Become a Formula Ninja Become a Formula Ninja Math not your thing? Stuck in a functionality rut? Join us to learn a few key tips and tricks for using Salesforce MVPs to write kick-butt formulas. Walk away with actual formulas that you can immediately put to use.
Math not your thing? Stuck in a functionality rut? Join us to learn a few key tips and tricks for using Salesforce MVPs to write kick-butt formulas. Walk away with actual formulas that you can immediately put to use. NOTE: This session is Community-Led: created BY the Salesforce community FOR the Salesforce community
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Become a Formula NinjaBecome a Formula Ninja
Math not your thing? Stuck in a functionality rut? Join us to learn a few key tips and tricks for using Salesforce MVPs to write kick-butt formulas. Walk away with actual formulas that you can immediately put to use.
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Introductions & Agenda
• Steve Molis
• Jared Miller
• Mark Passovoy
• Francis Pindar
Steve MolisSteve MolisSalesforce Administrator, Epsilon@SteveMoForceSalesforce Administrator, Epsilon@SteveMoForce
Formula Ninjas
• The Island of Misfit Toys, Formulas, Fields, and Functions• Using $User to create dynamic Reports and List Views
The Island of Misfit Toys, Formulas, Fields, and Functions
ISNEW()
$User
Opportunity: IsClosed
Opportunity: IsWon
Using a Validation Rule to prevent new Accounts during Lead Convert
Business Requirement• Prevent user from creating new Accounts but allow them to
convert Leads to new Contacts and Opportunities
Solution• Use a Validation Rule to block new Account create.
Fields Referenced (optional)• $Profile.Name
• $Role.Name
• $User.Id
Function Used• ISNEW()
Using a Validation Rule to prevent new Accounts during Lead Convert
The Island of Misfit Toys, Formulas, Fields, and FunctionsField: IsClosed Boolean field located on the Opportunity object, automatically set by Opportunity Stage.
Use: Validation Rule to ensure users update Close Date on Open Opportunities.
The Island of Misfit Toys, Formulas, Fields, and FunctionsField: IsWon Boolean field located on the Opportunity object, automatically set by Opportunity Stage.
Use: Validation Rule to ensure users update Loss Reason (custom field) when an opportunity is Closed/Lost.
AND (IsClosed =TRUE, IsWon = FALSE,ISBLANK(TEXT( Loss_Reason__c)))
The Island of Misfit Toys, Formulas, Fields, and FunctionsFields: IsWon, IsClosed Use: Formula(Text) field to display the “summarized” Opportunity Status in List Views, Reports and Dashboards.
Jared MillerJared MillerSenior Project Manager, Configero@jaredemillerSenior Project Manager, Configero@jaredemiller
Formula Ninja
• Jared Miller• Configero• Co-Leader of the Tampa User Group• Known to troll the twitter and #askforce
Formula Ninja
• Use the ABS function to give your dates more flexibility• Use the LEN function to improve data quality• Formula Talk – My favorite formula tips
Date Flexibility: Using the ABS Function
• Business requirement
• Due to shift scheduling, a contract end date may be within a few days (plus or minus) of the actual end date
• Not all early ends, are actual early ends, however, an early end would need to be tracked differently
• Solution
• We will give the user flexibility on “early end” by giving them a plus or minus on the end date
• Fields referenced
• Scheduled End Date
• Actual End Date
• Function used
• ABS(number)
Creating the Validation Rule
• Create your 2nd Date field – in our case, it is Actual End Date• Rule Name: Actual End Date Near Scheduled End Date• Formula: ABS(Scheduled_End_Date__c-Actual_End_Date__c )>7• Error Message: Actual Contract End Date is not valid.
Creating the Validation Rule
How the ABS Function works
• From Help & Training• Calculates the absolute value of a number. The absolute value of a number is the
number without its positive or negative sign.• Example
• Error Message: If Payment Terms are “Special Payment Terms”, please enter the terms.
Formula Talk – My favorite formula tips
• CASESAFEID (id)– Converts a 15-character ID to a case-insensitive 18-character ID
• ISCHANGED(field) – Checks the field to determine if the value has been changed. This is useful in validation rules and workflow rules.
• When thinking through your formula – or when you are working on a complex formula – use comment tags
• /* comment here, Name, Date */• Comments will count against your character limit and byte size
Mark PassovoyMark PassovoyConsultant, Appirio
@markpassovoy
Consultant, Appirio
@markpassovoy
Formula Ninja
• Mark Passovoy• Appirio• Will respond directly to @ mentions on Twitter• Answers maniac (but not as much as @SteveMo)
Everyday use of Formulas• Validation Criteria• Workflows Criteria• Approval Process Entry Criteria• Formula Field
• Simple Examples:• Amount > 1• Number of Employees < 10
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Real Life Examples
Concept: Dynamic formulas using only variables
• Business Requirement• Users must apply different logic to Opportunities from each of the 5 regions that the company operates in.
• IT does not have the bandwidth to update formulas in Salesforce in a timely manner and is continually backed up with requests to update criteria or logic of formulas, workflow, validations, approvals, etc.
Solution• Create an object to compare data for each region against
• Formulas will reference relationships between the Opportunity and the custom Region object without using any actual values
• User will select region on creation of Opportunity, or process can be automated with a trigger
• Benefit – Formulas can be updated easily, without access to Setup, if important
Solution
Validation Rule
• Hard-coded numeric values
• Completely dynamic, no hard-coded values
Formula Field
• We created a formula field to determine the overall risk of an Opportunity
• This field will give the Opportunity one of 5 possible values, depending on the information in the Opportunity and the selected Region
Approval Process
• We created an Approval Process to approve Opportunities
• It will use information from the Opportunity, as well as the related Region for entry criteria and step criteria
Formula Talk – My favorite formula tips
• & - Can concatenate text and merge data together to make a string
• Make reports more actionable.• Allow data to be SEEN without READING• Ability to see Account metrics from account records without the need to run reports.
Solution
Solution: Google Charts
Solution: Google Charts
• Formula image function can call any chart URL
• Google chart wizard offersdynamic build environment
• Easily add merge fields into the chart URL
Solution: Google ChartsSearch Google “Image Chart Wizard”