Thursday, July 15, 2010

Salesforce Project Timer Button

We needed a way to keep track of the time we spend on each project, something as simple as pressing a button and starting the clock. So, we came across this free app, installed it, and configured it to meet our needs. It will automatically link to our accounts and opportunities.

American Data Company Timer

This is a free App available on the Salesforce AppExchange.

The customization guide helps to configure the timer so it links to my Projects. I'm also able to specify the billing type, weather it's consulting, non-billable, documentation, etc. This way, I can keep track of all the time I spend with a client and measure where my time is being spent.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Converting to The Cloud

OK, I’ve recently accepted a position to move an businesses IT platform to “the cloud” using Salesforce.com and decided to blog about it. And what is the first software program I use to take notes to start this blog? That’s right….Word. I’m so used to Microsoft products that it just comes natural to open them when I need to do anything with the computer. How am I going to sale cloud software solutions to replace computer software and servers with these habits?

I’m starting this blog about a month after I started my new position, so I’m going to try and back track my challenges and accomplishments I’ve encountered so far with converting a logistics business of around 10 employees to an IT platform in the cloud with Salesforce. I hope I can provide helpful information to others in the same position as myself and payback the bloggers that have helped me with my achievements so far.

Now I have started my first step to converting to the cloud, I started this blog post with Google in less than 5 minutes, they had to send a verification code to my cell phone which was weird, but it didn't take long.