This post was written by Salesforce MVP and Kicksaw Manager of Solution Architecture Janet Elliott.
So you have a Salesforce org! Congrats! Leveraging Salesforce is going to allow you and your company to do great things. Maybe it’s a brand new org bursting with potential, or maybe it’s an org that has been around for a while, and either hasn’t had a dedicated administrator or has seen several people with admin rights come and go. Either way, this Salesforce org needs some dedicated love and attention if it’s going to thrive.
You’ve identified some new initiatives, and you want to hit the ground running, but first, a word of caution for you. At Kicksaw, we frequently see clients who have identified stakeholders for the project, but also have someone doing double-duty as the Salesforce administrator. Maybe this overworked individual is a sales leader or someone in the revenue organization. Almost inevitably, the client’s assumption is that, once the features are built and optimized, this person can simply “keep the lights on” in the org.
Maybe they could…but probably they can’t. In order to get the most out of the Salesforce platform and to keep things running smoothly, you need a deeply knowledgeable Salesforce technologist on staff, and not someone who also has other responsibilities at your company. Here are some of the foundational areas this person will handle:
The only constant is change
Salesforce performs three releases each year. These releases introduce new features, fix bugs, and occasionally retire old features. Keeping up with these releases and understanding how they affect your org is a critical maintenance item that should not be neglected. To find a list of release updates in your Salesforce instance, navigate to Setup > Release Updates.
An admin should also take advantage of the published release notes and Release Readiness Live webinars. Staying on top of these resources will help an admin understand the impact of both new and retired features. Recent and future changes to Salesforce that a current admin would need to take the time to thoroughly understand include Workflow Rules retirement, Enhanced Domains, MFA, and the upcoming changes to user management.
Taking the pulse of your org
Over time, and with changes to your org, an admin needs to perform periodic assessments. There are two free tools that should be run at least every six months to check in on the health of your Salesforce org.
- Health Check takes a look at the security in your org against Salesforce best practices and provides a score.
- Salesforce Optimizer evaluates a subset of features across your org and can be set to run monthly.
Both tools provide actionable insights that can help you shore up the security in your org and optimize your use of the Salesforce platform.
What have you done for me lately?
With object and user changes over time, it’s easy to lose sight of how the fields and licenses in your org are being used. For instance, there may be fields that are unused that can be removed from the page layout to provide a better user experience. A free app called Field Pro can analyze your field usage and help identify fields for consideration. Or maybe there is a user who hasn’t logged in for the last six months, and the admin either needs to provide enablement or repurpose that license for someone else. One way to identify this is to monitor login history in the org.
These examples are only two of the long list of items that Kicksaw Salesforce admins include in all new engagement audits for our implementation clients. Additionally, we review automation, storage, permissions, and sharing. Once we’ve conducted our audits, we provide our analysis and recommendations to meet best practices. This allows us to start projects with a deep understanding of your org, and it gives us the opportunity to review the health and well-being of your org and make recommendations.
Looking for a full-time Salesforce Admin but not sure where to start? Salesforce’s Trailhead platform has an Available for Hire section, and you can search LinkedIn for Salesforce Administrators that are open for hire. Additionally, leverage your local Trailblazer Community Groups for job postings and referrals. There are many newer, credentialed Salesforce Trailblazers that can grow with your company and your use of Salesforce.
While we definitely recommend that you have someone on your staff take on the role of dedicated Salesforce Admin, Kicksaw can provide resource augmentation, as well as solutioning and build assistance, with our Admin on Demand (AOD) offering. The AOD option is exactly what it sounds like — if you need Salesforce Admin help, but only occasionally, or only during special projects such as solutioning, we can provide that extra muscle. Learn more about Kicksaw’s unique method of doing business by checking out our Methodology page, and be sure to reach out with any questions about our AOD program.
Invest in your own success
You’ve made an investment in the Salesforce platform, so be sure to keep the maintenance of your org top of mind. Additionally, invest in the people resources to not only maintain the org but to help you stay on top of the latest releases and innovations. Trust us — your bottom line, and your experience with Salesforce as a whole, will thank you.