Salesforce DIY - Implementing Salesforce on Your ... - Database Sherpa

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Salesforce DIY - Implementing Salesforce on Your Own Is your nonprofit organization considering Salesforce, but just not sure where to start? It really is possible to try it out on your own, or even implement it completely, if you have a plan for how to get started. Following are tips on how to get started:

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Focus on one area of the organization. Are you automating donor management? Volunteer tracking? Contacts? Focus on that, and document what you want, and get to it.

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Get an instance of Salesforce; it’s in the cloud. You don’t download it onto your

computer. You create an account and then you request the free licenses. Visit http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/trial/ to work on the few steps to getting the licenses.

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If you don’t want to commit, you can get a 30 day free trial

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Are you unsure about getting the Salesforce Nonprofit Starter Pack? Try it with the NPSP first and then see if you like it or not. If not, just start another free trial. It’s that easy!

Learn more about Account Models. The best way to learn is to try it out, so, turn on the

one to one model and add a few accounts. Add some donations. Try to run some reports. Then, try it with the individual (bucket model). Then, the Household Account model (only available with NPSP 3.0). Experiment with it—that’s really the best way to learn. Don’t have time to experiment? Read this great resource on the differences between account models. This is important—It compares the bucket and one to one model. https://powerofus.force.com/articles/Resource/NPSP-What-is-an-Account-Model The new Household Account Model (Version 3.0) https://powerofus.force.com/articles/Resource/NPSP-What-is-an-Account-Model#household

Begin to enter in some donations. Before you start importing your data and after you’ve 4

picked your account model, begin to enter in some donations (after you clean up your other entries). This will be critical to your success. Play around in there…. add records and note places where you are struggling. Join the Power of Us Hub to get the help you need!

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Test out the waters. Now, go back to that document that shows what you wanted to get from the

database, and try to see if you can get these things out of there. Some of the things you might want include:

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How do I enter donations for a company? This post goes into a good explanation of the two account models (not the Household Account Model) and how to enter in a donation. http://nickhbailey.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/how-do-i-enter-this-donation-a-primer-for-npsp-users/

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How can I track demographic information about my clients? You can customize any Salesforce object, such as contacts, to add additional fields. These fields can be added to the page layouts for the contacts to include the demographic information. https://help.salesforce.com/HTViewHelpDoc?id=adding_fields.htm

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How can I assign a task to myself to follow up with someone? It’s possible to create tasks for yourself or others and the assigned person will be reminded of the task. https://help.salesforce.com/HTViewHelpDoc?id=creating_tasks.htm&language=en_US.

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How can I send an automated email to a new client? Perhaps you’d like to send an email when a new client is entered into Salesforce. This is possible, but you’ll need to figure out what you want to send them (email template) and then, what should trigger the sending of the email (workflow). Email template: https://help.salesforce.com/HTViewHelpDoc?id=admin_emailtemplates.htm&language=en_US Workflow: http://help.salesforce.com/apex/HTViewHelpDoc?id=creating_workflow_rules.htm

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How can I ensure that data is entered in accurately? You can use either validation rules or required fields ( to make sure that data is being entered in accurately. https://help.salesforce.com/HTViewHelpDoc?id=fields_defining_field_validation_rules.htm&language=en_US

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Validation rules force the user to ensure that the data is accurately entered in before the data is saved. Validation rules return either a false (data is entered accurately) or true (something needs to be fixed because the data is invalid).

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Required fields are used to force the user to enter data into a specific field. There are some required fields already in Salesforce (such as Last Name on Contact or Account Name on the Account object). You can also require other fields. If a user tries to save a record without entering a value in the field, an error is displayed. There are two ways to require a field to be required, either a universal field (at the object level) or just for specific record types (on the page layout click the wrench next to the field and select the required checkbox).

Keep using the resources available online and through Google searches to get help.

It is possible to implement Salesforce on your own. You will need to spend time to make it happen. Carve out regular time during the week (if not a few hours every day, then at least a chunk of time once a week). Spend time teaching yourself, asking questions and diving in. You cannot break it, so don’t be afraid. Have fun and learn!

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Salesforce Training and Consulting for Nonprofit Organizations

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At Database Sherpa, we are more guide than taskmaster, more teacher than consultant. We have met organizations at every point in their trek to database clarity. We know that treating the design and development of your Salesforce database as a journey, and collaborating with an experienced guide, can be transformational for your organization. The wisdom of a Sherpa. The reward of your practice.