Author: Peggy Schael | Salesforce Trainer | WeLearnSalesforce
You don’t want to work with unhappy Salesforce Users! Let me explain…Everything that Salesforce Users, like Sales Reps or Customer Service Teams, see right in front of them is what we call the user interface. Salesforce Users are very sensitive to changes to their daily tasks, in particular to the way they complete them through Salesforce’s user interface. This means you want to make it as easy as possible for them. And if you don’t, they won’t be happy.
Therefore, let’s find out how the Object Manager will become your secret weapon. It even has its own tab appearance in the Setup menu because you’ll be using it A LOT.
No-Code Declarative Salesforce Development
The Object Manager is the place where Salesforce System Administrators spend a lot of time tweaking the user interface. The Object Manager is part of the so-called no-code declarative toolset. Throughout our Salesforce Certification Courses, you will learn all about the essential declarative development tools every Salesforce Administrator should be familiar with.
The Power of the Object Manager Page
Let’s explore the Object Manager to give you a flavor of how easy and effective declarative development can be. The Object Manager is your go-to page in order to manage the appearance of any of the Salesforce Objects, such as Standard and Custom Objects, including External Objects.
Here’s an example of the Standard Account Object. From the Object Manager’s Page like this one you can:
- Edit Standard Fields & add new Custom Fields for a large range of data types
- Tweak existing Page Layouts & create new Page Layouts
- Create Record Types and assign the various Page Layouts to manage different business processes
- Manage access to quick Buttons, Links and Actions
- Set up Lightning Record Pages as an extension to Page Layouts and Record Types
- Design Compact Layouts to provide quick record summaries
- Set up sophisticated Lookup Filters and Search Layouts
- Add automation with Rules and Triggers
Purpose of Business Specific Customization
Let’s look at an example of what declarative development with the Object Manager can look like:
We’ll use the Contact Standard Object. It’s there to capture data like an individual’s name, email address, mobile number and so on. These are all part of the Standard Fields provided by Salesforce out-of-the-box (OOTB). However, what if you want to save additional information like hobbies or preferred method of contact. This type of information is not provided OOTB. Therefore, you need to create a new Custom Field in order to capture these business-specific details.
And why would you care? Details like these can help get to know customers better, and build stronger relationships to turn into more successful sales opportunities.
Now it’s time to get hands-on. Because that’s what matters most. Therefore, let’s customize the user interface of the Contact’s Object together. Just open your Trailhead Playground or Developer Org and follow-along:
VIDEO TUTORIAL WALK-THROUGH SCRIPT:
- In the Setup, select the Object Manager
- Go to the Contacts object
- Let’s look into Fields & Relationships to start with – we’ll go through most of the other menu items throughout module 4
- Here you will find a list of all the standard and custom fields that are already available – some of these fields will be visible to the user through the record pages, others may be hidden and stored for history tracking or data analysis purposes
- In order to add a new field to capture business specific data, we’ll go to the top right and click New
- We’ll now select the Data Type to specify what type of information we want to capture. Let’s go with the example of capturing the Hobby. We’ll create a Text Field, so let’s select Text Area which gives you 255 characters and Click Next
- We’ll label it “Hobby” and leave everything else as is, click Next
- The field-level-security will specify which user require access to this field. You will learn a lot more about this in section 4, click Next
- We’ll add to the page layout so the users can see it right away
- Click Save
- Let’s go to a Contact to check whether the field now displays
- Go the Sales App, select the Contacts tab and the All Contacts list view
- Let’s find Sean Forbes, open and select the Details tab
- And there you go, you can now start adding Hobby details
What Else Should You Know About the Object Manager
Through the Object Manager, you can create an entirely new Custom Object manually or you can upload Custom Object details from an Excel spreadsheet. And since most Salesforce Objects are related to one another, you can use the Schema Builder to see how these Objects have been linked.
Tip: Don’t forget to give Salesforce Users access to Custom Objects through a Custom Tab or a Related List. A Custom Tab is created through the Custom Tab Wizard. Related Lists are managed through Page Layout settings or Lightning Record Page design.
Here’s where to find the Tab Wizard:
One more element I’d like to point out is tracking changes in Salesforce. This is a very important aspect of improving data integrity as well as user adoption. However, this does not happen automatically. While the tools to track changes are available, you still have to either turn them on or set them up. One of these tools is used to track field history. You have to enable History Tracking for each Salesforce Object.
As you can see the Object Manager and corresponding features are very powerful. How well you make use of all their capabilities will determine the ease-of-use of the user interface. And the easier it is, the happier Salesforce Users will be. Because…it’s all about user adoption. And user adoption plays a huge role in business success.
What type of customization through the Object Manager would you like to learn more about? Leave me a comment below.
WHAT ELSE…
This video tutorial is part of our Complete Salesforce Certification Courses. They cover everything from Salesforce Basics to advanced Salesforce features and functionalities every Salesforce professional should know about.
We provide you with different types of study materials, so you can choose what works best for you. This includes well-structured Salesforce Video Tutorials, downloadable Study Workbooks and realistic Practice Exams.
And if you are brand new to the world of Salesforce, I’d recommend to sign up to our FREE 21-Day Salesforce Beginners Challenge.