Salesforce Architecture

Discover content related to Salesforce CRM and Force.com platform architecture news, events, and design strategy.

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Force.com Tips & Best Practices

Find tips, samples, and best practices for getting the most out of the Force.com cloud computing platform from salesforce.com.

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Cloud Architecture

We gather content focused on cloud computing strategy, adoption, systems architecture, industry news, and sociopolitical implications.

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Welcome to the Force Architects blog by Delivered Innovation, where we share news, thoughts, and best practices related to cloud computing architecture, Salesforce CRM optimization, and Force.com enterprise system design.

Recent Updates

Jan27

Cloudup 1-27-2012

Posted by Jessica Buhrman 0 Comments Tags: , , , ,
cloud computing keyboard

Delivered Innovation is partnering with the Illinois Technology Association to hold our next event, State of the Cloud 2012. Join our CTO, Mike Topalovich, Brad DeSent, Consultant and Founder of Apex Consulting Group, Inc., and Chris Kabat, VP of Connected Business Systems at MPS Partners, as they discuss the evolving cloud computing landscape, the shifts in cloud technology, and provide examples of how companies are deploying these new technologies. It’s free, so join us!

AppExchange released the top 11 Salesforce applications in 2011, as ranked by “glowing customer reviews” in their categories. Some of the winners include Marketo Sales Insight for “Best ChatterExchange,” ProvenWorks CountryComplete Free v2 for “Best Data Cleansing App,” and Jobscience Recruiting for “Best Human Resources and Recruiting App.” Check out the 11 applications to see if any can be of use to your organization. And hey, while you’re at it, check out Marketing Budget Management as well, it’s our favorite budgeting application. Maybe we’ll see that one on the list next year?

Wanted Analytics, a talent research firm, reported that there has been a 61% increase in cloud computing-related jobs in the past year. Even more impressive, San Francisco had a 95% increase in cloud computing jobs. Other cities with cloud computing jobs in demand include New York, DC, and Seattle. Supply and demand for cloud computing jobs is not being met; so, if you’re considering a career change, perhaps you should look towards the cloud.

Congratulations to the newest round of Force.com MVPs. The MVP program is set in place to highlight individuals that provide outstanding service to the community, show leadership, and stewardship. As Force.com states, “MVPs are people who widely disseminate their knowledge as well as actively interfacing with and shaping the community.” Congrats, winners!

Salesforce is more than just a CRM system, it can be used as a platform to develop a variety of custom applications quickly. The platform (Force.com) is reliable, doesn’t require on-premise software and infrastructure, and applications can be developed quickly and efficiently. Additionally, Salesforce is linked to the AppExchange, where there are already hundreds of pre-built applications, some of which are even free. If you’re looking for custom application development, let us know if we can help.

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Jan24

State of the Cloud 2012: Free Event at the ITA!

Posted by Jessica Buhrman 1 Comment Tags: , , , ,

We are excited to announce our next (free!) cloud event, “Cloud Computing: What Business Executives Need to Know,” on Wednesday, February 16 from 9:00am to 11:00am. At this event, our cloud experts will discuss the State of the Cloud entering 2012

The event will be framed like a discussion, in which three cloud computing enthusiasts will discuss the evolving cloud computing landscape by examining the shift to lower-cost, utility-supplied computing and the implications of the shift as related to business returns that are being experienced. Additionally, our presenters will discuss how specific offerings have evolved and provide examples of how companies are deploying the new technologies.

Questions and participation from attendees are welcomed and encouraged.

Come on by on the morning of Thursday, February 16, grab a bagel, and get ready to learn!

When & Where
Thursday February 16
9:00 AM-11:00 AM
ITA, 200 South Wacker Chicago, lL 60606
15th floor, Conference Room A/B

Schedule
8:30 am Registration, Networking and Complimentary Bagels
9:00 am Meeting Overview
9:15 am Deep Dive Introductions
9:30 am Cloud Computing Research Presentation
10:00 am Cloud Computing 2012 Prediction
10:30 am Roundtable Cloud Computing Discussion

Cost
Free!

The presenters include:

Michael Topalovich, CTO and Founder of Delivered Innovation, Inc.
Founded in 2006, Delivered Innovation (DI) designs and develops on-demand SaaS business applications. Utilizing leading cloud computing technologies and leveraging their strategic partnerships, A Preferred Business Partner of Salesforce.com, Delivered Innovation specializes in Salesforce CRM and the Force.com platform.
For more information, contact Jessica Buhrman jbuhrman[at]deliveredinnovation.com / www.deliveredinnovation.com

Brad DeSent, Consultant and Founder of Apex Consulting Group, Inc.
Apex Consulting Group, Inc. was founded in 1996 to help Chicago-based businesses improve operations. Apex Consulting Group manages information technology for small and medium-sized businesses and offers a proactive approach to server and desktop management, network and systems administration, and end-user support.
For more information, visit www.apexcg.com

Chris Kabat, VP of Connected Business Systems, MPS Partners
Chris is responsible for overseeing solutions based on Enterprise Integration, Trading Partner Integration, and Service Oriented Architecture.
For more information, visit www.mpspartners.com

Register for This Event

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Jan23

Force Feed 1-23-2012

Posted by Jessica Buhrman 0 Comments Tags: , , ,

Fricandy
@cloudcoder
A few suggestions on how to use HTML5/CSS3 to visualize your Salesforce data differently.

Social Single Sign-On- Authentication Providers in Spring ’12
@metadaddy
How to use external authentication providers such as Facebook to access Salesforce portals and orgs.

Big or Small, You’ll Love the Social Fleet- Salesforce of Things
@ReidCarlberg
A video on The Social Fleet, an application that helps you monitor and manage your fleet using the Force.com platform.

Video and Slides for Spring ’12 Webinar Available
@joshbirk
The Spring ’12 developer webinar is now available for viewing.

Forcing Opportunity Creating During the Lead Conversion Trigger
@_siddhesh
A trigger that throws an error message if the Create Opportunity check-box is not checked.

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Jan20

Cloudup 1-20-2012

Posted by Jessica Buhrman 0 Comments Tags: , , , , ,

Save The Date! On Thursday, February 16 from 9 to 11am, our CTO, Michael Topalovich, will be speaking with fellow cloud computing enthusiasts about the current state of the cloud, future predictions, and offer examples of how companies are deploying new cloud technologies. Mark your calendars and note that this event is free!

Chatter customer groups, a part of the Salesforce Winter ’12 release, benefits you by bringing your company and clients closer together. Customers can have more control (which they will love), and it provides a portal to share ideas and work together. If you are interested in learning more about Chatter or specific features Chatter provides, visit our website and let us know if we can offer any help.

Vivek Kundra, former United States Chief Information Officer, joins salesforce.com as the new Executive Vice President of Emerging Markets. Marc Benioff, CEO and Founder of salesforce.com, describes Kundra as, “an amazing technology visionary who opened the eyes of millions to the transformational power of cloud computing.” Benioff believes that Kundra’s talents will accelerate the social enterprise, something salesforce.com is a huge advocate of. We are excited to see what kind of changes Kundra brings to salesforce.com, and what his ideas are for the social enterprise.

Cloud computing is a large market, and the best way to take advantage of it is to find the services and tools that fit your needs. Before investing in a specific service, ask yourself why you need that service, how often you will use it, and what benefits it has. Often, these services and tools come with a free trial, so take advantage of that and don’t be afraid to experiment. Once you find the right cloud computing tools, the cloud will start saving you significant time and dollars.

If you missed the Salesforce Spring ’12 Webinar, the video and slides are now up on the Force.com blog. Learn about the new Developer features of Spring ’12, including Schema Builder updates, new VisualForce components, and authentication updates.

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Jan16

Force Feed 1-16-2012

Posted by Jessica Buhrman 0 Comments Tags: , , ,

Multiselect Picklist Jquery Plugin for iPad and Desktop Browsers
@abhinavguptas
How to develop a multi-row and multiselect picklist that looks similar in both a desktop and iPad browser.

Integrating Google Maps in Salesforce
@forceguru
How to show the location of your Account in Google Maps within Salesforce.

SOQL Offset in Spring ’12
@cloudysan
“OFFSET” clause in Spring ’12 allows you to paginate through your result set directly in SOQL.

Resolved: “Field is not writeable: Sobject_Share.RowCause”
@abhinavguptas
How to fix a problem that comes with Apex managed sharing.

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Jan13

Cloudup 1-13-2012

Posted by Jessica Buhrman 0 Comments Tags: , , ,

Spring ’12 release notes have been announced! Some great new features in Spring ’12 include Chatter Now, a Chatter instant messenger, Klout and YouTube have been added to Social Contacts, and many standard objects are now included in Cross Object workflow, which will save developers significant coding time. What else to expect? Workflow field updates, Chatter Answers, live chat agent, and more. Can’t wait for spring!

Salesforce.com signed a 400,000 square-foot lease in San Francisco last weekend. This lease, “is the largest office deal in the city in a decade.” The new lease doubles salesforce.com’s San Fran presence, creating enough space for 2,000+ workers. The lease is around $339 million over an 18 year term, and will be ready for move-in as early as April 1.

The cloud is cheaper, more manageable, more flexible, and eco-friendly, so why haven’t you moved to the cloud yet? Other than those four reasons, this article brings up another great reason to move to the cloud: tax incentives. “You can gain tax credits from the government if you fully adopt a cloud-based system.” With the cloud, you are reducing the amount of hardware used for data, and virtualization “reduces the amount of environmental effects normally emitted” by that hardware, so, why not help save the environment and cut down on your taxes by moving to the cloud?

This infographic outlines the most commonly used cloud applications by which are in use today, which are in progress/planning of being used, and which have no plans of being used. The top five applications in use today include websites, email and calendar, collaboration, testing and development, and backup recovery. The top five planned cloud apps include backup recovery, CRM, document management, collaboration, and websites.

2012 will bring to light the importance of social media and mobile integration. The business landscape is changing as customers become more social, and businesses need to advance to accomodate these changes. “The ease with which customers can find one another to find opinions of products or research competitive pricing has been squared and cubed over the last few years,” states Peter Coffee, salesforce.com VP, “Businesses will need to redesign and re-engineer their electronic presence to get to those conversations.” In order to accomodate the shift to social media, businesses need their technology to help capture what is being said on social media, and interact with customers in real-time, through CRM and mobile systems.

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