Custom Fields and Page Layouts
With Salesforce, creating custom fields and modifying page layouts is a breeze. Though much of this is covered in the training, here are a couple of tips to keep in mind.

• Keep it simple. Do you best to minimize the number of fields per page and organize your page layouts, grouping fields in a logical manor. Hide irrelevant tabs, making it as simple as possible for your users.
• Standardize information, whenever possible using picklists vs. free text fields for better reporting. For text fields such as opportunity name, work on standardized naming conventions.
• Setup sales stages that reflect your methodology and create assignment rules to route leads and cases to the appropriate people.
• Establish a folder structure for documents, reports, and email templates so it's not a free for all.
• It's easy to forget, but customizing tasks and activities goes a long way towards promoting user adoption.

Processes and Workflow Rules
There is a considerable amount of structure and automation you can build into Salesforce; everything from lead assignment rules, to sales stages, to case escalation rules. Work closely with your project team to ensure that their processes are accurately reflected.

Documents and Templates
As part of your implementation, work with your project team to create a folder structure for the document library and populate key materials such as forms, PowerPoint presentations, and other collateral. It’s also a good idea to add some email templates and mail-merge documents. Setting these tools up makes the application more valuable for reps and helps drive early adoption.

Users and Roles
For Team Edition customers and small implementations, this might be as easy as adding your users. For larger organizations you’ll want to setup roles, profiles, and sharing rules to ensure people see only what they are suppose to. Once again, if you can, keep it simple. The fewer roles and profiles you have the easier it will be to manage. Also, try to error towards openness. A system that’s too restrictive can impede collaboration and lead to usability issues.

Related Resources

• Administrator Training
• Engaging Professional Services