Twin Cities

10% Discount on SFDC Administrator Training to all Twin Cities User Group Members

Administrator courses are offered on a monthly basis at:

Euler Training Center
1660 South Highway 100
Suite 101
Parkdale Plaza
St. Louis Park, MN 55416

A 10% discount is being offered on training to anyone who attends from our group from now until the end of August, 2009.

To sign up for training or to find out more, please contact:

Allison Andrade
Training Account Executive
The Landmark @ One Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94105
Direct: 415-536-4853
Fax: 415-592-3689
aandrade@salesforce.com

Posted by Leyna Hoffer on June 23, 2009 Posted at 07:42 AM | | Comments (0) | Bookmark

Salesforce.com Administrator Position Available at BlueCross BlueShield of MN

Applications for this position can only be accepted online at http://www.bluecrossmn.com/ and select "Find a job" on the lower right hand corner. (Requisition # 3513)

Summary:  This position prepares business and/or financial analysis and does research in such areas as financial and expense performance, rate of return, etc.. Prepares forecasts and analyzes trends in sales, processes, business conditions and other related areas. Uses computerized systems (PC and/or mainframe) to create reports, graphs, and charts of data developed.

These objectives are accomplished using the Salesforce.com (SFDC) CRM platform. BlueCross BlueShield Minnesota has a growing user base with 180 current users. Our environment leverages several third party tool sets such as demand tools and we are looking for an experienced SFDC administrator to advance our instances, usability, and utilization. The position will be response for working with management to accomplish already identified priorities, identify and recommend additional enhancements, and bring BlueCross BlueShield’s environment to a best practice level. This position will require a high level of SFDC knowledge and the desire to make things happen in our environment.

Accountabilities:
1. Consults with management to determine current organizational and productivity needs, organizational climate and level of management skill and support.
2. Leads assessment sessions with management for business process planning and strategy development.
3. Identifies customer needs and researches, tests and develops implementation plans for meeting those needs.
4. Documents performance measurements and process changes.
5. Facilitates cross-functional interfaces and impacts on all impacted organizations, which includes cultural concerns and barriers.
6. Develops appropriate standards such as work methods, performance measurements and resources to support initiatives.
7. Assists in developing a communications plan to support the implementation of the project/process.

Specific Duties:
1. Create and update custom page layouts, profiles and record types.
2. Create and maintain constrained field values, pick lists, and field dependencies.
3. Configure custom reports and dashboards.
4. Create Workflow Rules to improve business processes.
5. Create, edit or delete custom fields and custom objects.
6. Take a lead role in the integration process of the CRM system with other enterprise systems.
7. Audit, uncover and resolve data integrity issues.
8. Complete bulk imports and ownership of leads, contacts, accounts and opportunities.
9. Recommend incorporating AppExchange solutions to improve SFDC instance functionality and utilization.
10. Assist in developing the architectural security structure around profiles, roles, global sharing rules, and field level security. (Activation or deactivation of users into SFDC is handled by corporate IS staff.)
11. Maintain, add or delete auto-sharing rules.
12. Deliver training and communication to user groups.
13. Take a lead role in Salesforce.com customization projects and enhancements including expansion to new areas of the company.
14. Execute projects to enhance and rollout new functionality.

Required Qualifications:
1. Bachelors degree in Business, Accounting, Finance or related field and 5 years of business and/or systems analyst experience or project management experience. In lieu of degree, 9 years of business and/or systems analyst experience or project management experience required.
2. Minimum of 3 of those years must be direct SFDC administration experience or 2 years SFDC administration and two plus years on a similar CRM solution like Siebel.
3. Intermediate/Advance Excel capabilities including use of formulas, data formatting, charting, pivot tables, and macros.


Apply online at http://www.bluecrossmn.com/ and select "Find a job" on the lower right hand corner. (Requisition # 3513)

Posted by Leyna Hoffer on June 23, 2009 Posted at 06:35 AM | | Comments (0) | Bookmark

July User Group Meeting Scheduled

Add the date to your calendar for the next Twin Cities salesforce.com User Group meeting, Friday, July 24th from 9am-1pm.

 

We will once again be meeting at the Eden Prairie Community Center at 16700 Valley View Road, Eden Prairie.  The vote after our February meeting was for this to become our "permanent" meeting location.

 

Agenda items so far:

  • Summer '09 Release - Demo of new functionality by Heather Ramsdell from SFDC
  • Corda Presentation - Corda Technologies is the leading provider of enterprise solutions for creating dashboards and interactive data visualization solutions that enhance performance management and smart decision-making. For a decade, Corda has led the evolution of data visualization from static charts and graphs to interactive, intuitive strategic dashboards. Its award-winning solutions include developer tools, enterprise server products and professional services that improve business performance and enable customers worldwide to enhance bottom-line results.
  • iLinc Presentation (unconfirmed) - iLinc, a recognized leader in web conferencing, desktop video conferencing software and collaboration solutions, aims to revolutionize the way organizations meet and communicate. Through its Marketing Integration, users can manage iLinc Web events from Salesforce.com, track who has registered for Web events, and how long they attended in Salesforce Activity History, and update or create new contact info when attendees register for Web events.  Through its Sales Integration, users can launch and manage online sales presentations from right inside your Salesforce.com interface and automatically store each meeting attendee’s activity history.
  • Next Meeting Planning - discuss upcoming presenters, ideas, etc.
  • BOFs/Lunch - we'll break out into Birds of a Feather by roles and company size during lunch.  If you would like to volunteer to lead a BOF, please comment on this post or email me at tc.sfdc@gmail.com.
     
    Thanks!
     
    Leyna Hoffer
    Twin Cities Salesforce.com User Group Leader

Posted by Leyna Hoffer on June 12, 2009 Posted at 06:23 AM | | Comments (0) | Bookmark

Kadient to Offer Free Sales Playbook Workshop in Minneapolis

Rich Berkman from Kadient, Inc. will be conducting a free sales playbook workshop in Minneapolis on June 2nd.  This workshop will be education focused on how to create killer sales playbooks.

Link to Workshop Overview/Registration:
http://www.kadient.com/form.aspx?id=661

Link to download sales playbook white paper:
http://www.kadient.com/form.aspx?id=621

Posted by Leyna Hoffer on May 22, 2009 Posted at 02:54 PM | | Comments (0) | Bookmark | TrackBack (0)

20% Discount on SFDC Admin Training for Twin Cities User Group Members

The Twin Cities is one of the top innovative markets for salesforce.com and Cloud computing.  To continue to fill your innovative bucket with more knowledge and at a 20% discount - keep reading! 

Great Candidates for ADM 201:

 

-New Admins (Whether this is you or someone new to your team)

 

-Existing Admin and haven’t taken the ADM 201 class yet or it’s been a few years since you’ve attended the session

-Now is a great time to invest in your salesforce.com toolkit for you and for your company!

In addition to an outstanding full agenda, learn about these "Three Cheers" new release features:

  • Built in Visio diagram of work flow approvals that auto-fill as you build your workflow
  • Enhanced Charting Tool for Dashboards
  • Profile Change Tracking

Interested? 

Sign up today with the via https://www.salesforce.com/form/contact/contactme_adm201.jsp?d=70130000000EFSJ

Set Sail with Summer 09 with salesforce.com

Need more info?  Contact:
Shannon Cunningham, Practice Director Education Services
scunningham@modelmetrics.com
312-994-8067

Posted by Leyna Hoffer on May 22, 2009 Posted at 07:14 AM | | Comments (0) | Bookmark | TrackBack (0)

Check Out the New Features Being Released in Summer '09

http://www.salesforce.com/community/summer09/ - Love the new Chart Analytics!

Posted by Leyna Hoffer on May 19, 2009 Posted at 03:56 AM | | Comments (0) | Bookmark | TrackBack (0)

American Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP) Summit Discount

Those of you who attended the recent User Group meeting received a flyer advertisiing the upcoming AA-ISP Summit for Inside Sales Professionals.  For those of you who were unable to attend and are interested in a conference where Inside Sales Leaders come together to learn, share and network, Download AA-ISP_Summit flyer.

To receive a 10% discount on single registration fees, please use code AAISP-LS10 during the on-line registration process.  Event and registration information can be found at www.aa-isp.org.  (This promo is for new registrations only, and cannot be used as a discount or refund on participants already registered).

Posted by Leyna Hoffer on May 12, 2009 Posted at 04:21 AM | | Comments (0) | Bookmark | TrackBack (0)

Record Breaking Attendance at May Twin Cities Salesforce.com User Group Meeting!

What an awesome turnout for our meeting on May 6th...  97 attendees!  I know that's a record for our group, and I'm told that it is a record for all SFDC User Groups.  That is a direct reflection on all of you that attend regularly and participate in building agendas that are interesting and relevant.  THANK YOU!

We had a customer presentation by John Reagan, Director of Digital Marketing at FICO (FairIssac) on Building Customer Communities.  He showed how with the help of a local SFDC Partner, Reside they built their online community in approximately 8 weeks.

We were also very fortunate to have two Product Managers from SFDC at our meeting; Marco Casalaina and Kyle Chrsitensen. They presented the Service Cloud roadmap, focusing on the social networking communities functionality (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

Lastly, we had a brief presentation from Adam Caplan, CEO of ModelMetrics, a SFDC Partner.  Adam focused on the work that ModelMetrics has done, leveraging the Force.com platform, the speed of development and how quickly deployment can occur.  There were some technical difficulties during Adam's presentation, so for those of you who wanted to see/hear more, here is his presentation from the Chicago Cloudforce (7 minute video).

A BIG thank you to Adam and his team for sponsoring the breakfast for our meeting!

With all the great presentations, we ran a bit over on time and were not able to view the video on how to navigate the new and improved AppExchange.  Therefore, I am including the video for your viewing enjoyment.

We had many new faces at the meeting, and several people approached me at the Cloudforce event afterward to inquire about joining the group.  Looking forward to seeing all the new people at the next meeting, as well as all of the "old faithfuls".  The next meeting will be in mid-July at the Eden Prairie Community Center.  More details to follow in the coming month.  Stay tuned!

Leyna Hoffer
Twin Cities Salesforce.com User Group Leader

Posted by Leyna Hoffer on May 10, 2009 Posted at 03:05 PM | | Comments (0) | Bookmark | TrackBack (0)

Updated Agenda and Room Location for May 6th Twin Cities Salesforce.com User Group Meeting

Hi all -
 
I now have updated information on the room location and agenda for this Wednesday, May 6th's meeting:
 
Location
 
Hyatt Regency 
First Floor - Nicollet B&C

1300 Nicollet Mall

Minneapolis, MN 55403

 

Agenda

 
10:00 - 10:15
Welcome
 
10:15 - 11:15
Building Online Communities with Salesforce.com
FICO – (SFDC Customer)
John Reagan - Director, Digital Marketing
 
11:15 - 11:45
SFDC Service Cloud Presentation
Marco Casalaina - SFDC Product Mgr
Kyle Christensen - SFDC Product Mktg Mgr
 
11:45 - 12:00
Leveraging the Force.com Platform and Complementary Cloud Computing Technologies
ModelMetrics (SFDC Partner and Snack Sponsor for Today’s Meeting)
Adam Caplan - CEO
 
We will need to vacate the room promptly at noon, as they need to prepare the room for the Cloudforce event.  Hope to see you there!

Leyna Hoffer
Twin Cities User Group Leader

Posted by Leyna Hoffer on May 4, 2009 Posted at 09:02 AM | | Comments (1) | Bookmark | TrackBack (0)

May Twin Cities User Group Meeting Coming Up Fast!

The next Twin Cities salesforce.com User Group meeting will be held Wednesday, May 6th!

 

Salesforce.com will be holding the Cloudforce Event in the afternoon at the same location.  If you plan to attend Cloudforce, you will need to register separately for it.

 

Time and location information: 

 

 

Location:                Hyatt Regency (main floor)
                                (map and directions)

                                1300 Nicollet Mall

                                Minneapolis, MN 55403

 

 

Both events/meetings are at no charge to you with the exception of parking.

 

 The agenda for the User Group meeting:

  • 10:00 - 10:15   Welcome
  • 10:15 - 11:15   Customer Demo - John Reagan - FICO
  • 11:15 - 11:30   AppExchange New Functionality Demo
  • 11:30 - 11:45   Sponsor 
                             and Admin Training Class Information (to be held May 13th)
  • 11:45 - 12:00   Next Meeting Planning - upcoming presenters, topics, dates/times, etc.

Please Note:  We will need to vacate the room promptly at noon, as they need to prepare the room for the Cloudforce event.  Hope to see you there!

Leyna Hoffer
Twin Cities User Group Leader

Posted by Leyna Hoffer on April 29, 2009 Posted at 07:47 AM | | Comments (1) | Bookmark