Perspectives on Salesforce.com

The Arrowpointe Maps AppExchange package was upgraded to include 2 new tabs to let you directly visit the Routing & Map Reports functionality. It was also upgraded to utilize a more modern version of the API.

If you are an admin using Arrowpointe Maps, you’ll see a warning at the top of the screen like below:

To upgrade, simply:

1. Go to AppExchange and click Get It Now. You DO NOT need to uninstall the old version.
2. Follow the prompts on the screen to sign in and install the application as you install any other application. The screen will indicate it’s an upgrade.
3. Once completed, you should add the new Map Reports and Routing tabs to the Arrowpointe Maps custom application so that your users can access that functionality directly. If you don’t do this final step, they can still access this functionality from the front page of Arrowpointe Maps.

Submit a Case from the application’s front page if you have any problems.

In the latest version of Arrowpointe Maps, there is functionality that lets you create maps by pulling data directly from your Salesforce.com Reports.

This capability essentially lets you map anything in Salesforce.com that has an address or is related to something with an address. Bottom line is that if you can get an address into your report, you can put that data onto a map.

I created a video explaining this functionality. Click the image below to watch it.

About Arrowpointe Maps

Arrowpointe Maps is an on-demand mapping platform that facilitates a conversation between Salesforce.com & MapQuest allowing for easy deployment of mapping capabilities in your organization and providing end-users a simple means for mapping their data. Arrowpointe Maps is configurable and can be tailored to your organization, so that your users can work with their information in a meaningful way.

The official location for information on Arrowpointe Maps is its product page at http://www.arrowpointe.com/maps. There, you will find answers to the most frequently asked questions, screencasts and links to its AppExchange page.

Version 1.0.9 of Arrowpointe Maps was just released. You can read about all the improvements on the Change History page.

The major changes are:

• You can now create maps by pulling data directly from your Salesforce.com Reports. I’ll post a video of this functionality soon. This fully addresses the popular idea expressed here + a bit more. This functionality is being marked as “beta” due to Salesforce not having a true API to access report data.
• You can now email your driving directions from the application. You can email up to 10 addresses at once, including an option to BCC yourself.
• Added a Created By filter option on Map Pages. It works just like the Owned By filter option that’s existed for a while, but it bases the filter on the creator of a record. Edit your Map Pages and check the Created By checkbox to add this option to your Map Pages.
• Added a Query Size Limit at the Subscription level. It defaults to 2000 records. This means that Arrowpointe Maps will return up to 2000 records for every query. If a query for more records is made, the application will return the first 2000 records and the end-user will be provided with a message explaining what happened. An increase to the query limit can be requested by submitting a Case to us. This change was made to eliminate the issues of run away queries that freeze a browser.
• The improved map marker dot and star images were re-implemented, so the maps look more professional.

All the functionality described above is available now. A new AppExchange install will be available later this week, which will be recommended for everyone. The new download includes 2 new tabs to let you go directly to Routing & Map Reports, without needing to visit the Arrowpointe Maps front page first, and also upgrades the Salesforce API version used by the application. Once that package has been released, I’ll let you know by: making a new blog post, sending all subscribers an email and adding a message to the application for Admins to see if they are using an older install version.

About Arrowpointe Maps

Arrowpointe Maps is an on-demand mapping platform that facilitates a conversation between Salesforce.com & MapQuest allowing for easy deployment of mapping capabilities in your organization and providing end-users a simple means for mapping their data. Arrowpointe Maps is configurable and can be tailored to your organization, so that your users can work with their information in a meaningful way.

The official location for information on Arrowpointe Maps is its product page at http://www.arrowpointe.com/maps. There, you will find answers to the most frequently asked questions, screencasts and links to its AppExchange page.

If anyone has an interest in developing on the MapQuest mapping platform, I wanted to point you to a few resources. Their API works in many contexts (server-side API, JavaScript API, ActionScript API). Their API may not have the street cred that Google has, but it’s a really solid platform to work with and on par with the competition and superior in some cases.

• MapQuest Developer Site: This is a relatively new and re-organized. they are making a push for developers to get onboard now.
• MapQuest Developer Blog: This is relatively new and is really picking up.

If you develop on the MapQuest platform, please drop me a line in the comments and share your thoughts.

Salesforce released Opportunity Roll-Up Summary fields on the Account object in the Spring 08 release. This is a pretty useful feature and below are some recommendations to help you get started using them.

One of the major benefits of this feature is that you now get quick answers on the Accounts you are selling to without having to run an Opportunity report and get multiple records for the same Account. If you sell to a customer multiple times throughout the year, that customer will be represented once in an Account report, but will be represented multiple times (once for each sale) in an Opportunity report.

Create the Fields

To get started, create a new Account field and choose the Roll-Up Summary option and click Next.

Next, give it a name. I’d like to recommend a naming convention because you will probably create multiple of these. My personal naming convention is used in the example fields below. For the API name, you should also use a naming convention. This will help keep these fields together when viewed in Eclipse or Explorer.

After clicking Next, your options are to COUNT, SUM, MIN, MAX information from the Opportunity. Below is a table with some ideas for fields you that might be useful:

Using Formulas on the Rollups

One really nice thing about these Rollup fields is that you can use their results in your regular formula fields. Using the rollup fields I mentioned above, we can use formula fields on the account to create the fields such as:

• Win Rate (%) = # Opportunities (Won) / (# Opportunities (Won) + # Opportunities (Lost))
• Avg Win Amount = $ Opportunities (Won) / # Opportunities (Won)

Using the Roll-Ups

Now those rollup fields can come in handy in reporting to do things like:

• Filter for all sold-to Accounts: $ Opportunities (Won) > 0
• Filter for all Accounts with Open Opportunities: # Opportunities (Open – This Year) > 0

Another possiblity is in, say, an application that allows you to map your Salesforce.com data. Adding the $ Opportunities (Won) field onto the query page makes generating a map of all sold-to accounts a breeze.

What about you? How are you using Roll-Up Summary fields?

¹ [back] – Other date filters include THIS QUARTER, THIS MONTH, LAST MONTH, NEXT YEAR, NEXT QUARTER, etc. Refer to the Salesforce help for more. These date filters are particularly useful for rollup summary fields.