6 Salesforce Features Every New Admin Should Learn First

I was recently talking with some new Salesforce Admins who are studying for their certification exam. We discussed how BIG the platform feels and how, with so much to learn, it can feel challenging to even get started. Salesforce is incredibly powerful, which means there are a lot of features and settings, but new admins don’t need to learn everything all at once. 

Having been a Salesforce Admin for more than 10 years, I find it easy to forget all the lessons and features I’ve learned because they compile into my admin experience and that category in my brain of “things I just know.” But this conversation got me thinking about which features new Salesforce Admins should prioritize learning first — the features that give them the most control and impact in their role right away.

So, I put together a massive list and took it to my fellow Admin Evangelists Jennifer Lee, Josh Birk, and Mike Gerholdt. Together we came up with the six Salesforce features we think every new Salesforce Admin should learn first.

1. User management tools

Admins are responsible for making sure the right people — both internal and external — have the right access. This includes being able to create and deactivate users; understanding profiles, permission sets, and permission set groups; license management; login access; and troubleshooting user visibility issues.

A couple common use cases include:

• Onboarding a new user: Create their user record, assign the correct license, and grant access using permission sets and permission set groups so they have the appropriate access to do their job.
• Troubleshooting an access issue: Review profiles and permission sets to determine what access is missing and how to fix it. Bonus points if you use Setup Powered by Agentforce to help troubleshoot and correct access issues!

If admins manage users effectively, they can keep their orgs secure while making sure users have what they need to do their jobs. Get started with The Complete Guide to Salesforce User Management.

2. Object Manager and Schema Builder

It’s imperative that admins understand their data model and how their organization uses both standard and custom objects to support business processes. Admins also need to be able to create fields and relationships to extend the data model. 

Common use cases include:

• Adding a field to support a business process using Object Manager
• Understanding how data connects using Schema Builder to quickly visualize relationships and get insight into the data model

If admins understand how their organization’s data is structured, everything else in Salesforce — reports, automation, apps — makes a lot more sense.

3. Lighting App Builder and Dynamic Forms

As CRM product owners, admins are the bridge between the business and technology, which means they have a deep understanding of the workflows that need to happen and how the user completes their work in the system. Admins shape the user experience by customizing record pages, tailoring layouts for different roles, and making pages dynamic.

Here are some examples.

• Redesign page layouts in the Lightning App Builder to highlight key fields, and guide users through object stages with the most important components at the top of the page.
• Have certain fields appear only when they are relevant, using Dynamic Forms to make a page truly dynamic and specific to the record.

A well-designed Lightning page helps users focus on information that matters most, and makes the experience more joyful and efficient. Get hands-on with the Lightning App Builder in Trailhead.

4. Reports and Dashboards

Salesforce is most valuable when teams and stakeholders can not only see but also take action on their data. By knowing which report type to use, and how to filter and group reports in Report Builder, admins report on data that helps guide the business. Taking reports and putting them into visual dashboards helps stakeholders easily view insights and track key performance indicators (KPIs).

Use cases include:

• Sharing insights with leadership using reports filtered by dates and important criteria
• Displaying data on team dashboards so that it’s easily understood using visual components

Reports and dashboards turn raw data into insights teams use and promote organizations to be driven by data, not just respond to it. 

5. Flow Builder

Flow is no longer optional. It’s how admins create major impact with automation. Basic Flow skills lay the foundation for time savings by automating repetitive tasks, reducing manual work, and improving data consistency.

A few ways new admins can use Flow include:

• Automating manual tasks (like sending an email) or updating related records when something changes using a record-triggered flow
• Guiding users through data entry using a screen flow

With Flow, admins can remove repetitive work and enforce consistent processes. While an admin can spend years developing advanced Flow skills, there’s a lot that new admins should learn about this feature to make their lives (and their users’ lives) easier.

6. Release Updates and Security Health Check

It may sound like a daunting task, but admins are responsible for keeping Salesforce secure, stable, and up to date. Salesforce takes Trust very seriously — it’s our #1 value — and does a lot behind the scenes to make this possible. 

Security needs are ever-changing. Salesforce launches three major releases each year to improve performance, security, logic, and usability of Salesforce instances (and some amazing new features admins cheer about), but these can affect Salesforce orgs and existing customizations. It’s important for admins to stay on top of these updates and determine their impact. 

Using admin features such as Release Updates and Security Health Check, new admins can monitor upcoming platform changes, review security settings, address vulnerabilities, and maintain org health.

Admins can monitor their org security by:

• Staying on top of release updates, and testing them in a sandbox before activating in production
• Running the Health Check to see where they can improve security by meeting recommended standards and updates 

Admins play a key role in maintaining the long-term stability and security of Salesforce. 

Build your skills

Salesforce Admins oversee a lot on the platform, but new admins don’t need to learn everything immediately. These six features give you a solid foundation so that as you become more experienced with the platform, you’ll be ready to explore more advanced capabilities in your org. Focusing on these features will help you build confidence as you grow in your role. 

Learn more about the core responsibilities of a Salesforce Admin and put these skills to work on the job!

Resources

• Salesforce Admins Site: User Management
• Trailhead: Reports & Dashboards for Lightning Experience
• Salesforce Admins Blog: The Salesforce Admin’s Guide to Choosing the Right Flow
• Salesforce Admins Podcast: From Invisible to Intentional: A Practical Way Admins Can Approach Salesforce Security