Salesforce Spring 15 – some highlighted features

Download PDF version of release notes from here.

1. Import Account / Contact from 16 different sources (previously generic csv was only option to import).

2. Salesforce Analytics Query language (SAQL)
We already know about SOQL and SOSL. This is new Query language for Analytics cloud to enable ad hoc analysis of data stored in dataset. This is still in pilot.

3. Enhanced version of “Notes”

In this release, Salesforce has released new version of notes, which has many advantages over old like Create Standalone Notes, Relate same notes to multiple records, include bullet or numbered list, search only on notes, Create tasks from notes, Report on notes.

To enable Notes – Build | Customize | Notes | Settings | Enable Notes.

 As you can see in image3, new Notes can relate to multiple records.

4. Ability to use Macro in Case feed 

From Spring 15, support agents now can use and run Macro to complete repetitive task and save time and efficiency of call center. In Service cloud console either press “M” or click on Macro Widget by clicking Macro on lower right corner.

 5. Business continuity with Organization Sync [GA]

In case, if any organization needs to up 24×7 even during salesforce downtime, Administrator can set up secondary organization and enable Organization Sync. If primary organization is down then users will be redirected to secondary org.

6.Record type and Pagelayout for Salesforce Files and 1ok Synched file limit for Salesforce File Synch.

Salesforce Files now support Record Types and Page Layouts. Previously Salesforce File synch had limit of 2000 files and 500 folders only.

7.Emoticons now added in Chatter feed

Now, we can use emoticons in our own Chatter feeds 🙂

8. Ability to write a Trigger on ChatterMessage and more than one attachment on a post

Now we can moderate Private Chatter messages using trigger. We may use trigger to ensure that chatter messages confirm to company’s messaging policy.

Also, now we can have more than one attachment in chatter post.

9. Subscribe to receive report notifications [GA]

Your users can now sign up for report notifications, to stay up-to-date on the metrics they care about most. Subscribe to a report and set the conditions that should trigger notification. For example, subscribe to an open-issues report and get notified every morning whenever there are more than 20 open issues. Notifications are delivered right to the subscriber, via Salesforce1 notifications, Chatter, or email. Users can even specify that a custom action–defined via Apex–be triggered.

10. Now create or update records owned by Inactive users.

11. Field Audit trail is now GA.

Retain field history up to 10 years. This is different than History tracking. Field history is copied from the History related list into the FieldHistoryArchive object and then deleted from the History related list. You define one HistoryRetentionPolicy object for your related history lists, such as Account History, to specify a variety of Field Audit Trail retention policies for the objects that you want to archive, then deploy the object by using the Metadata API (Workbench or Force Migration Tool).

12. Monitor Users login and logout Activity

You can now use event monitoring to discover how often and at what times your users are logging in to and out of your organization. This capability helps you discriminate between valid and invalid login requests and track user login patterns for future reference.

When a user logs in to a Salesforce account, the activity generates a LOGIN_EVENT event log file. Similarly, the end of a user session generates a LOGOUT_EVENT event log file. A session ends either when it expires due to user inactivity or when the user logs out of Salesforce.

13. Quick Deployments

We have choice to select “Quick Deployment” in production and in most of cases deployment will finish in less than 30 mins. However, Quick deployment will be available only if below conditions met –

• The components have been validated successfully for the target environment within the last four days (96 hours).
• As part of the validation, all Apex tests in the target organization have passed.
• The overall code coverage in the organization is at least 75%, and Apex triggers have some coverage.

14. Apex Flex queue GA

Submit up to 100 batch jobs simultaneously and actively manage the order of the queued jobs to control which batch jobs are processed first. This enhancement provides you more flexibility in managing your batch jobs.

 15.  Workflow related Changes

• With the help of Lightening Process builder you can achieve many functionality which were not possible before, like
  • Workflow Actions from Parent to Child Objects
  • Creation of Any Object/ record via Workflow Rule
  • Sequential Workflows or Workflow Actions
  • More than 50 Workflow Rules
  • Changes in Formula Field Value now Trigger to Workflow
  • Graphical View of Workflow Rules and Tasks
  • Lookup field and multi-picklist field update using Workflow