Generally speaking, documentation and geolocation are seemingly disparate data points. How often are we concerned with where a document comes from or where it is being sent? But there are benefits to knowing this information. Additionally, location data is key when it comes to audience targeting, locating opportunities, and better understanding your business’ demographics. In today’s digital world this type of data collectively can help shape and inform decisions that affect your business’ future.

Here at FirmWorks, our focus is to develop products to simplify, organize, and optimize your working world. The use cases of our products run the gamut so we are sharing some of the unique solutioning opportunities that we have encountered. In this post, we’re taking a look at a couple of instances where two of our products, FirmWorks Files and Geo, are used together to simplify, organize, and optimize business processes.

 

What’s the Scenario?

Geotagging is not a new concept. But, what if we were able to tag a document on upload with the location of that user to easily ascertain if it was fraudulent? What about if there was an automated internal process that could flag a document for review, because its origin didn’t match the record?

Let’s look at it from the other end of the process. What if you needed an internal document to be distributed to a particular geographic region? For instance, say you’re part of a marketing team that distributes a monthly newsletter to customers with region-specific information and you wanted to only select individuals within that geographic area thereby resulting in a more accurate grouping?

 

Not As Simple As It Sounds

If you are intrigued by the premise, that’s great! But there aren’t many ways to combine geocoding and document management in Salesforce. True story! Not only does it require a way to obtain geocoded information, but it also requires you to manage a cache of documents. Not necessarily an easy task, but one where Salesforce excels.

Salesforce has the tools that allow you to obtain the contextual geocoded information for standard Salesforce Objects while also maintaining a repository of your documents. But just because they CAN provide those two pieces does NOT mean you can make them to work together. That part requires a little help beyond standard Salesforce.

FirmWorks has two products that work together in this manner and can help your Salesforce shine— FirmWorks Files and FirmWorks Geo.

 

The FirmWorks Solution

FirmWorks Files is a package that allows you to regain comprehensive control of your Salesforce files. Have you ever wondered where a file went days, weeks, maybe months after loading it? What about making sure you have all the files you need for an upcoming presentation or audit? Those are just a couple of scenarios FirmWorks Files can help your company with. If you want to learn more about FirmWorks Files’ potential read THIS.

With respect to the topic at hand, FirmWorks Files can facilitate storing geocode information on files themselves to support the use cases we described above. The second piece needed to make this work, and the other half of this dynamic duo, is FirmWorks Geo.

FirmWorks Geo is a free app that allows you to easily geolocate information. In basic terms, FirmWorks Geo leverages out-of-the-box Salesforce data validation in combination with US census data and browser location to help you make the best choices when it comes to your Salesforce data. What are the 10 closest local accounts to the one I am visiting next week? Which accounts are in this region and should receive this newsletter?

Starting to see the through way? Good! Now let’s look at two really interesting ways we can enable geocoding documents and resolve these scenarios.

 

Files + Geo = Success

Option #1:

First, find a group of contacts based on their location to distribute a file or series of files to. Using FirmWorks Geo, FirmWorks Files and Salesforce Flow, a user can run a process that will allow them to obtain a list of contacts, which could initially be filtered by Record-based information, such as Title Buying Power and/or Previous Engagements.

Then, using FirmWorks Geo, that search can be further pared down using Geocoded information to achieve a highly specific geo-targeted list of contacts. The next step in the flow would be selecting the files you want to distribute to that list of contacts. Using FirmWorks Files’ flow components you can view the documents and filter them to a specific set or select a specific document you want to send.

Then, via custom Actions, a basic email can be created with generated public links of those documents for distribution.

 

Option #2:

Alternatively, you could automate the association of specific documents to a group based on their location. This method uses the same three pieces (FWF, FEW, and SF Flows), but with a slightly different approach.

In this instance, the starting point is the FirmWorks Files FileViewer component, which allows you to organize, search, and tag documents on page layout or in a flow. Using this, you can tag specific documents you want to send to a particular group of clients.

Then as you move through the flow there will be a geo component to use geolocation targeting to help select a group of clients in a particular area to distribute those documents to.

Lastly, using a FirmWorks Files’ custom action, a public link can be generated and sent to the aforementioned client audience via email. This ensures that there are no blockages for the client-side email due to file type or size restrictions or any potential access related issues.

 

Conclusion

As I mentioned, files and geolocation aren’t often a consideration, but when put in context the two can provide a powerful and effective solution. Now you can see the potential for a marketing team’s email campaigns, region-specific reminders and follow-ups, and countless other scenarios. If you want to a deeper dive into how FirmWorks Files and FirmWorks Geo can help your org grow, request a demo and let us show you how these products can help your use case.

Why do computers hate going to their file storage?

Because it’s a hard drive.

And on that note, let’s discuss how vital documents and files are to virtually every business type in every industry.

How documents are stored, shared, and most importantly, created is of tremendous importance to a business’s core functions, productivity, and overall success. While sounding insignificant, document generation is an essential aspect of daily operations for every business, especially those using Salesforce.

Why is the Doc Gen source important?

Much like your daily meals, your business feeds on a steady diet of documents like NDAs, contracts, SOPs, resources, financials, HR docs, and so much more. In our diets, we know the importance of both the ingredients and the preparation, and it’s no different with the prep of your business docs. Businesses run smoothly when the people in charge know what documentation and files are created AND how.

We’ve previously discussed document sharing, document management, and reporting on files in Salesforce. Clearly the source of data is important, and in document generation that is no different, so let’s next discuss why the data in Salesforce is crucial for fast and reliable document generation.

Data Accuracy: The source ensures that the data used is accurate and up to date. Whether it’s customer information, sales figures, or product details, having a reliable source ensures the documents reflect the most current data.

Consistency: A centralized source ensures consistency. Whether it’s sales proposals, contracts, or reports, consistency is key for professionalism and compliance.

Efficiency: With a well-defined source, the process of document generation becomes more efficient. Users don’t have to waste time searching for the right data or worrying about its accuracy; it’s readily available from the trusted source.

Compliance and Security: Each industry and/or region has compliance requirements regarding data handling and storage. Using a secure and compliant source ensures that sensitive information is handled appropriately, reducing the risk of data breaches and compliance violations.

Integration with other Systems: Salesforce is often integrated with other systems within an organization. Having a defined source ensures seamless integration and data flow between Salesforce and other systems, enhancing overall operational efficiency.

How to Choose a Doc Gen Solution

There are many Salesforce Document Generation tools with varying prices and functions. Making the right choice for YOUR business can be tough, but at the end of the day it is important to focus on three simple things:

Scalability: How does the solution grow with your business from year to year? Do you need the solution to handle large documents with pictures or documents merging large data sets?

Automation: Does the number of documents your org will generate merit automation, or do you need to send documents as part of an automated business process?

Delivery: How do your documents need to be distributed to internal and external individuals? Does your delivery method need to be more secure based on the data in the generated documents?

Issues to be Addressed

Once you’ve answered those questions and landed on a solution you are set, and document generation can begin, right? Well, not quite. There are a few more things to consider when you are generating documents with a tool.

Depending on your industry, here are some issues that may arise:

Organization: Sifting through the generated documents can be a taxing endeavor especially when trying to find specific file within a myriad of documents without clear delineators.

Automation: If you set up your document generation to create a document every time a change is made, that is going to result in a LOT of docs, without any mechanism for easily identifying important documents there will be documents that get lost.

Compliance Tracking: Document generation is a huge boon to any company but how do you make sure the generated documents are helping your compliance policies? Alternatively, how easy is it to monitor and manage required compliance documents?

Visibility & Access: Once you’ve generated these documents, how easy are they to access, interact, and distribute to the individuals or clients that need them?

Why Choose FirmWorks Files?

Post Document Generation Tagging

 

The easiest way to absolve yourselves of most of the issues that arise when document generation solutions are implemented is to tag your documents post generation. As seen in Figure 1, the ease of this operation can depend on the document generation tool you use. If the tool allows you to update fields on the generated file records, then you are in a great spot! From there you can just set tags as part of the doc gen process. This means FirmWorks Files (FWF) components will be able to utilize all the tags to organize, view, and interact with generated documents!

If your document generation tool does NOT allow you to set fields on the generated file(s), then tagging gets complicated. One workaround we’ve seen is inserting what would be the tag within the naming convention of the file upon generation and THEN assigning the tag based on the file name and renaming it. But let’s be frank, that laborious process is wildly impractical, inefficient, and potentially inconsistent while yielding only so-so results. However, since most doc gen tools can set output files names, with FWF we can leverage that file name to get all the information needed to tag the document and then update its name to something more practical and palatable for clients and users.

Channels of Distribution

 

 

Document generation tools handle distribution of the documents they create, generally by emailing the document to external parties. In our professional opinion, emailing a document has SEVERE limitations. Document size and type alone can drastically affect the email’s ability to be sent. These two characteristics can drastically impact one’s operational efficiency by hindering your ability to send out complex contracts, huge planning PDFs, high resolution images, presentations, etc., because they can’t even be attached or sent via email.

As seen in Figure 2, FirmWorks Files can detect a file creation on a specific object and create public links to distribute documents that can easily be accessed externally as part of a flow. For internal distribution, FWF can also help! Normally a developer is required to create additional links from a file to other object, but FWF’s automation tools can automatically create links to other objects, which means anytime someone generates an NDA for a new Opportunity, for example, it can be shared to the Account automatically!

 

Approval of Generated Documents

 

 

Some documents should not be automatically distributed once generated and need to be reviewed and approved before they can be used for anything. This could be the case for any product white papers generated from Salesforce records or a contract that needs to be approved by legal. While some doc gen tools do facilitate actions post generation, it comes at a price and can be cost prohibitive.

Using FirmWorks files you can create the approval processes you need, no sweat. As you can see in Figure 3 FirmWorks File Event package can be used on the creation of any file to trigger an approval process. This can also be based on logic of the generated file so not all files need to go through the same or any approval process.

 

Automated Compliance with Document Generation

 

 

One of the awesome parts of automated document generation is the ability to integrate it within your existing processes. The better document generation tools allow you to call a document generation event from Salesforce Flow. This is great because FirmWorks Files leverages platform events, which can trigger a Flow. Combining these together with another FWF feature, File Reporting, allows you to leverage tags on your files to tell you when your Salesforce records fall under the company’s specified compliance standards.

For example, you could have an MSA in place for all your subscribers or the tax information required to prove a company you are working with is a non-profit. Once this report is in place, you can schedule it to run at whatever intervals you want and when the report runs the FileViewer package will publish a platform event for each record that populates the report results. From there you can trigger a flow to run that could identify which document(s) is/are missing and subsequently initiate a document generation automation action to create the missing document. This is a very powerful way to ensure your company is compliant.

Managing Doc Gen Templates

 

 

All doc gen solutions require you to build and maintain a structure for the document being generated, typically referred to as templates. Depending on how many different documents you need to generate, you could have a lot of templates involved in your business’s day-to-day operations. Furthermore, templates can change frequently, which makes maintaining versioning a supremely important activity so you can roll back any potential mistakes in a template.

Using FirmWorks Files you can tag your templates to get a better snapshot of your Current Document template, improve document organization, and keep your document generation solution up to date and accurate.

FirmWorks Provides Next Level Doc Gen

Document generation tools are at the forefront of a successful business infrastructure. While the style, language, appearance, and structure of these documents is important, it is even more essential to maintain a firm handle on their organization, accessibility, and maintenance.

The quote “with great power comes great responsibility,” has long since transcended its original medium and can now be applied to most aspects of life, including the likes of document generation. Keeping that in mind, the next time you use tools to help you generate your company’s documents consider our words and let us help you harness the power of those files with FirmWorks Files.

While many companies use Salesforce as a source of data, there are times when the customer-facing side of the company also needs to be sourced by that data. There are many headless solutions that can separate your Salesforce data source from the web development team, but some orgs need an interface for customers to view, interact with, and create data in.

This interface could save an internal team time and energy spent on monotonous clicking, calling to validate data, or routing a customer and allow them to focus on higher priority tasks instead. Which brings us to Salesforce Experience.

Now, the when, why, and how for implementing and using an Experience has been widely discussed (see our good friends over at Salesforce Ben), but there is still nuance to that discussion that deserves our attention.

1. Data Collection:

From personal details to information for internal processes, an Experience can easily facilitate individuals to populate your Salesforce data with relevant information straight from the source … them, the customers!

2. Facilitating Collaboration:

For example, applying for a home loan, coaching someone for a job or a new life event, where there are frequent touch points with clients, with an Experience you can easily have someone log into a portal and provide a quick update.

3. External Requests:

Things like transcripts, construction documents, or safety data sheets can all be provided on an Experience via an automation and keep internal users from being bombarded with superfluous requests.

So where do Files fit into the idea of using an Experience?

Files are typically the main reason businesses want to create an Experience in the first place, to facilitate the document heavy aspects of doing business with external parties—data-heavy processes, uploads, downloads, and more.

If you’ve worked with Salesforce Files before you make have noticed they are not ideal for most use cases, whether sharing them externally or simply knowing what documents you have or don’t have in the system as part of a process. 

Many businesses and teams on Salesforce use an external file storage system recreating architecture that mimics their Salesforce architecture, and have designated personnel manually manage those systems in attempt to maintain synchronicity, right?

But, How’s THAT going?! Not great, I’d venture.

This is the part where FirmWorks Files (FWF) comes to your aid, making your Experience file management a breeze.

If you already have a concrete understanding of Salesforce Experiences, please take the next 60-seconds to consider how your interactions with the base systems have gone and then jump to the next section. If you have not, read on!

Here are the Salesforce Experience basics—

First, decide if you are building an experience for partners or customers. This will guide you through the license type you need and determine what objects and functions the Experience users have access to. Next, build your site. Salesforce’s Experience builder allows you to use custom org content and a WISIWYG build to allow easy and functional front-end building  Finally, set up security and provision users. This process is nice and simple and results in a stylish website branded with your content and backed by the data architecture and security that is at the core of Salesforce. Easy, right? Now on to the good stuff—

If your Experience is set up to allow clients to enter data about themselves or their organization then you will likely be asking constituents for both basic information and various kinds of files—certifications, organization documentation, bank statements, etc.

This type of information is most commonly derived from a loan, grant, or support program application portal. Guiding individuals through an application process in an Experience is exactly what it was built to do, but there are quite a few pain points throughout the process, including requesting documents. 

Out of the box, once a file is uploaded into the system there is no easy way to tell what its contents are anymore. It could be a pdf of a certification or Grandma’s Thumbprint cookie recipe; you just don’t know. From an organizational and efficiency standpoint, it is an untenable situation that requires a seemingly unnecessary and elaborate process or an alternative solution.

This is where FirmWorks Files comes in. With FWF, you can set up automated naming conventions and tagging for files, which allow you to easily see, search, and sort all of your uploads once in the system. By using the FWF configurable upload button, you can predetermine which files clients upload from your experience and add metadata to them at the same time!

Beyond making document content visible so you can see which files you DO have, it is also useful in many cases to understand which documents you DON’T have. With the base package, it’s difficult for an applicant within the system to see when a document(s) is missing from a process without needing to contact a member of your team.

Missing documents can lead to delays in the application process and potentially frustrated customers. By using FirmWorks Files you can combine file uploads and associated record updates and related information for both the Experience members and internal users. The ability to trigger a process automation like this at file upload is a huge boon for the data gathering process.

Some Experiences exist to allow your internal support members, coaches, or consultants to actively interact with your customers. These collaborative processes may require customers to upload a variety of file types—video of reproduction steps, weekly result excel sheets, current process framework diagrams—not just pdfs or word documents, but ANY file type. Unlike the standard Salesforce File, FWF not only allows you to upload whatever file type you require, but also a multitude of files simultaneously, with metadata, and without having to upload duplicates that will inevitably and unnecessarily consume excessive amounts of storage. 

Collaborative processes can cause further frustration when a client doesn’t upload the required data for a meeting prior to that meeting. This is another box ticked by FWF, which can leverage its file reporting software to trigger events based on missing documents, sending those individuals emails and reminders about upcoming meetings, any missing documentation needed for discussion, as well as updating them on their overall status within the process.

These kinds of updates keep everyone involved with the process on task, on time, and abreast of any potential snags before they escalate to problems.

Another situation that could potentially arise with an Experience is when a client needs information from you and your company. These requests can eat away at the time and brain space of internal employees as they can consist of time sensitive materials—statement of benefits, transcripts, company product white papers, data sheets—that could potentially prolong or delay the process. Yes, in some cases these documents could be hosted on the company website, but, contingent on the content, others may require authentication to access the information.

FWF can support this in a couple of different ways:

• By automatically creating and limiting document sharing, this way individuals can only download what they need from the portal.

• If the documents cannot be made readily available in the portal, you can set up a request action to allow that user to request that information, which can subsequently be sent to them via email.

• The best practice, and our preferred method, is using public links with passwords, which allows you complete control of that information, maintains security, and avoids pesky email attachment size restrictions.

Experiences and Files go hand-in-hand. Acknowledging that one comes with the other and planning for it will make your users and clients happier. Combining that mindset with FirmWorks Files can help you make a seamless Experience for your users regardless of your business vertical.

Whether you have an existing experience or are considering building a new one, don’t overlook how you approach Files. If you don’t want to spend the brain power considering  how to handle files, let us do it for you! You can also try FirmWorks Files yourself and see how our native solution can provide you a better Experience with Salesforce. visit the AppExchange to start a free trial today.

With so much happening in your Salesforce environment, many users fail to realize the number of clicks performed daily. Salesforce makes a heroic effort to provide their users with tools to make their workday easier. 

From Apps and Page Layouts to Flows and Apex, nearly every tool is Salesforce is there to streamline or automate a manual process. 

So, why are Flows one of the best options for enhancing a user’s daily workflow?

Not only do flows guide a user through the data points and important aspects of interacting with Salesforce records, but they also ensure data integrity is maintained. 

Flows are a tool provided to Salesforce administrators and developers that allows a declarative UI for building automations with no code. There are a few different types of flows used every day.

Screen flows are a great way to present users with an interface for guided interaction through data. A screen flow uses screen elements to allow an administrator to display data to a user as part of their interaction with a record. Before and after, the admin has access to all the normal flow tools that allow them to interact with data outside of the user.

One individual may build a flow to allow a user to create a new record from a parent record and create all the associated connections to other unrelated records at the same time, all in a single click. 

Alternatively, someone may use a flow to pull in documentation from a few different objects to attach to an email and allow the user to select to whom they send it. 

There are also flows that fire without any user interaction. Record Triggered Flows happen when a change in the system meets criteria set up by the administrator, then sets values, creates records, enforces sharing, or any number of other actions. This all takes place as the user updates or creates new records.

These flows are incredibly useful when you need to make sure certain teams are assigned work when records change. For example, when a User on the sales team changes an opportunity’s stage from qualifying to quote generation, this might mean the Legal team needs to check the quote terms and prepare an MSA or other legal document. With a record-triggered flow, users can simply automate the creation of a task for the appropriate persons when the sales stage is updated.

A scheduled flow is one that is triggered by a specified date and frequency, usually daily, weekly, or monthly.

For example, a scheduled flow can delete or deactivate sales inquiries after a certain date has passed by changing the status of a lead or case to “closed”. You can set up a scheduled flow to run daily that looks at the last interaction date and if it is ten days in the past, the flow can close the case and send a case-closed email.

Platform Events are a more advanced feature, but incredibly powerful little objects that trigger just like a normal object, but they run asynchronously with the process that created them. 

At a high level, Platform Events allow you to create a process that can run outside of the constraints around flow limits but with their own context. For a deeper dive into what platform events are check out this article from Salesforce Ben.  

For example, use Platform Events to get around mixed DML Errors. Mixed DML is when you try to interact with an Object, like a Contact, Account, or custom object, during the same process as interacting with an Administration Object (Permission Set or Managed Package Licenses). 

Let’s say you have a record-triggered flow that creates a new user when a new employee has been moved from Interview to Hired status. In this case, you can create a new user but need to separate the assignment of permission sets or licenses needed to a separate process. You can pass information on the new user into a platform event and have that assign the permissions sets and licenses to separate the DML.

Flows are a powerful tool that allow admins to simplify their users’ lift. 

But how do Flows interact with Salesforce Files and what are the limitations?

You may not have realized it, but Salesforce Files are objects just like any other in salesforce, or pretty darn close anyway.

Files have fields we can create on them to add additional information. They can be obtained with Salesforce Object Query Language (SOQL) and displayed on a page layout. Each of these things makes it seem like they would behave just like any other object in most scenarios but unfortunately, that is not the case.

Unlike most Objects, Files are not reportable in any of the Dashboards or Report UI that allow many other objects to be easily tracked. They also don’t get shared the same way other objects do. File sharing is purely based on what object they are linked to and how those objects are owned.

Like most of the implementation around files, the way they Interact with Flows feels unfinished.

While you can interact with Files using Get, Create, and Update elements, you can only do this with certain file objects in certain cases. Additionally, you can’t fire a Record-Triggered flow when a file is created or updated, which poses a huge problem for folks using files to drive their processes.

Enter FirmWorks Files.

Our tool was built specifically to provide users with a way to easily discover files and organize them with tags.

In addition, another key feature allows an admin to hook into Files getting created and updated called File Events.

FirmWorks Files File Events allow you to create Platform Event-Triggered flows based on a file creation, update, or deletion. This is a powerful feature for automating document-driven processes.

Once configured, a File Event will be published (created) and users can hook into those using Platform Event-Triggered Flows to see information like who uploaded the file, enforce naming conventions based on how the file tags upon upload, connect files to other objects, and more.

A common use of these features is when a sales user uploads a signed NDA to a new opportunity as part of the prospecting or closing process. This File may also be used for future opportunities the sales rep opened with the Account. Using File Events, we can make sure any NDA uploaded to an opportunity that is not a renewal, will also get attached to the account. In the future, the user can use a Record-Triggered flow to attach the Existing NDA to any new opportunities created for that Account.

Another interesting use case for Files Events is updating record values when a certain file is uploaded. Since you can’t report traditionally on Files, you need fields on another object to represent those files in a report. Using File Events, you can trigger an update on parent records to reflect what documents were previously uploaded. 

This is helpful in real estate closing processes where there are hundreds of documents involved in real estate deals, but a specific subset of those are needed to ensure closing runs smoothly. 

When a document is uploaded with a tag specific to closing, we can mark that on the Property object to show that we have the Construction inspection, Buyer’s financials, et cetera. Then realtors can report on which Properties are ready to close and which ones are missing information.

File Events is a feature of FirmWorks Files and there is no additional cost to using it. Our goal with this application is truly to make files more functional and allow them to be used like any other object in a flow.

The parity is an important part of making sure all your orgs process works together and make your users successful.

If you want to try FirmWorks Files with File Events, install a free trial of our product from the AppExchange and email use about your interest in File Events.

FirmWorks recently launched our System Integrators (SIs) Partnership program in which we offer 10 FREE FirmWorks Files licenses to Consulting Partners to resource them with a simple yet powerful tool to solve their clients’ file-related pain points, streamline Salesforce implementations, and get projects to market faster. After countless conversations with Salesforce Consultants, we found that a comprehensive tool that solves most of their file-related problems just does not exist. Across the board, our consulting partners have struggled to find a solution that could:

• Locate and organize files that have been uploaded via numerous client processes
• Report on Files that are part of compliance and other processes
• Share files internally and externally without use of an off-platform storage solution

Working with files in one capacity or another is just a part of the job for many Salesforce users and business types. With the many limitations to Salesforce Files out-of-the-box, we created a solution that makes document management, file sharing, tagging, reporting, and more a breeze with the addition of FirmWorks Files. Not convinced that this partnership makes sense for you? Read on to learn about eight times SI’s used FirmWorks Files to solve a client issue and improve an implementation.

TO LOCATE A MISSING CLAIM—

Have you ever had a client tell you they added a file to Salesforce but could not tell you exactly where or when they uploaded it? Or they couldn’t remember what the file was named? Yeah, we have too. Recently, a consultant mentioned that their client in the insurance industry was struggling with file location. After the client added a customer’s insurance claim to a case, then went back to locate it at a later date, the claim was nowhere to be found. We discussed FirmWorks File’s search function and how easily it allows users to sift through thousands of documents using tags, relevant dates, and even searching the document’s content to find needed files. We provided our customer with a simple fix to their client’s frustrating issue, saving countless hours of monotonous searching, and positioning the consultant as the expert they are!

WHEN FILE SHARING IS CARING—

For many Salesforce users, File Access is hard to understand. I’ve lost hours trying to determine why one user could see a file while another user on the same record could not. On separate (panic-inducing) occasions, I’ve run into access issues of the opposite kind where users in our Experience could view private documents they were certainly not supposed to. Preventing access issues is a big deal in many industries and organizations and one that FirmWorks Files addresses in a big way. With default sharing, users never have to worry about the sharing settings on important documents or who has access to what. Users set default values for the processes that allow end users to upload files without worrying about anything else! This can be especially helpful in compliance, human resources, finance, and other scenarios where clients need a surefire way to safeguard file sharing and access.

WHEN EXTERNAL FILE STORAGE ISN’T THE BEST SOLUTION—

Many of our clients use external file storage solutions like Google Drive and One Drive for storing files in bulk, like product specs, marketing documents, photo galleries, and more. Not only does this convolute processes and create the need for users to go off platform to locate and download documents they need, but it also increases room for errors like unapproved file versions, accessibility issues, and difficulty relating files to specific accounts and records. With FirmWorks Files, users can just as easily and securely share public links to their documents stored on-platform, keeping everything and everyone in one place. In a recent demo, we shared a document link with a customer using the Public Links feature to allow us both to walk through the same document without traveling off platform or downloading versions locally. In addition, using a flow, we helped another client send out a set of public links for numerous other products the client requested— all secured with passwords, allowing the client to control who could access the documents externally!

MAKE CONNECTIONS FOR SUCCESS—

File Sharing isn’t just about allowing users direct access to documents. It’s also about ensuring they show up when and where needed. Our org, for example, requires a Master level NDA to be in place for our sales teams to move forward with the sales process. We also require our implementation team to have an SOW before they can log time to tasks for a customer. Historically, both cases required our team to upload documents multiple times in various places, wasting time on excess clicks and leaving room for potential errors. With FirmWorks Files, users can set up automation to create document links between their most important files and the records they need to be viewed on. Additionally, with the Entity Sharing feature, users can easily control how their files are utilized without losing time to multiple uploads or hundreds of clicks!

TO STREAMLINE COMLIANCE—

For many industries, there are rules that necessitate certain documents be in place for processes to happen. From construction permits to IRS documents, most organizations operate under the thumb of compliance on some level. I recently worked with a client org that was missing many tax documents on their deal records in Salesforce—not a great position to find yourself in when held accountable by the government! Fortunately, FirmWorks Files saved the day by implementing an automation that alerts their team when tax documents are missing. We began by using File Reports to generate a list of deals that were out of compliance due to missing tax documents. Then, we created a Salesforce Flow to send emails to the owners, notifying them of the closed deals without the appropriate compliance paperwork. Additionally, we added notifications to deal pages that notify their team when the record is missing important documents— saving them from negative feedback when the finance team internally audits them!

WHEN YOU NEED TO SEE IT—

Our Customer Success (CS) team sifts through many files every week. Customers send images, videos, gifs, and more when they are trying to help us figure out the root cause of the case they submitted, and sorting through all these docs can become a management migraine. FirmWorks File’s Content Viewer component allows our CS team to easily navigate through page previews of customers’ files, showing them the names of the files on tabs for easy identification. This isn’t your traditional preview either— the team can easily view and click through files in a slideshow and delete unnecessary files (like email signature headers) on the fly. With File Configurations, we can filter our file settings to show the CS team’s specific files as needed instead of all the files at once. For example, users can select a view that shows only videos and gifs from customers to quickly identify cases they could close easily after watching a reproduction step video.

TO AUTOMATE—

Let’s face it— sometimes, people get caught up in the rush of getting things done and checking boxes and forget to follow processes. And that, my friends, is why automating even the small things makes a big impact. We want our users to give as much information on the files they upload as possible, but overwhelming them with options is a surefire way to get them to provide no context at all. File Configurations allow users to set up default tags for specific documents and different file upload buttons for each use case. For example, our guest users uploaded resumes and files to open positions in our portal. Using File Configurations, we were able to pair down the questions we ask them on upload to get the most meaningful information and set specific tags labeling the document type the user uploaded (resume, proof of citizenship, identification, etc.) based on which button they clicked, instead of relying on them to tell us.

TO SIMPLIFY FILE EXTRACTION—

When working with our audit team, we often need data extracted from a document. Without leveraging Optical Character Recognition technology, or scanning a document for keywords, our org relies on the contract team to look through documents to extract essential data. Previously, this was done on a custom Salesforce record. But, not having records associated with the file meant that we had to clone the record anytime it needed to be associated with a different parent. FirmWorks Files’ tagging feature allows us to make sure all of the fields we need to extract from MSAs and NDAs exist in our Salesforce system for use in File Reporting and to notify the appropriate person of upcoming contract expirations, contracts with termination clauses or when we need to change terms bilaterally. If file use and management are a headache in your business or something you’d appreciate simplifying, automating, or otherwise improving, FirmWorks Files may be the solution for you. Contact us at sales@getfirmworks.com and allow us the privilege of helping you maximize the functionality of your Salesforce Files.

Salesforce and file storage have always had a rocky relationship.

Historically, adding new files to your org was an extremely limited functionality in Salesforce. Documents are an integral part of storing information in a CRM, so stunting the CRM content by not fully supporting the addition of documents was not ideal. But darkness always comes before dawn, and files are the light of the future!

WHICH IS “BETTER”— SALESFORCE FILES OR ATTACHMENTS?

Many industry experts and gurus have argued that Salesforce Files is superior and more functional to Notes and Attachments, and I think our friends over at Salesforce Ben said it best, “Don’t get stuck in the past; Files are the future, and the future is here.” If you’re just hearing about Salesforce Files for the first time— welcome to the future! Files allow us to version documents, share them with groups, and facilitate external links with expiration dates and more. They can be referenced in chatter to facilitate easier communication references between records in the system. And despite their heavy crossover with Salesforce Lightening, Files can also be used in Salesforce Classic, though with lesser functionality.

THE LIMITED FUNCTIONALITY OF SALESFORCE ATTACHMENTS

There are very few reasons to choose Salesforce Attachments over Salesforce Files— Salesforce Attachments have less storage than Files, with 25 MB compared to 2 GB, respectively, and Attachments do not support versioning and can only be downloaded and viewed. Additional comparisons between the two can be seen in the Salesforce Documentation here, but suffice it to say, if your organization does not regularly use documents or need the additional support of Salesforce Files, attachments may be easier to just pick up and go.

DO MORE WITH SALESFORCE FILES

Unfortunately, Notes and Attachments is being, “superseded and replaced” by Salesforce Files, and any new org will start with the new architecture. But fret not, our friends, Salesforce Files can be used with many distinct functions that make it easier than before to ensure everything you need is in one place. Do you have files located in OneDrive or Google Drive? Then Files Connect may be a wise choice for you. This tool allows you to upload and preview files from external systems as part of the file upload process. In addition, these files are represented by data in your system, so they behave like real files.

USE YOUR FILES AS EMAIL ATTACHMENTS

Files appear as attachments accessible from the email front end in Chatter. They are also accessible from APT and Flows to allow admins and developers to set up Content Document-based attachment lists for users to choose from before they send or automate, as part of the normal business processes.

FILE SHARING WITH SALESFORCE FILES

Are you concerned about who can see your files? Worry not! Salesforce Files allows you to share a multitude of ways. Internally, you can use Salesforce out-of-box object sharing via profiles, roles, and rules like normal. When a file is uploaded, Content Document Links are created to allow you to have a single file referenced in multiple places, saving storage space in your org. If you need to share a file externally, look no further than Public Links. Public Links allow you to share files with anyone anywhere, set passwords for secure access, and even set expiration dates if you want to make the files terminable based on date. Are the attachments related list, page layout, general settings, or reporting for documents getting you down? Unfortunately, the buck stops there for out-of-box Salesforce Files functionality, but The Appexchange has your back! There are tons of great tools, both free and paid, that you can install to make file management a more bespoke experience. Let’s delve into one right now!

DO THE MOST WITH FIRMWORKS FILES!

FirmWorks Files is our Salesforce native tool, available in The Appexchange, that allows users to customize the upload files experience and facilitate the organization and visibility of those files.

TAGGING

Our tagging LWCs (lightning web components) utilize custom fields, or tags, created by you to help provide context to the files you upload. No more set it and forget it. Allowing your users to click a button to unlock a fully curated file upload experience allows for fewer instances of human error. In addition, the tags are automatically set, so the attached files have context immediately.

VISIBILITY

Our visibility LWC’s enable customization of the interface where users interact with files. From discovery to taxonomy, these components give your end users the perfect way to interact with and view all files important to you and your company.

REPORTING

Our reporting LWC’s make auditing your org’s files a breeze. Have you ever wondered if you were missing essential files? How would you identify missing files using the salesforce front end as is? Usually, it would require extensive SOQL or Apex code knowledge. File reporting is a declarative feature that allows you to choose an object type you want to identify files for and select file types, file size, and any number of other tags to determine if files exist or, more importantly, if they are missing.

AUTOMATION

Furthermore, FirmWorks Files’ automation tools allow you to schedule your file reports to ensure issues are identified long before they result in costly downtime, fines, or lawsuits. Read more about compliance reporting with FirmWorks Files, here. It is important to remember all this functionality is only available because Salesforce Files allows for a more complex and interactive Salesforce docs experience. So, if you are still debating between Salesforce Attachments or Salesforce Files for your organization’s needs, remember that you cannot achieve the same level of complexity in your document management with Attachments. For a free 30-day trial of FirmWorks Files, visit us on The Appexchange. If you have questions about specific features or how you could leverage FirmWorks Files in your org, get in touch with us here.

August is coming to a close, the temperature seems stuck on ‘broil’, and the back-to-school slog is in full swing. Now seems like the perfect time to reflect on the summer Salesforce events we’ve attended.

In August, we attended Midwest Dreamin’ and WITness Success in Minneapolis. These back-to-back community-led, community-hosted events are designed to bring hundreds of local Salesforce users together for a few days of learning, networking, career development, and more.

Midwest Dreamin’

Midwest Dreamin’ is an excellent alternative to the global phenomenon that Dreamforce has become in San Francisco.

Instead of Dreamforce’s superfluous glam and glitz, and 180,000+ attendees trying to see everything you want to … oh … and the Foo Fighters, Midwest Dreamin’ is perfectly poised as a smaller scale, regional Dreamforce of sorts, which featured on-point session content (AI, DevOps, Nonprofit Cloud, Admin/Architect Best Practices, etc.), a fantastic roster of Fortune 500 attendees, and a more intimate, professional, and attendee-focused environment that we found incredibly advantageous.

Why did we like the smaller scale so much?

Quite simply, it is the quality of the networking and subsequent conversations had over the quantity of conversations to be had at a larger production, which could end up lost in all the noise of the event. As sponsors AND attendees at Midwest Dreamin’, we had the opportunity to connect and have meaningful dialogs with Salesforce Celebs and Influencers, community MVPs, other app developers, consultants, and more.

It also allowed our team to discuss different products in the ecosystem in greater detail and hear some incredible outside-the-box use cases for products, including our own, that we might not have heard or seen otherwise.

As with any event of this kind, and, honestly, most things in life, time was a factor.

Sessions hit all the right notes with respect to subject matter and focus, we just wish we had more time to fully engage with the material and presenters.

Would having fewer sessions and allowing more time to present and answer questions resolve that issue? Maybe. But it might also provide a much narrower content variety and appeal to a smaller crowd.

We found Midwest Dreamin’s attendee pool to be a broad spectrum of experience levels, career focus, industry, and otherwise. We spoke with everyone from entry-level admins to tenured consultants, Salesforce app developers, and more. It was a fairly technical crowd.

All in all, we enjoyed the opportunity for some of our local team to network and grow with other Salesforce users in their area. We found the Midwest Dreamin’ organizers struck a nice balance and put on a quality event that we anticipate sponsoring and attending again.

WITness Success

Piggy-backing on the tail-end of Midwest Dreamin’ was WITness Success, a one-day Salesforce Women in Tech (WIT) career development event planned in the same venue.

Since the events were co-located, and empowering and supporting Women in Tech is a passion and mission of ours, we decided to check it out. While some attendees and presenters were the same, the tone was considerably different.

For WIT, the speakers and sessions were geared more toward personal and professional development within the Salesforce community, with a focus on female empowerment.

With this smaller event, our conversations throughout the day were high quality, with more time to answer questions and cultivate relationships. We found the audience less technical and targeted overall, with more consulting firms, business coaches, and Salesforce admins.

It was a great experience to be a part of this intelligent, driven, and empowered group of women striving for success and raising the bar in the Salesforce ecosystem.

At both events, we hosted a Demo Jam to showcase our native Salesforce App, FirmWorks Files. A Demo Jam is a super quick speed-demo in which participants have exactly 3-minutes to introduce their brand and demonstrate to the audience how their product works in action.

While we did not take home the trophy, we found both audiences interested and engaged, and we enjoyed the opportunity to introduce a product we have worked so hard on.

With Midwest and WIT done, it is time to continue the march west for Mile High Dreamin’ and then the Foo Fighters … I mean Dreamforce.

Steward Butterfield, co-founder of Slack, said, “There’s a lot of automation that can happen that isn’t a replacement of humans but of mind-numbing behavior.” We often hear about automated processes and automation tools and wonder if the robots will win in the end. But at the end of the day, no one wants to sit around and click the same button thousands of times a day. In this article, we will discuss meaningful ways to automate business processes in Salesforce to streamline workflows, reduce errors and manual output, and improve overall efficiency and functionality inside your org.

AUTOMATING THE BORING STUFF WITH SALESFORCE WORKFLOWS

Workflow Automation can help us optimize processes, improve the functionality of our day-to-day workflows, and apply business logic to determine which tasks need our focus and which we can automate to reduce our manual output and provide more long-term value to our organization. Another essential thing that automation can support is adherence to business processes. With workflow actions, we can automate simple processes to make sure these processes follow the required steps each time, and nothing slips through the cracks. For example, a business might want automation in place for lead follow-up to ensure the same steps are taken each time. You can automate a process so that each time a new lead comes in, an email alert is delivered to the correct team, an outbound message is sent to the lead, task assignment is automated, and so on. Automation can allow business processes, common routing, and standard operating procedures to drive decision-making. For example, whenever we convert a lead to a prospect, we may also want to assign that new prospect to a sales user for our organization. When the lead is logged, it has a location associated, allowing us to assign the appropriate salesperson to the new prospect. Additionally, we may need to create a new NDA for the customer to sign as part of our sales process. Knowing the information about the processes and records involved allows us to fully automate this lead conversion process so a business development rep can convert a lead, and everything else happens automatically.

SALESFORCE’S AUTOMATION TOOLS

When we overlay this concept onto the Salesforce ecosystem, we can allow our day-to-day work to drive automation. Salesforce provides many options for automation, but Salesforce Flows and Custom Apex code are the Kings of Salesforce automation tools. (Formerly, Salesforce workflow rules and process builder used to be the popular tool, but going forward, those older versions of automation will no longer be supported.) Custom Apex Code is currently a supported solution for automation using Apex Triggers. Apex requires a developer but has many options to allow users to interact with external systems via API integrations, create or modify thousands of records simultaneously, and even streamline processes for complex relationships that span multiple objects. The best option for automation in Salesforce is Salesforce Flows, the no-code declarative solution for business automation needs. Flows can establish naming conventions for newly created records, automate field updates on the related records when a parent record has been updated, and even clone records and their children. Screen flows guide users through a process, while scheduled flows ensure data is up to date when a user logs in for the day. Salesforce Flows are extremely powerful.

AUTOMATING MORE THAN RECORDS

Continuing the lead conversion workflow example, it is not uncommon for teams to want to create, send, or even request documents (like NDAs) as part of any automation process. Documents are a huge part of how most organizations translate information to customers and agree to version terms or engagements, and generating documents as part of automation is supported by most of the document generation apps on the AppExchange. Formstack, for example, has an invokable method that can be called from a flow to generate a document and perform many kinds of post-generation actions. Numerous document types can be generated for various use cases as part of an organization’s standard business practices.

• MSAs must be established before a sale can be completed to close an opportunity.
• You may need to generate an invoice or a receipt to track and recognize revenue or validate services rendered.
• You may want to generate a lease agreement as part of a contract negotiation for real estate, or
• A business might want to pre-fill various aspects of tax documentation for a client.

There are endless use cases for document generation as part of a business’s workflow.

THE AFTERMATH OF FILE CREATION AUTOMATION

Once a document is generated as part of process automation, we can further automate the organization of the document by setting field values on the created document. These values can represent anything about the document that we want to use as part of the file’s taxonomy. We can search, organize, and even report on these values to better understand the types of files our automated processes create the most. Using a tool like FirmWorks Files, we can increase the number of ways we can leverage the automation of our documents and files. FirmWorks Files’ File Events feature allows automation to occur whenever a file is updated. The three principal areas that can be automated are:

WHEN FILE LINKS ARE CREATED:

When a file is generated, it is linked to the user who generated it. When this link is created, the File Events feature can hook into this event and create further automation. For example, if a consulting company generates an SOW for a customer account, we may also want to share that file with the project created for the consulting team to track their progress. We can use a platform event-triggered flow to take in the File Event and use the newly created link to the account to share the file with the groups and records for that account. Each of these immediate actions is automated once the SOW is generated or signed, requiring no extra labor from the team. Furthermore, using the specific rule criteria can limit the account types this automation fires on, accommodating different business processes for other accounts the consulting firm works with.

WHEN THE FILE ITSELF CHANGES:

When a File gets an updated version, we can also use File Events and FirmWorks Files’ invokable methods to streamline some cool stuff. Imagine you work at a company that uses a Salesforce Experience. On that Experience site, you provide your customers with White Papers and Spec Sheets for your product and offerings to consider working with you. You allow site visitors to download these files via a public link from your internal files. The main problem is whenever you update your files for the site, your Salesforce administrator must manually change the links. Using FirmWorks Files, you can create a new rule that will fire a flow to generate a new public link and update the source on the site anytime your marketing or legal team updates the documentation. You upload the new file, and BOOM, your links get regenerated, so only the new documentation can be downloaded from your site. These kinds of immediate actions protect the company from pushing misinformation and offer customers the most up-to-date information.

WHEN A FILE’S TAGS ARE UPDATED:

Tagging files allows users to interact with their files like regular salesforce objects. For example, the proposal process could have file tags to represent the proposal’s status, the last person who reviewed it, and notes. The initial draft would be marked as a draft, with the previous reviewer and notes left blank. As the draft goes through review, each time a user adds notes, they’re added to the existing notes, and the last reviewed user will be updated. Once the draft process is complete and the proposal has made it through the approval process, the proposal can be sent for customer review and signature, and the status updated to “send for signature” as part of the sending process. This will also set the proposal’s ‘sent to’ email and contact name in the note fields. Finally, once the proposal is signed, the status will update to ‘signed’, and the file can be changed to view only status to limit the user’s interaction with it.

AUTOMATING COMPLIANCE WITH FILES

So you’ve begun auto-generating and tagging all your documents as part of your standard business processes; now what? FirmWorks Files also accommodates various use cases for automatically setting file security and updating public links without involving your salesforce admin. And a personal favorite feature, Compliance Reporting. Once we have a standardized process for generating files, we can use the generated or, even better, not generated files to help us improve our business processes. In other words, as part of your compliance process, you can report which files (think contracts, NDAs, etc.) are missing or still need a signature. Or, you can automate reporting to show contracts expiring in the next 60 days. Once the report is generated, we can automate action on those records. For example, the HR team might want to see who in your org is up to date on security training courses based on their last uploaded certificate. You can run a report to see which user records have a security certificate with an expiration date older than today. Next, you can schedule a report using a FirmWorks Files flow to automate action for the records in the results list of that report. Create a task for users to retake the training and provide the link, or create a task to email the Security training company to set up a new appointment for the whole company to go through training again together. Automating administrative follow-up like this frees up time for HR personnel to focus on more pressing tasks.

AUTO-MAGICALLY, A BETTER BUSINESS APPEARS!

Automation may be scary initially and make people feel like they are not doing enough. However, moving your team’s day-to-day workload away from mundane and repetitive tasks to focus on more meaningful work can improve a business. Automation can improve efficiency, streamline business processes, reduce manual error, save time, and more. Automation can make a stark difference in the effectiveness of your organization’s compliance and processes when it comes to generating, tagging, and reporting on essential documents in your business. FirmWorks Files is a huge part of making file-based automation happen inside your Salesforce org. From Automatically tagging documents as they are created to automating compliance reporting and many things in between, FirmWorks Files can help your document automation transition succeed. FirmWorks Files trials are free to install from the Salesforce AppExchange if you want to see how File Reporting can be integrated into your compliance reporting processes today!

Salesforce Files are a powerful Salesforce feature that allows users to store, share, and manage documents and other files in their Salesforce org.

Salesforce Files are different from Salesforce attachments, the feature which allowed users to store files in Salesforce previously. Attachments are linked to a single specific record, for instance, an account or an opportunity. Attachments have limited functionality and storage space.

On the other hand, Salesforce Files are independent objects that can be related to multiple records and accessed from various places in Salesforce. File storage is relational to the CRM records, providing another level of important, inferred context.

Salesforce Files also have more features and capabilities, such as versioning, previewing, commenting, and collaborating. Keep reading to explore how and why Salesforce Files are useful for your business.

BENEFITS OF USING SALESFORCE FILES

A key benefit of leveraging Salesforce Files is enabling users to store all files in one place and access them from anywhere.

You can upload files of many file types from your computer, mobile device, or cloud storage service, such as Google Drive or Dropbox. Once you have uploaded or created a file, you can view it in the Files home tab, where you can see all your files and folders.

You can also find files in other places in Salesforce, such as the Chatter feed, the record detail page, or the related list.

Another benefit of Salesforce Files is allowing users to share and collaborate on files with other team members and external partners.

You can share a file with anyone with access to the record to which that file is related. You can also share a file with a specific user, group, or library. When you share a file, you can choose the level of access that you want to grant: view only, edit, or co-owner. You also receive notifications to track file views or downloads.

WHY RELATIONSHIPS MATTER

Out-of-the-box, Salesforce Files provides file access based upon a user’s record access, differing from most other security and permission settings within Salesforce.

Within Salesforce, a file and its data are stored in the object ContentVersion. A ContentDocument object represents the latest ContentVersion and is considered the header record for the file. The relationship between files and other records is stored in the ContentDocumentLink object.

It is important to note that there isn’t field-level security on the ContentDocument, ContentVersion, or ContentDocumentLink objects within Salesforce. Record-level security for files is controlled by the existence of ContentDocumentLink records that tie a ContentDocument to nearly any other record within Salesforce.

Salesforce Files are powerful, and their presence alongside records is indispensable for teams to keep up on relevant details and other information that may not fit in regular database fields.

7 LIMITATIONS OF SALESFORCE FILES

While using Salesforce Files has a lot of benefits, using it as-is can prove to be limiting. Here’s why—

1. Files are Buried Deep—

Salesforce Files require too many clicks to get to a piece of information. Updating a field on a ContentVersion record with the lightning experience can require 6-8 clicks to navigate to the file detail page, often removing the user from the record they are on and resulting in shallow adoption of field usage and tracking.

2. No Customization for Page Layouts—

Do you have accounts with dozens or, even hundreds, of files that have been maintained and curated for years? Then you better hope a solid naming convention is in place and followed. Worst case scenario, a Salesforce user would have to click and open each file preview to see which one they need and hope it is the most current. In the best-case scenario, everyone in the account’s history has properly named and stored their files making this process a long scroll rather than a wild goose hunt.

3. No Native Filtering and Searching for Files—

Salesforce’s Global Search feature does provide full-text indexing on files, which is helpful if you know the specifics of the copy in the file. But how do you find and work with files when new to a project? What if there are dozens or hundreds of files already there? It will take time and some tribal knowledge for new users to sift through and locate the files they need.

4. No File Reporting—

Salesforce allows limited reporting on the ContentDocument object; however, the ContentDocument object only provides the title field and created/last modified dates. This is hardly useful when the ContentVersion object may have multiple custom fields that capture your organization’s taxonomies, categories, and business processes. There isn’t an out-of-box way to find out which accounts have a signed MSA or, better yet, which Accounts created last quarter do not have an MSA on file. Auditing and compliance reporting against file metadata is critically important in analyzing risk for any healthy organization.

5. Limited Support for Public Link Sharing—

Public links are URL links that can be shared with external users or allow others on the team to share files. Public links are an important feature, and currently, Salesforce offers the ability to create a very limiting, single public link per file. Additionally, it is often necessary to have the links expire after a specified date or be password protected to reduce the number of people who can access and view the file. Currently, these features are not supported out-of-the-box with Salesforce Files.

6. Limited Support for Relating Files to Records—

Without automation, it requires some work and knowledge of a record, and its related parent and children records, to manually create the multiple ContentDocumentLinks to ensure that the same important file appears on all of the necessary layouts.

7. File Download Limitations—

Currently, Salesforce does not allow users to download multiple files related to a record quickly without opening each one manually to download it locally.

While Salesforce’s base implementation has some drawbacks, the good news is the framework is strong enough for 3rd parties tools to fill in the gaps.

EXTERNAL CONNECTIONS TO MAXIMIZE SALESFORCE FILES

Salesforce offers a tool called Files Connect, allowing users to store content off of Salesforce while still linking to it. Providers like Google Drive, Microsoft Sharepoint, Box.com, and others have various levels of Files Connect integrations.

Some Files Connect integrations allow file previewing and other behaviors as if the files were stored on the Salesforce platform. However, with the Files Connect technology, users cannot upload files through Salesforce directly, limiting the ability to upload files within a screen flow, capturing it from a digital experience user, and creating an unnecessary layer of abstraction.

Salesforce also provides its own AppExchange, where many providers have taken to managing their Salesforce CRM content by storing the files outside of Salesforce using one of many external tools and integrations.

Due to the lack of native functionality around reporting, auditing, and compliance built into Salesforce Files, many Salesforce administrators do not see the value of storing files alongside their respective records and have adopted an external file storage solution.

If users can’t easily tag, organize, categorize, and provide the taxonomical metadata that exists with files – there is no need to have them in the system.

So what can Salesforce users use to bridge this gap?

HOW FIRMWORKS FILES BRIDGES THE GAPS IN SALESFORCE FILES AND EXTERNAL FILE STORAGE SOLUTIONS

Our Salesforce AppExchange listing, FirmWorks Files, addresses all of the aforementioned shortcomings of the current Salesforce Files experience by providing multiple lightning components offering users the ability to curate file lists and view files directly on layouts, filter and search, ContentVersion field support for metadata (taxonomies), reporting through auditing and compliance, public link management, upload and download utilities and more.

FirmWorks Files aims to take all content-related objects and treat them as top-level objects, and aids in the following file life cycle:

1. Upload Documents—

FirmWorks Files provides configurations to ensure that as files are uploaded into the Salesforce instance, their ContentVersion record’s fields are appropriately filled out. Administrators can let their users pick which values to fill out – or completely curate the experience by filling it out for them, increasing user adoption.

2. Quickly and Easily Edit File Details for Existing Documents—

What if there are already thousands of documents in the system? FirmWorks Files provides a data entry view to quickly mass-update documents to aid users going forward.

3. Page Layouts and Views—

FirmWorks Files keeps page layouts organized and cuts through the clutter. Users can create department-specific document tabs to reduce noise and allow sales teams to see generated quotes, legal to see signed contracts, manufacturing to see project-related documents, HR to see personnel docs, and so on. FirmWorks Files allows users to quickly and easily get the right files in front of the right people.

4. Auditing and Compliance—

FirmWorks Files has a powerful report generator that allows a power user to see which accounts do or do not have an MSA or NDA on record, or see which opportunities won last quarter had a specific sales asset. FirmWorks Files aids in the adoption of a process by ensuring digital experience users know which documents are required and provides useful onboarding links with the requests. Additionally, users can schedule reports to run monthly to ensure team members are completing the necessary behaviors and activities to keep the organizational risk to a minimum.

5. Enhanced Functionality—

FirmWorks Files aims to provide users with all the tools required to work with a file directly from the interface. This means within one location, file details, and fields can be accessed, public links can be generated, sharing with other records can be managed, content can be downloaded, and even set-up CSV information to feed into DataLoader and other data ETL tools directly from the user interface.

6. File Lifecycle Support—

By creating expiration fields on a ContentVersion and scheduling a FirmWorks Files report, Salesforce flows can be created to respond to the report events to archive and delete no longer needed files.

SAFEGUARD YOUR BUSINESS WITH FIRMWORKS FILES

Successful businesses capture and use data to analyze and make decisions. Files, in many cases, represent risks and opportunities in a business, making it critical to have a solid file management system to help guide and mitigate risks as your organization and file backlog grow.

Keeping key documents in Salesforce with the added functionality of FirmWorks Files delivers a compelling CRM file experience to truly give businesses that 360-degree view of each account.

To take FirmWorks Files on a 15-day test drive, download our free trial in the AppExchange today.

To see FirmWorks Files in action, visit us online or contact us to schedule some time to see a live demo and talk through your organization’s needs.

CHECKOUT MORE SALESFORCE RESOURCES BELOW:

Salesforce Notes
Salesforce Link Sharing