Sales Force FAQS

1.What is Multitenant Architecture ?

Ans:- An application model in which all users and apps share a single,

common infrastructure and code base

2.What is Metadata-driven development model ?

Ans:- An app development model that allows apps to be defined as

declarative "blueprints," with no code required. Data models, objects,

forms, workflows, and more are defined by metadata.

3.What is Force PlatformWeb Services API ?

Ans:- An application programming interface that defines a Web service that

provides direct access to all data stored in Force Platform from virtually

any programming language and platform

4.What is Apex ?

Ans:- The world’s first on-demand programming language, which runs in

the cloud on Force Platform servers

5.What is Visualforce ?

Ans:- A framework for creating feature-rich user interfaces for apps in the

Cloud

6.What are Force Platform sites ?

Ans:- Public websites and applications that are directly integrated with your

Salesforce organization—without requiring users to log in with a

username and password

7.What is AppExchange directory ?

Ans:- A Web directory where hundreds of AppExchange apps are available

to Salesforce customers to review, demo, comment upon, and/or install. Developers can submit their apps for listing on the AppExchange directory if they want to share them with the community.

8.What is the difference between Native components and Composite Components ?

Ans:- One way to split up the work is to look at which requirements can be implemented by using just the point-and-click tools of the platform and which requirements must be implemented by leveraging other Web applications. The former method, which uses native components, is typically fast and simple to use, requiring only point-and-click setup rather than more traditional coding. The latter method, which uses composite components, give us more control and flexibility in what we do but requires more work.

The following diagram shows how features implemented with each method are created, split out by their user interface layer, business logic, and data model.

9.Name some Native Components ?

Ans:-

•Custom objects

•Security and sharing rules

•Workflow and approval processes

•Custom reports and dashboards

10.What are Custom Objects ? 

Ans:- Custom objects are the native components that model the data we need to store in our application. Similar to a database table, a custom object is composed of several fields that store information such as a job applicant's name, or the maximum salary for a particular position.However, unlike traditional database tables, we don't need to write any SQL in order to create custom objects.We can simply point and click in the platform to create as many objects as we need.

11.What is a database ?

Ans:- A database is an organized collection of information.

12.What is a database table ? 

Ans:- A database table stores information about a single type of person, thing, or concept—such as a job position. In the Force Platform, we use the term object here

13.What is a database row or record ?

Ans:- A database row, or record in Force Platform terms, represents a single instance of an object—such as the SW Engineer position.

14.What is a field ?

Ans:- A field stores a particular piece of information on a record.

15.What are Relationships ?

Ans:- Relationships define the connection between two objects, and objects are related to each other through the use of common fields.

16.When do you Roll-up Summary fields ?

Ans:-

Use roll-up summary fields to display the sum, minimum, or maximum

value of a field in a related list, or the record count of all records listed in a related list.

17.What are the different types of Picklists and what is the difference between the two ?

Ans:-

Picklists come in two flavors: a standard picklist, in which a user can select only one option, and a multi-select picklist, in which a user can select multiple options at a time. For the purposes of our Position object, we need to define standard picklists for a position's location, status, type of job, functional area, and job level.

18.What are field dependencies ?

Ans:-

Field dependencies are filters that allow us to change the contents of a picklist based on the value of another field. For example, rather than displaying every value for Country in a single picklist, we can limit the values that are displayed based on a value for another field, like Continent. That way our users can find the appropriate country more quickly and easily.

19.What is the difference between controlling and dependent fields ?

Ans:-

Picklist fields can be either controlling or dependent fields. A controlling field controls the available values in one or more corresponding dependent fields. A dependent field displays values based on the value selected in its corresponding controlling field.For example, the Continent picklist is the controlling field, while the Country picklist is the dependent field.

20.What are custom formula fields ?

Ans:-

Just as you can use a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel to define calculations and metrics specific to your business, we can use custom formula fields to define calculations and metrics that are specific to the application

21.What are Validation rules ?

Ans:-

Validation rules verify that the data a user enters in the application meets the standards that you specify. If it doesn't, the validation rule prevents the record from being saved, and the user sees an error message that you define either next to the problematic field or at the top of the edit page.

22.What are Page Layouts ?

Ans:-A page layout controls the position and organization of the fields and related lists that are visible to users when viewing a record. Page layouts also help us control the visibility and editability of the fields on a record.We can set fields as read-only or hidden, and we can also control which fields require users to enter a value and which don't.

Page layouts are powerful tools for creating a good experience for our users, but it's crucial that we remember one important rule: page layouts should never be used to restrict access to sensitive data that a user shouldn't view or edit.

23.What are the different types of relationship fields ? What are the differences between them ?

Ans:-

There are different types of relationship fields, each with different implications. The simplest and most flexible type is a lookup relationship field, which creates a simple relationship between two objects.

A second type of relationship field, master-detail relationship, is a bit more complex, but more powerful. Master-detail relationships create a special parent-child relationship between objects: the object on which you create the master-detail relationship field is the child or "detail," and the object referenced in the field is the parent or "master." In a master-detail relationship, the ownership and sharing of detail records are determined by the master record, and when you delete the master record, all of its detail records are automatically deleted along with it.Master-detail relationship fields are always required on detail records, and once you set a master-detail relationship field's value, you cannot change it.

24.When do you use master-detail relationship ?

Ans:-

If you have an object that derives its significance from another object. For example, say you have a Review custom object that contains an interviewer's feedback on a job application. If you delete a job application record, you will probably want all of its review records deleted as well, being that reviews of something that no

longer exists aren't very useful. In this case, you want to create a master-detail relationship on the Review custom object with the Job Application object as the master object.

25.What are search layouts ?

Ans:-

Search layouts are ordered groups of fields that are displayed when a record is presented in a particular context, such as in search results, a lookup dialog, or a related list. By adding fields, we can give users more information and help them locate records more quickly.

26.What is a Junction Object ?

Ans:-

A junction object is a custom object with two master-detail relationships, and is the key

to making a many-to-many relationship.

27.What is the difference between Object-Level Security , Field-Level Security and Record-level Security ?

Ans:-

Object-Level Security

The bluntest way that we can control data is by preventing a user from

seeing, creating, editing, and/or deleting any instance of a particular type

of object, like a position or review. Object-level access allows us to hide

whole tabs and objects from particular users, so that they don't even know

that type of data exists.

On the platform, we set object-level access rules with object permissions

on user profiles.

Field-Level Security

A variation on object-level access is field-level access, in which a user can

be prevented from seeing, editing, and/or deleting the value for a particular

field on an object. Field-level access allows us to hide sensitive information

like the maximum salary for a position or a candidate's social security

number without having to hide the whole object.

On the platform, we set field-level access rules with the field-level security.

Record-Level Security

To control data with a little more finesse, we can allow particular users to

view an object, but then restrict the individual object records that they're

allowed to see. For example, record-level access allows an interviewer like

Melissa Lee to see and edit her own reviews, without exposing the reviews

of everyone else on her team.

On the platform, we actually have four ways of setting record-level access

rules:

• Organization-wide defaults allow us to specify the baseline level of

access that a user has in your organization. For example, we can make

it so that any user can see any record of a particular object to which

their user profile gives them access, but so that they'll need extra

permissions to actually edit one.

• Role hierarchies allow us to make sure that a manager will always have

access to the same records as his or her subordinates.

• Sharing rules allow us to make automatic exceptions to organization-wide defaults for particular groups of users.

• Manual sharing allows record owners to give read and edit permissions

to folks who might not have access to the record any other way.

28.What are Organization-wide defaults ?

Ans:- Organization-wide defaults allow us to specify the baseline level of

access that a user has in your organization. For example, we can make

it so that any user can see any record of a particular object to which

their user profile gives them access, but so that they'll need extra

permissions to actually edit one.

When dealing with record-level access settings, the first thing we need to do is to determine the organization-wide defaults (commonly called "org-wide defaults") for each object in our Recruiting app. Also called a sharing model, org-wide defaults specify the baseline level of access that the most restricted user should have.

29.What are Role Hierarchies ?

Ans:- Role hierarchies allow us to make sure that a manager will always have

access to the same records as his or her subordinates.

The first way that we can share access to records is by defining a role hierarchy. Similar to an org chart, a role hierarchy represents a level of data access that a user or group of users needs.Users assigned to roles near the top of the hierarchy (normally the CEO, executives, and other management) get to access the data of all the users who fall directly below them in the hierarchy.The role hierarchy ensures that a manager will always have access to the same data as his or her employees, regardless of the org-wide default settings. Role hierarchies also helpfully define groups of users who tend to need access to the same types of records

30.What are sharing rules ?

Ans:- Sharing rules allow us to make automatic exceptions to organization-wide defaults for particular groups of users.

Sharing rules let us make automatic exceptions to org-wide defaults for particular groups of users

The thing to remember with sharing rules is that, like role hierarchies, we can use them only to open up record access to more users. Sharing rules and role hierarchies can never be stricter than our org-wide default settings.

31.What is Manual Sharing ?

Ans:- Manual sharing allows record owners to give read and edit permissions

to folks who might not have access to the record any other way.

32.What are Profiles ?

Ans:-

A profile is a collection of settings and permissions that determine what a user can do in the platform, kind of like a group in a Windows network, where all of the members of the group have the same folder permissions and access to the same software. Profiles control:

• The objects the user can view, create, edit, and delete

• The object fields the user can view and edit (more on that later!)

• The tabs the user can view in the app

• The standard and custom apps the user can access

• The page layouts a user sees

• The record types available to the user

• The hours during which the user can log in to the app

• The IP addresses from which the user can log in to the app

Profiles are typically defined by a user's job function (for example, system administrator or sales representative), but you can have profiles for anything that makes sense for your

organization. A profile can be assigned to many users, but a user can be assigned to only one profile at a time.

33.What are the differences between Roles and Profiles ?

Ans:-

profiles control a user's object- and field-level access permissions. Indeed, a user can't be defined without being assigned to a particular profile, since the profiles specifies the apps and tabs that appear when he or she logs in, among a number of other useful things.

Roles, on the other hand, primarily control a user's record-level access permissions through role hierarchy and sharing rules. Although a role assignment isn't exactly required when we define a user, it would be foolish of us not to assign a role since it makes it so much easier to define our record-level permissions.

Because profiles control object- and field-level access whereas roles influence record-level access, a user is typically assigned to one of each.To help you remember which controls what, remember: Roles control Records.

34.What is a Public Group ?

Ans:-

A public group is a collection of individual users, other groups, individual roles, and/or roles with their subordinates that all have a function in common.

Using a public group when defining a sharing rule makes the rule easier to create and, more important, easier to understand later, especially if it's one of many sharing rules that you're trying to maintain in a large organization. You'll need to create a public group if you ever want to define a sharing rule that encompasses more than one or two

groups or roles, or any individual.

35.What is a workflow ?

Ans:-

Workflow is a Force Platform business-logic engine that allows us to automatically send email alerts, assign tasks, or update field values based on rules that we define. Any time that changes to a record meet the conditions in a workflow rule, the platform automatically performs any actions associated with the rule.

36.What are Workflow Rules ?

Ans:-

In general, a workflow rule is the main container for a set of workflow instructions. It includes the criteria for when the workflow should be activated, as well as the particular tasks, alerts, and field updates that should take place when the criteria for that rule are met.

Every workflow rule must be based on a single object you choose when you define the rule.This object influences the fields that are available for setting workflow activation criteria.

37.What are Workflow Tasks ?

Ans:-

A workflow task assigns a task to a user according to a particular template.

Just as in Microsoft Outlook, tasks include information about something

that needs to be done by a certain time, such as making a telephone call

or returning a library book. Assigned tasks appear in a user's My Tasks

related list on their Home tab and generate reminder messages that pop

up when a user logs in.

When we define a workflow task, we provide default values for the

Assignee, Subject, Status, Priority, and Due Date fields for tasks

that are generated by an associated workflow rule.We can also make sure

that a notification email is sent to the assignee when a task is automatically

generated.

38.What are Workflow Field Updates ?

Ans:-

A workflow field update changes the value of a particular field on the record

that initially triggered the workflow rule.

39.What are Workflow Email Alerts ?

Ans:-

workflow email alert sends an email according to a specified email

template. Unlike workflow tasks, which can only be assigned to users of

the app, workflow alerts can be sent to any user or contact, as long as they

have a valid email address

40.What are Queues ?

Ans:- Much like a collection of items in a lost and found drawer, a queue is a collection of records that don't have an owner. Users who have access to the queue can examine every record that's in it and claim ownership of the ones they want.

Queues are traditionally used in sales and support organizations to distribute new leads and support cases to the employees who have the most availability.

41.What are Time Dependent workflow Actions ?

Ans:-

time-dependent workflow actions are actions that occur before or after a certain amount of time has elapsed

We can use time-dependent workflow actions to fire tasks, field updates, and email alerts while the condition of a workflow rule remains true.

42.What are Email Templates ?

Ans:- Email templates allow you to create form emails that communicate a standard message, such as a welcome letter to new employees or an acknowledgement that a customer service request has been received.

43.What is the role of Approval Processes ?

Ans:- Approval processes allow you to specify a sequence of steps that are required to approve a new record. Each step allows one or more designated approvers to accept or reject a record. The steps can apply to all records included in the process, or just to records that meet certain requirements. Like workflow, approval processes also allow you to specify actions—like sending an email alert, updating a field value, or assigning a task—that should occur whenever a record is approved, rejected, first submitted for approval, or recalled.

44.What are Approval Actions ?

Ans:-

Just like workflow actions, approval actions allow you to create and assign tasks, update fields, and send email updates and outbound messages.They can either be associated with the approval process as a whole or with individual approval steps.

45.What are the different types of Reports that Platform supports ? When do you need to use them ?

Ans:-

The platform supports three different report formats, each with varying degrees of functionality and complexity:

• Tabular reports are the simplest and fastest way to look at your data. Similar to a spreadsheet, they consist simply of an ordered set of fields in columns, with each matching record listed in a row.While easy to set up, they can't be used to create groups of data or graphs.Consequently, they're best used just for tasks such as generating a mailing list.

Tip: Use tabular reports when you want a simple list or a list of items with a grand

total.

Summary reports are similar to tabular reports, except that they also allow you to group rows of data, view subtotals, and create graphs. For example, in the sample Employee Interviewer reports that appear in the following screenshot, the summary report groups the rows of reviews by the possible values of the Owner Name field, allowing us to see at a glance subtotals of how many times the two interviewers have talked to candidates and entered reviews for them.

While a little more time-consuming to set up, summary reports give us many more options for manipulating and organizing the data, and, unlike tabular reports, they can be used in dashboards. Summary reports are the workhorses of reporting—you'll find that most of your reports tend to be of this format.

Tip: Use summary reports when you want subtotals based on the value of a

particular field or when you want to create a hierarchical list, such as sales organized by year and then by quarter.

Matrix reports are the most complex kind of report available, allowing you to group records both by row and by column. For example, in the following sample Employee Interviewer reports, the matrix report groups the review rows by the possible values of the Owner Name field, and also breaks out the possible values of the Position field into columns. Consequently, the report gives us subtotals for the number of times an interviewer has interviewed candidates and entered reviews for a particular position. These reports are the most time-consuming to set up, but they also provide the most detailed view of our data.Like summary reports, matrix reports can be used in dashboards.

Tip: Use matrix reports when you want to see data by two different dimensions

that aren't related, such as date and product.

46.What are Dashboards ?

Ans:-

A dashboard is a group of different summary or matrix report charts that graphically display custom report data.

47.What are the different Dashboard components ?

Ans:-

Components come in five varieties:

• Charts—Displays a pie chart, bar chart, line chart, or any other type of chart that can be

made in a report.

• Tables—Displays a two-column table that contains record counts and values from the

top-level row grouping in the report.

• Metrics—Inserts the grand total of a report at the end of a label that you customize.

• Gauges—Uses the grand total of a report as a point on a scale.

• Custom S-Controls—Displays any custom content that can be viewed in a Web browser, such as an ActiveX control, an Excel file, or a custom HTML Web form.

48.What are Custom Report Types ?

Ans:-

Custom report types define the report criteria from which your users can run and create custom reports.When you create a custom report type, you specify the objects, relationships, and fields that users can select for their reports.

49.What are Web services ?

Ans:-

A Web service is the mechanism by which two applications that run on different platforms, that were written in different languages, and that are

geographically remote from each other, can exchange data using the Internet.Web services makes data exchange between two such applications as straightforward as the way that two processes can exchange data on a single computer.

The way that data is exchanged between two Web services is similar to the way data is exchanged between a Web browser like Microsoft Internet Explorer and a Web server. Just as a Web browser uses a common network protocol (HTTP over TCIP/IP) to download HTML files hosted on a Web server, a Web service can also use this same network protocol to download data from another Web service. The key difference is the actual data that is sent and received—Web services use XML instead of HTML.

Note: The Force Platform also has its own powerful Web services: the Force Platform

Web Services API.With the Force PlatformWeb Service API, you can customize,

integrate, and extend your Salesforce organization using the language and platform of

your choice. The API defines a Web service that enables full, reliable access to all of

the data in your organization, including the ability to read, create, update, and delete

records.

50.What is Visual Force ?

Ans:-

Visualforce is a powerful, yet flexible framework, for extending your app's user

interface far beyond what's available using the platform's point-and-click tools. Use Visualforce to combine data from multiple Force Platform objects, blend data from Web services into your apps, and customize the logic that dictates the behavior of your app's user interface.With Visualforce, you can create just about any type of browser-based user interface you can imagine.

The Visualforce framework includes a tag-based markup language, similar to HTML. In the Visualforce markup language, each Visualforce tag corresponds to a user interface component.Need a related list? Simply add the <apex:relatedList> component tag.Want to display a record's details? Just use the <apex:detail> tag.

51.What is a Web tab ?

Ans:-

A custom tab that allows your users to use external websites from within the application.

52.What is Workflow Outbound Message ?

Ans:-

A workflow action that sends data to an external Web service, such as another

application in the cloud. Outbound messages are used primarily with composite

apps.

53.Who is a running user ?

Ans:-

The user whose security settings determine what data is displayed in a dashboard.

Because only one running user is specified per dashboard, everyone who can access

the dashboard sees the same data, regardless of their personal security settings.

54.What is SOAP ?

Ans:- A protocol that defines a uniform way of passing XML-encoded data.SOAP Stands fo Simple Object Acess Protocol.

55.What is SOQL ?

Ans:-

A query language that allows you to construct simple but powerful query strings

and to specify the criteria that should be used to select the data from the platform

database.

SOQL Stands for Salesforce Object Query Language

56.What is a Tab ?

Ans:-

An interface item that allows you to navigate around an app. A tab serves as the

starting point for viewing, editing, and entering information for a particular object.

When you click a tab at the top of the page, the corresponding tab home page for

that object appears.

57.What is a summary Report ?

Ans:-

A report that's similar to a tabular report, except that it also allows users to group

and subtotal rows of data, and create graphs.

58.What is a Tabular Report ?

Ans:-

Similar to a spreadsheet, a report that includes an ordered set of fields as columns

and a matching record in each row.Tabular reports are best for creating lists of

records or a list with a single grand total.

59.What is a Time Trigger ?

Ans:-

A setting that defines when time-dependent workflow actions should fire.

60.What is a Web tab ?

Ans:-

A custom tab that allows your users to use external websites from within the

application.

61.What is a Related List ?

Ans:-

A section of a record or other detail page that lists items related to that record.

62.What are Picklist Values ?

Ans:-

The selections displayed in drop-down lists for particular fields. Some values come

predefined, and other values can be changed or defined by an administrator.

63.What is a Primary Key ?

Ans:-

A relational database concept. Each table in a relational database has a field in

which the data value uniquely identifies the record. This field is called the primary

key. The relationship is made between two tables by matching the values of the

foreign key in one table with the values of the primary key in another.

64.What is a foreign Key ?

Ans:-

A field whose value is the same as the primary key of another table.You can think

of a foreign key as a copy of a primary key from another table. A relationship is

made between two tables by matching the values of the foreign key in one table

with the values of the primary key in another.

65.What is a function ?

Ans:-

Built-in formulas that you can customize with input parameters. For example, the

DATE function creates a date field type from a given year, month, and day.

66.What is a Group ?

Ans:-

A set of users that can contain individual users, other groups, or the users in a role.

Groups can be used to help define sharing access to data.

67.What is a Home tab ?

Ans:-

The starting page from which users can view a dashboard, choose sidebar shortcuts

and options, view current tasks and activities, or select each of the major tabs.

68.Describe Lookup Relationship ?

Ans:-

A relationship between two objects that allows you to associate records with each

other. On one side of the relationship, a lookup field allows users to click a lookup

icon and select another record from a list. On the associated record, you can then

display a related list to show all of the records that have been linked to it.

69.What is Merge Field ?

Ans:-

A field you can place in an email template, mail merge template, custom

link, or formula to incorporate values from a record. For example, Dear

{!Contact.FirstName}, uses a contact merge field to obtain the value

of a contact record's First Name field to address an email recipient by

his or her first name.

70.What is a tab ?

Ans:-

An interface item that allows you to navigate around an app. A tab serves as the

starting point for viewing, editing, and entering information for a particular object.

When you click a tab at the top of the page, the corresponding tab home page for

that object appears.

71. What is Apex

Ans: It is the in-house technology of salesforce.com which is similar to Java programming with object oriented concepts and to write our own custom logic.

72. What is S-Control ?

Ans: S-Controls are the predominant salesforce.com widgets which are completely based on Javascript. These are hosted by salesforce but executed at client side. S-Controls are superseded by Visualforce now.

73. What is a Visualforce Page ?

Ans: Visualforce is the new markup language from salesforce, by using which, We can render the standard styles of salesforce. We can still use HTML here in Visualforce. Each visualforce tag always begins with “apex” namespace. All the design part can be acomplished by using Visualforce Markup Language and the business logic can be written in custom controllers associated with the Page.

74. Will Visual force still supports the merge fields usage like S-control ?

Ans: Yes. Just like S-Controls, Visualforce Pages support embedded merge fields, like the {!$User.FirstName} used in the example.

75. Where to write Visualforce code ?

Ans: You can write the code basically in 3 ways.

1.setup->App Setup->Develop->Pages and create new Visulaforce page.

2.Setup -> My Personal Information -> Personal Information -> Edit check the checkbox development mode. When you run the page like this, https://ap1.salesforce.com/apex/MyTestPage. you will find the Page editor at the bottom of the page. You can write you page as well as the controller class associated with it, there it self.

3.Using EclipseIDE you can create the Visulaforce page and write the code.

76.What are Apex Governor Limits?

Governor limits are runtime limits enforced by the Apex runtime engine. Because Apex runs in a shared, multitenant environment, the Apex runtime engine strictly enforces a number of limits to ensure that code does not monopolize shared resources. Types of limits that Apex enforces are resources like memory, database resources, number of script statements to avoid infinite loops, and number of records being processed. If code exceeds a limit, the associated governor issues a runtime exception.

77. Do governor limits apply to sandbox instances?