Building on the last post where I created a custom Vehicle filed, I wanted to do a little more with it. Why not make a Dashboard to display the information I was collecting?

I started by adding data to the Vehicle field across the dummy accounts on my dev org. 

All dashboards are visual representations of reports, so I needed to build one of those first. Going to the Reports tab I clicked on New Report. Then I  expanded the Accounts & Contacts folder and selected the Accounts line. I then clicked on the Create button. 

On this screen I adjusted the filters to display all of the accounts. Now I can drag the "Vehicle" line from the left column to the report. Once that's done I changed the format from Tabular to Summary so I can work with it later in a dashboard. 

Here you will see a highlighted line at the top that says "Drop a field here to create a grouping." I need to group the Vehicle field in order to report on it so I dragged it there. Now the Report gets saved. 

Going back to the Reports tab I clicked New Dashboard. I Dragged the pie chart over to the view then went to find my report by changing to the left column tab to Data Sources. I pulled the Report over to the pie chart that was just created. Added in some header / footer text and saved the dashboard. 

Now from the home page when you click on the Dahsboards tab you can look at the new creation. Pretty spiffy huh? If I had more data I am sure I could think of something much more creative to do with Reports & Dashboards but this gives you a good idea of how it works. 

So with a lack of real life problems to deal with on my dev org, I went and created a hypothetical then solved it. 

Problem: I want a custom field on the accounts page for Vehicle. This should be a Picklist with the most common vehicle manufacturers and the last option being "Other." Below this should be a Text box to be used ONLY if the Picklist has chosen the "Other" option. 

Solution: I start by going to Setup - Customize - Accounts - Add a custom field. 
From here I choose New - Picklist and then I name it "Vehicle." I add in the Picklist options, go over who can view it and save the field. 
I do the same thing to add another field but this time choose New - Text and name it "Other." I give this field a max length of 80 (a length is required). 

A quick click over to the Accounts tab and edit one of the dummy accounts that the dev org came loaded with. Yes, there it is. A nice Picklist with the Other box nested just below it. 

Everything looks great but there is a problem. Without any validation someone could select an option from the Picklist AND enter text in the text box. We want the text box to ONLY be used if the Picklist option is "Other."  We need a Validation Rule!

Validation: Go to Setup - Customize - Accounts - Validation Rules - New
From here name your rule. I used OtherVal. 
Now is the tricky part. Explaining what you want it to check for using the Formula Operators that Salesforce can understand. A long look at the link below and some serious googling helped me to build what I need. 

https://na15.salesforce.com/help/doc/en/customize_functions.htm

In the box labeled Error Condition Formula I put this:

( ispickval(Vehicle__c, "Other") && isblank(Other__c) ||not(ispickval(Vehicle__c, "Other")) && not(isblank(Other__c)))

Click on the "Check Syntax" button and it will take a look at the formula to make sure your not missing something like a ")" which I always seem to be. Now enter an error message to display and save the rule. 

Go check it out again by editing an existing Account and try to do something wrong. It should stop you and display your error message when you go to save the record. 

It may not sound like a whole lot but this was a huge step. I'll keep you guys posted as things progress!

So after bumbling around for a while and learning where everything was at, I went on to the next video in line. 

Getting Started: Using the Sales Cloud

Now this is what I had been looking for from the start. A nice walk thru on what my day to day life will look like as a sales rep using the Salesforce platform. If anything was confusing before this really cleared it up. 

It starts off with Lead creation and a good tip on making sure you do not duplicate information that is already in the system. Then it goes over the normal steps necessary to qualify that Lead, create an Account, add Contact information and tie it all to an Opportunity. 

Throughout this video the presenter keeps reminding you that most of the fields and layouts of the Salesforce platform can be adjusted to meet the company's specific needs. What we are looking at here and on our dev org is simply the standard fields and layout. 

I am going to go over this video a few more times then come up with a few of my own scenarios in my dev org. Converting Leads, editing data, adding Contacts and really anything else I can think of within the standard implementation.

Wish me luck!! 

Now that you have your Salesforce dev org in place I am sure you had a chance to click around a bit. At first glance the interface seems familiar but a bit confusing at the same time. Don't worry, there is help.  

Salesforce has a great video guide to help new users navigate the interface. It goes over all of the object types, how they are used and where to access them. It is more of a fancy power point presentation than a video but that's OK. It makes it very easy to follow along on your dev org as you watch each step. 

Go to https://help.salesforce.com/

On the box labeled Training you will find a list of video links. 

Choose the one labeled "Getting Started: Navigating Salesforce"


I would watch this one a couple of times while following along on your dev org. What they go over are the building blocks that all of Salesforce is based off of. The main thing you want to walk away with from this video is the terminology that is used to describe each object and what each object's roll is.  

If your starting out like me and doing all of this preemptively you are going to need a Salesforce org to learn on. Someplace you can make mistakes and not effect anyone else. 

This is where a Salesforce dev org comes in. They are completely free and offer you all of the features of their most expensive plan. It is limited to just one user and by the amount of data you can store, but it is more than enough for what we are doing. 

One thing to keep in mind with a Salesforce dev org is that it's a fully featured instance that you will have complete control over. You are the admin. There are options, tabs and features you may never have access to in the real world, in the "user" role. Since right now we do get to play Admin, let's push all the buttons and see what happens. 

First, grab your Salesforce dev org Here!

If that link doesn't work just do a google search for it. Salesforce likes to move links around without forwarding old ones. If it does change I will try to come back and update it.