Here are the 5 steps to a successful implementation:
Organize your team
The size and scope of your rollout will determine how many resources you need. However, all project teams should include the following participants:
An executive sponsor - The project’s executive champion should participate and support the initiative from the beginning, through go-live and beyond.
One or more system administrators - This person should be involved throughout the implementation and afterward.
A project manager - This person leads the implementation and makes sure the project tasks and overall timeline are on track.
One or more power users - These users help make sure your project will meet the needs of the end users, including management. We also recommend that you use power users as first-line support.
One or more trainers - Trainers need to identify relevant materials from CRM and Cloud Computing To Grow Your Business - Salesforce.com or develop custom training materials (such as quick-reference guides).
Set realistic goals
Your Salesforce CRM implementation will be an ongoing, living process.
Define how Salesforce CRM fits into your overall corporate mission. For example, you may want to focus on collaboration or pipeline management and forecasting.
Whether you’re moving from another CRM application or simply tracking customer information in spreadsheets, you’ll already have existing data. Data always becomes a bottleneck if it’s not reviewed and cleaned early in a project.
Decide which approach best suits your business. Many enterprise customers start with the waterfall approach for the initial release and then start using a more agile approach, scheduling regular major (for example, quarterly) and minor (for example, monthly or bi-monthly) releases.
Build a project timeline
Step 2: Set up and customize Salesforce CRM
Once you define your requirements, understand your data, and choose an implementation method, you’re ready to set up and customize Salesforce CRM. We recommend you keep the initial implementation simple and use the “click-not-code” built-in configuration tools, rather than using Mobile Apps for Business: Enterprise Mobile Applications - Salesforce.com code (Apex) and the pages functionality of the Mobile Apps for Business: Enterprise Mobile Applications - Salesforce.com platform. As you get experience with the application and feedback from your users, consider how to enhance the application with those tools.
Define the security settings - Include the organization wide-defaults, roles, and user profiles. Test those settings by logging in with different roles and profiles.
Customize the application - Create custom fields, page layouts, custom objects, custom tabs, rules, and other application customizations based on the design for each requirement to meet the business needs.
Create your reports - We recommend that you start with the standard reports and customize them as needed to show the information you defined in the planning stage. You can easily customize reports to include any custom fields you need.
Step 3: Deploy Salesforce CRM
The timeline you defined in the planning stage should define the deployment phases and associated schedule.
Before loading your production data, first load all users. You can load users manually, one at a time, or with the data loader functionality. We recommend you first load all users and data in a sandbox environment before loading the final set of data into your production environment. (Unlimited Edition includes sandboxes; for all other editions, you can purchase sandboxes for an additional fee. Please contact your account executive for more information.)
If you load users with the data loader, the password notification is not automatically sent out. That’s good, because you don’t want to send out passwords until users have been trained and you’re ready for them to log in. If you add users manually, you can select whether the user is notified.
Import data
Because data is loaded at a specific time, the transition will be easier if the data load is as close to deployment as possible. Be sure you schedule enough time to map and test the data. Here’s a summary of the steps involved in importing data:
Step 4: Encourage adoption
Once you’re up and running, it’s critical to get your users on board. To do so, it’s important that you support your users, measure adoption, and encourage adoption.
Step 5: Manage releases
Once Salesforce CRM is live, a new cycle of planning begins for the next phase, as you make available new functionality to add value and respond to user requests. Release management should begin as soon as possible after the initial deployment. This approach will also let end users know that you’re addressing their needs and requests.
Salesforce Training & Implementation
- Plan and prepare
- Set up and customize
- Deploy Salesforce CRM
- Drive adoption
- Continuously improve.
- Step 1: Plan and Prepare
Organize your team
The size and scope of your rollout will determine how many resources you need. However, all project teams should include the following participants:
An executive sponsor - The project’s executive champion should participate and support the initiative from the beginning, through go-live and beyond.
One or more system administrators - This person should be involved throughout the implementation and afterward.
A project manager - This person leads the implementation and makes sure the project tasks and overall timeline are on track.
One or more power users - These users help make sure your project will meet the needs of the end users, including management. We also recommend that you use power users as first-line support.
One or more trainers - Trainers need to identify relevant materials from CRM and Cloud Computing To Grow Your Business - Salesforce.com or develop custom training materials (such as quick-reference guides).
Set realistic goals
Your Salesforce CRM implementation will be an ongoing, living process.
Define how Salesforce CRM fits into your overall corporate mission. For example, you may want to focus on collaboration or pipeline management and forecasting.
Whether you’re moving from another CRM application or simply tracking customer information in spreadsheets, you’ll already have existing data. Data always becomes a bottleneck if it’s not reviewed and cleaned early in a project.
Decide which approach best suits your business. Many enterprise customers start with the waterfall approach for the initial release and then start using a more agile approach, scheduling regular major (for example, quarterly) and minor (for example, monthly or bi-monthly) releases.
Build a project timeline
Step 2: Set up and customize Salesforce CRM
Once you define your requirements, understand your data, and choose an implementation method, you’re ready to set up and customize Salesforce CRM. We recommend you keep the initial implementation simple and use the “click-not-code” built-in configuration tools, rather than using Mobile Apps for Business: Enterprise Mobile Applications - Salesforce.com code (Apex) and the pages functionality of the Mobile Apps for Business: Enterprise Mobile Applications - Salesforce.com platform. As you get experience with the application and feedback from your users, consider how to enhance the application with those tools.
Define the security settings - Include the organization wide-defaults, roles, and user profiles. Test those settings by logging in with different roles and profiles.
Customize the application - Create custom fields, page layouts, custom objects, custom tabs, rules, and other application customizations based on the design for each requirement to meet the business needs.
Create your reports - We recommend that you start with the standard reports and customize them as needed to show the information you defined in the planning stage. You can easily customize reports to include any custom fields you need.
Step 3: Deploy Salesforce CRM
The timeline you defined in the planning stage should define the deployment phases and associated schedule.
Before loading your production data, first load all users. You can load users manually, one at a time, or with the data loader functionality. We recommend you first load all users and data in a sandbox environment before loading the final set of data into your production environment. (Unlimited Edition includes sandboxes; for all other editions, you can purchase sandboxes for an additional fee. Please contact your account executive for more information.)
If you load users with the data loader, the password notification is not automatically sent out. That’s good, because you don’t want to send out passwords until users have been trained and you’re ready for them to log in. If you add users manually, you can select whether the user is notified.
Import data
Because data is loaded at a specific time, the transition will be easier if the data load is as close to deployment as possible. Be sure you schedule enough time to map and test the data. Here’s a summary of the steps involved in importing data:
- Plan your data import
- Prepare your data
- Test the import
- Execute the import
- Validate your data
Step 4: Encourage adoption
Once you’re up and running, it’s critical to get your users on board. To do so, it’s important that you support your users, measure adoption, and encourage adoption.
Step 5: Manage releases
Once Salesforce CRM is live, a new cycle of planning begins for the next phase, as you make available new functionality to add value and respond to user requests. Release management should begin as soon as possible after the initial deployment. This approach will also let end users know that you’re addressing their needs and requests.
Salesforce Training & Implementation
