Download Best Practice

Salesforce Change Management Best Practices

<CSM Name>

<Date>

Salesforce Change Management

Business Driver

Best Practice Overview

Topics of Discussion

– Managing change on-demand

– Principles of on-demand change management

– Maintaining a quality implementation

Additional Information

Business Driver

Managing change in an on-demand environment is

similar but different than in a traditional IT client-server

environment. It is important to understand the key

concepts and best practices around managing change

within salesforce.com in order to effectively and

efficiently manage your organization’s application.

http://salesforce.com/

Best Practice Overview

Every successful implementation of salesforce.com

should have a well-defined change management

strategy in place. This presentation outlines the key

aspects of managing change in an on-demand

environment.

http://salesforce.com/

Salesforce Change Management

Topics of Discussion

Managing change on-demand

Principles of on-demand change management

Maintaining a quality implementation

Questions & feedback

Change ManagementDefined

Change Management is the process by which your

organization identifies, prioritizes, assigns, executes and

communicates change

In a Salesforce deployment this could result from:

– Organizational change

– Business process changes

– Addition or subtraction of processes

– Modeling modifications

– Salesforce release of new features and capabilities

– Introduction of new custom applications or integrations

Change Management A process of continuous evolution

Initiate/Plan•Identify key Salesforce capabilities required

•Develop a roadmap to implement•Tie capabilities to program objectives

Continuously analyze your current state, collect User feedback and implement change when appropriate

Operationalize• Build, configure and deploy

application• Manage organizational

change (release mgmt, training, etc)

• Drive adoption of new features

VisionStrategy

Objectives

Initiate/PlanInitiate/Plan

Vision & Strategy • Establish program vision• Define strategy to achieve• Develop objectives to

ensure progress

Validate• Audit Salesforce data• Monitor performance metrics• Use results to drive behavior

or process change within the organization where appropriate

Valid

atio

n

Valid

ate

Opera

tionalize

Reports Dashboards List View Management Documentation Management User Administration Solution Management Communication Templates Email Templates

Business Responsibilities

Daily Changes

IT Responsibilities

Monthly Changes

Minor Release: Simple configuration changes that do not impact day to day business or require training. As Required (Target Monthly)

Major Release: New Initiatives and other changes that require training or testing. Dates determined by Steering Committee(Target Quarterly)

On-Demand Development Methodology A more flexible approach

Release Definitions

Release Type Activities Examples Level Of EffortImmediate Release • Small changes that can be implemented in a short time span and

directly in the production environment as needed

• Changes can be configured, tested and deployed with minimal

impact within a single business unit

• DOES NOT HAVE TO GO THROUGH CHANGE CONTROL

PROCESS

• New dashboards and

reports

• Field positioning

• New related lists (existing

objects)

• New roles

• Data Loads

• Territory Alignments

LOW

• No additional training

required

• None or minimal impact to

integration

• Potential candidate for

Business Administrators

Minor (Monthly)

Release

• Medium level changes that can be implemented with minor impact

to the production environment

• Changes can be configured, tested and deployed with minor

impact to one business unit

• New Fields

• New page layouts

• New custom Objects

• New org or sub-org in role

or territory hierarchy

MEDIUM

• < 1 day of additional

training required

• < 1 week of configuration

development

• IT involvement

Major Release • Large changes that have major impacts to the business or

environment

• Changes requiring a significant interface update, data migration

and/or integration impact

• Major releases should be tracked by a standard naming convention

for items such as: Role Hierarchy, Profiles, Page Layouts, Record

Types, Sales and Support Processes, sControls

• Items that do not need to follow naming convention: Fields, Custom

Objects, Reports, Dashboards

• New AppExchange app

• Process-impacting

configuration changes

• Data migration impact

• Integration changes

• Impacts to multiple

business units

HIGH

• 1 day of additional training

required

• > 1 week of configuration

development

• > 1 week of integration

development

• IT lead

For consistent implementation and support, investment requests should be categorized as immediate, minor or major based on level of effort

Change Management Process FlowExample

SF

DC

Use

rS

FD

C A

dm

inC

han

ge

Mg

mt

Co

mm

itte

eIT

Submits change request

Reviews request

Approved?Determines

release timeframe

Analyzesrequest andtimeframe

IT required?

Configuresfeature/

functionality

Sandbox Environment

Sandbox required?

Configuresfeature/

functionality

Production Environment

Notifies CMMrequest

completedConducts

Testing(end-user & IT)

Moves changesto productionenvironment

Communicateschanges toend-users

User notified

Principles of Change ManagementManaging the process

Fully-replicated

Configure/develop and deploy using Sandbox

Communicate to end-Users about new or changed functionality

Collect ideas and requests from Users

Analyze and prioritize requests

1 2

34

User Feedback & RequestsSuggestions on managing enhancement requests

Implement Salesforce IdeasEngage all your

communities onlineBubble the best ideas to the top

Spark conversations around ideas

Use Salesforce CasesUse record types to

differentiate case typesReport on the

requests receivedCollect required information

on the record


Fully-replicated





1 2

34

Prioritizing RequestsDetermining what’s important

An oversight committee should be established to review, analyze and prioritize change requests. The committee should be comprised of members of the:

– Administration team

– Executive Sponsor

– Cross-functional business leads

The committee should meet on a regular basis (e.g. monthly or quarterly) to discuss the change requests received including review current metrics:

– Adoption

– Usage

– Performance


Fully-replicated





1 2

34

Managing Configuration ChangesBest Practices

Development

TestingTraining

Refreshable Sandbox EnvironmentThe process

Source Control

One-Click RefreshRefresh sandboxes

Parallel development in config only dev orgs

User testing in full UAT sandbox Updated production configuration

CVS

Start

Implementing Change RequestsForce.com configuration/code migration tools

Instantly Set Up Dev Environments

Everything You Need to Build Apps

Easy to Collaborate on Projects

Eclipse Force.com IDE

Force.com Code Share

Force.com Sandbox

Easy Access to Codeand Schema

Metadata API

Force.com Migration Tool Guide @ http://wiki.apexdevnet.com/index.php/Migration_Tool

Using the Metadata APIWhat is available?

Custom fields Custom objects Apex classes Apex triggers Apex components Visualforce pages S-controls Record Types Profiles Field level security

Custom applications (tabsets)

Custom tabs Documents Folders Package Weblink Email template Letterhead Picklist/Record Type

map

Custom buttons

Static resources

Custom links

Workflows

Page layouts

Page layout assignments

Home page components

Home page layouts

Validation rules

Approval processes

Custom report types

Tab and field renaming

Button overrides

Field dependencies

Picklists

Dashboards

Reports

List views

Queues

Public groups

Email attachments

Tag API New!

Other Enhancements to our MetaData API are planned for the future

Migrating ChangesMoving data from Sandbox to Production – Force.com tools

Multiple Sandbox Environments

Production Deployment

Test

Develop

Train

Version Control

IDEIDE

CVS

Migrating ChangesMoving data from Sandbox to Production – partner tool

Save snapshots of configuration

– Metadata read from WSDL

– Written to local XML files

– No user data read/stored, only metadata

Benefit: track and document org changes

Compare side-by-side

– Multiple snapshots – 2 or more

– See similarities, differences, both

– Evaluate changes over time

– View configuration of entirely different orgs

– Dissect changes in user privileges – object permissions, security settings, field visibility

Controlling ChangeMitigating risk when introducing change

Before migrating any data changes from Sandbox to production you should always make a back-up copy of your production organization data

– Data back-ups: Setup | Data Management | Data Export

– Data exports can be run immediately or scheduled

– Use the Data Loader to restore the data to the previous state

– Appropriate for territory changes, assignment changes (i.e. account or case transfers), etc.

Copies of your configuration can be made using tools such as Snapshot

Control administrative access to your org

– Allow only a certain number of users full access to make configuration and data changes

– Implement an oversight committee to review/approve changes before they are made

– “Flip” the profile for Users if necessary to toggle between admin and standard user privileges – use custom profiles to define specific parameters for what a User can do without full fledged Admin access

Typical compliance requirements for change management are:

• Changes are appropriately tested and validated

• Only approved changes are deployed into production

• Records are maintained to indicate the successful test, validation and approval of the change prior to deployment

Test

Develop

Test and validate changes Review and approve the change Deploy into production

Records of testing and validation results

Records of approval from appropriate

approval authority

Records of changes deployed into

production

Typical compliance documentation requirements

Typical change management process

Maintaining Compliance(CobIT, ITIL, International Organization of Standardization ISO standards)


Fully-replicated





1 2

34

Communication Strategy Best practice – Assessing your organization’s needs

A comprehensive communication strategy:– Is targeted training for specific groups or roles

– Assesses needs of each audience and is based on functional, cultural or

geographical needs

– Allows users to prepare before hand (e.g., web based tutorials, etc.)

– Provides formal and informal training programs for continuous improvement

– Utilizes the right type of training/communication tool for the size and scope of

the release

Suggested training and communication tools:

– Class room training

– Web-based training/recordings

– Newsletter communications/Tips & Tricks

– Home page Messages & Alerts

Maintaining a Quality ImplementationMaking the pieces work together

Configuration

Data Quality

Capabilities

App Extension/Integration

SS

EE

CC

UU

RR

II

TT

YY

Questions & Feedback

Additional Information

Sandbox Definitions & Availability

Type Features Enterprise Edition Unlimited Edition

Full Sandbox Full copy of configuration and production data

Storage limitation based on that of production org

0 Included

up to 3 Sandboxes allowed

1 Included

Configuration Only Sandbox 2)

Full copy of configuration only (no data copied)

Data copy is responsibility of the customer (500 MB limit)

0 Included

up to 5 Sandboxes allowed

5 Included

Developer Sandbox Full copy of configuration only (no data copied)

10 MB of data limit suitable for testing purposes

1 Included 15 Included

Additional Links & References

Salesforce.com Community Sandbox Best Practice Posting

– http://www.salesforce.com/community/crm-best-practices/it-professionals/release-management/sandbox-release-management.jsp

Salesforce.com Community Force.com IDE Information

– http://wiki.apexdevnet.com/index.php/Force.com_IDE

Force.com Migration Tool

– http://wiki.apexdevnet.com/index.php/Migration_Tool_Guide

Download Best Practice

Documents

Transcript of Download Best Practice