Writing a ChatGPT “Creative Brief” For Salesforce Development

#Salesforce #ChatGPT #GenerativeAI

Authors: Joseph Kubon, Andy Forbes

The opinions in this article are the authors' and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of their employer.?

Creating a creative brief when utilizing ChatGPT as a Salesforce project development partner is an important step in ensuring the success of your project. This document serves as a foundational blueprint that clearly outlines objectives, stakeholders, and desired outcomes. In the world of Salesforce, where one's responsibilities could range from Apex coding and Lightning Component development to intricate integrations with platforms like SAP, clarity and focus are invaluable. A well-crafted creative brief offers that, serving as a touchstone for the project team and ensuring that everyone, including ChatGPT, aligns their efforts toward the same strategic goals. By establishing this North Star, you can more efficiently leverage ChatGPT's capabilities to yield outputs that are not just technically sound but also business-aligned.

Furthermore, a creative brief enhances the iterative dialogue with ChatGPT, streamlining the generation of solutions and strategies. When you're navigating complex tasks—be it data synchronization between Salesforce and SAP, or balancing performance and security considerations in your configurations—a creative brief helps keep the focus tight. It ensures that the generative AI understands the parameters within which it should operate, thus making its suggestions more relevant and actionable. In the rapid iteration cycles common to agile methodologies, particularly Scaled Agile, this focused collaboration can significantly accelerate project timelines and improve the quality of deliverables.

The creative brief also functions as a tool for course correction and refinement. Salesforce projects are seldom static; they evolve based on stakeholder feedback, development challenges, and changing business needs. A living, breathing creative brief allows for this flexibility. It empowers you to recalibrate ChatGPT's directives as new insights and priorities emerge, ensuring that the AI’s capabilities are being harnessed in a way that is continually aligned with the project's evolving objectives. In essence, it serves not just as a starting point but as an ongoing guide for optimizing the value you derive from this advanced AI technology.

A creative brief for a Salesforce project needs to be a comprehensive document that serves as the strategic foundation for all stakeholders, including technical architects, developers, business analysts, and external partners like ChatGPT. Start with the project's objective, stated clearly and concisely. This could range from implementing a new CRM solution for customer management to building a complex integration pipeline between Salesforce and another enterprise system like SAP. The objective should not only describe what you're doing but also why you're doing it—what business goals are you aiming to meet or what challenges are you trying to overcome?

Next, address the project's scope, breaking it down into its main components. For a Salesforce implementation, this might include data migration, custom development (in Apex, for example), configuration tasks, and any third-party integrations. Given that Salesforce projects often follow agile methodologies, your scope section should be flexible enough to accommodate changes and iterations. It's also important to define the key performance indicators (KPIs) or success metrics up front. These should align closely with the project's business goals and serve as measurable criteria for evaluating project success.

The stakeholders section should identify all parties involved in the project and define their roles and responsibilities. This is particularly crucial for larger projects following Scaled Agile or similar methodologies where there may be multiple cross-functional teams involved. In addition to human stakeholders, consider any AI or automation tools, like ChatGPT, that will play a significant role. Outline how you plan to incorporate these technologies into your workflows and what you expect them to contribute.

Technical requirements come next, providing a deep dive into the technological aspects of the project. This would include data models, security requirements, compliance considerations, and technology stacks involved. Also, delineate any limitations or constraints, such as budget, time, or existing infrastructure, that the project must adhere to.

Include a timeline section detailing key milestones and deadlines, and a call to action, specifying the immediate next steps. Given the iterative nature of Salesforce projects, this timeline might be an evolving component rather than a rigid set of dates. However, having a preliminary timeline helps in initial planning and sets the stage for more detailed sprint planning.

Let’s ask ChatGPT to write a creative brief to then use as a prompt to ChatGPT for a Salesforce project that is focused on an integration with SAP.

Prompt:

Please write a creative brief to provide to ChatGPT for a Salesforce project to integrate Salesforce with SAP. The project focus is to synchronize the Accounts and Contacts between Salesforce and SAP, with SAP being the system of record. Include sections for scope, configuration, customization (code), the delivery methodology (scaled agile), stakeholders involved, requirements, and timeline.        

ChatGPT Response:

Creative Brief for Salesforce-SAP Integration Project

Objective:

To integrate Salesforce with SAP with the primary goal of synchronizing Accounts and Contacts between the two platforms. SAP will serve as the system of record. This integration aims to streamline data flow, improve data accuracy, and enhance business processes that span both systems.

Scope:

The project includes the following key elements:

·?????? Establish secure and robust API connections between Salesforce and SAP.

·?????? Data mapping of Accounts and Contacts.

·?????? Real-time and batch synchronization mechanisms.

·?????? Error-handling and logging mechanisms.

Configuration:

Standard Salesforce and SAP configurations will be leveraged wherever possible to minimize customization efforts. Field mappings, user roles, and workflow rules will be configured to facilitate the seamless data exchange.

Customization (Code):

Custom development may include:

·?????? Apex Triggers and Classes for specific data transformations.

·?????? Custom connectors, if out-of-the-box connectors are insufficient.

·?????? Data validation and transformation logic.

Delivery Methodology:

We'll employ the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) methodology, emphasizing collaboration, iterative progress, and flexibility. Weekly sprint reviews will help in rapidly adapting to any changes or unforeseen challenges.

Stakeholders Involved:

·?????? Salesforce Technical Architect

·?????? Salesforce Developers

·?????? SAP Consultants

·?????? Business Analysts

·?????? Product Owners

·?????? Compliance and Security Officers

Requirements:

·?????? High-level security to protect data integrity during transmission.

·?????? The solution must be compliant with relevant legal and internal policies.

·?????? Real-time data sync with a failover batch mechanism.

·?????? Reconciliation reports to validate data synchronization.

Timeline:

Sprint 0 (Planning): Weeks 1-2

Sprint 1 (Initial API connections): Weeks 3-4

Sprint 2 (Data Mapping and Validation): Weeks 5-6

Sprint 3 (Real-time Sync Implementation): Weeks 7-8

Sprint 4 (Error-handling and Logging): Weeks 9-10

UAT and Hypercare: Weeks 11-12

Go-Live: Week 13

By adhering to this creative brief, the project aims to execute a seamless integration between Salesforce and SAP, aligning with both technical and business objectives. This document serves as the roadmap for all stakeholders involved, facilitating focused and effective collaboration.        

Let’s go ahead and provide this creative brief to ChatGPT as a prompt. When giving ChatGPT directions that do not require an answer, it’s a good idea to tell ChatGPT an answer is not needed?

Prompt:

Please ingest the creative brief below and use it for all following prompts in this chat thread. Please do not “answer” this prompt or the creative brief.

<For the reader, here is where the creative brief above that was provided by ChatGPT was inserted. Since it is immediately above the authors of this article felt there was no reason to make you read it again.>        

ChatGPT Response:

Understood. I have ingested the creative brief for the Salesforce-SAP Integration Project. Feel free to proceed with any questions or prompts related to this project.        

In line with best practices for project governance and traceability, rename your ChatGPT thread to match the name of your Salesforce-SAP Integration Project. By doing this, you create a centralized repository of all of your AI-generated insights, code snippets, and actionable recommendations, making it easier for you to locate and review ChatGPT’s output. Remember, the ChatGPT thread serves as more than just a conversational platform; it's an extension of your project role and a valuable resource for ongoing and future reference.

Be sure that all of you project-related interactions with ChatGPT are conducted within this renamed thread. This ensures consistency and continuity. Keeping all dialogue confined to one thread provides a singular source of truth, facilitating easier audits, and better and more consistent collaboration with ChatGPT.

You have learned that creating a well-defined Creative Brief is an indispensable first step when collaborating with ChatGPT for a Salesforce project, such as integrating Salesforce with SAP. This Creative Brief serves as a foundational document, detailing the project's objectives, scope, configurations, custom code requirements, delivery methodology, stakeholders, and timelines. Once this document is constructed, it should be ingested by ChatGPT, establishing a shared understanding and focused direction for the AI-powered interactions that follow.

After the Creative Brief is ingested, the ChatGPT thread should be renamed to reflect the project name, consolidating all relevant project conversations and generated insights within a single, easily accessible thread. This helps maintain continuity and traceability, allowing the AI to act as a consistent and organized development partner. It is advisable that all interactions regarding the project occur in this renamed thread, serving both as a living document and a repository for key project information. This approach ensures that ChatGPT's contributions align closely with the project's defined objectives and stakeholder requirements, making the AI tool more effective and valuable in executing and accelerating Salesforce projects.