A client of ours got frustrated with having to click on Send an Email, then Select a Template, and finally Select the right Contact(s) before hitting Send on a very common type of email. The email was still sent on a discretionary basis by staff so we couldn’t automate it with a workflow rule. The client asked for a special button to be put on the page that could open up the correct email template and automatically select the correct contacts. After some searching on the Salesforce.Com Developer Forums, I found this little gem of JavaScript code. 

I adapted the code to the following:

location.replace(’/_ui/core/email/author/EmailAuthor?
retURL=/{!Opportunity.Id}
&p3_lkid={!Opportunity.Id}
&p2_lkid={!Opportunity.Registrant_Salesforce_ID__c}
&p2={!Opportunity.Registrant_Full_Name__c}
&p24={!Opportunity.Billing_Contact_Email__c}
&template_id=00XX99234365′);

NOTE: Remove the linebreaks if you cut and paste this code.

I put the above code into a Custom Button on the Opportunity Object. The Button behavior should be set to Execute Javascript and the Content Source should be set to OnClick JavaScript. 

In the above JavaScript code, the following variables are represented:

• retURL = URL that the user is returned to if they click Cancel on the message
• p3_lkid = The ID of the record that this email should be associated with (the WhatID)
• p2_lkid = The ID of the person that this email should be associated with (the WhoID)
• p2 = The name of the person that this email should be associated with
• p24 = The email address of anyone you want as additional TO’s on the message
• templateID = The Salesforce ID of the email template that you wish to use

Many Nonprofit System Administrator level users are wondering if they should get Salesforce Certified. This is actually a tricky questions because the Certification definitely carries value to the individual holding it, however, it can also prove to be of great value to the organization in validating the skill levels of their administrator(s).

Before you jump into certification, study the options available and find out what is right for you and for your organization? Also, consider the following. Since you are working in the nonprofit space, a fair amount of the questions may have little to no applicability to you. For example, questions on territories, assets, products, and super complex security issues are likely not the norm for a nonprofit implementation. Given the domain we operate in, most of you might need to review the study material to get familiar with the sections that we really don’t use on a day to day basis. Salesforce has done a really good job of putting up Study Guides, Sample Questions, and Reference Materials to help you prepare for the Certification Exams.

Salesforce is currently offering 5 levels of certification. I have included them in the image below:

In the above chart, I have rated the difficulty level of the exams based on a cursory review of the study guide and review of all sample questions. The above chart assumes that you are a System Administrator and not a consultant. If you are a consultant, you may actually find all of the above exams to be easy, save for the “Force.Com Advanced Developer” which requires some deep knowledge of Apex and VisualForce. (Disclaimer: I haven’t taken the full exams yet, but plan to take at least two of them in 2009).

Good luck on your certification efforts and feel free to post any resources you find useful in your prep!

One of the great promises of using CRM for nonprofit program management is the ability to manage by metrics. In theory, if we could track all efforts and all outcomes in a system, then we could uncover those predictive indicators that lead to desired outcomes. We could then make adjustments to the program operations itself to reach those desired outcomes. To a great extent, this is possible, however, it is much more complex than it sounds. One of the root causes of the complexity is the fact that we often are not looking at all of the variables and are only looking at a subset. Making decisions on a subset of variables can sometimes lead to incorrect conclusions. Since I have seen this logic trail unfold a few times, I thought I would share an abstracted example of such a situation.

Take for example, Acme Org, a human services organization that has implemented a robust CRM solution that tracks almost all aspects of it’s program operations. Below is one of the critical reports reviewed by the Executive Team each month:

The organization is considering the use of these metrics for determining promotions, salary adjustments, and bonuses. After initial review, the Executive team expressed concern about Jon’s performance to Jon’s manager. Jon’s manager on the other hand knew that Jon’s metrics were low because he was always thrown on to the toughest cases. Being on the toughest cases each month meant that Jon would have to spend more time with each client and would be responsible for defining new engagement processes for working through complex cases. Unlike the other client service reps Jon spent a lot of time researching and speaking to industry experts to identify best practices that could be used by Acme to help future clients. In short, Jon was expanding the organizational knowledgebase, capacity, and quality of service delivery. Unfortunately, none of this was being recognized in the monthly report. Jon’s manager decided to add a new metric into the monthly report that would help recognize Jon’s efforts. The revised report is below:

The revised report gave the Executive Team more insight into Jon’s efforts and the demands placed on the Client Services staff.

The point of the example is to proceed with caution when using Metrics for Management level decisions. They can be a very powerful tool when well directed; however, there is usually a story behind every piece of data and it is critical that the entire story is understood before program level decisions are made.

If you haven’t already done so, make sure you get deep into Cross Object Formulas. They have fundamentally changed how we think and work with Salesforce.Com configurations. A Cross Object Formula is a Formula field that can traverse object relationships and pull down data into an object.

Take the following example. Let’s say you are using the Opportunities object to track Inbound Grants. Let’s say that you have a Payments object that has a Master/Detail relationship with Opportunities (Payments is the Detail).

You can setup the following Cross Object Formulas in the Payment object to reference elements from the Opportunity and Account.

Payment Made By (Account) = Opportunities__r.Account.Name
Payment For (Opp) = Opportunities__r.Name

The beauty of the Cross Object formulas is that it lifts many of the constraints we previously faced with Salesforce. We can now:
- Create more complex reports including more objects than we could in the past
- Avoid writing Apex for something as silly as replicating a parent or lookup field
- Ease data entry and report building for the end user by making data more accessible

There are some limitations to be aware of:
- Limit of 5 cross object relationships per object
- You can reference up (from detail to master) or sideways (lookup), however, for references from parent to child, you still need to use Summary Roll Ups.

If you haven’t already used these, you should definitely check them out as they can solve many common problems you may have faced in the past.

If you have any interesting use cases for cross object formulas, please post them in the comments.

We have been engaging in a lot of interesting debates in the NPower office about what makes a CRM solution sustainable for an organization. After a typical CRM deployment project, we do our best to leave the nonprofit with enough knowledge and tools to keep them sustainable. Here is a list of a few of the things we do:

Documentation - We initially started with word docs, however, we are more recently moving towards the use of Help Tips, Recorded Screen Casts, and a Help Tab. The idea behind documentation is that it should be complex enough to educate someone on how to use the CRM; however, not so complex that the documentation cannot be maintained.

Training - This is perhaps the most important element for us. We typically provide our clients with two levels of training. We do an end user training session that lasts between 1 and 3 hours depending on the complexity of the client implementation. We also do an administrator training for the Sys Admin level users at a client site. We also encourage the Sys Admin level users at the client site to attend a formal Salesforce training class.

Community - For clients that are in cities where CRM user groups are held, we encourage them to join and attend. This allows them to learn from their peers and get new insights into what is possible with CRM. We also encourage Sys Admin level users to join the NPSF so they can learn through the engaging technical conversations of the online community.

One of the areas that continues to be a challenge for us is Custom Code. Salesforce (and other CRM tools) provide a variety of means to extend the base platform with Custom Code. In the case of Salesforce this would be Apex, VisualForce, S-Control, and API Code. We are always weary of dropping custom code into an organization that has no means of managing or modifying the code. We do our best to avoid code by using as much standard functionality as possible. When it comes to deploying custom code into an organization that is not able to support it, we work through a simple cost/benefit tradeoff. Is this Code performing a high value business function? Is there a high probability the Code will need to be changed within the next 3 years? If the code needs to be changed, can the organization afford the change? If there is HIGH value for the code, LOW probability of the code needing to be changed, and the organization will likely find the funds for a change, then this alleviates our concerns. Custom Code is not to be feared in a NPO CRM implementation; however, a plan needs to be in place to support it over its lifecycle.

I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the Enterprise 2.0 Conference this week and was able to meet with many organizations dealing with adopting these kinds of “2.0″ tools. I saw 2 common themes emerge:

• Almost every organization is struggling with adopting and effectively using these tools.
• Lots of these projects started in somebody’s basement (both metaphorical and literal) and grew exponentially as more people with the organization started to adopt the tools

One of the most interesting presentations was from the CIA’s “Intellipedia” team. Essentially they used the Wikipedia platform within the internal intelligence community to start sharing information better within and across the multiple government intelligence agencies.

Link: http://community.e2conf.com/community/sessions/tuesday/gs03?view=all

Take a look at these terrific points from the OSS Field Sabotage manual (sound like your organization?): http://www.boingboing.net/2008/06/11/sabotage-manual-from.html

As we all know, Visualforce is going to be released this weekend with the full Summer 08 release.  Are you ready and up to speed?  If you have a Salesforce Developer Account (which you should because they are free!), take a look at http://wiki.apexdevnet.com/index.php/Force.com_Tutorial:_An_Introduction_to_Visualforce

Also, there is a free webinar next week which you can register for here:

http://wiki.apexdevnet.com/events/visualforcewebinar/registration.php?d=70130000000E15w

Start kicking the Visualforce tires and post comments about your experiences here!

A colleague of mine (Lisa Glass) recently began using encrypted fields in Salesforce. It turns out they are fairly simple to use. Encrypted fields need to be requested through the “Feature Activations Team” at Salesforce. You can just open a Support Ticket and put in a request for this. As per the documentation, this feature is available to all Enterprise and Unlimited edition accounts, which means all NPO’s should be able to access this.

How it works:

• It creates a new field type in your instance called “Text (Encrypted)”. This is fairly similar to a regular text field, except that the data is encrypted.
• In order to see data within an encrypted field, the user’s profile must have the “View Encrypted Data” option checked off
• Any user that does not have this permission in their profile will see a value such as “***-**-****” when they view the encrypted field. (Note: You can specify whether you want the Mask to be either a “X” or a “*”. You can also leave a portion of a field unencrypted, such as the last 4 digits of an SSN.

Limitations:

• Max length of 175 characters. (You can’t really use this to encrypt case notes.)
• Field value can not be Unique, External ID, or have a Default Value
• Can not search, filter, roll-up, query, or use the field value in a Formula
• Can not use in workflows and assignments

Overall, this is a very powerful feature and you should consider leveraging it in your instance if your are storing any sensitive data such as Social Security Number, Credit Card Number, Medical Info, etc.

There is a lot more information on best practices and usage examples within Salesforce Help.