Being a Salesforce Admin is a tough gig. In addition to being an analyst and support specialist, most admins also have to fulfill the roles of project manager, developer and occasionally – solutions architect. The role requires an Admin to react to the support needs of the organization, ensure a steady-state of operations, and incrementally enhance the organization’s use of technology.

Just as the job duties are diverse, so are the tools required. In this post, we will provide seven tools and concepts we believe every Salesforce Admin should have in their toolkit. By no means is this an exhaustive list. Our goal is to share solutions to common gaps we see across the sector.

1. Where to get help

There is a wide community of resources available through Salesforce, the majority of which are free and included with your Salesforce license. Four major resources that have the potential to add value to your organization are training through Salesforce Trailhead, community on the Power of Us Hub, help from Salesforce Support, and networking with regional Nonprofit User Groups.

You are often able to find a solution to a particular issue or request across one of the four platforms. For more complex solutions, these channels can help you identify when you will require external resources to meet your organization’s needs. A Registered Salesforce Partner is a logical next step when you require the depth of knowledge of a certified Salesforce professional to assist with the development, implementation or support of your system.

2. Data Quality

Data quality refers to the level of depth and utility of data within your system. Ensuring data quality represents a relentless effort to monitor, assess and improve information within the system. Only through constant attention can you safeguard data.

A simple way to start assessing data quality is to install dashboards for monitoring. We are partial to the Data Quality Dashboard App available on the Salesforce AppExchange from Salesforce Labs. It provides a real-time view of account, contact and opportunity data. It also allows you to quickly drill into where (or with whom!) quality issues exist. And, it provides a starting point to clean-up efforts.

Completing the following steps will install a common dashboard and provide a starting point for data quality efforts:

• Install Data Quality Dashboard App
• Run Data Quality Dashboard

• Review account, contact, and opportunity data quality

• Create at least one monthly business process and five validation rules to improve quality (e.g. monthly review of dashboards, add data quality as monthly staff topic, require a phone number or email on all contact records)

Additional resources to assist with data quality can be found on the Data Quality Trailhead and our white paper: MDM for Nonprofits.

3. Data Integrity

A common challenge of data integrity is incorrect or incomplete usage of fields and objects. One team of users may use a different field than another, though the fields essentially fulfill the same purpose. Or, reports may aggregate off a critical field that is only occasionally populated – thereby negating the results in the report. But, seeing usage stats or identifying gaps can be especially challenging for even the smallest of databases.

A common tool to gather such information is Field Trip. This tool provides an accessible view of which fields or objects are, or are not, being used. From this analysis, you can identify fields that should be required, that should be removed from page layouts (e.g. not ever being used – so cluttering the user interface) and those that should be consolidated.

To begin using Field Trip:

• Install Field Trip App
• Create a trip for accounts, contacts and opportunities
• Review field usage and ask:
  • Are critical data points being captured?
  • Are any points redundant or inconsistent?
  • Are any points unused or causing clutter on the page?

4. Release Management

Release management is the effort to preview, test and manage new versions of technology. Salesforce “pushes” three releases a year, meaning you cannot opt out. It falls to the organization to ensure that their peripheral applications and customizations comply with the requirements of each release. A release management plan, must be informed and proactive. In order to be prepared users must:

• Download and review release notes
• Create baseline test-script such as creating and editing accounts and contacts, and processing multiple gift types
• Install the release into Sandbox
• Run through scripts
• Adjust documentation
• Communicate changes to all users in the org

Additional materials on releases can be found on Trailhead’s Testing New Releases in a Sandbox.

5. Environment Management

Environment management refers to the process for carefully managing change in your instance and protecting your live production environment. The following key terms are necessary to understanding environment management on Salesforce:

• Production Environment (PROD). This is the live environment, therefore any problems that might occur here will be noticed by staff or clients and must be immediately addressed. Effective environment management is key to protecting the production environment by ensuring any changes have been fully tested before they arrive here.
• Sandbox Environment. A Sandbox is any environment created – or “spun-off” – from the production environment. You use Sandboxes for new development, testing, or staging to ensure work is ready to be deployed to the live – production – environment. Sandboxes come in different types, including full, partial and developer. Each type of Sandbox comes with different considerations of data storage and cost.
• Change Control. As a concept, change control refers to the rules you must follow when moving changes from development to production. Your change control plan should define what testing occurs, how Sandboxes are kept current, and who can move changes through the environment.

For additional information see Intro to Architecture + Environment Management.

6. Getting Value from AppExchange

AppExchange is the Salesforce storefront of apps, partners, and other solutions. Due to its sheer volume, the AppExchange can be initially overwhelming, and should be approached methodically. Here are some tips for successfully navigating AppExchange:

• 18 Month Rule. If the application has not been updated in 18 months, it is likely not maintained well. The age of the application is not important, but how often a new release occurs is critical information. Avoid apps that have not been updated in the past year and a half.
• Know the Publisher. Do a bit of extra research on the publisher of the app. Confirm that they are still in business, that it is not their only app, and that they have positive reviews.
• Free does not always mean good. Free apps should be considered when you are looking for solutions on the AppExchange. However, remember that you will often get what you pay for. Again, do some research to identify how much of an investment is worth it for any particular application.
• Check the Power of Us Hub. This is a perfect time to use the Hub as a resource. The Power of Us Hub is very active, and applications are often topics of discussion. Do a quick search to learn from the users that have already gone through the process.

The following are some of Craftsman’s top staff picks on AppExchange:

• NINTEX DocGen
• FormAssembly
• Duplicate Check
• Field Trip
• Data Quality Dashboard
• DocuSign
• Clear MDM (Enterprise)

7. Integrating Email

One of the most valuable business applications that can be integrated with Salesforce is email. Gmail and Outlook can be integrated and should be considered. This will provide a level of automation that replaces the more manual process of re-typing notes or copying/pasting email conversations. By integrating the system where you most often communicate, your organization can avoid issues of partial adoption and human error. For more information read our post on Email Integration with Salesforce.

Summary + Conclusion

Being a great Salesforce Admin means knowing at least a little bit about a lot of things. As the front-line of support for your end-users you need to know where to quickly find answers. As the keeper of the CRM you have a responsibility to protect and maintain the organization’s data as well as ensure the integrity of its environment. And as the person responsible for improving your organization’s use of the system you do things like identifying outside apps that will drive innovation and integrating business applications. In this post, we hope we provided some helpful tools and tricks that will benefit every admin in their efforts to be great at their work.