Mastering Document Generation in Salesforce: A Guide for Business Efficiency

Mastering Document Generation in Salesforce: A Guide for Business Efficiency

Imagine a world where tedious manual tasks become relics of the past and efficiency reigns supreme in your business processes. With this comprehensive guide on mastering document generation in Salesforce, that world is closer than ever! Get ready to turbocharge your productivity, streamline operations, and revolutionize how you manage documents as we dive headfirst into the world of automation.

Whether you’re a Salesforce newbie or a seasoned pro, this guide will empower you to unlock your full potential and elevate your business to new heights of efficiency. So buckle up, and let’s embark on this electrifying journey toward document generation mastery!

Foundation Document Generation in Salesforce enables businesses to create and manage business-critical documents with precision, speed, and consistency.

Typical Use Cases For Businesses In Need

Here are the main types of documents businesses can create and manage in Salesforce:  

a) Contracts: Professionals can use customized enterprise contracts that predefine business clauses, obligations, and other important information.
b) Agreements: Business leaders can create NDAs and service agreements using predefined document templates.
c)
Quotes: Business consultants can use Salesforce document generation solution to create a variety of service quotes. They can include different sections like manufacturing rebates, frame agreements, retail promotions, etc.
d)
Proposals: Business leaders can create detailed proposal documents with predefined risks, coverages, indemnities, etc.
e)
Reports: Managers can create formatted reports about closed-won deals and others.

Key Capabilities of Salesforce Document Generation Solution

With Foundation Document Generation, there are numerous possibilities at your disposal. Let’s discuss the key capabilities one by one!

Document Template Designer

You can use any template design with a predefined content structure and format. To accomplish this, you should utilize the document template designer tool. This tool makes document generation in Salesforce much simples, as you can create as many document templates as you like!

To create a document template in MS Word or PowerPoint, follow these steps: 

a) Click on the Setup button in Salesforce and select the Object Manager tab.
b)
Select the object (account, contact, opportunity, etc.) you want to create the template.
c)
Select the “Create” option and then the “Document Template” option.
d)
Choose the template type you want to make, e.g., MS Word.
e)
Follow the prompts to add merge fields for dynamic data.
f)
Include tables, paragraphs, charts, and images in the template.
g)
Finally, save the template with a unique name for future use. 

Tokens, Conditional Logic, and Tabulation

Sometimes, businesses must insert tokens, tabulations, and logical conditions into the document files to perform different functions. Document generation for Salesforce allows the following token types in the documents:

a) Variable token: It displays the value of a variable as a JSON element.
b) Repeating content token: It repeats some of the content sections.
c)
Conditional logic token: It checks a boolean condition to meet certain conditions and displays the outcome in a tabular format.

Data Mapping with JSON

You can populate the generated documents with JSON data from external databases or Salesforce. While creating the template, associate it with unique JSON input data. Salesforce offers both client-side and server-side data processing. You can choose any type of data processing for the document template to handle the JSON inputs.

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Understanding The Flow of Document Generation in Salesforce

Let’s look closer at how organizations can implement the document generation solution!

Template Customization

Yes, you can create as many .docx or .pptx templates as possible. But you can also customize some parts of the existing templates. For example, create a template design for billing. Use the same template to create customers’ invoices.

Document Template Design

After template customization, uploading the file in Salesforce Document Template Designer is time. Here, you can define the template with unique values extracted from the JSON-based inputs. You can also use other token-mapping methods to use the data for generating documents in Salesforce.

Document Generation

Finally, it’s time to initiate the document-generation process with any of the following options:

a) Client-side document generation: It requires a UI to generate documents using OmniScript.
b) Server-side document generation: It doesn’t require user interaction to generate documents. 

Steps to use the Salesforce UI for documents generation:

a) Choose the record for which you want to generate a document.
b)
Click the Generate Document button and select the template you want.
c)
Follow the prompts to generate the document. 

Automate Generation

To increase the efficiency of Salesforce doc generation, you can automate the entire process using Salesforce Process Builder, Workflow Rules, or Apex Triggers. Here are the steps that you can follow to automate this process:

a) Identify the trigger event or condition.
b)
Create a workflow rule with process builder or apex trigger.
c)
Configure the automation tool to generate documents using predefined templates whenever the trigger event or condition occurs.
d)
Test the document generation to ensure it works as intended.

Document Distribution

You can distribute the generated documents to the relevant stakeholders and customers with Salesforce. Here are some of the popular ways of distributing documents:

a) Send the documents through emails as attachments.
b)
Storing the documents in separate Salesforce Files.
c)
Use cloud services like OneDrive etc. 

The Ultimate Question: Is Using Salesforce for Document Generation Effective?

Document generation in Salesforce is a straightforward approach for businesses to effectively manage the processes of document creation, storing, sharing, and management. It saves enough time and increases efficiency. You can create, generate, and distribute documents in Salesforce with the step-by-step guide above. Now it’s time to streamline your document generation process by creating custom templates, using JSON data parameters, and performing client-side or server-side processing!

About Us: Algoworks is a B2B IT firm providing end-to-end product development services. Operating chiefly from its California office, Algoworks is reputed for its partnership with Fortune 500 companies such as Amazon, Dell, Salesforce, and Microsoft. The company’s key Salesforce Services include: Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Salesforce Experience Cloud, AppExchange Apps, Salesforce Consulting Services etc. For more information, contact us here. 

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Pratyush Kumar

Pratyush Kumar

Co-Founder & President at Algoworks, Open-Source | Salesforce | ECM
Pratyush is Co-Founder and President at Algoworks. He is responsible for managing, growing open source technologies team and has spearheaded more than 200 projects in Salesforce CRM alone. He provides consulting and advisory to clients looking for services relating to CRM(Customer Relationship Management) and ECM(Enterprise Content Management). In the past, Pratyush has held consulting roles with various global technology leaders, such as Globallogic & HCL in India. He holds an Engineering graduate degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee.
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