Salesforce Features
Winter '08 Release
Introducing the Winter '08 Release...
Build and Run Any Application on the World’s First Platform as a Service
Introducing Force.com, the world’s only platform as a service that lets you build any application, any database, any logic, and run it all on demand on salesforce.com’s trusted, secure infrastructure.
The World’s First Multi-Category, Multi-Application SaaS Company
With Winter ’08, salesforce.com is the first company to deliver multiple categories of applications on demand. Built on the Force.com platform, Winter ’08 delivers the future of on-demand today, with new levels of usability, CRM functionality, and innovative new applications.
Introducing the Winter '08 Release...
Build and Run Any Application on the World’s First Platform as a Service
Introducing Force.com, the world’s only platform as a service that lets you build any application, any database, any logic, and run it all on demand on salesforce.com’s trusted, secure infrastructure.
The World’s First Multi-Category, Multi-Application SaaS Company
With Winter ’08, salesforce.com is the first company to deliver multiple categories of applications on demand. Built on the Force.com platform, Winter ’08 delivers the future of on-demand today, with new levels of usability, CRM functionality, and innovative new applications.
Force.com Metadata API enhancements
More Power and Flexibility in Configuring Salesforce
Developer Preview
- Use the Force.com metadata API to read setup configuration from any Salesforce instance
- Write setup changes to Developer Edition and Force.com Sandbox environments
The Force.com metadata API opens the door to new ways of interacting with setup and customization information for Force.com applications. This enables better developer tool experiences, team development systems, and change management processes. The Winter ’08 release offers metadata access to a subset of platform features including custom fields, custom objects, profiles, Apex code, Visualforce pages, and s-controls.
Visualforce
Create Any User Interface as a Service
- Customize the user interface for any Salesforce application
- Build new user interfaces and experiences for custom applications
- Design your own wizards
Note: Visualforce is available as a developer preview with Salesforce Winter ’08 and will not be generally available with this release. Visualforce is currently available in English only.
A breakthrough for the Force.com platform, Visualforce is a new technology that lets you design any user interface for Salesforce applications and custom applications. It’s everything a developer needs to build rich, interactive applications and user experiences for a variety of audiences, applications, and devices. With Visualforce, developers can build any user interface on demand so you’re finally free to reinvent traditional Salesforce interfaces or create new ones for your custom applications.
Security and Access Control Advancements
Secure Control for Your Data and AppExchange Apps
All Editions
- Provide AppExchange apps with selective access to data
- Control user logins based on IP address or address range
Providing the world’s most trusted and secure on-demand applications and platform is an essential value of salesforce.com. The following Winter ’08 advancements continue this industry-leading approach to access control and security.
Continue reading "Security and Access Control Advancements" »
New Campaign Reports
Enhanced Visibility into Campaign Performance
Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited Editions, Except as Noted
- Increase productivity with access to more data in one spot
- Gain greater visibility into campaign performance
- Measure campaign success through multiple report types
Winter ’08 delivers powerful new functionality for users and offers clear reporting visibility into all the new features being released. The combination of great new features and dynamic reporting will make your marketing users more effective than ever.
Apex Code
Create Any Business Logic as a Service
Included with Unlimited Edition; Available for Additional Fee with Platform and Enterprise Editions
- Quickly develop and customize applications on demand
- Create powerful business logic that runs on salesforce.com servers
Apex is the world’s first on-demand programming language, enabling developers to create and run any business logic and application on the Force.com platform. With Winter ’08, developers can extend their success with Apex and create applications more quickly with more data types, verbs, and APIs. For more information on Apex, visit the Apex Developer Network.
Case Escalation Monitor
Easy Management of Your Automated Escalations
Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited Editions
- View a real-time log of pending escalations
- Delete escalations before they happen when appropriate
With Winter ‘08, administrators can easily monitor pending case escalations, giving better insight into escalations that are scheduled to occur, when they’re scheduled to happen, and what rule triggered them. This powerful new functionality gives administrators greater control over case escalations, as well as the enhanced ability to debug case escalation rules.
Salesforce Content
Publish, share, and find all your content with a revolutionary Web 2.0 service
LIMITED RELEASE; Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited Editions; Requires an Additional Fee
- Provide fast access to the most relevant content
- Use community feedback to highlight your best quality documents
- Improve collaboration by simplifying content sharing
Salesforce Content is a new on-demand application for sharing and managing documents, presentations, multimedia files, and other business content. By tapping popular Web 2.0 features like full-text search, tagging, subscriptions, and content ratings, Salesforce Content helps users find the exact information they need. And unlike cumbersome legacy document management systems, Salesforce Content is so easy to use that your colleagues will welcome it with open arms.
Self Registration
Greater Customer Autonomy
Included with Salesforce Customer Portal
- Improve the customer service experience and customer loyalty
- Increase customer self-service and autonomy
- Improve administrative productivity
The Salesforce Customer Portal allows you to create a fully branded and personalized customer self-service experience for your customers. With Winter ’08, you can enable your customers to self-register for access to the portal, increasing administrative productivity and improving customer loyalty by increasing self-service capabilities.
Relational Business Rules
Formula-Based Rules that Span the Relational Data Model
All Editions
- Create powerful cross-object validation rules
- Incorporate relational criteria into workflow and approval rules
- Route cases for assignment based on account and contact fields
Relational business rules increase the power of formula-based logic available to Salesforce administrators. With this new feature in Winter ’08, you can define custom business logic that harnesses the power of the relational data model by referencing fields across parent-child relationships.
