Partner Networks Blog
Partner Networks Blog - Salesforce to Salesforce
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Find and connect with partners using Salesforce.com
Oct 15, 2009Interested in finding out which of your partners use Salesforce.com so that you can connect and start collaborating on deals, leads and other business processes? With Winter ’10, customers can use the Connection Finder feature to survey their partners to find out if the partner uses Salesforce.com as their CRM system of choice.
With Connection Finder customers can:
· Send a simple branded survey to all their partner contacts
· Partners can respond with their Salesforce.com usage status
· Partners can also include details on their Salesforce.com Administrator (e.g. name, email) if they have this information
· Partner responses are captured on the partner contact record in the ‘Uses Salesforce’ field
· Customers can use this information to connect with partners who already use Salesforce.com using Salesforce to Salesforce; that is free for all our customers
Feature can be enabled by customers at the following location in setup: Setup|Customize|Salesforce to Salesforce|Connection Finder
If you have any questions, send them to: s2s@salesforce.com
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Summer '09 spotlight: Third-party service management with Salesforce Partners
Jun 24, 2009With Summer '09, Salesforce to Salesforce now supports sharing Cases and Case Comments. In Spring '09 we released Cases in the Partner Portal as well - so the Salesforce Partners product line completely supports Third-Party Service Management.
Some of the business processes supported include:
- End customer using Salesforce CRM directly logs Case with one or more vendors and service agents that also use Salesforce CRM
- Vendor shares Cases with other Vendors as well as Service agents and Resellers
- Partner logs Case with Vendor on their behalf
- Partner logs Case with Vendor on behalf of the end customer
- Sharing the same customer case with multiple stakeholders (i.e. Vendors, Resellers, Third-party service agents) and all parties receiving real-time visibility on changes to cases
The above processes can be supported using both Salesforce to Salesforce and Partner Portal. The former would be used if the stakeholder (Vendor, Partner or Customer) uses Salesforce CRM while the latter would be used if the stakeholder (Vendor, Partner) does not use Salesforce CRM. Customer portal should be used for end customers that do not use Salesforce CRM. Most use cases involve using a combination of Salesforce to Salesforce, partner portal and customer portal.
You can find more information on the Cases features on this blog
Remember, Salesforce to Salesforce is free for all customers including Group Edition. If customers have any questions or need help running a pilot feel free to contact Product Management at: s2s@salesforce.com
- End customer using Salesforce CRM directly logs Case with one or more vendors and service agents that also use Salesforce CRM
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New Summer '09 features from Salesforce Partners
Jun 10, 2009The Salesforce Partners team has delivered some key features with the Summer ’09 release. These features were a direct output of your feedback over the past few months. You can get additional details on each feature by clicking on the links below and by referring to the FAQs and Demo's available at this blog.
Salesforce to Salesforce*
Partner Portal
1. Share Cases with public Comments
2. Auto-Accept Records from Connections
3. Auto-Map Subscribed fields
4. Share auto-number fields
1. Partner Portal Administrative Tools ** * Salesforce to Salesforce is free for all editions, including Group edition
** Gold and Partner Edition only. Available in Portal 3.0
If you have any questions, send your emails to product management at: s2s@salesforce.com
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Spring 09 spotlight: Sharing Opportunity Products with Connections
Feb 27, 2009As you are probably aware, Salesforce to Salesforce now supports sharing Product Catalog and Opportunity Products with connections. Additionally, customers can automate this process using the API feature and share the same product with multiple connections (e.g. reseller and distributor) using the 1:Many feature. Sharing opportunity products is a little more involved compared to other objects. Below is a checklist that you should be aware of to successfully share Products on opportunities:
1) Parent Opportunity must be shared with the connections
2) Product Catalog must be shared with the connections (use the Products list view feature on the Products tab to select Products Catalogs to share)
3) Product Catalog must be active and also be in the price book of the target opportunity
4) Source's Opportunity currency and target's Opportunity currency should match and the product in the target's opportunity price list must also have the currency available and active
5) If the target product has schedules then Quantity and Sales Price are only inserted but never updated
6) Opportunity Product can be shared when sharing the opportunity or using the 'Manage Connections' link on the Sent Connection Name column on the Products related list on the OpportunityIf you have any questions, reach out to product management at: s2s@salesforce.com
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New Spring '09 features from Salesforce Partners
Feb 10, 2009The Salesforce Partners team has delivered some key features with the Spring ’09 release. These features were a direct output of your feedback over the past few months. You can get additional details on each feature by clicking on the links below.
Salesforce to Salesforce*
Partner Portal
1. Share Product Catalogs & Opportunity Products
2. Share records with multiple partners
3. Connection Invitation Templates
4. Automate sharing of records with API
5. Share formula and roll-up summary fields
1. Third Party Service Management **
2. Partner Service**
3. Email for Partners***
* Salesforce to Salesforce is free for all editions, including Group edition
** Gold and Partner Edition only. Available in Portal 3.0
*** Gold, Silver and Partner Edition only. Available in Portal 3.0
If you have any questions, send your emails to product management at: s2s@salesforce.com
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Impact of Salesforce to Salesforce on Validation Rules and Apex Triggers
Feb 4, 2009We've received a number of questions from customers on the impact of Salesforce to Salesforce on existing or new validation rules and apex triggers. The reality is when two companies connect their salesforce.com instances, in most cases each company has its own unique set of validation criteria and triggers. Additionally, these criteria might be looking at fields that haven't even been shared between the connected companies. Today, if a customers accepts a record from a connection and that record fails to meet validation or trigger criteria we provide a generic error message stating: 0 records accepted. It is on our roadmap to provide more useful error messages as well as log these errors in the Connection Audit so the customer can do something about it.
There is a way, however, for customers to bypass validation rules and triggers when either accepting a record from a connection or receiving an update on a connected record from the connection. The basic idea here is that we bypass these organization specific rules when first accepting the record or when a connection updates the record but these same rules are enforced if an internal user creates a new record or updates an existing record. This is how most of our customers have configured their connections. Once you make these changes - you're organization's rules will be Salesforce to Salesforce aware. It is good practice to include the tasks below in any S2S roll-out plan or when creating a validation rule or apex trigger.
Changes to Validation rules: the following should be included within an 'AND' statement with the rest of the rule
Text version:
IF(OR(ISNEW(), ISNULL(Id)), if(ConnectionReceivedId =null, TRUE, FALSE),NOT(AND(ISCHANGED(ConnectionReceivedId), NOT(ConnectionReceivedId = null)))),
NOT(Contains($User.Alias, "pnet"))
Example of Apex Trigger that is S2S aware: sample below is on Opportunities (same logic for other objects)
Apex trigger
Apex class
If you have any questions on this topic, email: s2s@salesforce.com
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Dreamforce '08 sessions around Salesforce to Salesforce
Nov 19, 2008Customers who attended Dreamforce '08 heard about some of the great momentum around Salesforce to Salesforce. You heard George Hu at the Applications keynote on Nov 4th mention that we've seen a 350% increase in the number of companies using the service and records shared in just the last three months. Based on feedback from customers we've also made the product available free of charge to ALL customers (including Group Edition) with the Winter ’09 release. So all customers can send and accept invitations and share data with other companies using Salesforce CRM at no charge.
Some of you might have attended the sessions in the Channel track. If you did you learnt first-hand from customers who are using the product to drive greater lead conversion rates. You learnt how salesforce is using the product to run joint marketing campaigns with its partners and how global Networks are forming between vendors and partners with the ultimate goal of collaborating real-time on the force.com platform. One session that received rave reviews was around Joint Selling - how Secure Computing and Fishnet Security are driving higher levels of collaboration and closing deals faster since they've started using Salesforce to Salesforce. This was a great session for any customer looking to run a pilot with their top partners. Take a listen and as always if you need any help from the product management team to kick-start a pilot, don’t hesitate to contact us (s2s@salesforce.com)
Sessions of interest:
- Joint Selling with Partners using Salesforce CRM
- Best Practices in Lead Distribution
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Free Connections for ALL customers
Oct 6, 2008
With the Summer '08 release we gave 2 free connections to all Unlimited, Enterprise and Professional edition customers. We saw a tremendous uptick in the number of connections and volume of data shared between connected companies. Based on your response, we've gone one step further with the Winter '09 release. With Winter '09, ALL customers (including Group Edition) may send invitations, accept invitations and share data FREE of charge. No limitations and no hidden costs!Below are additional links on the service...
1) Website
2) Blog
So starting today all you need to do is activate Salesforce to Salesforce using the setup link (Setup|Customize|Salesforce to Salesforce|Settings) and start sending out invitations and connecting with companies you do business with.
If you have any questions please contact your AE, CSM or send your questions to product management at: s2s@salesforce.com
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Salesforce Rebrands PRM to Partner Networks
Sep 9, 2008You might have noticed we have re-branded "Partner Relationship Management" (PRM) to Salesforce CRM Partner Networks.
The reason we did is three fold:
- Salesforce CRM Partner Networks more accurately reflects the broader value that our partnering technology provides companies
- The success of "salesforce to salesforce" has provided more choice to companies on how to connect, proving that the portal isn't the only way
- The release of Salesforce Ideas and Content for partner communities meant that "social networking" has entered the world of partnering
Transforming to your business partner relationships with unprecendented connectivity and community is what you will accomplish with Salesforce CRM Partner Networks. We are seeing companies and industries opt in to set up their own Salesforce Networks to connect with their broad range of business partners. Watch for some announcements soon and especially at Dreamforce. We have seen the emergence of insurance networks, high tech networks and even company specific networks. Salesforce Partner Networks is a great step at further helping companies realize the benefits of the network effect.
If you'd like more information about how to get started with your own Salesforce Network please visit our main product page or keep reading the blogs. We are committed to help you get the most out of your business partner relationships.
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Salesforce to Salesforce Customer Webinar Recording
Jul 11, 2008I've included the recording of today's (July 11th) customer webinar. The webinar was focused on the Summer '08 features. Our plan is to have a monthly webinar to give our customers an open forum to ask questions and learn from others who are also using the product. I'll be posting dates for the next webinar on this blog - so stay tuned. The plan is to hold our next webinar in mid-August.
If you have any questions feel free to send them to Product Management: s2s@salesforce.com
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