow serves as a comprehensive platform designed for the creation and management of automated processes and workflows throughout the entire Salesforce ecosystem. Users harness the capabilities of SFDC Flow to construct personalized processes triggered by various events, including new record creation, task completion, or specific field updates. This flexibility empowers organizations to streamline and automate diverse business tasks, encompassing data validation, record manipulation, task assignments, and the development of custom interfaces for user input or data display. Customizable The customizable and adaptable nature of Flow enables users to craft processes tailored to their unique business requirements. This flexibility proves invaluable in enhancing efficiency, reducing errors, and saving time by automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks. Furthermore, Flow seamlessly integrates with other Salesforce features like Salesforce CRM, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Salesforce Einstein. This integration facilitates easy access to data from across the platform, enabling the creation of more potent and sophisticated processes. Salesforce Flow Flow is an indispensable tool for organizations seeking to optimize and automate business processes within Salesforce, leading to greater efficiency and productivity. Flows are an automation tool provided by Salesforce which can be used to perform various tasks like, Sending an Email, Posting a chatter, Sending custom Notifications &, etc. Flow is the most powerful automation tool provided by Salesforce. What are the benefits of Salesforce flow? Streamlines workflows and saves Time: Flow automates repetitive tasks and business processes, freeing up employees to focus on more critical and strategic work. Flow Builder is the most powerful tool that a Salesforce Admin has at their disposal, giving you similar powers that Salesforce developers have. If you need to perform mass updates across multiple unrelated records, or complex logic into opportunity conversion, these are common examples for when you should use Flow. What are the 5 types of flows in Salesforce? How many types of flows are there in Salesforce? The Flow can be classified into five subtypes- Screen flows, Schedule-triggered flows, Autolaunched flows, Record-triggered flows, and Platform Event-triggered flows. What triggers a flow in Salesforce? Creating or updating a record can trigger an autolaunched flow to make additional updates to that record before it’s saved to the database. A record-triggered flow can update a Salesforce record 10 times faster than a record-change process. Configure the record trigger in the Start element of your autolaunched flow. How many flows should you have per object Salesforce? You can configure your before and after flows to be executed on Create or Update, but Delete will need to be handled separately again. This means that, ultimately, the magic number of flows per object is three: Before create or update. After create or update. Can we create two flows on the same object in Salesforce? As per flow best practices in Salesforce we should create one record triggered flow per object per type/event or context. This idea comes from the Apex trigger framework. As we can create multiple record trigger flows, but it will be difficult to manage those multiple flows. Three characteristics of Flow Salesforce In Flow Builder, there are three groups of elements: Interaction, Logic, and Data. The Data Elements reach out from the flow instance and interact with Salesforce data, allowing the flow to retrieve information from or make changes to records in the database. What are three basic building blocks of flow? Flow has three major building blocks known as Element, Connector, and Resource. With the help of these blocks, you can easily develop Flows. Element represents an action that Flow can use to display or collect information from the Flow user, create or update records, delete records, or loop logic. What are flow templates in Salesforce? Templates are patterns that you can leverage to build a flow. All of the steps and field mappings are predefined, so you can select the template and enter the missing information for the various connectors used (such as connection secrets) to create a flow you can later customize to meet your business needs. What is difference between flow and trigger in Salesforce? Salesforce Flow is a no-code visual automation tool for multi-step processes, while Salesforce Trigger is a code-based automation tool for real-time, record-based actions. What are the limitations of flows? Complexity: While flows offer a visual interface for creating automation, complex business processes may still require advanced logic and customization beyond what flows can provide. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Salesforce Enhances Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Engine Data science and analytics are rapidly becoming standard features in enterprise applications, Read more

Read More
Salesforce developer

Salesforce Developers

Salesforce serves over 150,000 customers across diverse industries, providing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform and Salesforce Customer 360 that are instrumental in ensuring efficient business operations globally. Developers leveraging Salesforce technologies play a crucial role in solving intricate problems for customers, employing both code and Salesforce’s no-code tools. This context refers to all developers engaged with Salesforce technologies to craft solutions for customers and partners. While Salesforce has its team of developers dedicated to building products (for more details, check out our engineering blog), the insights shared here are relevant to anyone working within the Salesforce ecosystem. What is the role of Salesforce Developer? A Salesforce developer is a special type of computer programmer who writes software on the Salesforce CRM platform or another piece of Salesforce cloud technology. This ranges from creating websites to developing apps. A Salesforce developer works with computer code like JavaScript and HTML on a daily basis. In the realm of Salesforce, developers have the flexibility to create solutions using a combination of no-code tools and code, a methodology known as low-code development. Utilizing no-code customizations enables developers to address certain requirements without resorting to coding, resulting in reduced repetition and boilerplate code when coding is necessary. Salesforce offers a comprehensive range of products spanning sales, service, marketing, analytics, commerce, and more, with each component exposing APIs. Developers leverage these APIs to develop web apps on Heroku, enhance integration through MuleSoft, or customize standard applications. In essence, any developer has the potential to be a Salesforce Developer within this versatile and expansive ecosystem. What tasks does a developer undertake with Salesforce? Developers working with Salesforce technologies are primarily engaged in constructing customized business applications and solutions. They achieve this using either the Salesforce Platform, which encompasses Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Experience Cloud communities, or by utilizing Heroku. While certain developers specialize in specific areas, the majority can be classified as full-stack developers, adept at handling both back-end logic and front-end experiences. In addition to the Salesforce Platform, developers find diverse opportunities within the Salesforce ecosystem. Some focus on creating tailor-made marketing experiences using Marketing Cloud, while others delve into data analysis and unveil new insights through Tableau. There are developers dedicated to constructing captivating commerce experiences using Commerce Cloud’s PWA kit, and others who contribute to shaping their company’s digital headquarters by developing custom Slack apps. Every developer relies on code as their fundamental toolkit, prompting the question of which programming languages are prevalent in the Salesforce realm. The choice often hinges on the specific domain within the Salesforce ecosystem that one opts to engage with. Languages JavaScript and Apex stand out as the two primary languages in the Salesforce world. JavaScript is employed for front-end customizations, particularly in Lightning Web Components, while Apex is the predominant back-end language in the Salesforce ecosystem. The Salesforce Platform incorporates two domain-specific query languages. Salesforce Object Query Language (SOQL) mirrors SQL and serves as a query language for accessing data in the Salesforce multi-tenant database. On the other hand, Salesforce Object Search Language (SOSL) is a text-based search language designed to locate both data and documents stored on the platform. Certain Salesforce products support additional languages. Python and JavaScript are both supported by the Slack Bolt SDK. For customized marketing experiences in Marketing Cloud, AMPscript is a viable option. Integrations with MuleSoft involve writing data transformations in DataWeave. Working with dashboards in Salesforce CRM Analytics may involve using the Salesforce Analytics Query Language (SAQL) for refining visualizations. The recent addition of Data Cloud allows access to its data using SQL. The technology and language landscape within the Salesforce domain is diverse and extensive. Regardless of one’s interests, there is a niche to specialize in. No-Code Tools Given Salesforce’s provision of no-code customizations, every developer operating within the Salesforce ecosystem inevitably learns to leverage no-code tools supporting their work. Features that might be intricate to implement, such as wizards, data security rules, and basic user interface (UI) customizations, can be accomplished without any coding. While developers with prior enterprise software experience often find a seamless transition to Salesforce, this is not a prerequisite. Any developer, including those entering directly from college or transitioning from other software engineering backgrounds, can become a Salesforce Developer. If you need Salesforce developer help, contact Tectonic today. Like1 Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Salesforce Enhances Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Engine Data science and analytics are rapidly becoming standard features in enterprise applications, Read more

Read More
Salesforce Service Cloud

Salesforce Service Cloud Explained

Service Cloud, developed by Salesforce, functions as a powerful customer relationship management (CRM) tool explicitly tailored to bolster a business’s customer service operations. This platform streamlines communication between customers and companies, utilizing channels such as email support, live chat, and phone interactions to aid customer agents in promptly identifying and resolving customer issues. Service Cloud, as a comprehensive customer service platform, empowers businesses to effectively manage and resolve customer inquiries and issues. Its huge array of features encompasses case tracking, social networking plug-ins for conversion, and analytics. If you’ve recently engaged with a business through live chat or created a support ticket, chances are they were leveraging a system like SFDC Service Cloud. Revolutionize the way your service teams provide value across every customer touchpoint, encompassing customer experience, engagement, processes, automation, and service operations. By reimagining service with Service Cloud, businesses can enhance customer lifetime value, reduce operational costs, and optimize efficiency—from the contact center to the field. Achieve personalized support at scale with trustworthy Artificial Intelligence. Integrate every customer service process into the Einstein 1 Platform to decrease costs and boost productivity. Service Cloud provides businesses with a 360-degree view of their customers, enabling the delivery of faster, smarter, and more tailored experiences. Businesses can establish a connected knowledge base, manage case interactions, and facilitate live agent chat—all within a unified platform. Leveraging customer’s past activity data allows for personalized interactions and opportunities for upselling services or products. It’s important to note the distinction between Salesforce Sales Cloud and Service Cloud. Sales Cloud focuses on the sales process, managing leads, opportunities, and sales forecasts. On the other hand, Service Cloud is dedicated to addressing customer inquiries and cases, emphasizing exceptional customer service and support. Important Features of Service Cloud Custom Reports and Dashboards Utilizing real-time reports within SFDC Service Cloud empowers business owners to access a comprehensive case history of customers, facilitating informed decision-making. The associated dashboard provides professionals with a 360-degree view, enabling easy tracking of customer information and cases for efficient problem-solving. Salesforce Lightning Service Console The Salesforce Service Cloud console consolidates customer data across multiple devices and channels. It provides a unified view of customer interactions, encompassing emails, chats, social media mentions, and phone calls. Salesforce Service Cloud Case Management A case management system collects and organizes customer service interactions from various channels, allowing agents to respond promptly. Automated Case Routing Automation in case routing expedites resolutions by assigning tasks to personnel based on qualifications and skills, managing tasks across multiple service channels. Social Customer Service Empowering customer teams, Social Customer Service handles user queries on social media channels and directs them to relevant agents, offering a 360-degree view of customers. Asset and Order Management Tracking orders, assets, and support history in one place provides a comprehensive view, enabling personalized services and enhancing customer satisfaction. Telephony Integration Integrating with Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) systems boosts agent productivity, allowing viewing of customer information without picking up the phone. Benefits of Salesforce Service Cloud: Supplementary Products: Digital Engagement, Service Cloud Einstein, Service Cloud Voice, Customer Lifecycle Analytics, Salesforce Surveys Response Pack. Are you ready to achieve the best in customer service with Salesforce Service Cloud?  Contact Tectonic today to learn more. Tectonic is please to announce Salesforce Service Cloud Implementation Solutions. Content updated September 2023. Like2 Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more What is a Salesforce Jumpstart? A Salesforce Jumpstart is a program designed to help businesses quickly and efficiently implement Salesforce, which is a powerful customer Read more 50 Advantages of Salesforce Sales Cloud According to the Salesforce 2017 State of Service report, 85% of executives with service oversight identify customer service as a Read more

Read More
Salesforce Managed Services

Automation Tools in Salesforce

What are the types of automation in Salesforce? What are the Automation Tools in Salesforce? The automation capabilities offered by Salesforce are based on two main categories: process automation (workflows) and data operations (data loading and cleansing). There are four main automation tools that Salesforce offers, each tailored to a specific purpose. What is an automation tool in Salesforce? Automation provides the tools necessary to automate repetitive processes and tasks for your business, such as creating a follow-up task, sending a reminder email, or updating a record. Automations can help users save critical time and reduce errors by creating processes to complete repetitive tasks. The Top 8 Best Salesforce Automation Tools What is data automation in Salesforce? Healthy automation enables users to focus on high-value work and reduces time spent on repetitive, manual tasks or complex data entry. Most often, automation means translating business processes from one form to another: from paper-based form to digital form, from an old system to a new one. What is the power of automation in Salesforce? By adopting Salesforce automation, you save time and resources, which can be redirected to more productive tasks. Sales automation can reduce daily administrative time by 14%. Moreover, it significantly enhances deal closure rates by 30% and boosts sales productivity by 14.5%. Why is Salesforce difficult to automate? Here are some of the reasons why Salesforce is difficult to automate from a technical perspective: Frequent system updates: Salesforce regularly update their platform to enhance user experiences or fix underlying issues. Unfortunately, these changes can impact user customizations and even standard uses of the platform. This is one reason many Salesforce customers opt to have a Salesforce Managed Service Provider. Disadvantages of Salesforce Flow Limited Customization and Complexity: While Salesforce Flow is considered user-friendly, it may not offer the customization and complexity required for some advanced automation tasks. Businesses with highly specific needs might find Flow somewhat restrictive. Which three components are used to automate a process in Salesforce? Use Flow Builder to automate most of your organization’s repetitive business processes. More features can provide further automation functionality, including approval processes, Flow Orchestration, Einstein Next Best Action, and Apex. Note: Use Flow Builder instead of Process Builder and workflow rules. Content updated January 2024. Like2 Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Salesforce Enhances Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Engine Data science and analytics are rapidly becoming standard features in enterprise applications, Read more

Read More

In App Guidance Salesforce

What is Salesforce In-App Guidance? Salesforce In-App Guidance is a pre-built tool empowering Salesforce Admins and power users with Managed Prompts and View All Profiles permissions to create customized training for user enablement or onboarding. These custom prompts are displayed on Salesforce Lightning pages, enhancing the user experience. How much does Salesforce In-App Guidance cost? Salesforce In-App Guidance is linked to a myTrailhead license for each user, incurring a cost of $25 per user per month. This fee is paid in addition to the standard Salesforce license cost for each user. What are the benefits of In-App Guidance? In-App Guidance streamlines the learning process, boosts digital adoption, minimizes the need for training sessions, and empowers users by actively guiding them through the software’s functionalities. What are the best practices for In-App Guidance? Effective in-app guides should be interactive, personalized, and contextual. It is recommended to avoid overwhelming users with information upfront and instead guide them in the context of their specific goals at different stages of their user journey. Businesses can create customized help content, target specific audiences, and schedule different flows. The tool also offers customizable reports with real-time insights into user engagement. One notable advantage of this functionality is its user-friendly, declarative nature, requiring no programming knowledge. Additionally, it can be filtered based on profiles and permissions for specific user groups. The two available types, Single Prompt and Walkthrough, offer distinct advantages. If you’ve explored Salesforce, you might have noticed the tool being used internally, such as to drive adoption for Einstein Search or provide reminders about searchable elements in a List View. Single Prompt: Walkthroughs: How to Use In-App Guidance: Implementation is straightforward, ensuring a quick turnaround for impacted end-users. The functionality is versatile, catering to various user groups in Salesforce, from sales to support to marketing. Setup & In-App Guidance Builder: Get Hands On: In app guidance provides a great user experience.  If you need assistance customizing your Salesforce instance with in app guidance, Tectonic can help.   Like2 Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Salesforce Enhances Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Engine Data science and analytics are rapidly becoming standard features in enterprise applications, Read more

Read More
Batch Job Behavior

Batch Job Behavior

By automating specific actions  that you’d normally have to manually initiate, batch jobs make processing large amount of data less tedious and time consuming. If you’ve ever noticed data from batch jobs processes ‘out of order,’ we’ll go over why that’s the case.  Inconsistent Batch Job Behavior Resolution Inconsistent behavior of batches is because batch Apex is an asynchronous process with no SLA, and many customers are sharing the resources, causing it to be slow.  Being an asynchronous process, the system will process the batches only when the system resources are available. There’s no way to prioritize a process, and we don’t provide a SLA for the execution.  Asynchronous Apex In a nutshell, asynchronous Apex is used to run processes in a separate thread, at a later time. An asynchronous process is a process or function that executes a task “in the background” without the user having to wait for the task to finish. You’ll typically use Asynchronous Apex for callouts to external systems, operations that require higher limits, and code that needs to run at a certain time. The key benefits of asynchronous processing include: User efficiency Let’s say you have a process that makes many calculations on a custom object whenever an Opportunity is created. The time needed to execute these calculations could range from a minor annoyance to a productivity blocker for the user. Since these calculations don’t affect what the user is currently doing, making them wait for a long running process is not an efficient use of their time. With asynchronous processing the user can get on with their work, the processing can be done in the background and the user can see the results at their convenience. Scalability By allowing some features of the platform to execute when resources become available at some point in the future, resources can be managed and scaled quickly. This allows the platform to handle more jobs using parallel processing. Higher Limits Asynchronous processes are started in a new thread, with higher governor and execution limits. And to be honest, doesn’t everyone want higher governor and execution limits? Asynchronous Apex comes in a number of different flavors. We’ll get into more detail for each one shortly, but here’s a high level overview. Type Overview Common Scenarios Future Methods Run in their own thread, and do not start until resources are available. Web service callout. Batch Apex Run large jobs that would exceed normal processing limits. Data cleansing or archiving of records. Queueable Apex Similar to future methods, but provide additional job chaining and allow more complex data types to be used. Performing sequential processing operations with external Web services. Scheduled Apex Schedule Apex to run at a specified time. Daily or weekly tasks. It’s also worth noting that these different types of asynchronous operations are not mutually exclusive. For instance, a common pattern is to kick off a Batch Apex job from a Scheduled Apex job. Increased Governor and Execution Limits One of the main benefits of running asynchronous Apex is higher governor and execution limits. For example, the number of SOQL queries is doubled from 100 to 200 queries when using asynchronous calls. The total heap size and maximum CPU time are similarly larger for asynchronous calls. Not only do you get higher limits with async, but also those governor limits are independent of the limits in the synchronous request that queued the async request initially. That’s a mouthful, but essentially, you have two separate Apex invocations, and more than double the processing capability. This comes in handy for instances when you want to do as much processing as you can in the current transaction but when you start to get close to governor limits, continue asynchronously. How Asynchronous Processing Works Asynchronous processing, in a multitenant environment, presents some challenges: Ensure fairness of processing Make sure every customer gets a fair share of processing resources. Ensure fault tolerance Make sure no asynchronous requests are lost due to equipment or software failures. The platform uses a queue-based asynchronous processing framework. This framework is used to manage asynchronous requests for multiple organizations within each instance. The request lifecycle is made up of three parts: Enqueue The request gets put into the queue. This could be an Apex batch request, future Apex request or one of many others. The platform will enqueue requests along with the appropriate data to process that request. Persistence The enqueued request is persisted. Requests are stored in persistent storage for failure recovery and to provide transactional capabilities. Dequeue The enqueued request is removed from the queue and processed. If the processing fails, transaction control ensures that requests are not lost. Each request is processed by a handler. The handler is the code that performs functions for a specific request type. Handlers are executed by a finite number of worker threads on each of the application servers that make up an instance. The threads request work from the queuing framework and when received, start a specific handler to do the work. Resource Conservation Asynchronous processing has lower priority than real-time interaction via the browser and API. To ensure there are sufficient resources to handle an increase in computing resources, the queuing framework monitors system resources such as server memory and CPU usage and reduce asynchronous processing when thresholds are exceeded. This is a fancy way of saying that the multitenant system protects itself. If an org tries to “gobble up” more than its share of resources, asynchronous processing is suspended until a normal threshold is reached. The long and short of it is that there’s no guarantee on processing time, but it’ll all work out in the end. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure

Read More
Salesforce Page Design

Compact Page Layouts in Salesforce

Compact page layouts in Salesforce serve to showcase the essential fields of a record when minimal details are required. They dictate which fields appear in the highlights panel at the top of a record. A compact layout displays a record’s key fields at a glance in the Salesforce mobile app, Lightning Experience, and in the Outlook and Gmail integrations. Lightning Pages For users employing Lightning Pages, ensure that the Highlights Panel Component is included on your page to ensure visibility. Navigate to the Object Manager, select the Object, go to Compact Layouts, and create a new layout. After naming the Compact Layout, add the desired fields for viewing. Note that a compact layout can only include fields from its object or fields that may be utilizing a formula as a cross-object reference to another object. Salesforce fields not present in SOAP API cannot be added to compact layouts in the Salesforce mobile app. Compact Page Layouts in Salesforce Compact layouts also influence how records are displayed in the Salesforce mobile app, helping users quickly recognize pertinent information on mobile screens. These layouts enable a tailored view of records, emphasizing the information users need at a glance. While compact layouts support all field types, it’s worth noting that they exclude text area, long text area, rich text area, and multi-select picklist fields. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Salesforce Enhances Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Engine Data science and analytics are rapidly becoming standard features in enterprise applications, Read more

Read More
connect Salesforce to external APIs

API Salesforce

What is an API in Salesforce? An API is an Application Programming Interface offered by Salesforce, a leading cloud-based CRM platform. The API allows developers to integrate Salesforce functionality into other applications and business systems, enabling streamlined workflows, automated processes, and greater productivity. In essence, the API is a messenger that pulls information from one place and feeds it to another. APIs are everywhere and have many different faces and capabilities. For example, when your car’s navigation system uses Google Maps to direct you to the airport, that’s an API. Google allows navigation systems to use its popular mapping software — for a price (more on that later). Likewise, if there are share buttons at the bottom of your company’s blog posts, those are also APIs. Each one allows users to easily share content with their Facebook friends, Twitter followers, or Instagram feed. API stands for Application Programming Interface and it’s simply another way of sending commands to Salesforce, only this time there’s no graphical UI to work through, instead developers use the APIs to send commands like View or Save to Salesforce programmatically by writing platform code. Salesforce provides a handy tool for determining which API to use in different situations. API NAME API TYPE DATA FORMAT COMMUNICATION REST API REST JSON, XML Synchronous SOAP API SOAP (WSDL) XML Synchronous Connect REST API REST JSON, XML Synchronous (photos are processed asynchronously) Apex REST API REST JSON, XML, Custom Synchronous Apex SOAP API SOAP (WSDL) XML Synchronous Analytics REST API REST JSON, XML Synchronous User Interface API REST JSON Synchronous GraphQL API GraphQL JSON Synchronous Tooling API REST or SOAP (WSDL) JSON, XML, Custom Synchronous Bulk API 2.0 REST CSV Asynchronous Metadata API SOAP (WSDL) XML Asynchronous Pub/Sub API gRPC and protocol buffers Binary Asynchronous When to Use REST API REST API provides a powerful, convenient, and simple REST-based web services interface for interacting with Salesforce. Its advantages include ease of integration and development, and it’s an excellent choice of technology for use with mobile applications and web projects. For certain projects, you can use REST API with other Salesforce REST APIs. To build UI for creating, reading, updating, and deleting records, including building UI for list views, actions, and dependent picklists, use User Interface API. To build UI for B2B Commerce on Lightning, CMS managed content, Experience Cloud sites, or Chatter, use Connect REST API. If you have many records to process, consider using Bulk API, which is based on REST principles and optimized for large sets of data. See REST API Developer Guide. When to Use SOAP API SOAP API provides a powerful, convenient, and simple SOAP-based web services interface for interacting with Salesforce. You can use SOAP API to create, retrieve, update, or delete records. You can also use SOAP API to perform searches and much more. Use SOAP API in any language that supports web services. For example, you can use SOAP API to integrate Salesforce with your org’s ERP and finance systems. You can also deliver real-time sales and support information to company portals and populate critical business systems with customer information. See SOAP API Developer Guide. When to Use Connect REST API Connect REST API provides programmatic access to B2B Commerce for Lightning, CMS managed content, Experience Cloud sites, files, notifications, topics, and more. Use Connect REST API to display Chatter feeds, users, and groups, especially in mobile applications. See Connect REST API Developer Guide. When to Use Apex REST API Use Apex REST API when you want to expose your Apex classes and methods so that external applications can access your code through REST architecture. Apex REST API supports both OAuth 2.0 and Session ID for authorization. See Apex Developer Guide: Exposing Apex Classes as REST Web Services. When to Use Apex SOAP API Use Apex SOAP API when you want to expose Apex methods as SOAP web service APIs so that external applications can access your code through SOAP. Apex SOAP API supports both OAuth 2.0 and Session ID for authorization. See Apex Developer Guide: Exposing Apex Methods as SOAP Web Services and SOAP API Developer Guide: Apex-Related Calls. When to Use Analytics REST API You can access CRM Analytics assets such as datasets, lenses, and dashboards programmatically using the Analytics REST API. Send queries and access datasets that have been imported into the analytics platform. Create and retrieve lenses. Access XMD information. Retrieve a list of dataset versions. Create and retrieve CRM Analytics apps. Create, update, and retrieve dashboards. Retrieve a list of dependencies for an application. Determine what features are available to the user. Work with snapshots. Manipulate replicated datasets. See Analytics REST API Developer Guide. When to Use User Interface API Build Salesforce UI for native mobile apps and custom web apps using the same API that Salesforce uses to build Lightning Experience and Salesforce for Android, iOS, and mobile web. Build user interfaces that let users work with records, list views, actions, favorites, and more. Not only do you get data and metadata in a single response, but the response matches metadata changes made to the org by Salesforce admins. You don’t worry about layouts, picklists, field-level security, or sharing—all you do is build an app that users love. See User Interface API Developer Guide. When to Use GraphQL API Build highly responsive and scalable apps by returning only the data a client needs, all in a single request. GraphQL API overcomes the challenges posed by traditional REST APIs through field selection, resource aggregation, and schema introspection. Field selection reduces the size of the payload, sending back only fields that were included in the query. Aggregations reduce round trips between the client and server, returning a set of related resources within a single response. Schema introspection enables a user to see the types, fields, and objects that the user has access to. See GraphQL API Developer Guide. When to Use Tooling API Use Tooling API to integrate Salesforce metadata with other systems. Metadata types are exposed as sObjects, so

Read More
Salesforce Data Cloud

Data Cloud from Salesforce

What is the data cloud in Salesforce? A hyperscale data platform built into Salesforce. Activate all your customer data across Salesforce applications with Salesforce Data Cloud, formerly known as Customer Data Platform (or CDP). Empower teams to engage customers, at every touchpoint, with relevant insights and contextual data in the flow of work. What is the benefit of Salesforce data cloud? Your company can feel confident in your customer data, and know that you’re taking the right steps to engage with your customer base across multiple channels.  The team at Tectonic can help you bring value to your wealth of customer data when you leverage Data Cloud. With Salesforce Data Cloud, automation, intelligence, real-time data, and security aren’t just goals; they make up the foundation of the platform. Data Cloud brings the power of automation, analytics, AI, data, and integration together to create a single view of the customer across any cloud. As a team of certified Salesforce experts with years working within all core and industry clouds, analytics, and customizations across all aspects of the platform, Tectonic can help you understand how Data Cloud fits into your customer experience goals, supports revenue growth, and integrates with your existing data models, data sources, and systems such as Snowflake, Tableau, Slack, and MuleSoft. By Implementing Data Cloud, we can enable you to: Are you taking advantage of SFDC Data Cloud’s customer 360 capabilities when it comes to intuitive, fast, efficient customer service? Data Cloud is the fastest growing organically built product in Salesforce’s history (Salesforce built it themselves, not via acquisitions). Data Cloud could be described as the ‘Holy Grail of CRM’, meaning that the data problem that’s existed since the infancy of CRM is now finally solvable. There are some differences between Genie and Data Cloud. Genie offers a zero-data copy architecture, meaning data can be fetched on-demand without duplicating it on the Salesforce platform. This allows for more flexibility and scalability when handling large amounts of customer data. Is Salesforce Data Cloud a data lake? Your data sitting in the data lake benefits from all of the capability of the Salesforce platform just like it does in the transactional side in Oracle. That means that Data Cloud is now not just a really good CDP, it’s now a data lake which will be used in sales and service use cases. Is Data Cloud free? At Dreamforce 2023, Salesforce announced that Data Cloud free licenses are now included for all Enterprise Edition or above customers so customers can become familiar with the new capabilities and develop use case ideas. There’s never been a better time to partner with Tectonic to explore Salesforce Data Cloud for your business. Content updated November 2023. Like2 Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more CRM Cloud Salesforce What is a CRM Cloud Salesforce? Salesforce Service Cloud is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform for Salesforce clients to Read more How Travel Companies Are Using Big Data and Analytics In today’s hyper-competitive business world, travel and hospitality consumers have more choices than ever before. With hundreds of hotel chains Read more

Read More
Salesforce and Healthcare

Healthcare Technology Solutions

Healthcare institutions have the golden opportunity to enhance the technology systems implemented over the past few pandemic years, particularly in the realm of virtual rounding—where clinicians utilize collaboration technologies to interact with patients remotely. This approach gained significant traction during the pandemic and is now poised for further growth and refinement. Healthcare Technology Solutions. Healthcare technology solutions refer to the use of technology to improve both healthcare delivery and outcomes.  These solutions encompass a wide range of technologies from electronic health records to wearable devices to mobile applications.  Many believe the solution to better healthcare is data and collaboration.  The right software can help. Healthcare Technology Solutions Here are ways to maximize the impact of virtual rounding specifically in your healthcare organization: Devices: Collaboration Software: Telehealth Peripherals: Electronic Medical Records: Patient Experience APIs: Asset Tracking: Business Intelligence: Mobility Management: Whether your organization requires healthcare technology hardware, software, or cloud-based solutions, Tectonic is well-equipped to expedite the implementation process with numerous healthcare implementations under our belt. Five Exciting and emerging healthcare technology solutions coming in 2023 and beyond: Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Salesforce Enhances Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Engine Data science and analytics are rapidly becoming standard features in enterprise applications, Read more

Read More
clock

Salesforce Integrations for Sales and Marketing Teams

What do Salesforce integrations entail? Salesforce Integrations for Sales and Marketing Teams. Salesforce integrations involve establishing connections between Salesforce and various third-party applications, ranging from marketing automation tools and customer service software to accounting programs. This seamless exchange of data between platforms serves to enhance Salesforce’s overall functionality. How extensive is Salesforce’s integration ecosystem? Salesforce boasts a robust integration ecosystem, with over 3,000 integrations available on its AppExchange marketplace. Beyond these, users can leverage: Salesforce Integrations for Sales and Marketing Teams While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all list of essential Salesforce integrations for sales and marketing, we’ve curated a selection of widely-used integrations across various categories: These integrations cater to diverse needs within sales and marketing, facilitating efficient data handling, analytics, communication, project management, and more. Like1 Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Salesforce Enhances Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Engine Data science and analytics are rapidly becoming standard features in enterprise applications, Read more

Read More
Salesforce for Hospitality

Salesforce for Hospitality

Transforming Hospitality with Salesforce CRM The hospitality industry, known for its expansive options and fierce competition, faces challenges from small hotels to globally recognized resorts. Beyond traditional amenities like clean rooms and Wi-Fi, evolving customer expectations demand highly personalized services for enhanced comfort and swift issue resolution. Salesforce CRM emerges aremains a tool for managing customer interactions and elevating the operations of various players in the hospitality sector. Leading establishments such as Quest Apartment Hotels, Carlson Hotels Worldwide, and HotelTonight harness the capabilities of Salesforce CRM to enhance their services. Salesforce for Hospitality Beyond the realm of hotels, the world’s most widely used CRM solution empowers the entire hospitality industry, encompassing transportation and travel, to deliver personalized and seamless customer experiences. Transportation companies leverage real-time query management and dynamic services to navigate the future of freight efficiently. Simultaneously, travel and hospitality entities utilize data-driven insights to tailor travel options, incorporate artificial intelligence for personalized recommendations, and establish connected guest services, ensuring unparalleled comfort and satisfaction. In essence, Salesforce CRM offers the hospitality industry unified customer views, heightened customer satisfaction and loyalty, invaluable analytics data, automation solutions, and prompt customer service. Its implementation accelerates industry efficiency, fostering innovation and driving continuous improvements in the realm of hospitality. Content updated September 2023. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Salesforce Enhances Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Engine Data science and analytics are rapidly becoming standard features in enterprise applications, Read more

Read More
Salesforce Slack

Swarming with Slack

Enhance case resolution and field service efficiency by promoting instant collaboration through Salesforce Slack “swarming”. Facilitate quick access to the right experts using Expert Finder, initiating a swarm channel directly from a case or incident. The seamless integration ensures that agents can participate in a Slack swarm without leaving the console, maintaining access to crucial Salesforce CRM data. Your service team comprises individuals working to resolve customer issues. Using a swarm from a Slack channel to engage the appropriate experts and document activities in Salesforce. To start a swarm using the Service Cloud for Slack app, go to the About tab and select the Start command for /service-swarm-start. Alternatively, invoke a swarm from the Attachments and shortcuts search or with the slash command. Press the return key to activate the command. Choose your preferred swarming method and select Next. Swarm in a New Channel: Create a swarm in a new Slack channel directly from Slack. Enter swarm information in the prompted window fields and click Create. Visit the new swarm channel to collaborate with other agents. To update the record in Salesforce, click Finish Swarming or use the slash command /service-swarm-close. Select members to add to the swarm, view the record, or finish swarming. Note that swarm member records are generated when new members join the swarming Slack channel. To reopen a swarm, click Reopen Swarm. Swarm in an Existing Channel: Create a swarm in an existing Slack channel. Enter swarm details in the prompted window fields and click Create. The Service Cloud for Slack app sends a pinned notification to the selected channel, announcing the new swarm request. Use buttons on the request to view information or close the swarm when the issue is resolved. Select members, view the record, or finish swarming. When complete, the swarm is marked Closed, and the case is linked in the first unpinned post. Only open swarms remain pinned for easy access in channels with multiple swarms. In response to recent challenges, a series featuring insights from customer service leaders and experts explores industry trends and tactics for success. The first post includes discussions with Jim Roth, EVP of Customer Support at Salesforce, and Kevin Albers, VP of Customer Experience at Slack, addressing digital solutions, agent burnout, and collaborative swarming models. In a digital-first world, customer expectations have risen. Companies are adapting with tools like live agent chat and digital support. Jim Roth emphasizes the need to meet customers where they are, leveraging digital innovations to enhance customer experiences. Growing expectations have increased call volume and case complexity, leading to agent burnout. Kevin Albers suggests addressing this with proper tooling, reducing cognitive overload, and empowering agents to be part of the solution through experimentation. Transitioning to a Swarming Model Transitioning from a tiered model to a swarming model, where a single agent owns a case from start to finish, has shown impressive results. Jim Roth highlights the benefits of a tierless model, including reduced wait times, retained context, and increased agent satisfaction. The swarming model benefits agents by providing rewarding challenges, training opportunities, and expanded experiences. Kevin Albers emphasizes that empowering agents leads to higher engagement and better solutions. Successful Swarming with Slack Tips for successful swarming in Slack include creating workflows, utilizing emoji reactions for status updates, and leveraging Slack’s public API for advanced analysis. The aim is to deliver an easy and expert experience to customers through faster resolution and collective wisdom. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Salesforce Enhances Service Cloud with AI-Driven Intelligence Engine Data science and analytics are rapidly becoming standard features in enterprise applications, Read more

Read More
Salesforce Case Object

Salesforce Case Object

Salesforce Case Object The Salesforce case object represents a case, which is a customer issue or problem. What is the Salesforce case object? A Salesforce Case object can be thought of as a workbook containing all the issues, questions, disputes, and requests that customers have brought up with your business. What is the difference between a case and a task in Salesforce? Tasks are To-do’s whereas Cases are more used for requests or complaints. Having said that, you can use Cases for both, but if you were to change your case management process(es), you would now need to think about a To do process and a customer case process. How cases are used in Salesforce? A case is a customer’s question, feedback, or issue. Support agents can review cases to see how they can deliver better service. Sales reps can use cases to see how they affect the sales process. Responding to cases keeps your customers happy and enhances your brand. How do I create a case object in Salesforce? Step-1: Login into the salesforce classic account, then click on the setup and select the case object that is present in the nav bar. Step-2: After selecting the case object, the case object page is open then click on the new option. Supported Calls create(), delete(), describeLayout(), describeSObjects(), getDeleted(), getUpdated(), query(), retrieve(), search(), undelete(), update(), upsert() Fields Salesforce Case Object Field Details AccountId TypereferencePropertiesCreate, Filter, Group, Nillable, Sort, UpdateDescriptionID of the account associated with this case.This is a relationship field.Relationship NameAccountRelationship TypeLookupRefers ToAccount AssetWarrantyID TypereferencePropertiesFilter, Group, Nillable, SortDescriptionID of the Asset associated with the warranty. Must be a valid asset warranty ID. BusinessHoursId TypereferencePropertiesCreate, Filter, Group, Sort, UpdateDescriptionID of the business hours associated with this case. Comments TypetextareaPropertiesCreate, Delete, Layout, Nillable, Query, Retrieve, Search, Sort, Undelete, UpdateDescriptionUsed to insert a new CaseComment. Email textarea has a length of 4000 chars. CaseNumber TypestringPropertiesAutonumber, Defaulted on create, Filter, idLookup, SortDescriptionAssigned automatically when each case is inserted. It can’t be set directly, and it can’t be modified after the case is created. ClosedDate TypedateTimePropertiesFilter, Nillable, SortDescriptionThe date and time when the case was closed. CommunityId TypereferencePropertiesCreate, Filter, Group, Nillable, SortDescriptionID of the zone associated with this case.This field is available in API version 24.0 and later. ConnectionReceivedId TypereferencePropertiesFilter, Group, Nillable, SortDescriptionID of the PartnerNetworkConnection that shared this record with your organization. This field is available if you enabled Salesforce to Salesforce. ConnectionSentId TypereferencePropertiesFilter, Group, Nillable, SortDescriptionID of the PartnerNetworkConnection that you shared this record with. This field is available if you enabled Salesforce to Salesforce. This field is supported using API versions earlier than 15.0. In all other API versions, this field’s value is null. You can use the new PartnerNetworkRecordConnection object to forward records to connections. ContactEmail TypeemailPropertiesFilter, Group, Nillable, SortDescriptionEmail address for the contact. The Case.ContactEmail field displays the Email field on the contact that is referenced by Case.ContactId. Label is Contact Email. This field is available in API version 38.0 and later. ContactFax TypephonePropertiesFilter, Group, Nillable, SortDescriptionFax number for the contact. Label is Contact Fax. This field is available in API version 38.0 and later. ContactId TypereferencePropertiesCreate, Filter, Group, Nillable, Sort, UpdateDescriptionID of the associated contact.This is a relationship field.Relationship NameContactRelationship TypeLookupRefers ToContact ContactMobile TypephonePropertiesFilter, Group, Nillable, SortDescriptionMobile telephone number for the contact. Label is Contact Mobile. This field is available in API version 38.0 and later. ContactPhone TypephonePropertiesFilter, Group, Nillable, SortDescriptionTelephone number for the contact. Label is Contact Phone. This field is available in API version 38.0 and later. CreatorFullPhotoUrl TypestringPropertiesFilter, Group, Nillable, SortDescriptionURL of the user’s profile photo from the feed. Chatter Answers must be enabled to view this field. This field is available in API version 26.0 and later. CreatorName TypestringPropertiesFilter, Group, Nillable, SortDescriptionName of the user who posted the question or reply. Only the first name of internal users (agents) appears to portal users in the feed. Chatter Answers must be enabled to view this field. This field is available in API version 26.0 and later. CreatorSmallPhotoUrl TypestringPropertiesFilter, Group, Nillable, SortDescriptionURL of the user’s thumbnail photo from the feed. Chatter Answers must be enabled to view this field. This field is available in API version 26.0 and later. Description TypetextareaPropertiesCreate, Nillable, UpdateDescriptionA text description of the case. Limit: 32 KB. FeedItemId TypereferencePropertiesCreate, Group, Nillable, SortDescriptionID of the question in Chatter associated with the case. This field is available in API version 33.0 and later, and is only accessible in organizations where Question-to-Case is enabled. HasCommentsUnreadByOwner TypebooleanPropertiesDefaulted on create, Filter, Group, SortDescriptionIndicates whether a case contains comments that the case owner hasn’t read (true) or not (false). HasSelfServiceComments TypebooleanPropertiesDefaulted on create, Filter, Group, SortDescriptionIndicates whether a case has comments added by a Self-Service user (true) or not (false). Only visible when Customer Portal is enabled. IsClosed TypebooleanPropertiesDefaulted on create, Filter, Group, SortDescriptionIndicates whether the case is closed (true) or open (false). This field is controlled by the Status field; it can’t be set directly. Label is Closed. IsClosedOnCreate TypebooleanPropertiesDefaulted on create, Filter, Group, SortDescriptionIndicates whether the case was closed at the same time that it was created (true) or not (false). This flag is read-only and is automatically set when a record is created. It can’t be set to true unless the IsClosed flag is also true. IsDeleted TypebooleanPropertiesDefaulted on create, FilterDescriptionIndicates whether the object has been moved to the Recycle Bin (true) or not (false). Label is Deleted. IsEscalated TypebooleanPropertiesCreate, Defaulted on create, Filter, Group, Sort, UpdateDescriptionIndicates whether the case has been escalated (true) or not. A case’s escalated state does not affect how you can use a case, or whether you can query, delete, or update it. You can set this flag via the API. Label is Escalated. IsSelfServiceClosed TypebooleanPropertiesDefaulted on create, Filter, Group, SortDescriptionIndicates whether the case is closed for Self-Service users (true) or not (false). IsStopped TypebooleanPropertiesCreate, Defaulted on create, Filter, Group, Sort, UpdateDescriptionIndicates whether an entitlement process on a case is stopped (true) or not (false). IsVisibleInSelfService TypebooleanPropertiesDefaulted on create, Filter, Group, SortDescriptionIndicates whether the case can be viewed in the

Read More
gettectonic.com