Toyota Friend to Be Powered by Salesforce Chatter

Posted on May 23, 2011 by benprozinski| View Comments

Future conversations with your car — “The vehicle told me it only has 5% battery and to get charged” and “You know my tire is very low, here is the nearest service station here on the map.”

Toyota Friend

Toyota Friend was introduced by Marc Benioff at the Tokyo MegaWeb May 23, 2011. Notable key points:  ”We believe the car needs to become your friend. I want a relationship with the car in the same way we do on the social network. The car is going to become social. All products will become social. With Toyota Friend I can talk to my car, the dealer, and to the factory to get updates and have questions answered.”


#transparency #communication #collaboration
#private social network

 

To build this, Toyota made the decision to integrate and extend off of the Microsoft Azure Platform and onto the Salesforce Open Cloud Platform.

 

When the question was asked what influenced Toyota’s choice and relationship with Salesforce:

  1. Marc’s book “Behind The Cloud”
  2. Marc’s Hawaiian shirt
  3. The Salesforce ‘Open Cloud Platform’
  4. The demonstration of the Toyota Friend concept on the iPad five months ago

Press Release
http://www2.toyota.co.jp/en/news/11/05/0523.html

“Toyota and salesforce.com share a vision to take the auto industry into the future. Social and mobile technologies will transform the car ownership experience, and we are excited to be Toyota’s partner in this transformation.” — Marc Benioff

“Social networking services are transforming human interaction and modes of communication. The automobile needs to evolve in step with that transformation. I am always calling for Toyota to make ever-better cars. The alliance that we announce today is an important step forward in achieving that goal.” — TMC President Akio Toyoda

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Salesforce CRM-100 Administration for Nonprofits

Posted on April 13, 2011 by benprozinski| View Comments

Often users new to Salesforce ask me where they can get training. There are a lot of training resources for the standard Salesforce editions (Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited). And as a nonprofit user, you can take the ADM-201 Administration and ADM-301 Advanced Administration at 50% off (where space available).  However, these courses don’t cover the nonprofit edition (#NPSP) enhancements or any real-world nonprofit user scenarios.

The salesforce CRM-100 Administration for Nonprofits course covers  the salesforce.com Nonprofit Edition (#NPSP) training and goes through several hand-on exercises.  See the article “Finally, Salesforce Training Designed For Nonprofits!”

The course was developed in partnership with the Salesforce Foundation and Etherios specifically for nonprofit Salesforce users. Delivered over the internet via a live instructor, the three half-day sessions include:

Day 1:

  • Module 1: Introduction, Company Profile, Navigation, & Nonprofit Starter Pack Basics (1 hour)
    Company Profile, User Interface Options, Discuss & Illustrate the Differences Between Salesforce CRM and Salesforce CRM w/ Nonprofit Starter Pack (#NPSP)
  • Module 2: Customization (2.5 hours)
    Custom Fields, Custom Objects & Apps, Custom Profiles, Page Layouts, Record Types, Field Level Security
  • Module 3: Security & Access (1.5 hours)
    Record Ownership, Organization Wide Defaults, Role Hierarchy, Sharing Rules, Add a New Hire

Day 2:

  • Module 4: Workflow, Workflow Approval Processes, & Data Validation Rules (1.5 hours)
    Define Workflow, Explain the Differences Between the Workflow Actions
  • Module 5: Data Utilities (1 hour)
    Import Wizard, Data Loader
  • Module 6: Donation & Outreach Management (2 hours)
    Donation/Outreach ManagementBuild a Campaign, Add Lead/Cotnacts, Assignment Rules, Web-to-Lead Form, Campaign Reports
  • Module 7: Support Administration (45 mins)
    Assignment Rules, Esacalation Rules, Life of a Case, Self-Service Portal, Console, Workflow, Workflow Approval Processes, Data Validation, Workflow Actions, Jump Start Wizard vs Standard Wizard, Create & Test Data Validation Rules

Day 3:

  • Module 8: Reporting Basics (1.5 hours)
    Standard Reports, Custom Reports, Custom Report Types, Dashboards
  • Module 9: Common Nonprofit Issues (3 hours)
    Membership, Program Management, Donation Process, Volunteering, Email Templates
  • Module 10: Available Resources & Certification Exam Discussion (30 mins)

The CRM-100 class is typically offered once a month. If you’re interested you can find additional information and signup here  http://www.etherios.com/training

CRM100 Administration for Nonprofits

CRM100 Administration for Nonprofits

(Note: blog author is an employee of Etherios and also is one of the course instructors. Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions.)

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Salesforce.com Summer ’11 Pre-Release

Posted on April 9, 2011 by benprozinski| View Comments

While we’re still fresh with the new features from Spring ’11 , Salesforce is already preparing for its next release – the Summer ’11. With it there are some new features and enhancements to highlight:  Jigsaw is now generally available and the Enhanced Profile User Interface. Note this content is forward-looking and should be regarded as such under the Salesforce Safe Harbor statement.

Integrated Jigsaw

Jigsaw is now a standard tab with integrated functionality to search for accounts, contacts, and leads and add accounts to Salesforce. The upgrade paid version of Jigsaw allows you to view full contacts details and add contacts and leads to Salesforce.

Jigsaw

Search contacts on Jigsaw and add to Salesforce

Enhanced Profile User Interface

The Enhanced Profile User Interface is now generally available with Summer ’11. Note this was available as part of a pilot back in the Summer ’10 release.

To get started first enable the Enhanced Profile User Interface. Click Your Name | Setup | App Setup | Customize | User Interface Settings and check the checkbox Enhanced Profile User Interface. Here are some of the benefits:

Salesforce.com Enhanced Profile User Interface

Enhanced Profile User Interface

  1. Easily Find Permissions and Settings in the Find Settings box
  2. Edit Profile Properties to change a profile’s name or description
  3. Click Assigned Users to see a list of users who belong to the profile
  4. Browse App Permissions and Settings which are grouped on individual pages
  5. Browse System Permissions and Settings which are grouped and linked the same way
    Enhanced Profile User Interface - Edit Profile

    Edit Profile in the Enhanced Profile User Interface

While on the new Enhanced Profile User Interface you can:

  1. Easily Navigate Between Pages
  2. Drill Down to Object and Tab Pages
  3. View Object and Tab Summary Information at a Glance

Similar to the updated Report Builder and Dashboard Builder the new Enhanced Profile User Interface provides a more intuitive user experience but may take getting used to.

Unfortunately,  it doesn’t add any new functionality such as the ability to make a field level CRED changes across multiple user profiles (for example, change Field Permission such as Read/Edit on Account Number). Do checkout the blog post Top 10 Profile Best Practices [Profile Best Practices].

By now you may have also noticed a new feature which allows you to do a Quick Find, Expand All and Collapse on the setup declarative user interface. This is very similar to the Setup Enhancer for Salesforce browser plugins but now available for all Salesforce supported browsers.

Salesforce Setup Quick Find

Setup Quick Find, Expand All, Collapse All

Salesforce Summer ’11 Pre-Release User Guide and Release Notes
https://prerelna1.pre.salesforce.com/help/doc/en/sf.pdf [26.2 MB]
https://prerelna1.pre.salesforce.com/help/doc/en/salesforce_summer11_release_notes.pdf

Other Summer ’11 enhancements to highlight:

  • Chatter - Favorites, Search, File, Feeds, and Groups enhancements; Chatter connect REST API
  • Sales Cloud – Cloud Scheduler, Activity Reminder, and Content enhancements. Notably Content Workspaces are now called Libraries
  • Service Cloud
    • Cases: Attach translated Articles to Cases; Case Milestone page layouts
    • Knowledge: Object permissions (CREDs) on Knowledge Article Types; Article Types workflow rules and approval process
    • Service Cloud Console: Custom sidebar Components using Visualforce ; Turning off the Highlights Panels and Interaction Logs; enhanced Service Cloud Console Integration Toolkit
  • Analytics – Report Builder enhancements
  • Jigsaw - Now Generally Available (GA)
  • Force.com – Enhanced Profile User Interface, and Security enhancements

To learn more and experience the Salesforce Summer ’11 today, signup for the pre-release https://www.salesforce.com/form/signup/prerelease-summer11.jsp

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Passing the Salesforce.com Certified Service Cloud Consultant Exam

Posted on April 1, 2011 by benprozinski| View Comments

Recently, Salesforce.com Certification launched its newest line of consulting credentials – the Salesforce.com Certified Service Cloud Consultant. This is especially important as Salesforce continues to expand into the Contact Center / Call Center service industry. In passing the certification exam, I found the following helpful:

  • To get started, watch the Service Cloud 2 demo youtube video
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpVRaDdtO8U 

  • If you have access to the Partner Portal, login and go through the Service Cloud 2 Sales Kit. This is a great starting point with lots of additional resources, powerpoints and youtube videos. In the Partner Portal go to Sales Resources | Products | Service Cloud Sales Kit
    https://na1.salesforce.com/apex/PP2PartnerPage?p=PP_ServiceCloudSalesKit
    Pay attention to all the adoptions strategies, metrics and reports as there are several questions on the exam about this. Note: if you don’t have a login to the Partner Portal, then sign up for one
    http://www.salesforce.com/partners and ‘Join Now’.
  • Download and Subscribe to the “Service Cloud Enablement Resources” content pack in the Partner Portal. This includes a lot of the current content on Service Cloud 2. Also has the full powerpoint slides. Also in the Partner Portal, review the doc “I Speak Contact Center (Glossary).pdf”. Pay attention here as there are several terms used in the exam. Great stuff.
  • To get access to a Service Cloud 2 demo org, create a test org from the Partner Portal. Then create a Case in the Partner Portal and request for the “Service Cloud User” and “Force.com Flow User” feature licenses. Alternatively, create a Developer org and ask the Account Executive (AE) to add the feature licenses. If you don’t know who your AE is, create a Case.
  • Salesforce.com Certified Service Cloud Consultant | Study Guide
    http://www.salesforce.com/assets/pdf/misc/SG_ServiceCloudConsultant.pdf
  • IMPORTANT: Go through the Service Cloud Implementation and Cheat Sheets as listed here under For Support Professionals and Support Administration https://na1.salesforce.com/help/doc/en/quicktour_tips.htm Pay attention here as most all the questions will come from these implementation guides and cheat sheets.
  • You might also find helpful to breeze through the Salesforce.com Service Cloud For Dummies. While basic, it does a good job pulling everything together and provides some sample use cases.
  • Check out Jeff Douglas’s prep http://blog.jeffdouglas.com/2011/01/26/how-to-pass-the-service-cloud-consultant-exam/
    Most notably you must be familiar with the differences between the portals: self-service portal (SSP), Customer Portal (CP) and the Partner Portal (PP) –make note of the differences in the learning material. As mentioned, know the difference on Setting Up Email-to-Case or On-Demand Email-to-Case. There was an exam question on this.
    https://help.salesforce.com/apex/HTPrint?id=customizesupport_email.htm&language=en&doctype=helpdoc
  • If this isn’t enough for you, then definitely checkout the Salesforce Premier Training. Go to https://login.salesforce.com/?lt=lms and login with your company (or devleoper) login. And look for Release (Summer ’10, Winter ’11, Spring ’11) training sessions. Focus on the Service Cloud modules.
  • Lastly, while I can’t post questions from the exam, here are concepts and keywords in no particular order to study up on: the new salesforce chat client vs Chatter, Article data categories vs Article types, loading Articles via CSV, talk time vs wrap up time, IVR, Knowledge article profile permissions and visibility (roles, data categories), CTI, creating Articles, service console interaction log vs highlights panel,  shift trading, dashboard and running user, report sources (record name, record owner, feed post), force.com flow, division, custom indexes, record types, quality monitoring system, business continuity, ITIL, customer satisfaction (CSAT), case page layout vs closed case page layout, SLA, field service, order management, milestone, deployment and change sets, Knowledge sidebar, knowledge multi-language, entitlements, Ideas, Answers, case teams, and the new softphone located on footer vs left sidebar…

By now you should be an expert and confident going into the exam. Good luck!!!

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