Soilworks, a company specializing in soil stabilization and dust control solutions, reached out to FirmWorks for assistance storing, using, and sharing their multitude of files.
Soilworks provides various products and services aimed at controlling dust and erosion, enhancing soil stability, and improving the overall performance of unpaved surfaces. Their environmentally friendly solutions are used in various industries such as mining, construction, agriculture, and transportation to mitigate dust emissions and maintain soil integrity. Their products are designed to be cost-effective, long-lasting, and environmentally sustainable.
A Folly of Files
From the beginning, the Soilworks team experienced issues with storing, using, and sharing their files inside of their Salesforce org. In truth, they needed to build an entire filing system on the Libraries Object which has very limited features and functionalities out-of-the-box and make getting client context and sharing files very cumbersome.
Uploading a file to a Library is like placing your files into a secure, private vault accessible only to authorized personnel within your organization. Alternatively, you could upload your files to Objects, or create links to the Object, which can give you better context on why it was loaded, but finding those connections is like tracing the yarn strands of a conspiracy theorist’s plot board.
The team did, however, get as far as they possibly could designing a system that “worked”, even managing to create some custom tags, but ultimately it wasn’t good enough to meet their needs.
In addition to there issues finding and sharing files, their storage was brimming with countless duplicates that ate up a ton of storage and subsequently a lot of money. Their Salesforce was file solution felt more like a collection of overstuffed digital pendaflexes.
The FirmWorks Fix
After years of searching for an effective solution to their file woes, the Soilworks team stumbled upon FirmWorks and FirmWorks Files. Utilizing FirmWorks Files, the tags they had created using became easy to filter, find, and were now comprehensively searchable.
The hyper saturated libraries presented a larger issue, since ownership of a file in a Library is difficult to change. Leveraging Data Loader to create appropriate Content Document Links in combination with FirmWorks Files’ Events packet to trigger automations when the file’s Object are created, they were able to reshare everything based on org level visibility and using the security they painstakingly setup for their internal users.
How the Dust Settled
In just a few months, Soilworks’ files went from calamitous cascade of chaotic content to a meticulously managed mélange of methodically mapped materials.
Uploads were deduped, original File Content, Page Layouts/Record Types preserved, data organized and optimized, and there was much rejoicing.
If your team is operating in a similarly frustrating capacity, buried beneath a folly of files, get in touch and we will quickly help you sort it out.
