Practical Salesforce.com Development Without Code: Customizing Salesforce on the Force.com Platform

Are you facing a challenging Salesforce.com problem--say, relating to automation, configuration, formulation, or reporting--that you can't quite crack? Or maybe you are hoping to infuse some creativity into your solution design strategy to solve problems faster or make solutions more efficient? Practical Salesforce.com Development Without Code shows you how to unlock the power of the Force.com platform to solve real business problems--and all without writing a line of code. Adhering to Salesforce.com's "clicks, not code" mantra, Salesforce.com expert Phil Weinmeister walks you through different business problems and identifies effective, creative--and proven--approaches to solutions using the platform's declarative framework.

If you are a Salesforce.com administrator, analyst, consultant, or developer, you can attest to the insatiable appetite of users for new functionality. Your clients expect solutions--and now. By adopting Practical Salesforce.com Development Without Code as your guide, you will learn how to deliver business solutions within Salesforce.com by combining analysis, creativity, and logic with some of its core elements, including validation rules, workflow rules, and formula fields. In addition, Weinmeister dissects and explains the most useful functions and features for developers, and shows you how to use them. Among other things, you will learn how to:

• Build objects, fields, and relationships to establish a sensible data model
• Automate business processes by using workflow rules and flows (Visual Workflow)
• Utilize functions and develop formulas effectively for a variety of business needs
• Develop intricate approval processes to handle exception scenarios
• Employ publisher actions to drive additional functionality from the Chatter feed
• Manage your data using Data Loader

Best of all, Weinmeister uses real-life business scenarios and visuals to keep you engaged and learning something new with every page you read. Practical Salesforce.com Development Without Code will help you absorb the principles behind dozens of creative and thoughtful ways to solve your business problems. Applying the lessons learned from this how-to guide will ultimately save you time and ensure that your clients or internal customers are well satisfied and productive.

What you'll learn

• How to develop within Salesforce.com without the use of code
• How to deliver business solutions within Salesforce.com using various native elements, including validation rules, workflow rules, formula fields, and flows
• Effective use of various Force.com features

Who this book is for

The target audience consists of those looking to solve business problems within Salesforce.com without using code. That includes analysts, administrators, and consultants. The book also appeals to Salesforce.com developers looking to increase knowledge of configuration-based approaches to solutions. as well as technical professionals who understand configuration and/or development, but are not familiar with the Force.com platform.

Table of Contents

• The Salesforce.com Data Model: Objects, Fields, and Relationships
• Formula Functions: Your Building Block in Salesforce.com Formulas
• All About Formula Fields
• Automating Your Business with Salesforce.com Workflow Rules
• Enforcing Your Business Rules with Salesforce.com Validation Rules
• Building Effective Approval Processes for Your Business
• Use Entitlements and Milestones to Drive Case Automation
• Producing Advanced Automation with Visual Workflow
• Develop Friendlier Solutions with Custom Settings
• Streamline Your Process with Publisher Actions
• Using Web-to-Lead Effectively and Creatively
• Customizing the Look and Feel of Salesforce.com for Your Users
• Useful Features and Options for Building Reports in Salesforce.com
• Applying the Proper Security Model to Support Your Solutions
• Managing Your Salesforce.com Data with Data Loader
• Managing Your Environments and Deploying Your Solutions
• Next Steps in Your Path to Development Excellence