The Salesforce Administrator Toolkit

“CSS-Tec Services has launched webinars in the past to provide some free tips and tricks to the Salesforce Community, with the interest of helping others grow their technical competency and empower each other to be better and smart using the Salesforce system.” Says Chuck George, Managing Director, Peergenics (formally known as CSS Tec Services).

In a world where technology is constantly changing, the most successful businesses are the ones that are agile and efficient to match the pace of these changes. CSS Tec Services highlights four free Salesforce resources that every Salesforce Administrator should have in their toolkit to keep their organizations up to speed. You can take your skills to a new level if you incorporate these into your daily routine. The free resources worth learning more about are: 

  1. ORGanizer 
  2. Schema Lister
  3. LoginAs
  4. Lightning Extension

ORGanizer 

ORGanizer is a free chrome extension that stores frequently used Salesforce usernames and passwords from multiple organizations, as well as many other features. ORGanizer also allows you to set specific username/passwords to use tokens. This gives admins the freedom to log in with any untrusted location, without going through the lengthy process of verifying by email, which is especially useful when logging into multiple orgs. With the free version of this tool, you can save up to 20 different orgs. 

“I cannot reiterate this enough – if you’re someone who’s using multiple orgs or operating out of multiple orgs daily, ORGanizer is a must have. It has made our lives here at CSS Tec so much easier.” – Tim Brevart, CSS Salesforce Solution Engineer 

Schema Lister 

Next, Schema Lister is a free webtool. This tool connects your org and exports all metadata into preferred formats. The only drawback is that the export process can last anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes. There are two options for export: single tab spreadsheets or multi-tab spreadsheets. CSS Solution Engineers have preferred single tab, which gives the admin more flexibility to filter down by object, as well as provides extensive visibility.  

LoginAs 

The next tool, a chrome extension, is LoginAs. This resource only works for admin profiles, who will likely be dealing with troubleshooting issues that require more personalized investigation. LoginAs gives admins log-in access to any active users of their org. You get the user’s view, which helps to alleviate any pain-points between user and admin. The only limitation is that the tool does not log you into the page that the user was currently on, however users do no find that this takes away from the value of LoginAs. 

Lightning Extension 

Last is a Salesforce product called “Lightning Extension.” This resource is useful for both admins and users, providing three impactful components to enable productivity, change individual Salesforce aesthetic, and hide irrelevant features.  

The first aspect, Component Customization, allows users to hide components from their home page, without submitting a ticket to an admin. This is useful to clear components that users do not find specifically useful, enabling better productivity.  

The second aspect, Link Grabber, alleviates the issue of having too many tabs open in a browser. This helps keep all the Salesforce links open in Salesforce, without having to use individual tabs. This is especially useful when using Consul. 

Lastly, a great feature of the Lightning Extension is “Dark Mode.” This simple aesthetic change is easier on the eyes for working at night or for extended periods of time.  

Bottom Line 

There are many free tools out there to support your journey with the Salesforce cloud solution.  These four tools are only beginning to scratch the surface to aid your core competencies.  Continue to become certified and obtain as many Trail Head certs as possible to show your commitment and dedication.   

About CSS Tec Services 

CSS Tec, a business unit of Contemporary Staffing Solutions, has been a leading provider of contract, contract-to-hire, and direct hire technology solutions while also offering Project Management and implementations of Salesforce solutions. CSS Tec prides itself on internal retention, with the average recruiter’s tenure exceeding five years, as well as their strong, established presence in the Philadelphia Metro area. The CSS Tec team coaches you with current business intelligence so that we can manage your expectations.