Important Notice
The content in this space is currently being migrated to the cloud. Any content edits must be made by a Knowledge Base admin until migration is complete.
To request content edits, please submit a request to the Strategic Operations Training Team
and include the page URL and details on required edits.
A member of the Strategic Operations Training Team will reach out for clarity if needed.
Records
A Record is a single instance of a Salesforce Object (i.e. an individual Lead, Contact, Opportunity, etc.). For example, “John Jones” might be the name of a Contact Record, and “City of Miami” might be the name of an Account Record.
Account
An Account is an organization or company that you want to track. Examples: City of Albany; Solar City.
Activity (Tasks/Events)
Planned task or event, optionally related to another type of Record such as an Account, Contact, Lead, or Opportunity. Examples: Call to confirm status; Email an application.
Campaign
A Campaign is a grouping of contacts used for marketing outreach. It can be the vehicle for a direct mail program, seminar, print advertisement, email, or other type of marketing initiative. Campaigns have been organized into a hierarchy reflecting the NYSERDA Organizational Chart.
The Program Campaign type allows program staff to create their own non-marketing campaigns in order to organize contacts, leads, and accounts.
Chatter
Chatter is a Salesforce collaboration application that helps you connect with people and share business information securely and in real time. Groups may also be created to collaborate with a group of users. For more information on creating Chatter groups, take a look at the “Chatter at NYSERDA” and “NYSERDA CRM Naming Conventions” documents referenced in the Appendix at the end of this document.
Contact
Contacts are the individuals associated with the Accounts.
Lead
A Lead is used to track prospects. It has the lowest data quality threshold (it only requires that you enter a name and a company), and it will often be the initial place an individual enters the system.
Convert
Convert is the button on the Lead record that allows you to change a qualified Lead into an Account, Contact, and, optionally, an Opportunity. Information from the Lead fields are transferred into the appropriate Account, Contact, and Opportunity fields.
Objects
Objects represent database tables that contain your organization's information. All the tabs in the top menu bar are objects i.e. Accounts, Contacts, Leads, Opportunities, Campaigns, etc.
Opportunity
An Opportunity can be added to an Account or Contact and used to track interactions such as a response to a NYSERDA offering or an indication that an Account is a prime candidate to partner with NYSERDA.
Reports
A Report returns a set of Records that meets certain criteria and displays it in organized rows and columns. Report data can be filtered, grouped, and displayed graphically as a chart. Reports are stored in folders, which control who has access.
Related Lists
Related lists are information sections of data on an object’s record. You can view campaigns, opportunities, notes and more that are related to that record. To view a record’s Related Lists, click the Related tab.
Example: The Related Lists shown below are Project Activities, SQA Inspector TimeOff Details, and Projects Roles.
Salesforce Applications
Salesforce includes prebuilt applications (or “apps”) for customer relationship management (CRM) ranging from communication and outreach tracking to partner relationship management, marketing, and customer service. The 2 most used/relevant apps are NYSERDA CRM and NYSERDA Program.
Example: When you log into Salesforce you want to make sure that you are in the “NYSERDA CRM” or “NYSERDA CRM Lightning” Application. This will be indicated in the top left of the screen.
To switch between different apps, click the 3 by 3 square of dots in the top left corner. You can search for an app in the bar or click View All to see a list of all apps.
Tabs
Tabs display those Objects and other content embedded in the current application.
Overview
Content Tools