Louise Lockie were our speaker at Prague User Group and she gave us a great presentation about the In-App Guidance feature. Powerful thing which I didn’t use yet as I always had a feeling it needs a lot of work to properly run, but with her great examples I found out there are simple usecases which you can set right away and make users more happy.
Before we started we had a chat about her career, which you can listen to as well.
two types – prompt (single screen) and walkthrough (you can have up to 3 of them for free);
don’t overuse, people might start to hate it;
notify about new features, event they can/need to signup;
you can choose where the message should appear and in what format (9 areas on the screen, docked in bottom right corner or linked to specific element on the screen);
500 prompts limit;
they are off by default in sandbox and need to be enabled;
Jsou to dva roky, co Jan Melvil vydal tuhle knihu a mám pocit, že jsem o ní v té době slyšel ze všech koutů jenom samou chválu, ale pořád si říkal, že ji číst nepotřebuji.
A pak letos nějak došla zásoba knížek, tahle se mi objevila před očima a já se do ní pustil. Po prvních pár stránkách s ohromnou radostí, protože se dobře čte a skvěle se mnou rezonuje. Akcie Netflixu sice v průběhu čtení padaly jako kámen, ale pochybuji, že je v tom nějaká souvislost.
Výkřiky, které zaujaly
co na srdci , to na jazyku (s dobrým úmyslem) aneb neobcházejte lidi;
neměl bych něco říct? Ten pocit mám dost často, stejně tak často raději zůstanu zticha. V Netflixu bych se prý měl ozvat a Filip Dřímalka k tomu dodává BUF – brutálně upřímný feedback. Dopředu sorry, pokud ho od nynějška dostanete;
na školení feedbacku nám říkali pravidlo 3:1 – tři díly chvály, jeden díl (konstruktivní) kritiky. Což je víc než hamburg, který jsem znal do té doby. Ale kniha se mnou rezonuje víc, tři čtvrtiny lidí to mají stejně jako já, po ramenou se klidně poplácají sami a raději chtějí slyšet, co by měli zlepšit;
čím jste výš tím méně zpětné vazby dostáváte, musíte lidem ukázat, že ji od nich opravdu očekáváte a opravdu ji přijmout;
Den, kdy budeš se zpětnou vazbou otálet ze strachu, že tě lidé nebudou mít rádi, bude dnem, kdy budeš muset v Netflixu skončit. Najali jsme tě kvůli tvým názorům.
4A – Aim to Assist, Actionable, Appreciate, Accept or Discard – dávat a přijímat zpětnou vazbu není legrace;
lídr musí jít příkladem, brát si spoustu dovolené a hodně o tom mluvit. Jinak to nefunguje. Neomezenou dovolenou v práci nemáme, ale uvědomil jsem si to na něčem jiném. Mám pocit, že náš partner sedí v práci každý den od rána do večera, byl tam celý Covid, maká a maká. Jenže pak jsem si ho přidal na Stravě a zjistil, že asi 3x denně sportuje, o víkendu pravidelně chodí po horách a že moje občasné popoběhnutí se mu nemůže rovnat. Na dovolenou asi víc jezdit nezačnu, ale s hýbáním mě to asi trochu motivovalo;
zaveďte a podporujete vedení zaměstnanců pomocí kontextu – pokud vědí, kam a proč se jde, mohou se sami rozhodnout a učinit lepší rozhodnutí;
utrácejte peníze firmy, jako by to byly vaše vlastní – 100 % souhlas, každý Dreamforce jsem se tak choval a proto mi ve finále bylo jedno, zda to budu platit sám nebo mi to zaplatí firma. Vždycky to zaplatili. Jenže v Netflixu to ještě poladili a říkají – Jednejte vždy v nejlepším zájmu firmy;
nabízejte platy rockových hvězd a nabírejte ty nejlepší z nejlepších. Nejen proto, že A hráči chtějí pracovat s A hráči, ale i proto, že skvělý programátor má cenu třeba sto průměrných. Bill Gates prý dokonce tvrdí, že 10 000 průměrných. U soustružníků ten rozdíl tak dramatický prý není. I proto Netflix na provozních pozicích platí průměr běžných mezd, na kreativních chce ale platit vždy nejvíc na trhu;
prémie flexibilitě nesvědčí – tohle mě překvapilo, na prémie jsem celý život hodně slyšel, díky tomu, že byly přímo navázané na výkon tak jsem rád viděl, jak jsem pro firmu užitečný. Jenže pozor na to, abyste je navázali na ta správná čísla a lidé pak nehonili jenom je;
uspokojivý výkon je odměněn velkorysým odstupným – tuším, že Tomáš Hajzler to našel v Zapposu, kde lidem dají velkorysé odstupné, pokud skončí ve zkušební lhůtě. Tady to mají stejně, než vymýšlet jak člověk vyhodit nebo se s ním týdny a měsíce trápit, tak mu dají hodně peněz a ať jde;
třistašedesátka naživo, v klidu, u večeře, vyříkat si věci. Wow, tohle je silný, povede se mi to někdy zorganizovat nebo jenom absolvovat?
pyramidová struktura nebo stromová? Rozhodujete nahoře a rozhodnutí propadávají dolu nebo stavíte základy a ostatní je rozvíjí? Vlastně mi to dost připomíná způsob, kterým se prý v Salesforce tvoří V2MOM;
kulturní mapa – ten obrázek porovnání národů z pohledu optimismu/pesimismu na stejnou věc jste asi viděli, Netflix si udělal mapu ohledně stylu komunikace, vedení, hodnocení, rozhodování a dalších věcí a to jim dost objasnilo, proč jim některé věci napříč regiony drhnou. Tuším bychom to taky potřebovali společně někdy udělat.
O vítězstvích šeptejte a chyby vykřičte do světa.
Tohle silně rezonuje. Článek a přednáška o tom, jak jsem neudělal CTA je toho asi krásným příkladem, o kolika jiných lidech, kteří ho neudělali víte? Je jich totiž opravdu hodně.
Proč pro vás ten člověk pracuje?
Zákeřná otázka – člověk za vámi přijde, že se chce pustit do něčeho jiného, než co jste jí zadali. A ještě ke všemu si myslíte, že to nevyjde.
Jenže, proč jí platíte tolik, když jí nevěříte? Je špičková? Má dobrý úsudek? Může být přínosem? Je dost dobrá?
Pokud ano, ať rozhodne sama, ale pokud ne, tak jí vlastně máte dát sbohem, protože proč si ji nechávat?
Je to tak logické. A současně tak překvapivě jiné proti tomu, co asi většinou zažíváte.
Ve spojení se sázkami, kdy si máte představit, že vaše pracovní hodiny jsou žetony, které vsázíte na úspěch firmy a je otázkou, zda je vsadíte správně. Geniální.
Od rodiny k týmu
Také vidíte všechny ty firmy s rodinnou atmosférou a máte pocit, že to je ten cíl?
Jenže Reed říká, že nechtěl, aby lidé brali svou práci jako jistotu na celý život, měla by to být činnost, kterou děláte jenom po dobu, co jste nejlepší v pozici, kterou zastáváte a pak se máte posunout. Jenže tak by rodina asi fungovat neměla a proto tým – protože pořád jste si blízcí, ale víte, kdy je čas se posunout a není z toho žádné mrzení.
Kultura není něco, co vytvoříte a následně si toho přestanete všímat. Abyste vytvořili tým, který bude inovativní, rychlý a flexibilní, popusťte trochu uzdu. Vítejte neustálé změny. Řiďte svou organizaci na pokraji chaosu. Nerozdávejte partitury a nevytvářejte symfonický orchestr. Pracujte na vytvoření podmínek pro jazz a přijímejte zaměstnance, kteří touží hrát v improvizační kapele. Když se to všechno povede, bude z toho překrásná hudba.
Byla to opravdu skvělá kniha. Rezonovala, ukazovala pohledy o kterých jsem netušil, donutila přemýšlet. Pokud chcete firmu uvolnit a umožnit lidem rozvinout jejich plný potenciál, můžete se hodně inspirovat.
I was lucky enough to get this book about Salesforce CPQ implementation before its official release day. If you want to skip all those TLDR – if you are about to implement CPQ or just want to learn something new, this book is definitely worth it. And one particular thing I liked – it also, briefly, covers the Industries CPQ, which is in fact completely different product and that can surprise you (there is a trial you can use).
This book is intended for Salesforce professionals who have standard Salesforce platform knowledge and readers who are interested in learning about CPQ. This book helps administrators, business analysts, functional consultants, sales managers, and Salesforce architects understand CPQ configurations and customizations. This book also provides the foundational knowledge needed for any CPQ implementation project. Most of the CPQ concepts are explained using simple use cases.
The first thing I probably speak about with every single customer who got a quotation for CPQ is – will we really be able to use it? Is it worth to double our spend with Salesforce? And quite often we aren’t really sure it is worth it because they have just a few products, simple pricing, no discount structure, nothing. But Madhu calls the usecase quite clearly and I 100 % agree:
When there is a need for product bundling, validations, automatic pricing, and discount calculations, standard Salesforce requires heavy customizations that are hard to maintain
She describes all the part of CPQ, pricing rules, product rules, field sets, twin fields, custom buttons, approvals, bundles, product options. You name it or find in the certification exam or in the app and it is here, described, screenshots included for your reference, easy to understand.
I didn’t even know that there is a connector package which can be installed for Service Cloud and will extend the functionality by using Service Contracts instead of the normal Contract object and that it supports Entitlements. I learnt something new!
Implementing CPQ is like building a home. You first need to lay the foundation for it. Understanding the data model is like building this foundation. Then, you can build relationships using CPQ with the products, bundles, options, features, price rules, product rules, approvals, quote templates, and so on that we have learned about so far in the previous chapters. For your convenience, you can configure some of the aforementioned stages in parallel too, but you need to be aware of the interdependencies in the implementation. In this chapter, you will learn about the CPQ data model and the interdependencies
It covers the implementation strategy as well, with things like „Design for the rule not for the exception“, which clients love to hear but hate to follow, Iterative Design, MVP, Engage users early and often or go for Low-hanging fruits. All true, all worth to follow, some hard to explain to customers.
And also things which still scare me as I hoped we already have a systematic solution for that and don’t need to do it the old way -> “ Make sure you maintain a deployment sheet from the beginning of a project. This ensures that you don’t miss any components during the project deployment.“
CPQ implementation is a major change in the way reps sell products and deliver quotes to customers. It is more than a system deployment; it’s an organizational change.
It is just 280 pages , but it will guide you through the whole CPQ including Billing (even though just briefly) and a few best practices to follow.
And now I’m curious what is the Salesforce CPQ foot print at customers, I remember a few years back I heard there are like 3000 CPQ customers and maybe 400 Billing customers, not sure how many more there are now-a-days. It is definitely product which can simplify and standardise life of your sales reps.
There are many ways how to study for the CTA board, most of them – at the end – are about practising the solution of different mock scenarios. They are different in size (read length), complexity, verticals, things you want to use. And some of them are more focused on specific areas, such as Pollard Financial, which I heard is a lot about security.
My approach was to solve the scenario and then I tried to compare my notes with others, watch recordings how people present it and take the best parts. And with this scenario I tried to put it in writing, because I do not agree with the solutions I saw and because I want also practise how deep into the details I need to go. Curious about your comments and what you believe will not work or where you have a different, and maybe better, solution.
Licences
This is probably the only scenario where Sales Cloud Licence is overkill even though I used it at the beginning as I used the Orders for the Investment Plans.
But Platform License will be sufficient with using Account, Contact, Account Team, Contract and custom objects.
As we have roughly 20M community users which will log in once in a while we will use the Customer Community Login licence. Also with the latest release the limit on CC users went way higher.
We will use Single Org strategy (Unlimited Edition) to simplify the deployment and management, especially as some of the users spans multiple offices.
Role Hierarchy
By default you can almost draw the role hierarchy just based on the involved users because in most cases it will mimic the organizational structure. But in this case I will put the Sales Support Assistant right under the CEO as creating a role for each Sales Rep (800+ roles) doesn’t sound future proof.
Calculations
20M Accounts (as we use Person Account);
20M Contacts;
Contracts: 300K+;
Investment Plan Options: 300K+;
Investment Plans: 20M+ (will be offloaded to DWH once not active);
Invested Funds: 200M+ (estimate each client invest in 10 funds);
Funds: 100;
Fund Reports: 6000 (5 years monthly history for 100 funds);
Business Infos: 300K (one for each business account);
Account Contact Relationship: 15M (for each business client employee);
In total: 270M of records = 540GB of used space; 3600 users * 120MB = 432GB allowable space.
Files:
6000 reports * 1MB file size = 6GB, well within 2GB/user limit (7,2TB)
Data Model
Basic client information, such as name, address, email, and tax identification number.
Account, Contact and Person Account;
Information regarding the type of client, which can be individual clients or clients associated with a business account. If the client is associated with a business, PFS needs the ability to access the related business account information.
Type = record type;
Account Contact Relationship to link clients (Contact) to business Account;
Investment plans, which are created yearly and may be updated more frequently. Investment plans describe how the client is investing across a variety of funds. The investment plans need to be retained for regulatory purposes.
Investment Plan custom object;
non-active plans archived via ETL to DWH for regulatory purposes, no reason to surface them in SF;
Fund reports that describe the performance history of a given fund. These are associated with any investment plan that includes the fund. Therefore, a given report may be associated with different clients.
due to requirement below to share only with clients who invested in the fund we cannot use Files as they allow only to be shared with up to 2000 entities and we cannot use Groups and add CC users to them;
Considered: Chatter Group per fund and auto adding/removing users to these groups, where we will share the reports. Drawback: when client stop investing in the fund they should not be able to see the newer reports but at the same time we don’t want to remove them from the group as they will lose access to the history as well;
Custom object with lookup to the Fund (custom object or use Product2 for this) which will have APEX sharing with clients who have invested at that time.
Investment plan performance reports that describe the current performance of the client’s investment plan. They are provided monthly and need to be retained for regulatory purposes.
Considered: Files on the Investment Plan custom object, but with 20M clients and 12+ months history this will use a lot of file space. Also as the Investment Plans, which can be updated yearly or more often, will make it hard to navigate the files;
Custom LWC (on Account or Investment Plan depending on client user needs) which will render it on the fly for period specified by the (running) user based on data get by callout from APEX controller from the financial system with history of prices of each fund.
Business Requirements
Basic client information, including associated documents, should only be visible to their assigned client sales representative, their sales support assistants, and their direct line management.
OWD on Account is Private, will use Account Team for assistants, role hierarchy in place so their managers will see it;
as Account Team works the same as other sharing I had to put assistants on top of the hierarchy, otherwise their access will share the records with all other managers as well;
Manager Groups looks tempting but sadly their implementation is different from what we would need – it doesn’t share the record (by default) just with the manager specified on user record, but sharing rules can be added for each manager. Role hierarchy is still respected;
Client sales representatives can choose to share client information with other client sales representatives, but should not be able to share client information with sales support assistants who are not assigned to them.
The Account Team object is first class object so I’ll use validation rule on it to compare user type (role name or new custom field) and if it is Sales Support Assistant will check who is their Manager and whether it is the same one as the Account owner;
Considered: custom LWC to allow for selection just of specific users and add them to the Account Team, but it is overkill for this purpose;
General business account information should be accessible to client sales representatives who work with employees of the business, but all other business information should be available only to the assigned business sales representative.
custom object with OWD private, which will be owned by the Account owner and will have Hierarchy sharing off;
after save flow on Account on owner change which runs in system context and will change the owner of these child records when owner change;
Considered: FLS and different page layout, but my understanding is that „client sales representatives“ and „assigned business sales representative“ are the same type of users, the distinction is just about account ownership, hence the FLS and different page layout will not work. Custom LWC with APEX controller without sharing or Screen Flow in system context and conditional drawing will be overkill.
Business account sales representatives should not have access to the related employee accounts.
I understand this requirement as that the employees can have their private account as well and sales reps should not be allowed to see it;
Account OWD private, use of Person Account for all employees and Account Contact Relationship to link them to the business account;
The investment plan and investment plan performance reports specific to a client and should have the same security requirements as the basic client information.
Assumption: basic means the same as in the requirement 1, not requirement 3;
custom object with Master-Detail relationship to Account;
the Custom LWC for performance reports will check the access for running user.
Fund reports should be visible to all internal users.
we share these files with a records in custom object related (Lookup) to Fund custom object; View All permission for internal users;
alternatively the files can be shared with All Internal Users and be put in one folder for easy access. They should also be linked from the Fund record for easy access from this side (not shared with clients).
Clients must be able to see their investment plan, their investment plan performance reports, and their associated fund reports.
read permission for the Investment Fund object, Master-Detail to (Person) Account, which is shared with client; custom LWC for the investment plan performance reports as mentioned above, custom object with APEX Managed Sharing for fund reports (see above);
A fund report must only be available to clients who have invested in the fund.
Custom Object with Files attached;
APEX Managed Sharing of the record with all clients who have investment in that period;
Clients must be able to view and edit basic personal information, such as address and phone number
read access to the account is provided by default in community, Sharing Set to provide Write access (User.Contact.Account = Account)
Clients must also be able to upload documents to share with their assigned client sales representative.
Considered: Files uploaded to the Account, but this will share it with all the other people as well;
if that is not the intention we need to create a screen flow, which will create a Case (OWD Private), assign it to the Account owner and upload the file to the Case. Sharing Set to share the case with the client (Case.Account = User.Contact.Account)
Comments, Ideas?
I’m interested in hearing you – what I didn’t considered, what will not work, where you see challenge, am I detailed enough? Please write a comment, happy to collaborate on this.
The whole scenario for your reference
For the hypothetical scenario described below, the candidate will have 45 minutes to read, evaluate, and document a high-level architectural solution. The solution should:
Describe the security and the rationale for the solution.
Identify any potential key risk areas.
The candidate should target the presentation to a technical Information Technology (IT) architecture audience. In cases where requirements are not explicitly stated for the scenario, the candidate should use his or her best judgment and make appropriate assumptions based on the information provided. The candidate should indicate to the review board any assumptions that were made when designing the proposed solution. The candidate will not have an opportunity to ask clarifying questions related to the hypothetical scenario.
The candidate will be evaluated on his or her ability to assess the scenario requirements, design a solution, communicate the proposed architecture, and justify the design decisions. The candidate will not be evaluated on the tools used for the presentation.
Project Overview
Pollard Financial Services (PFS) specializes in individual investment strategies with over 25 field offices within the United States, serving over 20 million clients. PFS serves 5 million individual clients directly and 15 million clients who are employees of businesses that have chosen to use PFS. PFS serves 300,000 businesses. PFS is planning a Salesforce implementation to support their sales process.
PFS will have approximately 4,000 Salesforce users as described below:
800 client sales representatives, who are associated with a specific field office, and are responsible for managing both individual and business clients.
100 business sales representatives who span field offices and are responsible for managing the relationships with business accounts.
2,700 sales support assistants, who are assigned to specific sales representatives. Generally, there are three support assistants assigned to each sales representative.
As part of the Salesforce implementation, PFS would like to include a portal that allows clients to review specific account details and upload documents for their assigned client sales representative.
Data Model Requirements
For each client account, PFS needs to track:
Basic client information, such as name, address, email, and tax identification number.
Information regarding the type of client, which can be individual clients or clients associated with a business account. If the client is associated with a business, PFS needs the ability to access the related business account information.
Investment plans, which are created yearly and may be updated more frequently. Investment plans describe how the client is investing across a variety of funds. The investment plans need to be retained for regulatory purposes.
Fund reports that describe the performance history of a given fund. These are associated with any investment plan that includes the fund. Therefore, a given report may be associated with different clients.
Investment plan performance reports that describe the current performance of the client’s investment plan. They are provided monthly and need to be retained for regulatory purposes.
For each business account, PFS needs to track:
Basic business information, such as name, address, email, and tax identification number.
Investment plan options.
Associated employees.
Negotiated contract details.
Accessibility Requirements
PFS has a very competitive sales environment, and therefore has strict data visibility requirements for its sales users:
Basic client information, including associated documents, should only be visible to their assigned client sales representative, their sales support assistants, and their direct line management.
Client sales representatives can choose to share client information with other client sales representatives, but should not be able to share client information with sales support assistants who are not assigned to them.
Specific information about a client or a business account, such as tax identification number, should only be visible to the assigned sales representative.
General business account information should be accessible to client sales representatives who work with employees of the business, but all other business information should be available only to the assigned business sales representative.
Business account sales representatives should not have access to the related employee accounts.
The investment plan and investment plan performance reports specific to a client and should have the same security requirements as the basic client information.
Fund reports should be visible to all internal users.
For PFS clients, the data visibility requirements are:
Clients must be able to see their investment plan, their investment plan performance reports, and their associated fund reports.
A fund report must only be available to clients who have invested in the fund.
Clients must be able to view and edit basic personal information, such as address and phone number
Clients must also be able to upload documents to share with their assigned client sales representative.
I finally had time to read this book and I really like the book in general. At the same time, and I highly recommend the book for it, you might be surprised with the simplicity of CTA board. On almost 600 pages Tameem guide you through all the different areas you need to cover during the board, practically show the solution on mini scenarios and even put two scenarios including solutions.
And that might be the challenge. If you go over the scenarios and you see the argumentation and real sentences you should/need to use, it looks super simple. Simple English, simple sentences, is this really enough for the board? It must be super easy to pass then, right?
And actually that’s the challenge of the board. Get the technical knowledge, which looked to be the hardest part at the beginning, is practically the easiest part of the experience. The presentation, including all the info you need to include, is way harder and is the part you really need to practice.
During a normal project, you might find yourself working with multiple IAM experts from different technological backgrounds. You need to be able to speak the same language as they do, understand their vision, and challenge their architectural design (if needed). As a Salesforce CTA, you are expected to step away from the standard platform knowledge to provide expert guidance in other related matters.
When you think about it, that summarise the role pretty well and make it challenging at the same time. You basically need to be expert on multiple different subjects outside Salesforce as well and I would not limit it to oAuth flow or integration patterns, I would extend the exam with knowledge of DNS, DKIM, SPF, relays and other things as they are super important in these days and internet full of spam.
„The architect are used to bounce ideas on each other“ he writes at other place and there are small sentences where I’m thinking whether he is just testing me or I feel thing wrongly:
By default, the customer community license users can only access the account related to their contact records. This automatically fulfils the requirement that they should only have access to cases related to their account. Oh really? I would not say so myself, I still strongly believe sharing set needs to be in place. Yes, there is that small checkbox that you can see all cases where you are listed as a contact but even that is no by default based on account visibility;
I will utilize a Salesforce autolaunched flow to update the opportunity ownership and set it to the sales agent’s queue of that country. Well, sadly, queue ownership for opportunities is not done yet 🙁 Actually did you know that the previous owner will still have read access?
It will be delivered to both orgs as an unmanaged package. This will allow the solution to be centrally managed and updated. Actually, unmanaged package cannot be upgraded, maybe you spoke about unlocked?
You can archive your data to … Heroku. We already have Heroku in our landscape. The decision should be easy in this case. We can utilize Heroku Connect to transfer the data. Ok, now what about the archival, removing from the instance and surfacing back when needed?
Salesforce Canvas is a paid feature, I didn’t know that!
I’m not sure whether these small details across the whole book can make a difference between success and failure, but some of them can make you a headache. Especially the opportunity ownership might mean you want to convert the lead later or invent additional automation for sharing.
If you are on the road to the CTA I highly recommend this book. It will show you have you should see through the requirements and how to put the solution into short, cohesive and highly informative sentences which you can say really quickly.
This book, which you can buy from Amazon or any preferred seller, together with the Salesforce Architect’s Handbook can be a nice addons into your library.
