Cloudy's Favorite Apps: Mass Edit + Mass Update + Mass Delete

What do you do when you want to edit the addresses of a couple dozen contacts?

Or what if you need to update the Stage of numerous Opportunities at once?

Or might you wish to quickly delete all Leads who have had no activity in the past year?

This is the type of important data management that keeps your salesforce.com vital, but if it is a hassle, it might not get done.  These jobs are too small to bother with data loader, but as you search, open, and edit each record individually, you will surely wish there was a better way.

One of Cloudy's favorite FREE apps makes this possible:

Mass Edit + Mass Update + Mass Delete -- the name says it all!  After the easy installation of this app, all you need to do is go to the Search Layouts page of the standard object where you would like to use this button.  (Step by step instructions appear in the install guide on the app)

The new buttons will appear on any list view on those object tabs. For specific data management tasks, you may want to create filtered list views that narrow down a list to the records you want to Mass Edit/Update/Delete.  ie. "All Contact with No Mailing Address", "All My Opportunities in Negotiation", or "All Leads with No Recent Activity".  You will have a chance choose specifically which records you are going to edit/update/delete from a list by checking the box next to the record.

Here is an example of a "Mass Edit" view of Contact records.  
From here it's a snap to edit all four records at once and then save!  
Use Mass Edit when you want to Edit multiple records at once, but with different information for each one.  For instance, each contact above likely has different phone and address information.

Here is an example of a "Mass Update" view of Opportunity records.  
From the list view, select several Opportunities to update, and on this page choose the field to update (Stage), and the value to update to.  Use Mass Update when you want to update multiple records with the SAME information.  For instance, I can change all of these Opportunities to "Closed Lost".

BONUS:
Once you are in the groove of using Mass Edit + Mass Update + Mass Delete for your small-batch data management needs, you might wish you could use the buttons on custom objects, or that you could customize the Mass Edit fields available.  Since this free app is an "Unmanaged Package", it is possible, and easier than you might think, to extend its capabilities in these ways. You can find some how-to help among other app users on the "reviews" tab of the appexchange listing.

If you need more customization, training, or help, please Contact Us!

For instructions on test-driving an App in your salesforce.com sandbox:
Test Drive an App in your Salesforce.com Sandbox

More of Cloudy's Favorite Apps:
Dupe Catcher
Conga Composer
Form Assembly
Rollup Helper

Cloudy's Chalkboard: Tracking the stars in your salesforce universe - Part 2

Last week we started creating a complex dashboard table that could help a nonprofit keep tabs on its most important donors. 

We created the report that will be the basis for the dashboard component.  Today we will finish by actually adding it to the dashboard!

Step 1: Add a chart to your source report

In order to create a complex dashboard table, you must first add a chart to the source report. The chart on the report itself does not have to look meaningful: in fact, it usually doesn't!  

Go to your report, click  "Customize" and then click "Add Chart":

Choose a scatter chart as the type of chart, and on the chart data tab, set all four chart data fields to the meaningful groupings of your report, as shown:

Click "OK" and then Save and Run your report. You will notice that the resulting scatter chart is not very interesting as a chart, but it allows us to create a more complex dashboard table. 

**If you want to make the chart less prominent on the report itself go to the "Formatting" tab on the chart editor and choose to make the chart size "Tiny" and the chart location "Below Report"!**

Step 2: Go to your dashboard

You probably have multiple dashboards in your salesforce org; choose the one where you would like to add this component, or start a new one.  For more about creating and editing dashboards, check out: Cloudy's Chalkboard: Creating Dashboards

When you are on the correct dashboard, click "edit"

Step 3: Drag a table component onto the dashboard

Step 4: Drag the correct report onto the component.

Note that you must switch from the "Components" tab to the "Data Sources" tab in the Dashboard Builder palette on the left side.  

(For instructions about how to build this report, see last week's post: 

Cloudy's Chalkboard: Tracking the stars in your salesforce universe - Part 1)

Step 5: Edit the table

The default settings of the table that appears will only show 2 columns.  Click the wrench in the upper right corner of the table to see more options.

On the Component Editor that appears, choose the Formatting tab and click "Customize table".  You will now be able to edit the table columns to show all four data points: 

Congratulations! You have created a complex dashboard table that will allow you to keep track of important donor relationships that might be at risk.  Consider scheduling this dashboard to refresh regularly, and/or have it emailed to interested parties automatically.

Following similar steps, you can create tables to track other parts of your business as well. If you would like help with your reporting and dashboards, Contact Us!

Cloudy's Chalkboard: Tracking the stars in your salesforce universe - Part 1

Who are your 

STAR clients?

Are any of those 

relationships at risk?

If you are using salesforce.com CRM, you understand the idea of Customer Relationship Management: you want to track the relationships and transactions of your customers or constituents and gain a 360 degree view of your business. You know that you can look at a single contact record and see all of their information, including lifetime transactions, campaign involvement, and activity history. 

But how do you leverage that information at a higher level?

Let's learn how to create a complex dashboard table that displays critical relationship updates at a fictitious nonprofit organization called Cartoon.org:

This example relies on some fields that are standard
in the salesforce.com Non Profit Starter Pack.
A for-profit company can create a metric to fit their business
using the same basic process described here.

Cartoon.org puts a high value on two types of donors:

1) Those who have donated more than $2,000 in their lifetime.

2) Those who have donated more than 5 times in their lifetime, regardless of amount.

These donors have shown, either by the amount OR frequency of their donations, that they are invested in the mission of Cartoon.org: it would be unwise to let those relationships founder!

The head of development at Cartoon.org wants to see a table of these high-value donors who HAVE NOT DONATED in the last six months. She will use this information to target these donors with some special attention to make sure they don't forget about their favorite charitable organization!


This two-part demo will show you how to create this report and dashboard for your organization.

Step 1: Create a new report

Go to Reports>New Report>Accounts & Contacts>Contacts & Accounts>Create
("Accounts" may be renamed "Organizations" in your org!)

Step 2: Set Filters and Filter Logic

Standard Filters: Show = All Accounts (/All Organizations) Date Field = Created Date Range = All Time

Custom Filters: Total Number of Gifts >= 5 Total Gifts >= $2,000 Last Gift Date < "6 MONTHS AGO"

(**NOTE: You will probably need to adjust the custom filter values to reflect donation totals, donation frequency, and time frames that are meaningful to your organization!)

Filter Logic:
Adjust the filter logic by clicking the little down arrow next to "Filters" and select "Filter Logic".
The default logic that is displayed will be "1 AND 2 AND 3".
Edit it to be "(1 OR 2) AND 3" as shown above.

Step 3: Set Columns and Summarize

You can quickly clear the default columns by clicking "Remove All Columns" Link

Add the four columns we need for this report: 
Name, Last Gift Date, Total Number of Gifts, and Total Gifts

Summarize the two "Total" columns:
Hover over the column header, click the down arrow, select "Summarize this Field" and click "Sum" on the dialogue box.

Step 4: Add report groupings

Group by "Last Gift Date" and "Name":
Hover over the column header, click the down arrow and select "Group by this Field" for both columns.

Run the report; it should look like this: 

Step 5: Save your report

Click "Save" and save your report with a meaningful name and description.  

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This report is ready to be shared 
with your development team: 

These are your most important at-risk donors.

Make a plan to follow up with them!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Tune in next week to create a handy dashboard component with this information.

If you would like help creating more meaningful reports and dashboards for your organization, Contact Us!

More dashboard tutorials from Cloudy:

Cloudy's Chalkboard: Creating Dashboards

Cloudy's Chalkboard: Grouped Bar Charts

Cloudy's Chalkboard: Use a Workflow to send an Email

Using workflows in salesforce.com to automate your business processes saves you time, money and frustrating busywork. Today, we will set up a workflow to send an email. Emails can be automatically sent not only to salesforce.com users, but to other employees, business partners, and customers. Merge fields in the email template can bring in the recipient's name as well as other information from their record.

If you are not yet using workflows, you might not know when you should use one! Here are some examples of when you might use a workflow to send an email:

-When an Opportunity worth more than $50k is Closed-Lost, the sales manager should be notified for follow-up.
-When a Sales Rep completes a demo with a client, a Thank You email should be sent to the client.
-When a new Account is created in a given geographic location, the regional manager should be notified.

These specific examples might not apply to your business, but can help you start thinking about the kinds of events and processes in your org that should trigger an automatic email or alert.

****************

Let's use the example of the Thank You note after a demo. After completing a product demo with a contact, the Sales Rep marks a custom checkbox called "Demo Participant"  on the contact records of the participants.  When this box is checked, we want to automatically send out a personalized thank you email to that contact.

Step 1: Create the Email Template

The Merge Fields on your template should be related to "Contact." For step-by-step instructions to create an email template, check out Cloudy's Chalkboard: How to Create an Email Template. Be sure to mark the "Available for Use" checkbox before you are done!

Step 2: Create the Workflow Rule

• Go to Setup>Create>Workflow & Approvals>Workflow Rules and click "New."
• Select the object where the trigger action will occur. (In this case, "Contact".) Click "Next".
• Name and describe the rule. As a best practice, begin the rule name with the name of the object, or an abbreviation thereof. (When you have a lot of workflows, this helps keep related rules grouped together in the list.)
• Under Evaluation Criteria, choose "created, and any time it's edited to subsequently meet criteria".
• Under Rule Criteria, define the field values or formula test that will trigger the action. For this example "Contact: Demo Participant" + "equals" + "TRUE"
• Click "Save & Next"

Step 3: Add the Workflow Action

• Select "New Email Alert" from the Add Workflow Action menu. A new screen will appear.
• Add a short description (the unique name will auto-pupulate based on the description).
• Select your email template from the lookup.
• Under Recipient Type, select "Email Field" and from the dual panes below, select the correct contact email address.
• Click "Save." On the final screen that appears, click "Activate".

You are ready to test your workflow!

If you would like help adding process automation to your salesforce.com, Contact Us!

Cloudy's Top Ten: About Salesforce.com User Groups

"None of us is as smart as all of us" - Ken Blanchard

10 - Salesforce.com helps organize User Groups all over the world.  Search for a meeting near you.

9 - If there is no User Group near you, Salesforce.com will help you start one by providing resources and training to help you get started.  Check out this ButtonClick Admin post and podcast for great additional information about leading a Salesforce.com User Group.

8 - User Groups are an excellent free way to develop your Salesforce.com knowledge and skills in an engaging, structured, and social environment.

7 - They are a great place to meet smart and enthusiastic Salesforce.com users.  The next time you want to brainstorm, you might have a new friend to call.

6 - User Groups are an excellent resource to find out about job openings and career opportunities in other organizations that are using Salesforce.com.  

5 - Speaking of other organizations, there is tremendous value to be found in building your professional network among other businesses that are using similar technology tools.  You will learn how other businesses are leveraging the cloud to enhance all their business processes, from Marketing, to Sales, to Customer Support.

4 - If you have trouble keeping up with the seasonal releases and new features of Salesforce, User Groups can be a place to get these updates in an easy format.

3 - While most User Groups attendees are regular users and admins, Salesforce.com Partner Consultants are often in attendance as well.  There are rules that make sure they don't use the opportunity to try to sell you anything, so it can be a great opportunity to get novel ideas and best practices advice from the experts.

2 - Salesforce.com AppExchange vendors are enthusiastic to demonstrate their products at User Groups, whether via a virtual presentation or by sending a representative to your group.  This is a great way to learn about powerful and interesting apps, and to learn how other businesses are using them.

1 - User Groups are run by other users on a volunteer basis, so they are likely to be very responsive if you would like to help or add your own ideas to the mix.  If you are interested in leadership opportunity to enhance your resume and grow your own Salesforce.com knowledge and skills, consider offering to do a presentation at your user group, or joining the leadership team.


Cloudy and the team at Redpath Consulting Group are involved in several Salesforce User Groups in the Twin Cities, MN area, including the general area user group, as well as smaller groups for nonprofit users and for Salesforce.com developers.  Contact us if you would like to find out when the next meetings of these groups will be held, or if you would like to get in touch with Twin Cities area group leaders.