Insight: The Process Before Process Builder

Today on the Salesforce Admins Podcast we have Admin Evangelist Marc Baizman to talk about his upcoming presentation with Gillian at TrailheaDX focused on the “process before the process,” what you should go through and think about before you start implementing features.

More about this Insights session: a mini version of Marc and Gillian’s TrailheaDX presentation on the process before Process Builder, the DOITTT framework: Discover, Optimize Inefficiencies, Translate, Test, and Train.

You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Marc Baizman and Gillian Bruce.

Dealing with the human element.

TrailheaDX is around the corner, and Marc and Gillian have an exciting session planned for this Thursday. We know that not all of our listeners can make it, so we thought we’d bring some of the great content we have planned to you here (don’t you feel special?).

“We talk lots and lots about our technology, but oftentimes the most challenging part of being a Salesforce Administrator is working with other humans,” Marc says. So they’ve created a talk to try and address those issues. “Before you’re really getting into the nitty-gritty of the technology, do you understand the business problem? Are you thinking about ways to optimize inefficiencies? Are you asking those deep questions before you add the field, build the dashboard, and run the report?”

Just DO IT-T-T.

To help get a handle on the process before Process Builder, the Admin Evangelism team has developed a framework called DOITTT: Discover, Optimize Inefficiencies, Translate, Test, and Train. So how does this work?

Discover: Understand what the actual business need is before you start building, “so if people are asking you for a field or a dashboard you need to get to the underlying Why behind that,” March says.

Optimize Inefficiencies: As you start diving into business processes, ask yourself: Are there any extra steps? Are people doing workarounds to compensate for where the technology isn’t allowing them to do what they want to do? Try a cross-functional flowchart (or process chart), a visualization on a whiteboard or screen of the different steps people go through to do something.

Translate: This is the first step you take to fix the problem, and it begins with translating the business steps you need to take into the right technology. “This is the thing you probably attempted to do right at the beginning; start building stuff,” Marc says.

Test: This is where you bring in your crack squad of super users to see whether or not what you’ve built is the best way to get things done. Is this really the best way to accomplish your business need? Are there any other inefficiencies that come out of the woodwork?

Train: The key here is to remember that training isn’t just a one-time event. You need to supplement your initial training with refreshers, maybe a lunch and learn or open office hours. Remember that the process is ongoing, and make sure you do everything you can to put your team in a position to succeed.

Blog

• The Process Before Process Builder: https://admin.salesforce.com/process-process-builder

Trailhead

• Process Automation module: https://trailhead.salesforce.com/modules/business_process_automation

Twitter

• Marc: @mbaizman
• Gillian: @gilliankbruce
• Salesforce Admins: @salesforceadmns

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