

Pick Your Partner With Care
When choosing an implementation partner make sure to follow the money and ensure that you're getting unbiased advice. Caveat emptor!

Michael Kolodner
Apr 166 min read
221 views


Don't Go to Salesforce First!
Don't sign a Salesforce contract until you've found an implementation partner on your own. They can guide you to save money and not overbuy.

Michael Kolodner
Apr 26 min read
599 views


You Don't Need Docusign (or Adobe Sign, or ....)
There are many options for gathering signatures electronically that don't have to involve an expensive e-sign platform.

Michael Kolodner
Mar 196 min read
625 views


A State Processing Engine
This is how I built a flow-based state processing engine using platform events. It allows for high volume asynchronous processing of records

Michael Kolodner
Mar 57 min read
250 views


What I've Learned about Platform Events
Platform events can be a powerful addition to the Salesforce Admin's toolkit. I share some learnings and limitations.

Michael Kolodner
Feb 195 min read
393 views


"Why do you hate NPC?"
Why do I hate Nonprofit Cloud? I don't. It's just not a product that's part of my day-to-day.

Michael Kolodner
Feb 53 min read
534 views


Give Lively Can Use Free API Integration User
Despite what Give Lively's documentation says, it's possible to use a free integration user. Here's what you need to do.

Michael Kolodner
Jan 229 min read
208 views


Barrier to Entry
Though it used to be easier, there are now barriers to organizations self-implementing Salesforce. It can be done, but keep your eyes open.

Michael Kolodner
Jan 87 min read
453 views


Id Key Prefixes
Discussion of the use and format of Salesforce key prefixes, the three characters at the start of a record Id that tell you what object tabl

Michael Kolodner
Dec 11, 20244 min read
216 views


Reading Salesforce URLs
A guide to Salesforce URLs, including what's in them and how to reconfigure them to go to other records.

Michael Kolodner
Nov 27, 20244 min read
255 views


Bifurcating the Market
Salesforce has divided the nonprofit market in two: large organizations and everyone else. Nonprofit Cloud is only for large organizations.

Michael Kolodner
Nov 13, 20244 min read
835 views


The Future of NPSP
The Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) is not going away any time soon. Don't let fear cloud your decisions about Salesforce for nonprofits.

Michael Kolodner
Oct 30, 20244 min read
918 views


Thing I Learned: Enabling Files Upload in Mobile
Enabling users to upload files to records in the Salesforce mobile app works...differently than you might expect. Here's how to do it.

Michael Kolodner
Oct 16, 20244 min read
140 views


Free Like a Beer: Salesforce Reports
Reports and dashboards in Salesforce are so built-in that we barely even think about them as "features." They're the secret sauce!

Michael Kolodner
Oct 2, 20242 min read
379 views


Whiz-Bang at What Cost?
It's not yet clear what the price is going to be for organizations to use Salesforce's genAI features like Agentforce and EinsteinGPT.

Michael Kolodner
Sep 18, 20245 min read
377 views


Freebie's Dreamforce Tips
My tips for surviving and thriving at Dreamforce and other Salesforce conferences and events.

Michael Kolodner
Sep 4, 20247 min read
414 views


Cooler Than Validation Rules
Before save Flows can show a custom error component to serve as validation. A powerful feature, but validation rules still have their place.

Michael Kolodner
Aug 21, 20242 min read
493 views


Design for User Success: Think About Text
Text is an important part of your Salesforce page design. Think about placement and balance in field labels, types, and even help text.

Michael Kolodner
Aug 7, 20245 min read
329 views


Design for User Success: Button Order
How to apply design sensibility to the placement and order of buttons on your Salesforce pages.

Michael Kolodner
Jul 24, 20246 min read
436 views


Design for User Success: Screen Flows
Screen flows can be elements you use to design your record pages, adding options beyond the standard layout controls.

Michael Kolodner
Jul 10, 20243 min read
500 views


Design for User Success: Eye Movement
When designing your Salesforce page layouts, think about the ways people's eyes move around the page and use that to guide users.

Michael Kolodner
Jun 26, 20244 min read
633 views


🌈 Design For User Success: Add Interest through Color
Suggested tools and ideas to add visual interest to your Salesforce pages by taking color into consideration.

Michael Kolodner
Jun 5, 20243 min read
445 views


Design for User Success: Field Placement
Key principles of field placement and page design to enhance user experience and efficiency in Salesforce.

Michael Kolodner
May 22, 20246 min read
684 views


Band-Aid for New Cloud Reporting
I've built a workaround to allow fundraising reporting the Nonprofit Cloud otherwise doesn't support.

Michael Kolodner
May 8, 20243 min read
851 views


Extension Objects: There’s Nothing to Like
Extension Objects are the "on core" place to put fields that really belong on objects like accounts and contacts. They are a problem.

Michael Kolodner
Apr 24, 202410 min read
1,158 views


These Are Not The Components You're Looking For
Salesforce's "Industries" solutions come with access to many new components. I wish they worked better.

Michael Kolodner
Apr 10, 20247 min read
756 views


Deeply Skeptical About Person Accounts
Despite being the official solution for dealing with individuals on Salesforce, Person Accounts are difficult to use.

Michael Kolodner
Mar 27, 20246 min read
1,509 views


The Emperor's New Clouds
New Nonprofit Cloud and Education Cloud are more expensive and less functional than NPSP and EDA. Most nonprofits should stay away.

Michael Kolodner
Mar 13, 202415 min read
5,418 views


Thing I Learned: Email Encoding Has Changed
Salesforce's default email encoding has switched to UTF-8 (unicode). Make sure you update yourself and all existing users.

Michael Kolodner
Feb 28, 20242 min read
513 views


My FlowLog Object
I use a custom object to log when automation fires and what steps are completed. Here's what I built and how I make it easy to reuse.

Michael Kolodner
Feb 14, 20245 min read
526 views
![Email to someone not [yet] in Salesforce](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/77ee92_2f0868da58db485ea0f16730deba9a89~mv2.jpeg/v1/fill/w_332,h_250,fp_0.50_0.50,q_30,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/77ee92_2f0868da58db485ea0f16730deba9a89~mv2.webp)
![Email to someone not [yet] in Salesforce](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/77ee92_2f0868da58db485ea0f16730deba9a89~mv2.jpeg/v1/fill/w_315,h_237,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_avif,quality_auto/77ee92_2f0868da58db485ea0f16730deba9a89~mv2.webp)
Email to someone not [yet] in Salesforce
How I solved the challenge of emailing someone that might not be in Salesforce and still relating that message to the right record.

Michael Kolodner
Jan 31, 20247 min read
447 views


Things You Don’t Need: Sales+Service
Nonprofits should only pay $432/user/year, a Lighting Enterprise Edition or Sales Cloud license. They're often sold more expensive licenses.

Michael Kolodner
Jan 17, 20243 min read
512 views
![Things You [usually] Don’t Need: A Full Sandbox](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/77ee92_04bbb022fea0413aa27563bf1f3c3cfb~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_332,h_250,fp_0.50_0.50,q_35,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/77ee92_04bbb022fea0413aa27563bf1f3c3cfb~mv2.webp)
![Things You [usually] Don’t Need: A Full Sandbox](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/77ee92_04bbb022fea0413aa27563bf1f3c3cfb~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_315,h_237,fp_0.50_0.50,q_95,enc_avif,quality_auto/77ee92_04bbb022fea0413aa27563bf1f3c3cfb~mv2.webp)
Things You [usually] Don’t Need: A Full Sandbox
Nonprofits rarely need or should pay for a full copy sandbox. Unless you have a specific project that's going to need it, save your money.

Michael Kolodner
Jan 3, 20244 min read
561 views


Things You Don’t Need: Premier Success
Nonprofits do not need to pay for Premier Success. Save your money to give your admin professional development.

Michael Kolodner
Dec 20, 20235 min read
418 views


Things You Don’t Need: Unlimited Edition
Why nonprofits should not pay for Unlimited Edition. Save your money because the benefits are not worth the cost.

Michael Kolodner
Dec 6, 20233 min read
805 views


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.

Michael Kolodner
Nov 21, 20233 min read
204 views


Prices Go Up (Discount Goes Down)
News Flash: Salesforce announces 9% price hike. Nonprofit prices rise 14.6%. I try to understand why.

Michael Kolodner
Nov 8, 20234 min read
811 views


Platform Events — My New Favorite Tool
An introduction to Platform Events and the cool things I've found to do with them.

Michael Kolodner
Oct 25, 202310 min read
1,532 views


Unlimited Edition Means No P10!
A quick update about an unethical AE sales tactic.

Michael Kolodner
Oct 12, 20232 min read
296 views


Spoiler Alert: AEs are Salespeople
The sales incentives at Salesforce do not always result in the best outcomes for nonprofits. Buyer beware!

Michael Kolodner
Oct 11, 20238 min read
612 views


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...

Michael Kolodner
Sep 27, 20233 min read
239 views


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

Michael Kolodner
Sep 13, 20231 min read
191 views


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

Michael Kolodner
Aug 30, 20233 min read
1,178 views


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!

Michael Kolodner
Aug 16, 20231 min read
364 views


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.

Michael Kolodner
Aug 2, 20232 min read
702 views


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.

Michael Kolodner
Jul 19, 20233 min read
1,491 views


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.

Michael Kolodner
Jun 27, 20234 min read
599 views


Rollup to Relationship: A Cool DLRS Trick
A rollup summary trick to create a direct relationship to the last child record.

Michael Kolodner
Jun 14, 20233 min read
573 views


FormAssembly’s Price Increase
FormAssembly is raising their pricing. A lot. It still might be worthwhile for nonprofits.

Michael Kolodner
May 31, 20235 min read
2,102 views


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.

Michael Kolodner
Apr 26, 20235 min read
459 views