Einstein Analytics: Deploying Conditional Formatting

When you deploy the Einstein Analytics dashboards contain conditional formatting using ANT or Change Set or simply copy and paste the dashboard JSON, conditional formatting will not follow, you need to manually configure the conditional formatting again in the target environment manually.

This is because conditional formatting in the dashboard is stored under dashboard XMD, so if you deploy the dashboard XMD, then conditional formatting will be deployed.

In this blog, I will use Workbench to deploy this.

1. Create package.xml file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<Package xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">

    <types>

        <members>Test_Conditional_Formatting</members>

        <name>WaveXmd</name>

    </types>

    <version>48.0</version>

</Package>

Test_Conditional_Formatting in above sample is the dashboard API name, you can check dashboard API name from Workbench too https://workbench.developerforce.com/restExplorer.php?url=/services/data/v48.0/wave/dashboards&autoExec=1

2. Retrieve dashboard XMD file

From workbench login to source org. > migration > retrieve, select package.xml prepared in step (1) >  click Next button > click Retrieve button > download zip file

3. Deploy Zip file

Make sure the dashboard has been created/deployed in the target org. From workbench login to target org. > migration > deploy > select zip file from step (2) > click Next button > click Deploy button 

Now open the dashboard in target org and the conditional formatting has been applied.

Salesforce Lookup Filter

Lookup is a very simple feature in Salesforce, but also powerful, with just a few clicks you can relate an object to another object easily as a parent-child relationship.

However, in some business needs, the system should NOT look up ALL parent records, here is the scenario between Account (parent) and Case (child):

• Case External --> Account Type = Customer
• Case Internal --> Account Type = any

External and Internal is Case record type, and Type is the standard Account field. Of course, we can use validation rule to block Case creation for record type = External, but validation rule does not offer the best experience, as users will not easily know if an Account is a Customer or not.

Good that Salesforce offers Lookup Filter criteria and even better you can define the logic. For the above requirement, here my lookup filters. 

Make sure to enable the lookup filter.

Reference:

• Lookup Filters Best Practices
• Lookup Filter Examples

Salesforce: Sharing Rules via Public Group & Role

Sharing records using Public Groups may or may not rollup via role hierarchies, this is determined by the object setup in Organization-Wide Defaults and also Public Groups setup.

By default, Salesforce standard objects will grant access via hierarchies, meaning users with higher role hierarchy will be able to view or edit records where the records are viewable or editable by any users below that user in the role hierarchy.

While for custom objects, you can configure the  "Grant Access Using Hierarchies" under Organization-Wide Defaults for that object.

In the Public Group setting, you also can configure to enable "Grant Access Using Hierarchies". Let us see a few scenarios as below:

1. Sharing to Public Group for objects enabled for "Grant Access Using Hierarchies"

1A. Public Group is "Grant Access Using Hierarchies" enabled

This will share records to users with higher role hierarchy.

reason for the user in Public Group

reason for the user with higher role hierarchy

Group Staff 2 only has 1 user which is Song Lee, when I expand the list, it will show all users able to access the record. From the screenshot below, Jack Bob is the record owner, while Maria Ann and Platform User 1 are users with roles higher than Song Lee's in the role hierarchy.

1B. Public Group is not "Grant Access Using Hierarchies" enabled

Let us use the same object as above, but share it to a different group which is without enabled "Grant Access Using Hierarchies". This will NOT share records to users with higher role hierarchy. 

** This is applicable for standard objects too

2. Sharing to Public Group for objects NOT enabled for "Grant Access Using Hierarchies"

2A. Public Group is "Grant Access Using Hierarchies" enabled

In this testing, we are using a custom object not enabled for "Grant Access Using Hierarchies", then we create a sharing rule to share with the same group with Grant Access Using Hierarchies as in (1B).

The result, this share will NOT grant access to the users in the higher role hierarchy.

2B. Public Group is not "Grant Access Using Hierarchies" enabled

The result of this sharing is exactly the same with (2A), where he users in the higher role hierarchy are NOT shared.

3. Sharing to Roles for objects enabled for "Grant Access Using Hierarchies"

The result is similar to (1A), users in the higher role hierarchy will get access.

4. Sharing to Roles for objects NOT enabled for "Grant Access Using Hierarchies"

The result is similar to (2A), users in the higher role hierarchy NOT will get access.

Reference: Controlling Access Using Hierarchies

Einstein Analytics: Working with Multi-Pages Dashboard

Einstein Analytics offers multi-pages dashboard feature, where we can design the pages similar one to another, or totally different across pages. If the new page similar to an existing page, you can simply clone the page. 

Clone Page

Click the arrow next to the page name (the default page name is "Untitled") and select Clone.

This will create a new page located at the last with page name "Clone of xyz", xyz is the original page name.

But what actually happened at the backend?

Page is defined as pages key under gridLayouts, so when you clone a page:

1. a new section will be added with label "Clone of xyz" under pages key
2. the number of widgets in the new page section is exactly the same with the source page
3. all the keys in the new widgets are exactly the same with the widgets in source page, including name

With this knowledge, you can easily move the page order and label as needed

If we open one of the widgets and looks for the "name" key, as mentioned above, it would be the same, and name here actually is widget ID when you see it in dashboard designer UI.

For our sample of "chart_3", in addition to "name" key in the widget, it also has: 

• colspan
• column
• row
• rowspan
• widgetStyle

While the widget details such as color, label, action menu, etc. are defined in the "widgets" section. So "chart_3" from gridLayouts refer to "chart_3" under widgets, then further, "chart_3" in "widgets" refer to a step (which is query) called "Dept_1".

Checkout below screenshot from the dashboard designer for widget ID = "chart_3", if you click Query tab, the ID should be "Dept_1".

From above screenshot, the red arrow tells us that the widget is used on multiple pages, so if we change anything on the widget, it will change for the same on the other page using the same widget, e.g. title, font size, background color, etc. 

Now, let us click unlink and see what will happen, before that let us summarize:

• chart_3 widget used in Page1A and Page1B page
• chart_3 widget use step "Dept_1"

Click unlink will change the widget name on that page from chart_3 to something else such as chart_4, however, the query/step remain the same, now if you change the widget background color in one page, it will not change the other one, although the step used still the same. Step refers to the data query from a dataset.

What happened on the backend?

1. The "name" on page on where we clicked unlink, the widget name under gridLayouts will change to the new name, and no change for other pages.
2. In the "widgets" section, there will be a new widget added "chart_4", it uses the same step use in "chart_3", which is "Dept_1".

A few more things worth to note:

1. If you remember that we mentioned row, rowspan, column, colspan of the widget in page section; this mean, location and size of linked widgets in a page can be different from other pages.

2. A page can be clone multiple times, from the original or cloned page. Unlink a widget from a page only applicable for that page, the widgets could be still linked in other pages.

3. For a widget has been unlinked to use different query (such as from different dataset), the step needs to be changed manually.

4. You can use faceting (include/exclude) if need to prevent selection in one page not to impact result in other pages.

Benefits using pages compare to using many individual dashboards:

For dashboard builders:

- it is cleaner and easier to maintain only one dashboard, instead of many dashboards in Analytics Studio.

- ability to re-use the same step across pages.

For end-users, working only with one tab, opening a new "page" will not open as new tabs, including when bookmarking the dashboard.

Copy Widget

Einstein Analytics also offers another capability for us to clone widget, select the widget, and click the "Copy Widget" icon. So, what is behind the screen?

1. Create a new step
2. Create a new widget, and assigned with step created (1)
3. Add the widget created (2) to the current page

Compare this to the Clone tab:

• No new steps created
• No new widgets created
• Create a new page under gridLayouts

What is Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

Written by Alina Makarova, Growth Marketer at DESelect. DESelect is an app for Salesforce Marketing Cloud that makes it easy for marketers to segment without relying on SQL.  

Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) is a product of Salesforce, which is the biggest CRM platform in the world. It enables marketers to get to know customers, personalize, and engage with them during their customer journey. It provides an opportunity to engage with customers using various digital marketing channels: email, web, mobile, social, or digital advertising. 

What else can you do with Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

First off, it is possible to create unified views of every customer combining known and unknown customer profiles. Moreover, SFMC allows measuring and reporting to optimize your marketing performance and achieve better campaign results while improving your customer relationship. Lastly, you can take your marketing to the next level by enabling Salesforce Einstein’s artificial intelligence capabilities.

What does Salesforce Marketing Cloud consist of?

There are several built-in apps in SFMC that help to get a 360 view of your customers and communicate with them at every level. Here you can see how these apps look like in SFMC itself:

Below you can find a quick description of the main functions of these apps.

Name of the app	What is it used for?
Content Builder	Create content for your emails, in-app messages, push notifications.
Journey Builder	Deliver cross-channel personalized experiences at every step of the customer lifecycle with campaign management.
Interaction Studio	Visualize, track, and manage customer experiences with real-time interaction management—driving valuable engagement at the right moment.
Email Studio	Use data from every department to build smarter email—from basic marketing campaigns to sophisticated 1-to-1 messages.
Mobile Studio	Send consistent SMS, push, and chat app messages in real-time.
Advertising Studio	Use CRM to securely power 1-to-1 advertising across Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and Display at scale.
Social Studio	Listen, publish, and engage to create customer advocates. Connect social to marketing, sales, and service in one platform powered by AI.
Web Studio	Allows you to create Cloud pages.
Einstein	Einstein Email and Web Recommendations power delivery of relevant content based on prior user behavior.
Analytics Studio	Allows to get deep insights into the behaviors and interests of your contacts across channels. You can use these insights to set marketing goals and refine customer journeys.

Beyond the above-mentioned apps, there are many possibilities to expand the capabilities of the Salesforce Marketing Cloud. On AppExchange you can find various apps that can be added to your SFMC instance. For example, DESelect enables you to segment your customers easily without the need to rely on SQL which is the default approach in SFMC. 

Who is Salesforce Marketing Cloud made for?

If you need to create long-term relationships with your customers, then SFMC is a great solution for you. It enables multichannel communication, and possibilities to track, analyze, and report the received data to create a 360 view of an individual customer. It is primarily used for B2C marketing purposes. 

Moreover, SFMC always changes and evolves opening new horizons for marketers to communicate with their customers. Lastly, the apps found in AppExchange make the platform even more powerful, aiming to save marketers time and improve their user experience.

Einstein Analytics: Compare Table functions

Compare Table is another powerful and easy to use feature in Einstein Analytics to meet your business requirements, you do not need to manually construct the SAQL or edit with JSON. It allows you to aggregate data into a table (or chart) based on formulas defined.

You can use familiar SAQL syntax to create your own formula for a column of multiple columns in a table or visualize it to a chart. 

On top of manually building custom formula with SAQL, Einstein Analytics also provide defined windowing functions to analyze data across rows.

Sliding Window

Applies an aggregate function to the current row with respect to a configurable range of rows.

- Column: source data (a column)

- Function: Average, Sum, Min, Max

- Start: start row to analyze, -1 mean 1 previous row from the current row

- End: end row to analyze, 0 mean current rows, 1 mean 1 row after current row

- Reset Group: if only you have more than 1 grouping, you can reset by 

Let us see a sample:

This function compares the current value with 1 previous row (start = -1, and end = 0), then get the Max value. 

Once saved, we will see the formula

max(A) over ([-1..0] partition by all order by ('Opty.CloseDate_Year~~~Opty.CloseDate_Month~~~Opty.CloseDate_Day'))

Now, let us add Account Name as 2nd level grouping without adding Reset Group

Because there are 3 accounts on 13-May-2017, the row explodes to 3 lines, but the logic still the same, which is comparing max value between the current and previous row. In this change, the formula will not change.

Now, let us add Reset Group = Opty.CloseDate

The formula will be changed by adding Account Name (in this sample the API name is "Name")

max(A) over ([-1..0] partition by all order by ('Opty.CloseDate_Year~~~Opty.CloseDate_Month~~~Opty.CloseDate_Day','Name'))

Because Close Date added as Reset Group, windowing functions only compare within the same date.

Percentage of Group

Calculates the percentage each row is of its group total, or of the grand total. The percentage only applicable for data shown in the table, NOT for the whole data in dataset (if you apply filter).

The formula: A/sum(A) over ([..] partition by all)

The function can be reset on a grouping defined in the table, this is the same with Sliding Window, you need to have minimum 2 grouping to apply Reset Group.

The formula: A/sum(A) over ([..] partition by 'Opty.CloseDate_Year~~~Opty.CloseDate_Month~~~Opty.CloseDate_Day')

Rank Within Group

There are 4 functions offered by Rank Within Group:

• Rank: assigns rank based on order. Repeats rank when the value is the same, and skips as many on the next non-match
• Dense Rank: same as rank() but doesn’t skip values on previous repetitions.
• Cumulative Distribution: calculates the cumulative distribution (relative position) of the data in the reset group
• Row-number: assigns a number incremented by 1 for every row in the reset group.

Formulas for each function:

• Rank: rank() over([..] partition by all order by A desc)
• Dense Rank: dense_rank() over([..] partition by all order by A desc)
• Cumulative Distribution: cume_dist() over([..] partition by all order by A desc)
• Row Number: row_number() over([..] partition by all order by A desc)

The Order menu determines the direction of ranking based on the values being ranked. Ascending ranks the lowest value as number 1, while descending ranks the highest value as number 1. Same as Sliding Window and Percentage of Group function, we can add Reset Group in Rank Within Group.

Period Over Period

To use Period Over Period, the table must be group by Date field. Period Over Period function compare periods of time to calculate changes in values, for example: year-over-year, quarter-over-quarter, month-over-month, week-over-week, or day-over-day.

Then, we have option to show the result as: % Change or Unit Change. 

Formula for % Change

(A - sum(A) over ([-1..-1] partition by all order by ('Opty.CloseDate_Year~~~Opty.CloseDate_Month~~~Opty.CloseDate_Day')))/(sum(A) over ([-1..-1] partition by all order by ('Opty.CloseDate_Year~~~Opty.CloseDate_Month~~~Opty.CloseDate_Day')))

Formula for Unit Change

A - sum(A) over ([-1..-1] partition by all order by ('Opty.CloseDate_Year~~~Opty.CloseDate_Month~~~Opty.CloseDate_Day'))

Period Over Period do not offer Reset Group.

Change from Previous

Compares the value of the current row with that of the previous row and calculates the difference. This function similar with Period Over Period, but you do not need to group by Date. 

Change from Previous offer Reset Group function and similar with Period Over Period, we have option to show the result as: % Change or Unit Change.

Formula for % Change

(A - sum(A) over ([-1..-1] partition by all order by ('Opty.CloseDate_Year~~~Opty.CloseDate_Month~~~Opty.CloseDate_Day')))/(sum(A) over ([-1..-1] partition by all order by ('Opty.CloseDate_Year~~~Opty.CloseDate_Month~~~Opty.CloseDate_Day')))

Formula for Unit Change

A - sum(A) over ([-1..-1] partition by all order by ('Opty.CloseDate_Year~~~Opty.CloseDate_Month~~~Opty.CloseDate_Day'))

Above table looks very similar with Period Over Period, but Change from Previous can be implemented to any grouping, not just Date over a period.

Running Total

Calculates the total value of the current row summed with all previous rows. 

Running Total formula without Reset Group: sum(A) over ([..0] partition by all order by ('Opty.CloseDate_Year~~~Opty.CloseDate_Month~~~Opty.CloseDate_Day'))

Running Total also offer Reset Group if you have more than 1 grouping in table. Let us see in sample with and without reset Group:

Reference:

• Add Custom Formulas to Columns
• Window Functions Available in the Compare Table
• Windowing Functions