In this article by Paul Goody, the author of the book Salesforce CRM - The Definitive Admin Handbook - Fourth Edition, we will describe in detail the Salesforce CRM record storage features and user interface that can be customized, such as objects, fields, and page layouts. In addition, we will see an overview of the relationship that exists between the profile and these customizable features that the profile controls.

This article looks at the methods to configure and tailor the application to suit the way your company information can be best represented within the Salesforce CRM application.

We will look at the mechanisms to store data in Salesforce and the concepts of objects and fields. The features that allow this data to be grouped and arranged presented within the application are then considered by looking at apps, tabs, page layouts, and record types. Finally, we will take a look at some of the features that allow views of data to be presented and customized by looking in detail at related types, related lists, and list views.

Finally, you will be presented with a number of questions about the key features of Salesforce CRM administration in the area of Standard and Custom Objects, which are covered in this article.

We will cover the following topics in this article:

• Objects
• Fields
• Object relationships
• Apps
• Tabs
• Renaming labels for standard tabs, standard objects, and standard fields
• Creating custom objects
• Object limits
• Creating custom object relationships
• Creating custom fields
• Dependent picklists
• Building relationship fields
• Lookup relationship options
• Master detail relationship options
• Lookup filters
• Building formulas
• Basic formula
• Advanced formula
• Building formulas--best practices
• Building formula text and compiled character size limits
• Custom field governance
• Page layouts
• Freed-based page layouts
• Record types
• Related lists

(For more resources related to this topic, see here.)

The relationship between a profile and the features that it controls

The following diagram describes the relationship that exists between a profile and the features that it controls:

The profile is used to:

• Control access to the type of license specified for the user and any login hours or IP address restrictions that are set.
• Control access to objects and records using the role and sharing model. If the appropriate object-level permission is not set on the user's profile, then the user will be unable to gain access to the records of that object type in the application.

In this article, we will look at the configurable elements that are set in conjunction with a profile. These are used to control the structure and the user interface for the Salesforce CRM application.

Objects

Objects are a key element in Salesforce CRM as they provide a structure to store data and are incorporated in the interface, allowing users to interact with the data.

Similar in nature to a database table, objects have the following properties:

• Fields, which are similar in concept to a database column
• Records, which are similar in concept to a database row
• Relationships with other objects
• Optional tabs, which are user-interface components to display the object data

Standard objects

Salesforce provides standard objects in the application when you sign up; these include Account, Contact, Opportunity, and so on. These are the tables that contain the data records in any standard tab, such as Accounts, Contacts, and Opportunities.

In addition to the standard objects, you can create custom objects and tabs.

Custom objects

Custom objects are the tables you create to store your data. You can create a custom object to store data specific to your organization. Once you have the custom objects, and have created records for these objects, you can also create reports and dashboards based on the record data in your custom object.

Fields

Fields in Salesforce are similar in concept to a database column: they store the data for the object records. An object record is analogous to a row in a database table.

Standard fields

Standard fields are predefined fields that are included as standard within the Salesforce CRM application. Standard fields cannot be deleted but non-required standard fields can be removed from page layouts, whenever necessary.

With standard fields, you can customize visual elements that are associated to the field, such as field labels and field-level help, as well as certain data definitions, such as picklist values, the formatting of auto-number fields (which are used as unique identifiers for the records), and setting of field history tracking. Some aspects, however, such as the field name, cannot be customized, and some standard fields, such as Opportunity Probability, do not allow the changing of the field label.

Custom fields

Custom fields are unique to your business needs and can not only be added and amended, but also deleted. Creating custom fields allow you to store the information that is necessary for your organization.

Both standard and custom fields can be customized to include custom help text to help users understand how to use the field as shown in following screenshot

Object relationships

Object relationships can be set on both standard and custom objects and are used to define how records in one object relate to records in another object. Accounts, for example, can have a one-to-many relationship with opportunities; these relationships are presented in the application as related lists.

Apps

An app in Salesforce is a container for all the objects, tabs, processes, and services associated with a business function.

There are standard and custom apps that are accessed using the App menu located at the top-right corner of the Salesforce page, as shown in the following screenshot:

When users select an app from the App menu, their screen changes to present the objects associated with that app. For example, when switching from an app that contains the Campaign tab to one that does not, the Campaign tab no longer appears. This feature is applied to both standard and custom apps.

Standard apps

Salesforce provides standard apps such as Call Center, Community, Content, MarketingSales, Salesforce Chatter, and Site.com.

Custom apps

A custom app can optionally include a custom logo. Both standard and custom apps consist of a name, a description, and an ordered list of tabs.

Subtab apps

A subtab app is used to specify the tabs that appear on the Chatter profile page. Subtab apps can include both default and custom tabs that you can set.

Tabs

A tab is a user-interface element that, when clicked, displays the record data on a page specific to that object.

Hiding and showing tabs

To customize your personal tab settings, navigate to Setup | My Personal Settings | Change My Display | Customize My Tabs. Now, choose the tabs that will display in each of your apps by moving the tab name between the Available Tabs and the Selected Tabs sections and click on Save. The following screenshot shows the section of tabs for the Sales app:

To customize the tab settings of your users, navigate to Setup | Manage Users | Profiles. Now, select a profile and click on Edit. Scroll down to the Tab Settings section of the page, as shown in the following screenshot:

Standard tabs

Salesforce provides tabs for each of the standard objects that are provided in the application when you sign up. For example, there are standard tabs for Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, and so on:

Visibility of the tab depends on the setting on the Tab Display setting for the app.

Custom tabs

You can create three different types of custom tabs: Custom Object Tabs, Web Tabs, and Visualforce Tabs.

Custom Object Tabs allow you to create, read, update, and delete the data records in your custom objects. Web Tabs display any web URL in a tab within your Salesforce application. Visualforce Tabs display custom user-interface pages created using Visualforce.

Creating custom tabs:

• The text displayed on the Custom tab is set using the Plural Label of the custom object, which is entered when creating the custom object. If the tab text needs to be changed, this can be done by changing the Plural Label stored in the custom object.
• Salesforce.com recommends selecting the Append tab to a user’s existing personal customization checkbox. This benefits your users as they will automatically be presented with the new tab and can immediately access the corresponding functionality without having to first customize their personal settings themselves.
• It is recommended that you do not show tabs by setting appropriate permissions so that the users in your organization cannot see any of your changes until you are ready to make them available.
• You can create up to 25 custom tabs in the Enterprise Edition, and as many as you require in the Unlimited and Performance Editions.

To create custom tabs for a custom object, navigate to Setup | Create | Tabs. Now, select the appropriate tab type and/or object from the available selections, as shown in the following screenshot:

Renaming labels for standard tabs, standard objects, and standard fields

Labels generally reflect the text that is displayed and presented to your users in the user interface and in reports within the Salesforce application.

You can change the display labels of standard tabs, objects, fields, and other related user interface labels so they can reflect your company's terminology and business requirements better. For example, the Accounts tab and object can be changed to Clients; similarly, Opportunities to Deals, and Leads to Prospects. Once changed, the new label is displayed on all user pages.

The Setup Pages and Setup Menu sections cannot be modified and do not include any renamed labels and continue. Here, the standard tab, object, and field reference continues to use the default, original labels. Also, the standard report names and views continue to use the default labels and are not renamed.

To change standard tab, objects, and field labels, navigate to Setup | Customize | Tabs Names and Labels | Rename Tabs and Labels. Now, select a language, and then click on Edit to modify the tab names and standard field labels, as shown in the following screenshot:

Click on Edit to select the tab that you wish to rename.

Although the screen indicates that this is a change for the tab's name, this selection will also allow you to change the labels for the object and fields, in addition to the tab name. To change field labels, click through to step 2. Enter the new field labels.

Here, we will rename Accounts tab to Clients. Enter the Singular and Plural names and then click on Next, as shown in the following screenshot:

Only the following standard tabs and objects can be renamed:

Accounts, Activities, Articles, Assets, Campaigns, Cases, Contacts, Contracts, Documents, Events, Ideas, Leads, Libraries, Opportunities, Opportunity Products, Partners, Price Books, Products, Quote Line Items, Quotes, Solutions, Tasks.

Tabs such as HomeChatter, Forecasts, Reports, and Dashboards cannot be renamed.

The following screenshot shows Standard Field available:

Salesforce looks for the occurrence of the Account label and displays an auto-populated screen showing where the Account text will be replaced with Client. This auto-population of text is carried out for the standard tab, the standard object, and the standard fields. Review the replaced text, amend as necessary, and then click on Save, as shown in the following screenshot:

After renaming, the new labels are automatically displayed on the tab, in reports, in dashboards, and so on.

Some standard fields, such as Created By and Last Modified, are prevented from being renamed because they are audit fields that are used to track system information.

You will, however, need to carry out the following additional steps to ensure the consistent renaming throughout the system as these may need manual updates:

1. Check all list view names as they do not automatically update and will continue to show the original object name until you change them manually.
2. Review standard report names and descriptions for any object that you have renamed.
3. Check the titles and descriptions of any e-mail templates that contain the original object or field name, and update them as necessary.
4. Review any other items that you have customized with the standard object or field name. For example, custom fields, page layouts, and record types may include the original tab or field name text that is no longer relevant.

If you have renamed tabs, objects, or fields, you can also replace the Salesforce online help with a different URL. Your users can view this replaced URL whenever they click on any context-sensitive help link on an end-user page or from within their personal setup options.

Creating custom objects

Custom objects are database tables that allow you to store data specific to your organization on salesforce.com. You can use custom objects to extend Salesforce functionality or to build new application functionality.

You can create up to 200 custom objects in the Enterprise Edition and 2000 in the Unlimited Edition.

Once you have created a custom object, you can create a custom tab, custom-related lists, reports, and dashboards for users to interact with the custom object data.

To create a custom object, navigate to Setup | Create | Objects. Now click on New Custom Object, or click on Edit to modify an existing custom object. The following screenshot shows the resulting screen:

On the Custom Object Definition Edit page, you can enter the following:

• Label: This is the visible name that is displayed for the object within the Salesforce CRM user interface and shown on pages, views, and reports, for example.
• Plural Label: This is the plural name specified for the object, which is used within the application in places such as reports and on tabs (if you create a tab for the object).
• Gender (language dependent): This field appears if your organization-wide default language expects gender. This is used for organizations where the default language settings are, for example, Spanish, French, Italian, and German, among many others. Your personal language preference setting does not affect whether the field appears or not. For example, if your organization's default language is English, but your personal language is French, you will not be prompted for gender when creating a custom object.
• Starts with a vowel sound: Use of this setting depends on your organization's default language and is a linguistic check to allow you to specify whether your label is to be preceded by an instead of a; for example, resulting in reference to the object as an Order instead of a Order.
• Object Name: This is a unique name used to refer to the object. Here, the Object Name field must be unique and can only contain underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must also begin with a letter, not contain spaces or two consecutive underscores, and not end with an underscore.
• Description: This is an optional description of the object. A meaningful description will help you explain the purpose of your custom objects when you are viewing them in a list.
• Context-Sensitive Help Setting: This defines what information is displayed when your users click on the Help for this Page context-sensitive help link from the custom object record home (overview), edit, and detail pages, as well as list views and related lists. The Help & Training link at the top of any page is not affected by this setting; it always opens Salesforce Help & Training window.
• Record Name: This is the name that is used in areas such as page layouts, search results, key lists, and related lists, as shown next.
• Data Type: This sets the type of field for the record name. Here, the data type can be either text or auto-number. If the data type is set to be Text, then when a record is created, users must enter a text value, which does not need to be unique. If the data type is set to be Auto Number, it becomes a read-only field, whereby new records are automatically assigned a unique number, as shown in the following screenshot:

• Display Format: This option, as shown in the preceding example, only appears when the Data Type field is set to Auto Number. It allows you to specify the structure and appearance of the Auto Number field. For example, {YYYY}{MM}-{000} is a display format that produces a four-digit year and a two-digit month prefix to a number with leading zeros padded to three digits. Example data output would include: 201203-001, 201203-066, 201203-999, 201203-1234.
• It is worth noting that although you can specify the number to be three digits, if the number of records created becomes over 999, the record will still be saved but the automatically incremented number becomes 1000, 1001, and so on.
• Starting Number: As described, Auto Number fields in Salesforce CRM are automatically incremented for each new record. Here, you must enter the starting number for the incremental count, which does not have to be set to start from one.
• Allow Reports: This setting is required if you want to include the record data from the custom object in any report or dashboard analytics. When a custom object has a relationship field associating it to a standard object, a new Report Type may appear in the standard report category. The new report type allows the user to create reports that relate the standard object to the custom object by selecting the standard object for the report type category instead of the custom object.

Such relationships can be either a lookup or a master-detail. A new Report Type is created in the standard report category if the custom object is either the lookup object on the standard object or the custom object has a master-detail relationship with the standard object.

Lookup relationships create a relationship between two records so that you can associate them with each other. Moreover, the master-detail relationship fields created are described in more detail later in this section. relationship between records where the master record controls certain behaviors of the detail record such as record deletion and security.

• When the custom object has a master-detail relationship with a standard object or is a lookup object on a standard object, a new report type will appear in the standard report category. The new report type allows the user to create reports that relate the standard object to the custom object, which is done by selecting the standard object for the report type category instead of the custom object.
• Allow Activities: This allows users to include tasks and events related to the custom object records, which appear as a related list on the custom object page.
• Track Field History: This enables the tracking of data-field changes on the custom object records, such as who changed the value of a field and when it was changed. Fields history tracking also stores the value of the field before and after the fields edit. This feature is useful for auditing and data-quality measurement, and is also available within the reporting tools. The field history data is retained for up to 18 months, and you can set field history tracking for a maximum of 20 fields for Enterprise, Unlimited, and Performance Editions.
• Allow in Chatter Groups: This setting allows your users to add records of this custom object type to Chatter groups. When enabled, records of this object type that are created using the group publisher are associated with the group, and also appear in the group record list. When disabled, records of this object type that are created using the group publisher are not associated with the group.
• Deployment Status: This indicates whether the custom object is now visible and available for use by other users. This is useful as you can easily set the status to In Development until you are happy for users to start working with the new object.
• Add Notes & Attachments: This setting allows your users to record notes and attach files to the custom object records. When this is specified, a related list with the New Note and Attach File buttons automatically appears on the custom object record page where your users can enter notes and attach documents.

The Add Notes & Attachments option is only available when you create a new object.

• Launch the New Custom Tab Wizard: This starts the custom tab wizard after you save the custom object. The New Custom Tab Wizard option is only available when you create a new object.

If you do not select Launch the New Custom Tab Wizard, you will not be able to create a tab in this step; however, you can create the tab later, as described in the section Custom tabs covered earlier in this article.

When creating a custom object, a custom tab is not automatically created.

Summary

This article, thus, describes in detail the Salesforce CRM record storage features and user interface that can be customized, the mechanism to store data in Salesforce CRM, the relationship that exists between the profile, and the customizable features that the profile controls.

Resources for Article:

Further resources on this subject:

• Introducing Dynamics CRM [article]
• Understanding CRM Extendibility Architecture [article]
• Getting Dynamics CRM 2015 Data into Power BI [article]