The start of a new year means new opportunities to make waves. Salesforce Partners, especially Salesforce Admins, means more unique features and improvements to look forward to from Salesforce. We have compiled in this article the things you need to know to prepare yourself for the upcoming software updates:
Salesforce delivers upgrades and improvements to their CRM software’s performance, security, usability, and logic three times per year, timed with the northern hemisphere seasons (Spring, Summer, and Winter). The company announces its updates through release notes, including a brief and high-level overview of the enhancements, setup information, tips, and best practices for seamless implementation.
The Salesforce Spring ‘22 Release Notes are the latest as of to date. The latest innovations from Salesforce deliver seamless customer and employee experiences, empowering businesses to work smarter and succeed from anywhere.
Here are two ways you can do to prepare for the upgrades:
You need to know when Salesforce will update your production instance to the latest release. While it may vary depending on your Salesforce instance, the most critical release dates are January 15, February 5, and February 12, 2022.
Make sure to test all your primary use cases in your Org before this date to ensure that everything will work seamlessly.
A Salesforce Sandbox is a copy of your organization in a different environment that you can use for testing and training. Your operations inside your sandboxes will not affect your Salesforce production organization.
Using the Sandbox, you can test your system on the new release before the upgrades commence on January 7, 2022.
You may also sign up for a pre-release org to familiarize yourself, but this will not reflect your current configurations.
Available in the Lightning Experience only, Salesforce provides you with a better look and feel, bringing Forecast Types and Forecasts Settings together so you can easily add your KPIs to the forecasting grid. Here are the benefits of having this update:
You can easily find and select the most suitable report template by using the report type selector.
This feature will display your recently used and a list of your standard and custom report types. There will also be more details about a report type, such as the maker, the objects that the report type uses, and the ability to check if a report type contains the field you need.
The Flow Builder has pretty impactful changes this time around. Flows have become one of the most vital tools for Salesforce Admins, and here are some incredible new improvements that will surely blow your minds:
Flow Trigger Explorer
Enables a System Administrator to analyze any existing Record Triggered Flows against a particular Object broken down by Fast Field Updates (Before Trigger), Actions and Related Records (After Trigger), and Run Asynchronously.
Flow Auto-Layout and Freeform Options Dropdown Choices
You can now easily select Auto-Layout and Freeform Flow Builder styles with ease. It was previously a toggle on/off, and the recent update allows you already to choose between the two.
Migrate to Flow
Salesforce Administrators can now instantly turn existing Workflow Rules into Flows.
Flow Trigger Order Priority
Flow’s most valuable feature upgrade lets you populate a Number field with a number between 1 and 2,000 so that Salesforce Administrators can prioritize the more essential Flows.
Pages that take too long to load will severely impact user adoption. The Lightning App Builder now has a new prompt that lets you identify pages with issues so you can take the necessary steps to address them.
The Einstein Search is a free AI-driven feature provided by Salesforce. Updates for Einstein Search include:
Einstein Search for Knowledge (Pilot)
Einstein Search for Knowledge gets relevant articles to your service agents and customers. It also provides them with a better self-service experience.
Adjust Natural Language Search Results (Pilot)
A user can now change how Einstein Search interprets a natural language query by selecting filters that appear at the top of the search results page. The search results are updated in real-time based on the new selections.
Use Natural Language Search with Tasks
Natural Language Search (NLS) just got better. Your users can now enter NLS queries for task objects. Enter phrases like my tasks this week or lessons with status in progress in the search box. Einstein Search evaluates the query and finds matching records.
Distinguish Similarly Named Users or Groups with Profile Images
For records that support profile images, instant results and record previews show the profile image next to the associated record. By default, people and groups support profile photos. Users can also see profile images if you enable social accounts, contacts, and leads for Twitter. You can also allow account logos to replace logos from social profiles.
Exciting times are coming as Salesforce presents us once again with more innovative features. Make sure to read the comprehensive Salesforce Spring ‘22 Release Notes. Which features are you most looking forward to?
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