Hello everyone,
This is Pete Fife and it was great to be back running a local user group.  After stepping aside for two years because of starting a family and not knowing was in store and still don't really. I just take it one day at a time. I figure it's ok for me to come back into the fold and see what I can do for you.

Tonight it was great to have Dreamfactor show off their tool SnapShot where you can take a snapshot of your current Salesforce Org and compare them with different snap shots, move specific items from one org to another (ie sandbox to production), or look at every profile you have and compare them for security reason.  Thanks Dream Team for the sponsorship.

Some of the other items we talked about where:

• Setting up some type of social group either on Facebook or Linked in so we all can have a smaller easier time in asking each other things
• Setting up monthly 1 hour web sessions
• Bring back more general Sales and Marketing topics
• Miriam from Salesforce's User Experience explained about the program and the current need for Sales Managers for a current feature set.  See below for details.
• Market Bright is having a webinar on Lead Management into SFDC

Then there was some lively discussion around how Salesforce should prioritize features.  For there was a feeling even though an idea on IdeaExchange had 7,000 votes however it still wasn't implemented made some feel it was a waste, and Salesforce doesn't really listen via Ideas. So why not have those from the user community have a 'louder unified' voice on what the user groups wants and see's important and from that list get some sort of commitment from Salesforce in saying, yes we will deliver XYZ. Miriam from Salesforce's User Experience team was there and got more then she bargained for but she was taken notes and smiling.  Over all it was a good meeting and expect to get an email with details round the trial run for the webinar.

The webinar is tentative but it will happen either on Feb: 10th, 11th, or 12th at 11 to 12 PST.  I've talked with two members and they wanted to know more about PRM, then I talked with Caroline from Symantec who's wanting to help and guess what... they've implemented PRM.  So I'm thinking for the 'trial' run we'll have the topic be PRM. I'll even see if I can pull in one of the SFDC PM's on PRM (ok a bit much on the acronyms on the last past.) So stayed tuned.

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The salesforce.com User Experience team is currently leading research that is focused on sales professionals. As a token of our appreciation, participants will receive a $100 gift certificate.

What: 60 minute phone or on site interviews the first week of February.

Who we are looking for: 

• Sales Managers that are part of a 20-25 person or more sales organization

• Has a minimum of 3 direct reports and one level of hierarchy below them and two above them

Why: Our primary goal is to get a sense of what a “day in the life” is like for someone in this role. This research will feed into our product. 

If you are interested, please contact Miriam Melo: mmelo@salesforce.com and indicate if you would prefer a site visit or a phone interview.

Miriam Melo from Salesforce.com will be there to talk about User experience at Salesforce in 2009.

DreamFactory is sponsoring this event, 

SnapShot by DreamFactory Software is the one application all Salesforce.com System Administrators Can use. Snapshot tackles all the critical pain points in managing Salesforce.com customizations.

•    Change Management
You can take a "snapshot" of the object and profile characteristics of any Salesforce ORG. SnapShot provides a highly visual way for you to look at customizations and to track and manage critical changes - in the same ORG over time or between different ORGs. 

•    Release Management
Use SnapShot to easily promote any Salesforce.com metadata including Objects, Profiles, Page Layouts, Workflows, Apex and S-controls and much more. Promote between Development, Sandbox and/or Production ORGs. 

•    Auditing, Compliance & Troubleshooting
Use SnapShot to record every customization change to a Salesforce ORG and troubleshoot issues.

By popular demand, we are going to have a session during every meeting called TIPS which addresses a specific challenge faced by administrators and a solution implemented.

 Bring your questions and your appetite. We will serve light refreshments and appetizers.

Location & Details:
Date & Time: Thu,  January 22nd 2009
New Location: Tarragon Restaurant
140 S Murphy Ave
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(408) 737-8003
http://www.dinetarragon.com/

If you would like to register for the user group please register at: http://usergroups.salesforce.com/santaclara/

This is a free member event.

Thanks,

Pete and PK