Preparing a New Org

September 16, 2009 · Filed Under Configuration, Native Application, Tips and Tricks, salesforce.com 

With the impending arrival of the Winter 2010 (aka 162 or Winter'10) edition of Salesforce CRM, as with every other release, comes a prerelease org. (You can get one at https://www.salesforce.com/form/trial/prerelease_winter10.jsp.)

Every time one encounters a fresh org, there are maintenance tasks to perform. I usually go through an org (whether a Developer Edition org or a Prerelease version) and do the same tasks, generally in no particular order. This time, however, I wrote down what I did as I did it. Looking at the list, it's hardly in any "best practices" order at all - it's just how I did it.

There's no need to follow every step, and it is not a complete list of all possibilities, but this should give you some idea of the possibilities and available tweaks: (*** indicates some of the new features in WInter '10)

  1. Save login with 1Password/Roboform
  2. Reset (Set) Security Token
  3. Administration Setup | Security Controls
    • Session time 8 hrs
    • Passwords never expire
  4. Create Record Types (and Business Processes) for Lead, Opportunity, Case
  5. (Campaigns were not enabled in this prerelease org) - would have configured them here, similarly
  6. Activities section: Calendar link on sidebar
  7. Download latest versions of Connect for Outlook, Office Edition
  8. Opportunities:
    • Enable Similar Opportunities
    • Enable Opportunity Teams
  9. Create Account Master Record Type
  10. Enable Account Teams
  11. Create Contact Master Record Type
    • Note: Asked to add to page layout. Not asked for Opportunities.
  12. Enable Case Teams
  13. Enable Public Solutions
  14. Solutions:
    • Enable Solution Browsing
    • Enable Solution HTML
    • Could have created a Solution Process & Record Type
    • Did not enable multilingual solutions
  15. Enable Self-Service
  16. Enable Web-to-Case
  17. Create default Owner, etc (auto prompted)
  18. Enable PRM and Partner Portal (though have no licenses)
  19. Salesforce to Salesforce
    • Enabled S2S
    • Set up S2S Connection Finder ***
    • Added fields to page layout - Kept read-only for all profiles except System Administrator
    • Enable Public & Private Tags
  20. Enable Console for all Profiles
  21. Search Settings - Enable Enhanced Lookup & Auto-Complete
  22. User Interface
    • Separate loading of related lists
    • Spell Checker on Tasks & Events
    • Collapsible Sidebar
    • Custom Sidebar on all Pages
    • Enhanced Profile Management ***
  23. Set myself as default Workflow User
  24. Looked at Develop | Custom Settings ***
  25. Created a Default Queue and added myself
  26. Set all Sharing Rules to Private
  27. Update Home Page to the way I like it
    • Order of wide section (top down): Calendar, Tasks, Items to Approve, Dashboard
    • No changes to narrow section

Other things that may be possible in other orgs:

  • Enable Customer Portal
  • Customize Campaigns
  • Set up Sites

Again, this is not meant to be a complete list. Also, it is not intended to be a how-to; for more information you may search the Help link at the top of every org page, check Salesforce Community, or Developer Force.

Happy configuring!

Tags: ,

Comments

2 Tweets 3 Other Comments

7 Responses to “Preparing a New Org”

  1. x2od on September 16th, 2009 12:49

    New Force Squared post: Preparing a New Org http://bit.ly/p1WsU

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  2. Proof that salesforce.com listens – and comprehends : X-Squared On-Demand on September 29th, 2009 11:03

    [...] Yikes. http://www.x2od.com/2009/09/16/preparing-a-new-org.html [...]

  3. Jeff Douglas on September 30th, 2009 04:24

    They do actually listen, you are right! One of my buddies at Appirio complained that the new login screen was confusing and they changed it in a matter of days. Take that SAP!!

    This comment was originally posted on X-Squared On-Demand LLC Blog

  4. Brian Makas on September 30th, 2009 09:32

    Well that’s short and to the point.

    They may have a light touch but there’s no question Salesforce.com focuses on and has successfully enabled a very powerful community.

    This comment was originally posted on X-Squared On-Demand LLC Blog

  5. Scott Hemmeter on September 30th, 2009 10:43

    A great change coming out of this would be a single screen to set many of these random settings. Perhaps it’s a screen you get to on initial launch of an org and also one that is easily accessible in Setup.

    This comment was originally posted on X-Squared On-Demand LLC Blog

  6. Geraldine on October 9th, 2009 12:18

    Totally stealing this plus my 0.02c worth:
    Create roles to match the company org, where no org is available, be guided by the project leader on the client’s side
    Add Role.
    Once you have created the roles, assign users to those roles dependent on sharing/viewing information.
    Add an Executive Administrator who will assist the Executive or CEO and allow them access to edit everything.
    Finally, go to Administration Setup > Security Controls > Sharing Settings > and set up sharing rules to share all records read/write/edit between CEO/Executive and CEO/Executive or else the CEO will not be able to view or edit Accounts, Contacts, Reports etc which TFG creates.

  7. Geraldine on October 9th, 2009 12:20

    And what do you mean it’s not a “How To”? Many an aspiring admin will be using this as the be all and end all to prepping a new org.

Leave a Reply




Additional comments powered by BackType