Best Practices for Documenting Your Salesforce Org
Salesforce is an incredibly powerful platform. With everything else you need to do, documenting your progressions may be low on your priority list. But, IT SHOULDN’T BE. Putting some effort into documentation will really save you some time in the longer term and incredibly diminish the risk that will break your Org, but, how would you convince your colleagues and executives about this? And also, when you do have the command to invest energy in the documentation and clean it up, what is the best practical approach?
Documentation is more than the rundown of what metadata you included in the new release in Salesforce. We have to add why we included it as this gives a more prominent understanding of how it is utilized. In the Org Confessions, Number 1 business analysis is business process maps and requirements that clarify why you made those changes. The main purpose behind documentation is so when you return to it after a few days, weeks or months you can understand the effect of changing it.
This article draws together the need for documentation. We have arranged the blogs of some accomplished and experienced leaders in the Salesforce community here
5 Documentation Strategies to Improve Your Salesforce Organization - Natalie Vaynberg
Salesforce, it helps to use documentation to stay organized. you record all essential data and procedures in one, at an easily accessible place. A well-organized structure implies that clients know how to find and enter info and admins have proper knowledge of how the organization works. Those two components set you up for future achievement and advancement.
Think of yourself as a pioneer deciding to explore new terrain. Documentation is your trail map. You need that trail map, not only to reveal where to go, but also what to expect when you arrive, where to discover vital assets, and how to find support if you need it. The trail map is also an incredible way to look back and see what you've achieved.
How would you build up that map? Here are five documentation strategies that you can execute today.
1. Note Down Description/Help Text: First, advise is to make help text. You can enter this when you make a custom field or edit a default one. Describe precisely how to utilize that field, the format where to enter data, and why that data is significant.
2. Craft Data Dictionaries: A data dictionary gives detailed information about all of the data elements in your org as well as how they connect.
3. Build Up Process Maps: Mapping a process implies visually explaining the flow and order of any given work process. With a data dictionary, you record all the individual components of your organization, while with a process map, we can show how those individual components cooperate to accomplish something.
4. Execute Change Logs: Write everything down: With a change log, there’s no confusion concerning why that custom object exists or who needed that custom field. Rather, you have a clear audit trail that tells the historical backdrop of your organization.
5. Organize Info in Knowledge and Chatter: Salesforce Knowledge and Chatter are outstanding tools for sharing out your documentation and making it accessible.
5 Ways to Improve Your Help Docs - Leslie Stompor
You know you have to reinforce your assistance and documentation which your clients continue requesting you to do it. The manager continues telling you to do it. Also, your technical support team is desperate for you to do it. But where to begin?
The writer of this blog invested her energy in technical support when her vocation started yet she chose to specialize in documentation with the goal that she could respond to inquiries before they even rose. Presently when she is in the documentation team at Salesforce, She has shared her knowledge on how to improve assistance from technical support, management, and even users.
1. Utilize the right terms: To avoid any kind of confusion, try to use specific words for each term. Otherwise, your users will get confused by what you mean.
2. Concentrate on the common things your clients do: Ask your users what they work on throughout their day. Making New Accounts? Updating schedules? Tracking opportunities? Then ensure your content for this piece of work is thorough. If there's an alternate for making new accounts accurately or a nice technique for updating schedules easily, document it!
3. Know your client’s pain points: Regardless of whether it's choosing the correct sales platform for an opportunity or emailing introduction marketing collateral, ensure that you have all the steps and details in your assistance
4. Keep it short and sweet: If the assistance is too long and looks too complicated, users won’t read it. Rather, make it short and sweet, and keep them returning for more. Concentrate on the most significant tasks and info.
5. Get feedback: Give users a way to tell you when content needs to be updated and modified. They are your frontline defense against stale.
Continue reading Leslie Stompor (Staff Technical Writer at Salesforce) post here.
8 Resolutions for Improving your Salesforce Org - Brian Waterson
Putting all things aside, the thing we really need to focus on is Being an Awesome Admin and keeping up the soundness of our Salesforce org. Here is the list of which the writer has suggested to make your resolution even better with these awesome points.
1.Audit license mix: How about we start with our money-related goals! Regardless of whether you are not up for renewal this year, it is always good to start the year by looking at your Salesforce license mix and considering how you may change things to better support the business.
2. Migrate to Lightning: Let the 2020 be the year you embrace Lightning! Salesforce is done including new Classic features, and we realize it is only a matter of time until Classic is turned off completely.
3. Review assignment of profiles, roles, and permission sets: To keep your organization fit as a fiddle it must be done at least annually. Between profiles, roles, and permission sets, there are a lot of levers you can change in accordance with assistance give individuals the access they need.
4. Field utilization: It can be a time-consuming procedure, however it would be much less time-consuming if you tackle it each and every year.
5. Clean-up page layouts: Focus on it once every year to review your page layouts (at least on objects used most frequently) and ensure just the necessary fields are there and in the correct segments.
6. Archive reports and dashboards: Once a year it is important to invest some time documenting reports and dashboards that simply are not being utilized. It makes it easier to find the right reports, and it guarantees somebody doesn’t stumble upon the wrong one.
7. Documentation: Build up a plan for crafting and updating documentation. Maybe you can put forth the business case for an intern or, at least, block a few hours on your calendar every week. It is anything but difficult to put off, yet it will possibly support future you if you have great documentation available.
8. Evaluate out-of-the-box features not currently in use: Make it your top priority to discover functionality that will assist you to give your business further value out of Salesforce, and take advantage of Trailhead to become more familiar with what is out there.
Continue reading Brian Waterson (Salesforce Certified Business Systems & Technology Director) post here.
Document your Salesforce Instance - Virginia Filmer-Sankey
The blog writer praises Salesforce as a superior system while also stressing the importance of creating documentation. Failure to do so can lead to confusion and problems despite the system's excellence. Documenting IT systems can be a tedious task that only a few enjoy, and even after publishing, changes are often necessary. This reality emphasizes the need to document thoroughly. Luckily, Virginia has provided both admin and end-user documentation, which are crucial to cover.
Administrator Documentation
Utilize the description fields in Salesforce: Throughout the configuration of Salesforce, there are description fields. These permit you to portray the reason for a field, workflow, validation and everything else.
Configurations and custom objects: More complex Salesforce instances can have numerous record types, page layouts, and custom objects. Record all of these and their purpose.
List integrations, third parties, and contacts:Write a secure document with details of anything including third parties and the passwords and account details.
Code:You should make a separate document with all Apex described in easy and simple language including the intended purpose.
End-User Documentation
What number of end-users remember their Salesforce training? In case you're not sure, it's a low number and they frequently need something to help when uncertain. Good end-user documentation is much rarer than good admin documentation and your users need it.
Continue reading Virginia Filmer-Sankey (Finance Director at Startup Giants PLC) post here.
3 Steps to Making Your Own Salesforce Help Documentation - Jonathan DeVore
In case you're a Salesforce consultant, Admin, or Super User, you most likely as of now understand the significance of having customized Salesforce documentation. You need it to onboard new-hires, Describe new highlights, and for everyday referencing since most people don't have photographic memories. However, despite the fact that you know it is essential, you presumably don't do it just as you most likely are aware of the fact that making documentation:-
Takes ages
Is hard to compose
Is difficult to update
But, it doesn't need to be that way. The writer of the blog has sketched out three stages you can follow for making incredible Salesforce documentation that is way too simpler to write. less time-taking to maintain, and increasingly assisting to your users.
Stage 1: Choose the correct documentation tools: Utilizing the correct tools makes everything in life faster and easier.
Stage 2: Document in small chunks: Answer particular inquiries that are being asked frequently, not general descriptions of screens and menus.
Stage 3: Use a lot of pictures: Writing explanations takes quite a while and can be tough for readers to comprehend - so simply take the path of least difficulty and snap a screenshot of each step of a procedure.
Continue reading Jonathan DeVore (Customer Advocate at ScreenSteps) post here.
Salesforce Administrators are commonly viewed as the protector of CRM. Admins realize that in an ideal world, there will be Salesforce documentation, and that said documentation will always be current. And, in that ideal world, all users will be fittingly trained in the best effective way to carry out their responsibilities. Most Admins understand that an ideal world hardly exists, so they always centered around things that matter the most: management reporting; data integrity; users having proper data access; and giving users the tools needed to do their jobs. So what's absent from that short list? Documentation, preparation, and training. We tried to provide you the best articles revolving around why you should not overlook its significance.
References:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-stompor-ab3b27/
https://admin.salesforce.com/blog/2017/5-ways-improve-help-docs
https://admin.salesforce.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bpwaterson/
https://silverlinecrm.com/blog/navigator/8-resolutions-for-improving-your-salesforce-org/
https://silverlinecrm.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vfilmersankey/
https://www.commerceworks.net/blog/document-salesforce
https://www.commerceworks.net/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-devore-71686b4/
https://idealistconsulting.com/blog/3-steps-making-your-own-salesforce-help-documentation
https://idealistconsulting.com/
