5. Welcome Michelle Hansen!
● She/Her/Hers
● @mehansen82
● LinkedIn
● 9x Certified
● Lightning Champion
● Flow Enthusiast
● You may have seen her...
○ Midwest Dreamin’
○ Dreamforce
○ Florida Dreamin’
○ Automation Hour
6. Unpretzeling Your Org
● Documentation overview
● Why is Documentation Important?
● Documentation Types
● Considerations About Documentation
● Top tips/best practices
● Elements.cloud
7. Why is Documentation Important?
•Understand current org state
•Troubleshooting
•Basis for future development
•Doubles as training material
•Job “insecurity”
8. Documentation Types
● Org Customizations
○ Objects
○ Fields
○ Validation Rules
● Documentation for Users
○ Release Notes
○ User ‘How-To’s
● Process Diagrams
○ Business Processes
○ Automated Processes
⚠ Admin’s Handbook
9. Considerations for Documentation
Who Are Your Audiences? (You Will Never Have Just One)
•Input / Main Actor / Output
•User / Admins / Management
What Are Their Knowledge Levels?
•Beginner
•Intermediate
•Advanced
How Will It Be Consumed?
•Desktop
•Mobile
•Print
What Format Should You Use?
Documentation doesn’t only encompass Paper/PDF
10. How To Document Processes
Salesperson Updates the Opportunity Stage field
Process Calls a Flow, Updates Opportunity Field, Calls a Process
Flow Looks up Opportunity Products, Updates Opportunity Field
Opportunity Fields are Updated & used in Email Alert
Oppty Products Records & Fields are looped through by Flow
Products Used to create Opportunity Products
Email Alert Called by Process
Email Template Used by Email Alert
11. Top Tips / Best Practices
● Documentation Should Happen IN Salesforce
○ Description Fields
○ Formula Field Comments
○ Data Dictionary
● Start Where You’re At
○ Business-Essential Processes
○ Document as You Go
○ Automated Processes Crossing Multiple Objects
○ Processes with Many Inputs, Actors & Outputs
12. Additional Resources (Documentation Styles)
•Salesforce-Centric System Architecture Diagrams
•Video: Best Practices for Documenting Your Org
•Wiki: Best Practices for Documenting Your Org
•Document Your Salesforce Org
•How to Document Inside Your Salesforce Instance
•How to Document Your Salesforce Instance
13. Additional Resources (Templates)
•Salesforce Master Configuration Workbook (Excel)
•Sandbox to Production Template (Excel)
•Flow Chart Template (Excel)
•Release Notes Template (Word)
•How-To Documentation Example (PowerPoint)
14. What Tools Can I Use?
Elements.cloud
Strongpoint
Metazoa Snapshot
Spekit
Octopus
Formstack WebMerge
Field Footprint
Camtasia
SnagIt
ScreenFlow
VidYard
WebEx
Zoom
LucidChart
Draw.io
Confluence
Google Sites
Salesforce
Quip
Excel
15.
16. Cassie’s Tips on Team documentation
● If documentation doesn’t exist, you
can’t be mad if someone “does it
wrong”
● Outline what must happen annually
● If you do something -- document it
● It doesn’t have to be perfect
● Fill in the blanks
17. Cassie’s Tips on Team documentation
● Collection of resources
● What does it look like in YOUR org
● Lessons learned and gotchas
● Avoid wheel reinvention
● Start simple, then beautify!
19. More tools!
● Screencastify
○ Unlimited recordings of up to 5min
○ Turn videos into GIFS (for adding to Google Doc)
● ScreenToGIF
● Paint!
● Chrome Capture (new-to-me)
● Guidance from SFDO
● Miro Board
● Other suggestions? Drop them in the chat!
○ Screenpresso
21. PermComparator
Key Features
● Compare Salesforce.com Users, Profiles, and Permission Sets
○ Search for user, perm or profile
○ Compare common, unique and differing permissions
● No need to install anything
● Great for troubleshooting access (i.e. “why can’t I see this thing?!”)
● Free!
● Unfortunately….
○ It’s out of date
○ Doesn’t include all perms
22. The Permissioner
● Free from AppExchange!
● Headline: More for assigning &
revoking permissions
23. Profile and Permission Set Helper
Key Features
● Free from AppExchange!
● Quickly see profile and permissions of a user
● See which users, profiles & perm sets have a permission
● Converter feature
○ Create permission sets from standard or custom user profiles
● Unfortunately….
○ I haven’t found a way to compare permissions like with PermComparator
24. Octopus - Free App on the App Exchange
Key Features:
● It gets information on various items with a single click
● It provides the user the ability to choose the items to be documented
● It has a default “Select All” feature so that all items can be checked
● It enables Navigation to the detail page of an item by clicking on the
hyperlinked name
● The report can be downloaded
25. Sandboxes
Why Refresh?
● To mirror Production as closely as possible.
● Having accurate data is useful when developing because it allows you to
make sure changes won’t break in your production instance
● Refreshing also brings down metadata changes. Makes merging code
and configuration changes easier and less harrowing.
● A Salesforce upgrade is scheduled to be released.
● Major updates are being made to existing functionality.
26. Sandboxes
How?
● Build a plan with stakeholders - vendors, internal staff on timing of your
Sandbox refresh.
● Use a calendar to remind yourself and others of the cadence.
● Depending on how much development is going on, you may decide 1X
Month, 1X Quarter or twice a year.
● COMMUNICATE!
27. Consider an Integration User?
Why?
● More Secure
● Auditable way to move data into and out of your instance without relying on
an existing user’s license
● Makes managing integrations easier
● Saves time
● Improves data integrity
● Simplifies reporting
28. Related Resources
● What every Org needs — a meta data dictionary
● Salesforce Admins: Document Your Org in 3 Easy Steps
● Use Salesforce To Document Your Org Like A Pro
● Best Practices For Documenting Your Salesforce Org
● How to Document Your Salesforce Instance
● Un-Pretzeling An Org: A Guide To Documentation That Won't Leave You Feeling Salty (DF Session)
● Un-Pretzeling An Org: Part 1 (Blog)
● Secrets Your Boss Never Told You About Salesforce Documentation
● Permission Evaluator
● The Permissioner
● Octopus
29. Related Resources
● Plan Your Sandbox Refreshes
● Salesforce Sandbox Refreshes
● Salesforce Sandbox Refresh Best Practices
● The Value of Having a Dedicated Salesforce Integration User
● Why You Need a Dedicated Salesforce Integration User
● Knowledge Article: Create a Secure Salesforce API User
● Toolkit for Salesforce
Editor's Notes
Meeting Focus:
1. How to find out what is IN your org (i.e. you were just handed an org)
2. How to document your org (so you can hand it off)
Martin
Michelle ~15min
Cassie ~10 min
Cassie ~5min
Cassie ~5min
Cassie ~5min
Rob ~5min
The documentation of the Salesforce instance has always been a tiring job; it takes a lot of time, the time which could be used to do something productive and also the job being a time consuming one is very monotonous. No one likes the documentation job but it is the important part, it has to be done.
Imagine you are the admin of your Salesforce instance and your boss asks for the detail of the object or the trigger that are being used in the app. So now you have to prepare the documentation for the app or imagine some of the developers are reporting that there is a problem with the app and they are not able to see some of the data, so being the admin first you have to check the hierarchy setting of the app and see whether they are allowed to see the data or not, or you have to now change the hierarchy setting but for this single job just for checking the hierarchy of the app you have to go through all the coding of the app but instead of doing such a long and tedious task it can done by click of the single button.
Rob ~5min
Rob ~5min
Rob ~5min
Two schools of thought: API user or System Admin?
The status quo in many organizations is Salesforce integrations are given access via the Salesforce System Administrator’s own license. While it’s easy to understand why this is the status quo, something to consider is: not all 3rd party integrations are downloaded via the AppExchange and have gone through a rigorous security review.
When you set up your Dedicated Integration User you clone a “standard user” profile instead of using the System Admin’s profile. The Integration User is more secure as it will not have the access or permission.
Having a Dedicated Integration User will make managing integrations simpler and save you time. For example: freezing and deactivating users is a labor-intensive job for a Salesforce Admin in the absence of a Dedicated Integration User.
When an employee whose Salesforce license is being used for an integration leaves the company or changes their password, it can create unforeseen problems. A change in their password will break any integration attached to that license and it can take a while before someone realizes the integration is broken.
This means every time you wind down an employee who’s leaving the organization you have to check if there are any integrations attached to that user and migrate those integration(s) to another user’s license. This also applies to any integrations that are attached to your Salesforce Admin license. For example, every time you update your password you also have to update every integration attached to your license. This makes simple tasks like updating your Salesforce password much more complicated and inefficient.
The third benefit of having a Dedicated Integration User is improving data integrity and simplifying reporting.
Most times when creating reports you want to exclude automated systems to provide accurate results. As a Salesforce Admin, this is another area where you’ll see major time savings by investing in a Dedicated Integration User. For example, identifying how and why a record was created can be challenging and time intensive in the absence of having an Integration User.
With a Dedicated Integration User, it’s easy to filter out activities to identify what changes have been made by external systems. In doing this you can avoid hours of additional analysis to figure out how and why a record was created.
This can come in handy when looking at:
How many activities were created this week by actual team members (not by a marketing automation platform)?
What leads were created by a team member (and not created by a system)?
A Compelling Case
The upfront costs of an extra license and the work to set up a Dedicated Integration User can seem daunting to organizations and their Salesforce Admins. However, in the long run, it’ll make your life as a#AwesomeAdmin much easier and in turn, save you time and your organization money.
