Workflow in salesforce CRM

This article will help us understand the workflow process which will allow us to do various  actions automatically, for example assigning a lead to a Que of sales team, workflow rules  can be used send email alerts, assign new task to the user, updates fields within  object, send outbound API messages, and also create and execute time dependent  actions. where a action will executed after some specified time limit.

This article will help us understand the workflow process which will allow  us to do various actions automatically, for example assigning a lead to a  Que of sales team, workflow rules can be used send email alerts, assign  new task to the user, updates fields within object, send outbound API  messages, and also create and execute time dependent actions. where  a action will executed after some specified time limit. salesforce CRM workflow is powerful point and click tool provided by salesforce where with few points and click we can perform various pre-defined actions, Salesforce CRM workflow allows you to automatically - - Create and send email alerts. - Create and assign task to the user. - Update field values to some other value.(for ex change the status of the lead). - Create and send outbound API message. - Create and execute time-dependent actions .  What all components are to consider to setup a workflow on an object. - Define trigger criteria based on our business requirement - Decide when the workflow is to be fired, whenever the record is created, whenever  the record is created update or whenever the record is created/updated and  previously did not meet the trigger criteria. - When the trigger criteria is met, what workflow action is to be fired like sending  an email, updating field or sending and outbound message. Workflow Task - Task may be assigned to designated users to follow up and to respond to business  condition. - Task can be assigned to user, role record owner, record creator, sales team role or  account team - Workflow tasks can be immediate or time-dependent Workflow Email Alerts - Send an email whenever a business actions triggers a rule. - Alerts can be assigned to users, roles, a customer in a contact field, email field in  an object. - Email alerts can be fired immediate or time-dependent  Workflow Field Updates - We can update any field within an object to a specific value or value which  we defined, very helpful in case we have to set some status depended on some criteria. - We can assign a specific value, make the value blank, calculate value based on  some formula. - Field updates can be immediate or time - dependent. Time Dependent Workflow - Time dependent workflow executes time-sensitive actions before or after any  date on the record. - Can perform all the workflow actions at various point of time. When to use Time-dependent workflow - Send an email to manager if the lead is not contacted within 10 days. - Update the field in the record if the lead is not qualifying with 10 days. - Notify the manager if the lead not converted within 15 days. How to setup a workflow in salesforce CRM Navigating to workflow in Salesforce CRM Click on your name in home screen --> Click on Setup --> Click on Create -->  Click on Workflow & Approval --> select Worfklow Rules --> Click on New rule. When new rule is click we have to select on which the workflow is to be created  below I am selecting Lead.  In second screen you have to configure the workflow rule - Insert the Rule Name In rule name field. - Insert some description. - Select some Evaluation criteria, like whenever the record is created, every  time the record is created edited or deleted etc. - Insert some Rule Criteria, when the workflow should be fired, for ex here  In the below screen shot the workflow will be fired when the no of engineer  are greater than 10, we can have multiple rule criteria. and we can use AND,  OR operators for the same. - Click on Save & Next On the next screen you can select what action is to be performed when this  workflow rule criteria is triggered, like send email, create task etc. You can also setup time dependent workflow in the same page, where you  can find the button to setup the same below the add workflow action button. where you can select the time before or after the criteria is evaluated, when  the time dependent workflow is to be fired. Once the workflow is created you have to activate it by clicking the  activate button which you will see at the end of the configuration of the workflow. Note : Please note the workflow will not be fired unless and until it is activated. If you have any more queries / Question Please drop a comment and I  will try to answer it at the earliest

Customizing / Adding Page Layouts in www.salesforce.com

This article will help us understand the features of page layout editor,  it will help us see what all changes we can do in page layout editor,  and how we can customize the layout of the page, we will use  opportunity object as an example in this article, we will customize the  page layout of opportunity object.

Page layout editor is a very power full tool provided by salesforce.com CRM. Enterprise and unlimited edition allows system admin to create  and customize different page layouts to support business process. Navigating to page layouts,  Click on setup -> click on customize - > select custom/ standard object  -> click on page layout -> click on edit link of page layout you want to  edit. Every object in salesforce do have a default page layout, but we can  create multiple layouts for a single object and assign it to different  users in profile. Below is the control panel of page layout editor where you can find  fields, buttons, custom links, and related list option which can be  configured the editor. What Do Page Layout Control ? How detail and edit pages are organised ? We can set up fields visibility and properties like read-only and required.  page layout editor provided by salesforce.com is a very powerful tool. we have to click on the button  in front of the field, when you  click on that below pop - up window will open, which we allow us to  select properties like read-only, and required. When you select required,  it will make that field mandatory on the layout and when you select field  as read-only you will not be able to edit that field. if we click on   button in front of field it will remove the field in the layout and the field  will be no more available in the layout of the object.  Page Section Customization ! In this we can customize develop unique different business scenarios, we  can add different section and blank spaces in the layout. Click and hold  the section tab in page layout control panel under fields tab, and drag  and drop in the page layout below pop-up will come up, where you can  name section and configure if we can see the section in edit page layout  and detail page layout. Select if we want the layout to be 1-Column or  2-Column, tab order where it will help us configure if the tab key we  navigate from left to right or top to bottom.  Which fields, related lists, and custom links, buttons are in a  user's view. We can customize the layout in which we can configure what all related  list the user can see, what all buttons the user can see, we can just drag  and drop the buttons and related list and fields in the layout, when you  click on  button it will remove the related list from layout and  clicking the button in the related list will open the popup where we  can configure what all fields we can see in the related list and also what  all button we want to show in the related list.  Additional Customization We can also do things like adding in line custom visual force page in  the layout where we can show google Map, Yahoo map showing the  location of lead on the map. Also the mini page layouts, hover details  etc in page layout editor  If you have any questions, queries regarding the page layout  editor and need any more information on page layout editor please  let comment and I will answer the question / query at the earliest.

All About Application Design (5%) for Dev 401 Exam

Hi Guys,

Alright Now Guys Here are some pointer and important things which must be covered for Application Design, as per force.com below are points which needs to be covered for Application Desing

The Below Points Belongs to force.com and are there property.

1. List and describe components of an application

2. Describe the model-view-controller design paradigm

3. Given a scenario, determine whether sufficient information is available to plan/build/design an application

Now in this what points which should be covered and some mock question related to above points.

1. List and Describe Components of an Application are as follow

Declarative Components And

2. Describe the model-view-controller design paradigm

 

 View / Bussiness Logic / Database(Data model) as described below 

Declarative Components

User Interface : Applications,Tabs,Page Layouts, Record Types

Business Logic : WorkFlow, Validation Rules, Assignment Rules

Data Model : Object, Fields, Relationship

Programming Components

User Interface : Visaulforce Pages, Web Controlers, FDC Sites

Business Logic : VF Controller, Apex, Web Service Api.

Data Model : Web Service API, Metadata API.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

As Dev 401 is all about doing things without code, we will Be looking and learning more about Declarative side of Force.com

Lets have a look at User Interface first

Applications :

An application is a logical container for all of the objects, tabs, processes, and services associated with a given business function.

- Custom app can have a custom logo under 20KB size, any gif or jpg from document tab

- When you specify a default landing tab when creating or editing app.

Tabs :

A custom tab is a user interface components you create to display custom object data or other web content embedded in the application

- Custom Object tab display the data of your custom object in user interface.

- Web tab displays any external web-based application or web page is user interface tab

- Custom tab will have a tab style(Color Scheme and icon)

Page Layouts  : 

page layout defines the organization - Fields, Custom Links, Related lists on an object details or edit page.

page layout customization includes Field locations, page sections,  Field properties( Visible, Read-only and required)

FDC Sites : 

It cannot be Changed, once it is registered.

Normally it is your company name.

Guys this is a short overview and it only covers 5% so above things are covered in the section.

Please see below for detail view

Above Image is a property of force.com 

Mock Questions for this section

 

In a MVC architecture, which of the below corresponds to View (Select 2)

a. Page layouts
b. Validation rules
c. Custom objects and Tabs
d. Workflows

What are the examples of Data Centric and Process Centric apps (Choose 3)

a. Time card Application

b. Word Processor

c. Online Auction Management

d. Inventory management

By creating a new tab, which of the following features are available?

a. The View Page.

b. Create a new instance of the object.

c. Sidebar search is enabled.

d. An option under create new in the sidebar

What needs to be done if the user wants to create the record using the create new drop down from the left navigation?

a. Create a sidebar components.

b. Create a VF page.

c. Create a Apex Class.

d. Create a object Tab.

In the Custom application what are the following represents view.

a. Validation Rule.

b. Apporval process.

c. Tabs and page layouts

d. Application.
 

What can you do in with page layouts.

a. Create a validation rule.

b. Make Field required.

c. Hide a field.

d. Make 2 column Display


In MVC, Data model refers to ?
a. Custom Field
b. Custom Tabs.
c. Workflow rules.
d. Validation rule.

Please hang on for next section : Data Model(32%) Coming Soon.....

Force.Com Dev 401 Certification Tips for Exam

Hi Guys,

This is my first blog, I am new to blogging :)

Ok now about force.com 401 certification.

When I started working on force.com, I had no idea about what I was doing, but As time passed I gained a little bit of knowledge on force.com and finally decided to go for force.com 401 certification,

I had a lot of tension of tension from where I should start and what should I Do ??? Blah Blah Blah

After waiting for almost an year(As in between I was working on Java) I decided to take a week off from my work and study hard on force.com platform and get ready for the certification.

What I will recommend to study before you go for certification is as follow,

1. Itunes Videos, The first 16 hours video after that it is all about Visual Force pages,

2. Recruting application PDF is must as the questions which come are more from this applications.

3. Help and support Training for un know topics.

4. Go through tabs on the sidebar of force.com once(Don't look into customize tab)

5. Data loader and import Wizard.

Tips for Exam,

1. When you go through the video, take screen shots of slides and go through it before exam.

2. Go through Props Exam.

What I can say about the exam is if you go through the above material, the exam is very easy, just you need to dedicate your 90 minutes in exam to read the questions carefully, there are almost 45 questions which have some direct and easy answers,

I fount around 8 questions which were tricky and difficult to understand.

I have made some analysis of number of questions for various topics in force.com platform, please see below

Application Design   :  3 Questions

Overview FDC         :  5 Quesions

Data Model           : 20 Questions

User Interface       :  7 Questions

Business Logic       : 13 Questions

Data Mgmt            :  6 Questions

Reports and Anlytics :  6  Questions

Total 60 Questions......

I am posting some questions, this is the format of questions asked...

Remember if you are prepared there are almost 45 questions which are very easy to understand and answer

Sample Questions :

1.In a MVC archietecture, which of the below corresponds to View (Select 2)
  a. Page layouts
  b. Validation rules
  c. Custom objects and Tabs
  d. Workflows

2. Can a standard object have more than one master Detail relationship ?

     a. True

     b. false

3. How can  user record be related to other user in the system ?

     a. Master- Detail

     b. Self Relationship

     c. Parent Child

     d. Hierarchical

4. How can you share a particular record with a user ?

     a. Sharing rules

     b. OWD

     c. Manual Sharing

     d. Role Hierarchies

5. Can you run a scheduled data import every night at 1 am, if so using which of the following:

     a. Import Wizard

     b. Data loader

     c. Data loader using command prompt

     d. Scheduled jobs

6. History tracking cannot be disabled for: 

     a. Cases

     b. Accounts

     c. Contacts

     d. Solutions

     e. Contracts

Please note this is not the exam questions, 

Be well prepared before you go for exam,

Please post a comment if you need any more info, this is my first blog. So little bit excited

You feel good once you are done with it(After all this preparation it took me only 40 minutes to complete the exam)

Some online Questions papers and important links for personal mock

http://salesforceexamquestions.com/Documents/401%20paper%201%20quiz.swf


http://salesforceexamquestions.com/Documents/401%20paper%202%20quiz.swf

http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=dev-401-certification

http://www.forceprepare.com/forcecertificationfaq.html

http://www.salesforcetrainingpodcasts.com/podcasts/

http://salesforcechannel.com/pages/developer-training

All the Best :)

Please see next blog covering Application Design 5% quetions

Hang On Guys 501 Material and Blog Coming Up !!!