Articles | Free Like a Puppy

Latest Articles

Michael Kolodner

Nov 21
3 min

In Praise of "Clicks not Code"

The fact that Salesforce is easy to build and automate without code is a gift that has built community and careers.

115 views

Michael Kolodner

Nov 8
4 min

Prices Go Up (Discount Goes Down)

News Flash: Salesforce announces 9% price hike. Nonprofit prices rise 14.6%. I try to understand why.

565 views

Michael Kolodner

Oct 25
10 min

Platform Events — My New Favorite Tool

An introduction to Platform Events and the cool things I've found to do with them.

454 views

Michael Kolodner

Oct 12
2 min

Unlimited Edition Means No P10!

A quick update about an unethical AE sales tactic.

188 views

Michael Kolodner

Oct 11
8 min

Spoiler Alert: AEs are Salespeople

The sales incentives at Salesforce do not always result in the best outcomes for nonprofits. Buyer beware!

407 views

Michael Kolodner

Sep 27
3 min

No Dreamforce Wrap-up From Me

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might have noticed that I didn't publish a post-TDX wrap up, nor anything in particular...

178 views

Michael Kolodner

Sep 13
1 min

Smiley Faces Form

A cool javascript update to a FormAssembly that my son helped figure out. Rate something 1 to 5 using emoji faces!

127 views

Free Things I Always Install: Unofficial SF

Michael Kolodner

Aug 30
3 min

Free Things I Always Install: Unofficial SF

UnofficialSF is a treasure trove of flow extensions, code snippets, and more. There are some tools I always know I'll need and others I keep

682 views

Michael Kolodner

Aug 16
1 min

Free Things I Always Install: DLRS

I always install DLRS into new orgs or existing ones. It's just a great tool that can solve so many needs!

184 views

Michael Kolodner

Aug 2
2 min

Free Things I Always Install: Mopsy

Another free thing I always install: Mopsy. It improves upon the Today's Tasks component so your users see their To Do items.

418 views

Free Things I Always Install: Lightning Messaging Utility

Michael Kolodner

Jul 19
3 min

Free Things I Always Install: Lightning Messaging Utility

Lightning Messaging Utility from Salesforce Labs is a handy tool for displaying messages that fit the Salesforce design pattern.

809 views

Apsona: The Golden App for Bulk Data Operations

Michael Kolodner

Jun 27
4 min

Apsona: The Golden App for Bulk Data Operations

Apsona for Salesforce is my favorite app. I consider it so important that I require my clients to install it.

349 views

Rollup to Relationship: A Cool DLRS Trick

Michael Kolodner

Jun 14
3 min

Rollup to Relationship: A Cool DLRS Trick

A rollup summary trick to create a direct relationship to the last child record.

464 views

Michael Kolodner

May 31
5 min

FormAssembly’s Price Increase

FormAssembly is raising their pricing. A lot. It still might be worthwhile for nonprofits.

870 views

Always Build in a Sandbox. (Except When You Don't. Or can't.)

Michael Kolodner

Apr 26
5 min

Always Build in a Sandbox. (Except When You Don't. Or can't.)

We always say you should never build in production. But I say sometimes it makes sense.

336 views

Michael Kolodner

Apr 12
12 min

Setting Up the Free Integration Users

A step-by-step guide to using the free Salesforce integration user licenses.

3,003 views

Tools I Love: DLRS (the Declarative Lookup Rollup Summary tool)

Michael Kolodner

Mar 29
6 min

Tools I Love: DLRS (the Declarative Lookup Rollup Summary tool)

DLRS, the Declarative Lookup Rollup Summary Tool, gives your rollup summary fields superpowers.

647 views

Michael Kolodner

Mar 15
8 min

The TL;DR on the “New Nonprofit Cloud”

What does Salesforce.org's announcement of the new Nonprofit Cloud mean for you and your org?

3,718 views

Actual Free Stuff! Five No-cost Integration Users Announced at TDX23

Michael Kolodner

Mar 14
4 min

Actual Free Stuff! Five No-cost Integration Users Announced at TDX23

Salesforce is making at least five free API-only integration users available to every org. Better security and auditability for less cost!

453 views

Michael Kolodner

Mar 1
5 min

My First Einstein Prediction

What can you expect when you install Einstein for Nonprofits? And what will you learn about your data from the predictions?

297 views

Michael Kolodner

Feb 15
5 min

Naming Convention Flows

How to make text-named records have consistent and useful names.

486 views

Michael Kolodner

Feb 1
3 min

One Form To Rule Them All

Use a single webform for many uses with URL parameters and save yourself time.

299 views

Michael Kolodner

Jan 26
1 min

Sprinty's Community Resources

Announcing Sprinty’s Community Resources, an online library of Salesforce content for nonprofits.

104 views

Michael Kolodner

Jan 18
4 min

i++ (or For Loops) in Flow

How to create a For Loop in Salesforce Flow. (Increment a counter like i++.)

180 views

Dynamic Gauge: The First “Dynamic” Feature I’m Using

Michael Kolodner

Jan 4
5 min

Dynamic Gauge: The First “Dynamic” Feature I’m Using

I try out Dynamic Gauge Charts on Salesforce dashboards and then build and release tool to take advantage of them.

911 views

Simple, Readable, Fun 🥳 - 💦 Sprinkle Emoji in your Salesforce ☁️

Michael Kolodner

Dec 14, 2022
4 min

Simple, Readable, Fun 🥳 - 💦 Sprinkle Emoji in your Salesforce ☁️

Adding emoji to your Salesforce aids in comprehension and adds fun! 👾

337 views

Michael Kolodner

Nov 9, 2022
4 min

Test Data in Production

The truth is that we almost always have test records in production. So make them work for you.

149 views

Michael Kolodner

Oct 26, 2022
3 min

Still Trying to Try Einstein

My attempts to turn on and use Einstein Prediction Builder in two client Salesforce orgs.

146 views

Michael Kolodner

Oct 12, 2022
5 min

Cheap (or free?) AI for Nonprofits?

Is Einstein for Nonprofits really free machine learning for nonprofits?

494 views

I’ve Got Admin Permissions–Now What? (Part 3)

Michael Kolodner

Sep 7, 2022
4 min

I’ve Got Admin Permissions–Now What? (Part 3)

Part 3 of the series for accidental admins continuing their learning journey: Getting Certified.

72 views

I’ve Got Admin Permissions–Now What? (Part 2)

Michael Kolodner

Aug 10, 2022
5 min

I’ve Got Admin Permissions–Now What? (Part 2)

Want a superpower that you can get without being bitten by a radioactive spider? The Salesforce community is a superpower for everyone.

193 views

I’ve Got Admin Permissions–Now What? (Part 1)

Michael Kolodner

Jul 20, 2022
3 min

I’ve Got Admin Permissions–Now What? (Part 1)

Part One of a series about what to do when you become a Salesforce admin.

107 views

Michael Kolodner

Jul 7, 2022
7 min

FormAssembly Errors to Cases

How to set up FormAssembly connector errors to become Salesforce cases for better tracking and accountability.

227 views

Why I Love FormAssembly: The Prefill Connector

Michael Kolodner

Jun 22, 2022
6 min

Why I Love FormAssembly: The Prefill Connector

There many webform tools that can integrate with Salesforce. But FormAssembly's prefill connector is a unique and powerful differentiator.

411 views

Michael Kolodner

Jun 8, 2022
5 min

My Favorite Way to Track Board Members

How to conveniently use Salesforce and the Nonprofit Success Pack to track membership on your organization's board.

930 views

Michael Kolodner

May 25, 2022
2 min

When is a dashboard not a dashboard?

Understanding what "dashboard" means in Salesforce compared to how you might use the term in your organization.

301 views

Michael Kolodner

May 11, 2022
3 min

When is a report not a report?

An introduction to all the amazing things you can do with Salesforce reports.

213 views

[Hard or Soft] Credit Where Credit is Due, part 2

Michael Kolodner

Apr 27, 2022
6 min

[Hard or Soft] Credit Where Credit is Due, part 2

Understanding hard credit and soft credit for donations in Salesforce and the Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP).

535 views

[Hard or Soft] Credit Where Credit is Due, part 1

Michael Kolodner

Apr 20, 2022
6 min

[Hard or Soft] Credit Where Credit is Due, part 1

Understanding hard credit and soft credit for donations.

749 views

Michael Kolodner

Apr 6, 2022
3 min

Why I Love the 50/50 Split

The first of many articles about making your Salesforce pages functional and beautiful.

443 views

Michael Kolodner

Mar 30, 2022
6 min

Just Start Writing

Last week in Documentation Done Cheap I suggested that you probably have access to a free way to house a Salesforce documentation wiki....

394 views

Michael Kolodner

Mar 23, 2022
3 min

Documentation Done Cheap

The best documentation is ANY documentation. Start with a simple Salesforce wiki.

556 views

Michael Kolodner

Mar 16, 2022
2 min

Crowdsourced Salesforce.org Price Guide

One of the biggest benefits for nonprofits using Salesforce is the amazing discount. But it can be hard to find exact prices.

585 views

Michael Kolodner

Mar 9, 2022
4 min

Backup and Restore

Let’s just acknowledge right now: Backup and Restore is like life insurance. You should pay for it and hope you never get more from it...

335 views

Nonprofit Salesforce – the True Cost of Ownership

Michael Kolodner

Feb 23, 2022
10 min

Nonprofit Salesforce – the True Cost of Ownership

Breakdown of the real costs of implementing and maintaining Salesforce for nonprofits.

894 views

Michael Kolodner

Feb 17, 2022
3 min

Four Answers to “Why Salesforce?”

Friends (and, of course, potential clients) often ask me, “Why Salesforce? Why should my nonprofit organization switch to Salesforce?”...

358 views

Michael Kolodner

Jan 16, 2022
4 min

My Salesforce Journey

This wasn’t what I was going to be when I grew up. Not at all. I was going to be a diplomat. I was going to single-handedly negotiate an...

492 views

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