Enhanced Domains, Tango, Increasing Readability...hello from Kicksaw! ??

Hello friend,

With 2022 squarely in the rearview mirror, we've spent a lot time here at Kicksaw reflecting on last year, as well as setting goals and making predictions for 2023.

2022 started like the other two years of the pandemic: totally different than the one before. In the early fall we accomplished one of our big goals, which was to bring all the Kicksaw-ers together for the very first time. Our inaugural company retreat was a smashing success, and we've got our '23 retreat on the books for May.

We were sad to see so many great tech companies make layoffs over the last couple of months, and we are doing our best to hire where we can. Currently, we have several open roles on our Careers page for folks interested in working at Kicksaw.

Financially, 2023 was a huge year for us. Top-line revenue grew over 75%, and we're expecting to grow another 50% this year. For a bootstrapped consulting firm with 70 employees, this is huge. Overall, we know there's so much work for us to do, but we're very optimistic about what 2023 will bring.

For now, please enjoy this newsletter and all the hard work our team put into it.?

~Kyle Morris,?co-founder

Solution Showcase

We're back with the second installment in our Solution Showcase series! This month, we're highlighting the Sales Process Graphic Display that Kicksaw Solution Architect?Roberto Weinstein?designed and built.?

The Sales Process Graphic Display allows the user to easily display graphics using picklist fields. In the demo, Roberto shows us how to group various fields together in a section that can display different images, a techniqe used in a version of sales methodology. This is a solution that has a variety of uses not only in the sales cycle, but anywhere you might need images displayed in Salesforce! Check out a?PDF version of Roberto's presentation,?or click here to watch a demo.?

Why Salesforce Consultants and Managers Burn Out

Kicksaw CEO?Kenny Goldman?dives into the problem of burnout in the Salesforce ecosystem, and offers a solution.

The issue of agency vs. full-time hires naturally leads into the a discussion of the prevalence of burnout in the Salesforce consulting industry.?Upon interviewing over 1000 people from either in-house roles or Salesforce consultancies, the topic of burnout seemed to be a constant. People either love their job or once did, but are coming up against unrealistic targets or expectations. This has only heightened in the pandemic as pipelines for agencies have dried up or (tech) companies revenues are slowing down. Click here to learn more.

Coming Soon to an Org Near You: Enhanced Domains

Kicksaw's Manager of Solution Architecture?Janet Elliott?is here to clear the air on what enhanced domains are, how to determine the effect on your org, and what you need to do about the upcoming deployment.?

By now, most of you have seen the yellow banner in your Salesforce org warning about the upcoming Enhanced Domain deployment. There is a lot of information floating around regarding enhanced domains, and it can feel intimidating to sit down and assess the impact and steps that need to be taken for your org.

The first thing to do, though, is understand what is changing and why. This will help you determine where impacts to your org may occur. Implementing enhanced domains is a response to web browsers that plan on restricting third-party cookies (aka cross-site resources). As an example, this means that if you are on a site with a domain of?company.my.salesforce.com,?you will not be able to see content served up from the?documentforce.com?domain (this is where files are stored). Enhanced domains will ensure that all URLs across your org contain your company-specific My Domain Name, so that they are compliant with the web browser standards. The biggest impact will be to Experience Cloud sites, Salesforce sites, Visualforce pages, and content files. You can review the old and new URL formats?here.

The best and most up-to-date info can be found in the?My Domain and Enhanced Domains Trailhead Group. Here you will find links to Salesforce provided resources, and a place to ask your questions. It is important to take the time to review these resources before enabling enhanced domains in your org. Check out the?Enhanced Domain Video?(20 min) and the?Enhanced Domains FAQ?for additional information. Finally, another great resource is this?checklist?that will help you identify where your org may be affected and provide you with reference articles to help you understand the impact and the resolution.

Before we wrap this up, there is an important note about timeline! Salesforce is scheduled to automatically enable enhanced domains with the Spring ’23 release, unless you have opted out. You can review the release timeline for your org?here.?If you have not assessed the impact and enabled enhanced domains manually before the release, go to Setup > My Domain and deselect?Automatically deploy enhanced domains with Spring ’23,?then save your changes.

Salesforce will be enforcing enhanced domains with the Summer ’23 release, with the ability to disable, and then enforcing it in all orgs in the Winter ’24 release. Be sure to add an assessment of enhanced domains to your planning before this time. If you need help determining the best move for your org, reach out and I'll be in touch.

A Quick Peek Inside Our Toolbox

Dear Abby: I need a way to take my documentation/click paths in Salesforce up a notch using a Chrome browser. Without it, I feel like my powers aren't fully optimized. What should I do? Sincerely, Searching for the Perfect Partner?

Dear Partner: Sounds like you're being asked to waltz, when what you really need is to...tango!?

Tango is?an amazing Chrome extension?that the Kicksaw team can't get enough of. Effortlessly create how-to guides in Salesforce, edit your start points, easily hide sensitive info, and share with one click. You can also export your documentation to PDF, Markdown, or HTML for even more sharing options. Give it a try?— we think you'll love it!

Using the 'Add' Operator to Improve Readability

This month, Flowmaster General?Aaron Haag?has some excellent advice on using Flow to improve readability.?

Readability should always be a high priority, whether you are writing business logic in code or in a visual editor like Flow. It is an amazing feeling when you finish your masterpiece and it works, but if you have not focused on readability, it can be a struggle for you or another flownatic to make even small updates to your business logic.?

Today's article will be the first in a short series of Flow newsletters dedicated to improving your Flow readability.

A common requirement when setting up new records in Flow is to follow some set naming convention. For example, you might name an opportunity using the [Account Name] - [Industry]. A very common approach is to set the Opportunity Name using a formula field that looks something like this:

This gets the job done, but if I am updating this flow, I now have to open the fxOpportunityName resource to see that the naming convention is:?

{!recOpportunity.Account.Name} + " - " + TEXT({!recOpportunity.Account.Industry})

If the formula is simply concatenating values, you can use the 'add' operator to make this visible from the Assignment element.

This small efficiency can save you time when building and reading your flows, but there are some notable limitations. You only get standard date and number formatting, and reordering the assignments when you go to edit is not possible. While these limitations sometimes result in me choosing a formula, the 'add' operator is my preferred approach for simple concatenation in a flow.

Starting the year off on the right foot.??

You may have seen this news in our recent LinkedIn update, but if not, we'd like to let you know that Kicksaw has been elevated to a Salesforce?Crest Partner!?This is a huge achievement that reflects our ongoing commitment to transforming organizations with the power of the Salesforce platform, and we’re thrilled to have reached this milestone in our journey as a partner.

Salesforce Consulting Partners move up the ranks by driving successful project outcomes, demonstrating technical expertise with credentials, and growing their ability to serve more customers.?As we reflect on 2022, a year when Kicksaw delivered more than 200 Salesforce projects, topped 275 Salesforce certifications, and supported the success of organizations that serve millions of customers, we’re thrilled to have a partner like Salesforce that shares our vision for success.

There’s only one more ranking for us to achieve on our trail as a Salesforce Consulting Partner - we’ll see you at the Summit! ?

Proud and Motivated,

The Kicksaw Team