Clone User – Lightning Awesome

Way back in the old tyme days of 2014, Salesforce was running a contest called #Salesforce1selfie. I decided to try porting my clone user flow (Spoiler, totally worked) but that isn’t the fun part. The fun part was using flows for MY gain!

Andrew, Andrew Andrew

But, that was 2014 and it is now 2017 and Lightning is now the cool kid on the block. So, going to take a revisit to the old clone the user app and see about making it more 2017 than 2014.

Gru rocks

I do not know who 2 out of 3 of these artists are

First things first, I had to recreate the clone user flow. Surprisingly enough, you really just need to follow my previous mentioned post and you are good to go. You gotta make sure to activate it though.

The real change is on the page layout. The easiest way to to do this is to go to a user record, click on the gear icon and then click on edit page. Sorry for the crappy screenshot, new computer.

Now that you are on the page edit layout (I am sure there is a better technical name!), I would do the following, though the ONLY required part is adding a flow widget.

Add in a tab widget.
Reorder the tab widget so that related is on the right.
Rename details tab to your variation of clone user.
Drag a flow widget to that tab.
Set the flow to be your clone user flow and the variable to be the record id.

Go ahead and save the changes and make sure it is set to be the default of whatever you have setup. Click into a user profile and behold, the tab that says Clone User!

Click on that tab and WOOT, the user ID from the source is passed.

The rest is literal history. You don’t even need to really update the original flow!

Questions, comments – Let me know!

andrew

You know who likes innovating? I like innovating.

NOTE – Not actual salesforce admin writing blog.

Thus, when I saw that Salesforce Seattle was hosting an app innovation workshop, I decided to sign up.

The class was pretty neat, the group brought out a SE that showed us how to build out some apps and how the new lightning interface was going to make app building EPIC.

And then, just like that, it was our turn to build an app. We separated out into teams and planned (And ate tacos!). We had 2 hours to build out an app that was mobile, had some business value and used the lightning interface….and had a clever name.

NOTE – Not actual blog writer.

My team (Fairy Godmothers) decided to tackle a problem that is all too familiar to sales teams (and ghost busters) …you know what I am going to say here, “Who ya Gonna Call”?

NOTE – Not actual team photo

Being that I have never done sales, this is all anecdotal, but the nods of both the AE’s and SE’s in the room told me that I was on to something. I have noticed that a salesperson will get on a call that should not require a technical resource and then BAM! The potential customer brings a nerd along and the hard questions start to flow. The salesperson then is left scrambling for resources, vowing to never let this happen again! The next call the salesperson goes on they invite the SE and the SE just listens in and play angry birds. On a side note, I once worked at a large company that the meetings would get so large because of this phenomenon, it would take like 10 minutes to do introductions.

Being that we only had two hours, I decided to keep this simple. No custom objects, just using the functionality Benioff gave us! So flows were used…because…well…I love flows. But seriously, using flows also gives me the ability to create advanced, code like (Dare i say, low / no code?) functionality without worrying about things like UI and, well, code.

The flow itself is not anything spectacular (two hours!). If it is launched via the app, it just pulls up a list of the users open opps. The user selects one and then is presented with a list of current active users and a selection around communication methods. Selecting email will send an email, but selecting text sends out an email using the email to phone number “hack” (is it a hack any more after it has been around as long as this one?).

However, there is one bit of fun that I want to call out (as I have done before). I pass a variable to the flow which is then analyzed. This variable is ONLY populated when a flow is launched from a record, so if this variable is populated, we would know that the flow started from a specific record. By doing this, I can build out decisions that adjust the functionality. In this case, I have two start screens, one for when the flow is launched via the app (and shows all opps) and one for when it is launched via record (and just goes right to the fairy godmother selection).

Screen Shot 2016-12-20 at 9.15.09 AM.png

“And then the running back goes around the TE..BOOM!”

By doing this, you can avoid using two flows what is essentially the same functionality.

To get this working on the individual record, you have to use a visualforce page

NOTE – this is the blog author writing code (just kidding).

because the button URL hack just won’t work as expected. You can place a flow on the record page layout, but I wasn’t able to figure out how to pass a value. If you know now, shoot me a tweet (@jok3r4o2) OR send me a message through the success community. If you are local to Bellevue, I will buy you a coffee.
Anyways, not a huge deal to create a VF page. I have documented it a few times AND by doing a VF page on a button, it allowed me to make it mobile really easy by just adding an action!

<apex:page standardController=”Opportunity” showHeader=”false” sidebar=”false” >
<flow:interview name=”life_ring”>
<apex:param name=”varSourceOppId” value=”{!Opportunity.Id}”/>
</flow:interview>
</apex:page>

Alrighty, so that is the nuts and bolts of my two-hour build. Pretty dang happy with this app and will probably put into production. But, how I would I make it better? Well, cue the Scooby Doo transition!

Show users that are logged-in. I found a really cool table when building out the flow called “AuthSession”. https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api.meta/api/sforce_api_objects_authsession.htm This is the table that shows who is logged in and how. Now, it wouldn’t be as straightforward as just using this as a dynamic lookup, but still, the idea that you could see who was logged in before you contacted them is pretty great.
Finding Relevant Users. Using the power of flows, we could do some data crunching to build out a profile of a specific opp (product, competitor, etc…) and then use this information to pull only fairy godmothers who have had experience in these areas.
Gamify! This type of app lends itself to gamification. I would have built this out so that Fairy Godmothers got credit or went up a lead board (AKA, Dashboard) for the help that they do. If you go down the gamification path, brush up on Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs to figure out how to reward employees.
Communicate in multiple ways. I am using email and text, but it would be a good next step to also post in chatter. You could also use a service like Zapier or IFTTT to post to slack.

And that my friends is that! As I said, be sure to check out an app innovation workshop. I came away excited for Lightning UI and all the neat things it can do along with a great app idea and a couple Starbucks Gift cards.

As always, did I miss anything? Do you have a great idea for an app and just need a bit of help? Find me on success.salesforce.com and drop me a line!

One flow to rule them all.

Photo taken somewhere in SFDC HQ.

Recently, I found myself in a situation where I had a specific thing (Top Secret, Sorry!) I wanted my flow to do, but across multiple types of objects. As I built out my flow, I kept thinking, how can I build this so that it is a smarter flow? One that can accept multiple starting points? Well, to quote the announcer voice, “We have the technology, we the ability…”

But, let’s scooby doo intro back to the start…here is what I know:

The functionality I wanted to build involves doing a similar action against a lead, account and opportunity.
I can use a workflow to kick off this change
I can use a flow trigger to kick off the flow

Let’s start with the flow. What I actually did is not as important and the method, so a neat screen shot is not needed! The key piece here is that I have an input /output variable named “VarPassedRecordID”. Beyond that, really the ONLY other piece of the puzzle is a couple of decision points, one for each record. The decisions are all looking at the prefix of “VarPassedRecordID”. If the prefix of the ID matches the criteria, then the routing goes to the designated action

As a side note, I have started using this methodology in my criteria’s when I look for query results instead of looking for nulls.

The next step is the workflow’s. In my case, there are three workflows and each workflow kicks off a flow trigger. If you do not have flow triggers, go get them enabled! Flow triggers are great for these small jobs, though you could do this with the process builder as well…The flow triggers are themselves unremarkable. The only thing they are doing is passing the record ID over to the flows…wow, reading this one over, this is really boring functionality. Seriously, this is like trying to make a pair of needle nose pliers or a shop light sound exciting! However, like needle nose pliers or a good shop light, this is a very good piece of functionality to know about. You can add new object types in very easily and with out creating more and more flows.

Recap? Sure, why not, this blog post is seriously shorter than half my papers I wrote in High School…Size 12 font! Double Space! Times New Roman! Business, Business Numbers! Is it working?

The workflow runs if the criteria is met
The workflow kicks off a flow trigger, which passes over the record ID to the flow
The flow analyzes that data, and based on the prefix, directs the data down the right path

The only real “gotcha” to be aware of is that if you are using custom object, the record ID’s might have different prefixes based on your environments. You will especially find this true if you are migrating up the custom objects.

As always, let me know if there are any questions, comments or suggestions!

Andrew

Reducing the amount of email while sending email

In my post titled “Cleaning the data that matters – and not all data matters” I finished the post up with the following:

“PS – For bonus points, create a nice email alert telling the reps their data is bad, and make it so it sends them that notice every time they edit the account OR opportunity…just put on a timer so it only sends once per day!”

To which, JaneIsaac replied:

“nice detective work. Could you share What the timer formula look like?”

Well JaneIsaac, this post if for you!

I take requests…just not freebird!

The scenariois that we wanted to send out alerts if an account scored low data grade points and that account OR an opportunity related to that account was updated. After some quick research I saw that the updates were clustered, often receiving multiple updates in a short period of time. I didn’t want the alerts constantly kicking out.

So I built out a function so that prevent multiple alerts from being sent out in a given set of time. My functionality treats account and opportunity updates as two different actions, so I broke them out on this blog as such. Listing out the ingredients below and I will dissect the basic functionality after.

Ingredients for tasty food, not tasty Workflows

For the Account alerts:

1 – Date field on Account “Data Alert Sent Date”

1 – Workflow rule for the Account Object “Data Grade Alert”:

Evaluation Criteria = “Evaluate the rule when a record is created, and any time it’s edited to subsequently meet criteria”

Rule Criteria =

AND(
AND(Account_Data_Grade__c <>”Acceptable”,Account_Data_Grade__c <>”Excellent”),
Open_Pipeline__c < 1,
AND(LastModifiedBy.ProfileId <>” xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “,LastModifiedBy.ProfileId <>” xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “,LastModifiedBy.ProfileId <>” xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “, LastModifiedBy.ProfileId <>”xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx”),
(DATEVALUE(CreatedDate)<>Today()),
OR(ISBLANK(Data_Alert_Sent_Date__c),(Data_Alert_Sent_Date__c) <> today()))

2 – Immediate Workflow Actions

1 – Workflow email alert = Sendemail to “Last Modified By”

1 – Field Update = “Data Alert Sent Date” with Today()

For the Opportunity alerts:

1 – Date field on Opportunity “Data Alert Sent Date”

1 – Workflow rule for the Opportunity Object “Data Grade Alert”:

Evaluation Criteria = “Evaluate the rule when a record is created, and any time it’s edited to subsequently meet criteria”

Rule Criteria =

AND(
AND(Account.Account_Data_Grade__c <>”Acceptable”,Account.Account_Data_Grade__c <>”Excellent”),
AND(LastModifiedBy.ProfileId <>” xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “,LastModifiedBy.ProfileId <>” xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “,LastModifiedBy.ProfileId <>” xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “, LastModifiedBy.ProfileId <>” xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx “),
Record_Type__c =”Open Opportunity”,
(DATEVALUE( Account.CreatedDate )<>Today()),
or(ISBLANK( Data_Alert_Sent_Date__c ), (Data_Alert_Sent_Date__c)<>TODAY()))

2 – Immediate Workflow Actions

1 – Workflow email alert = Send email to “Last Modified By”

1 – Field Update = “Data Alert Sent Date” with Today()

Taking a look at the mechanics:

I wish my cube was this cool…or that I had a flying monkey!

The rule criteria’s are similar enough that we won’t have to dissect them both and since the interest is in the timer components, that is what I am going to focus on:

1) (DATEVALUE( Account.CreatedDate )<>Today()) – Ignore if the account is newly created

2) But, the following situations are OK:

(ISBLANK( Data_Alert_Sent_Date__c ) – The data alert sent date is Null (Never triggered before)
(Data_Alert_Sent_Date__c)<>TODAY() – The data alert sent date does not equal Today()

This last line is what ensures that an alert will only send once per day. If the rule runs, (Data Quality = Poor and “Data Alert Sent Date” <>Today()), then the email alert gets sent out and the “Data Alert Sent Date” gets updated with the current day. If that record was updated ANY OTHER TIME during that day, the rule will not fire. I know I say this all the time, but what I really (Really) like about salesforce is that when it comes down to it, you can do some crazy cool stuff with zero code.

In other CRM’s, the above functionality takes 6 weeks and 2 developers.

Looking at this functionality now, I think a couple neat additions would have been:

1) A rollup summary on opportunity.Data_Alert_Sent_Date__c (MAX), this way, you could have the account rule also looking at the last time an alert was sent out on ANY opportunity.

2) A counter field update on the opportunity rule with a corresponding rollup on accounts. This would allow for reporting on ignored updates and thresh holding of the alerts.

But, the fun with Salesforce is the ability to rapidly prototype and tinker, so if I wanted to add in some new stuff, it is easy – peasy – lemon squeezy.

Well, hope you enjoyed this. I certainly had fun taking a look at something that was built out quite some time ago but continues to keep ticking! If there are any special requests, just let me know!

Delegation Made Awesome (Salesforce1Selfie Number2)

With my first salesforce1 selfie I took on user setup and reduced my “Click Load” when it comes to setting up users.

For this salesforcesforce1selfie, I am taking a swipe at the delegate process.

The org I support has quite a few approval processes and within these processes are a mix of related user (manager, for example) and named user approvals. Supporting these processes can be quite a challenge, especially around summer time since we are not using the delegate functionality. We have tried to roll out delegates, but never quite get off the ground with adoption. After taking a close look at the delegate function, reviewing notes from our last attempt and talking to the SFDC_IT team member I believe the lack of adoption is due to:

1) No obvious click path to delegated approver screen (Click on Name, Click on Drop Down, Select “My Setttings”, Click on “Approver Settings”, enter delegate )

2) Unable to start / stop time delegates

3) Can’t turn on via mobile

4) Too much mail if the Delegate is left “on” (See #2)

I believe that if I can add functionality that will help with the above, I can increase adoption of delegates. At the very least, like my clone user app, I can use it myself during the summer holiday season!

Hold on tight, here we go!

We got a long way to go and a short time to get there!

First things first, I needed to create an input method for my users that could be both easy to use and upfront. Therefore, I built out a custom object / tab combination, which I named “Out of Office”.

Can’t miss that!

I have as few entry fields as possible, both to speed the time to release but to also make it as easy as possible for the user:

1) Start Time – Defaulted to current date

2) End Time – User selectable date field Three Fields, one defaults

3) Delegated Approver – Lookup field to user table

*Now, you might be reading this and shouting / typing furiously/ muttering about missed opportunities. I agree with you, and I feel certain that future revisions will get new / better functionality (Filtered Lookups, Approvals, On behalf of…etc), but this is about a good foundation to build on.

A quick look at workflows and I can see that I will have to do this with a combination of workflows and flows since I cannot update the Delegated Approver field with workflows, and

You know what I am talking about

In the interest of time, I am going to give an outline of the methods used to get this functionality up and running rather than the step by step.

Step 1, FUNctions used to update the delegate:

Workflow “OOTO Created” is triggered up on record creation. This workflow has two immediate actions, an email alert to both the delegate and the record owner and a flow trigger that runs a flow in the background that handles the actual update to the delegate. The flow really is basic, just a record update. I threw in a lookup out of habit.

The workflow also has a timed based action, which is the secret sauce. This time based action is based on “return date” – 0 and ticks the box “Back in Office”. Do not overlook the re-evaluate workflow rules after field change check box!

2014-04-30 08_30_30-Field Update_ Mark as returned ~ salesforce.com - Unlimited Edition

Step 2, FUNctions used to remove the delegate

Workflow “Remove Delegate” is ran when the field “Back in Office” is set to TRUE. This worklow has two elements (as I wrote it), but could get away with one. The main element is the flow trigger. This trigger launches another basic trigger that just deletes out the delegate from the record owner. The only thing special I did on this was to put in an extra field update in the flow so I can tell if it ran. I have a similar field update in my workflow. I found these to be very helpful when testing because I could visually observe how my updates were working.

2014-04-30 08_42_16-Workflow Rule_ Remove Delegate ~ salesforce.com - Unlimited Edition

Move along, nothing to see here

Now, for the brass tacks, how does it work? Well, it works pretty dang good. I have been monkeying around with this for a couple weeks now and I can attest to the basic functionality. The only real weak link in the process is that I cannot directly influence the field “Receive Approval Request Emails” setting via the flows. That, however, can be handled with business process.

Curse You!

Now, for the 10,000 dollar question. How does it look on Mobile? Well my friends, it looks pretty darn good. Salesforce1 does such a nice job of packaging up the objects created that you get a very nice experience out of the box. This is such a nice contrast to previous mobile versions. I can focus now on making the user experience that much better.

2014-04-29 07_56_56-Presentation1.pptx - PowerPoint

Yeah, that is awesome

For example, I built out a field that shows a message based on a couple parameters: “if(Back_in_Office__c =FALSE,”Out of Office, returning “& text(Return_Date__c) ,”In Office”)”

I added this field to a new compact layout, and viola, the user can now, at a glance, see if they are in office or out of office, and if they are out of office, when they are coming back (NEVER!)

Awwww

Woo Hoo!

So there you have it, another piece of adminsitrivia solved with Salesforce, Visual Flows, and Salesforce1