Summertime & the Livin’s Easy
Yes dear readers, it’s true. Just as Jesus did with Lazarus, I am reviving this blog – and just in time to talk Summer 13! Normally, its the winter releases that I get all amped up about, but Summer 13 is packing some HEAT!
Click for the release notes
There are so many features that I want to discuss, that it was really hard to narrow it down for this post. Thankfully, I was given a chance to chat about some features on the ButtonClick Admin podcast yesterday, so I can use this post to talk about a few of the items that we didn’t have a chance to cover them.
Owner Fields – Ok, so yes, I did bring this one up first thing on the podcast, but that just how huge I think this is! Yes, I also think that I was a catalyst for this, due to my Dreamforce session in 2011 (and to really give credit where credit is due – it was Michaelforce who originally blogged about this idea). But that just goes to show you how long people have been waiting for this. Owner data is so often relevant to formulas & workflows, and now you can finally access it without coding. Hallelujah!
Approval Processes in Change Sets – In the past, I’ve written about using (or not using) your sandbox environment while creating & developing in Salesforce. And best practice dictates that using a sandbox is the right thing to do. But it was frustrating to be doing the right thing, and then to find out, you couldn’t move some elements with a change set. It was like being punished for doing the right thing. But no more! I’m super excited about approval processes being available in change sets, mostly because those are a beast to create, and having to do it twice is a pain.
Record Types in Permission Sets – I have officially become a Permission Sets junkie. Such an amazing way to keep your profile list clean & minimal. With record types now becoming available in permission sets, there is a whole new level of profile clean up (not to mention extending functionality) that I can do now. Huge shout out to Justin Edelstein for posting this one on the IdeaExchange! And if you’re a permission sets junkie – check out Justin’s product, The Permissioner, on the AppExchange.
Chatter Topics – This is going to be huge for my organization! We relaunched Chatter back in the fall, and it has become an incredible resource and tool for our organization. But with so many people Chatter-ing, users were looking for more features. Similar to trending topics on Twitter, hashtags in Chatter needed to evolve & be something more. With Summer13, Chatter Topics add in that additional functionality that my users have been wanting.
Personal Setup – On the podcast, we briefly discussed the new admin setup menu, but there’s a ton that’s coming to your end users as well. And it’s important for you to familiarize yourself with these changes, because guiding your users on how to grant login access or change their Chatter email settings has all changed. The new setup is fantastic and makes a lot of sense, but as an admin, take the time to click around in there & get comfortable with the new UI.
And with all this, I just scratched the surface of the 282 pages of release notes. Did I miss out on something that you think is huge? Post in the comments to share your favorites of Summer 13.
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