Category Archive: Managed Services

Associations and Windows 10: Say “NO” to These 2 Microsoft Updates

Avatar photo July 30th, 2015 by
Say "NO" to Win10 Auto-UpgradeYesterday was the official release date of Microsoft’s newest operating system: Windows 10. It’s fast, has a ton of a new features, and makes excellent use of hardware resources. I’ve been messing with this newest addition in a lab environment over the past month or so and absolutely love it.

That being said:

  1. It’s not for everyone.
  2. Microsoft is pushing your staff to download and install it automatically through Automatic Update prompts, which will cause many people frustration, downtime, and learning curves.
  3. Microsoft touts an easy rollback (downgrade to the previous Win7/8 instance) for folks who install Win10 inadvertantly. But, through experience I can confidently tell you not to trust rollback processes, especially for systems in their infancy.

(more…)

Why help desk ticket systems aren’t just for IT

justin fusionSpan Team August 25th, 2016 by
IMG_2321Everyone gets complaints. Complaints about their service, complaints about their products, complaints about the cost, complaints about the noise (more on that last one in a minute). Which is why at fusionSpan we have a help desk system that allows us to track everything. A help desk allows us to both ensure we’re following up on all our customers’ issues, as well as tracking the kind of issues we’re getting. Yet most non-technology departments are not using a help desk system, or a customer relationship management (CRM) system to track the complaints, which is a huge mistake. In the time of big data, not capturing your data can put you at a significant disadvantage. You are unable to make strategic decisions based on the trends in your complaints, which will ultimately result in you making decisions that just result in more complaints. (more…)

Tips for Association Professionals Working with Consultants

Avatar photo March 30th, 2021 by
image5-706x356-1

A few years ago, the association I was working at decided to overhaul and upgrade the organization website. Among many other resources, this project involved the need for staff to coordinate work with an outside vendor in order to re-do the site.

Although the website updates were eventually completed, projects rarely go according to plan. Looking back, there are definitely steps we could have carried out differently to better help the consultant understand both our project objectives and expectations. Most of my learning from this specific project centered around communication and understanding business processes.

Within this specific project, these were some of the critical business processes we needed to understand:

  • What and How different departments communicated with members. It was necessary for our team to understand the channels of communication and the content that was being delivered.
  • What and How data processes were used for our Association Management System (AMS). Our team needed to know how data was input into the system, as well as the type of data being collected.

Understanding these pieces played an important role in the project, because it mapped the trajectory of the project and the key stakeholders that needed to be involved. Looking back, establishing this at the onset of the project would have paid dividends to all involved and the project timeline itself.

fs-notes-icon

Note: Recent Reports from the Project Management Institute (PMI) show that about 14% of IT related projects fail outright, and 30% of all projects still fail to meet their goals. On top of that, almost half of all projects still end up being completed late.1

What steps is your association or organization taking to ensure project completion on time?

Gaining this insight was critical to our success, because this particular project involved every department within the organization. Upgrading an entire website was no easy task, so early and consistent communication was essential throughout the entire project.

While this particular website upgrade was just one example, the lessons I took from the overall project have helped me throughout my career. Once a new project is underway, here are a few tried and true methods to help both the consultant(s) and your association staff keep the project on track and on budget:

Establish & Update Standard Operating Procedures

Make sure that your Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are in place and up to date. When a person leaves a position within an organization, it creates a knowledge gap. If the person leaving has the best understanding of why things are done the way they are in your association’s AMS, all of that knowledge leaves with the employee unless you have appropriately documented the processes used within your organization. SOPs ensure you are not one person deep on important business knowledge and processes.

SOPs not only help internal staff, but they also help consultants understand how and why an organization operates a certain way. SOPs can be looked at as an organization’s user manual.

Additionally, when your SOPS include why and how processes are handled a certain way, your consultant will better understand your organization and be able to provide the best recommendation for how to move forward. At fusionSpan, we establish SOPs for both internal and external work, and we constantly work to update these procedures with the adoption of new tools or processes.

Set Clear Expectations From The Beginning

Keeping the lines of communication open between the association staff and the consulting team from the very being is key to a well run project. It’s important that all involved understand each other’s roles and responsibilities.

When I started working on IT related projects, I learned there are some helpful things to adopt when communicating with a consultant:

  • Provide clear and concise steps for how you came across the issue.
  • Include screenshots that are clearly labeled – include a clear description of what the screenshot is showing (or not showing).
  • Don’t be afraid to ask questions, but also be prepared to provide information on your end.
    • For example: If you are working with a consultant to upgrade your AMS, then providing a login will help expedite the process.
  • Help your consultant better understand your association and the community (members) that you represent. This can help the consultant better understand the associations goals and help them to understand how the project fits into the organization long-term.

Communicating who will be the point of contact and SOPs for various business functions across the organization is a key step while undertaking a new project. Establishing clear procedures, and being proactive instead of reactive, will help ensure project completion and success.

Be Responsive & Flexible!

While we are all working to ensure that the project is completed in accordance with the timeline, roadblocks will almost always arise. Be sure that you have a team and procedure in place to adjust scope or requirements for the project, and communicate early and often over any changes within the project.

Most of us are still working remotely, and it might be worth adopting some temporary procedures and measures full-time. Ensure that your team is well-equipped and ready to address project adjustments quickly while continuing to work from home (for more insight on setting your team up for success while working remotely, check out some of our previous blogs).

Remember that when working with consultants, communication plays a key role not only the initial outreach, but throughout the entire project scope. The main takeaway is to remember that all involved are working together to bring the project to completion in a timely manner with the best end result possible.


“Success Rates Rise.” PMI’s Pulse of the Profession, www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/thought-leadership/pulse/pulse-of-the-profession-2017.pdf?sc_lang_temp=en. Accessed 2020.

Set Yourself Up for Success with Salesforce Sandbox Refreshes

Himali Shah May 13th, 2021 by

This blog was originally published on March 28, 2019.

animated sandbox Salesforce Sandboxes are crucial to testing new releases and functionalities in a controlled environment before they are placed in your live production environment. Before you test on your Salesforce Sandbox environment, we highly recommend taking the time to refresh your Sandbox’s metadata with the production org.

Despite this, many associations overlook the importance of planning a sandbox refresh. Here are a few things that you need to do in preparation of refreshing your Salesforce Sandbox:

New call-to-action

Find Out The ‘Why?’

This may be obvious, but solidifying why you need to do a Sandbox refresh should be the first planning step. Sandbox refreshes are often done for the following reasons:

  • A Salesforce upgrade is scheduled to be released
  • Major updates are being made to existing functionality

Based on your needs, you can then decide if you need a Partial Sandbox or a Full Sandbox. Partial and Full Sandboxes contain different default objects, data limits, and refresh intervals.

In most cases, we highly suggest a Full Sandbox. A Full Sandbox is the most exact copy of your production environment, which is important if you’re adding a major new functionality, or if you’re upgrading.

Remember, you want to have the most accurate copy of your live environment, so there are no surprises when changes are then deployed.

Build A Plan With Stakeholders

Prior to refreshing your Sandbox, we highly recommend communicating with other vendors and internal staff on the timing of your Sandbox Refresh.  Sandbox refreshes will overwrite any development that is in progress on your Sandbox environment, so it is important that any approved development or maintenance tasks on Sandbox are moved to production before it is overwritten. Full Sandbox refresh can only be done once every 29 days.

Get The Most From Your Salesforce Org

Getting the most out of your customer database isn’t a matter of just having a database. The most value comes from understanding how to leverage the system to meet your strategic goals.

Check out our Salesforce Datasheet to see how you can transform your Salesforce Org today!

New call-to-action

Post-Refresh Tasks

Once your Salesforce Sandbox Refresh is completed, there are still a few post-refresh tasks that still need to be done!  Since the refresh copies all data and metadata from your production org, it is important to make sure that Sandbox information does not affect your production users or integrations.

Here are just some of the tasks that you need to do once Salesforce has completed the Sandbox refresh:

  1. Turn off Email Deliverability
  2. Add ‘.zzz’ to the end of all emails
  3. Update URLs in your Sandbox to point from Production to Sandbox
  4. Custom URLs are updated to link to staging environments
  5. Verify integrations are not pointing to Production
  6. Update Staff Users so they have access to Sandbox

Contact fusionSpan For More

Once your Sandbox is refreshed, you are able to start development or test your Salesforce upgrade! Having an accurate copy of your live environment will ensure you are set up for success when changes are then deployed.

For more Salesforce best practices and assistance, contact our talented team here at fusionSpan!

New call-to-action

Common Issues for Organizations New to Salesforce (And How to Avoid Them)

Himali Shah November 18th, 2021 by

This blog was originally published on June 7, 2018.

So you’re just getting started with Salesforce, a powerful Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform that offers users a great deal of functionality, and unlimited possibilities! Or, maybe you are using Association Management Solutions (AMS) powered by Salesforce, such as Fonteva or Nimble AMS.

What is the best way to hit the ground running with your shiny, new CRM? Our fusionSpan Salesforce team shares a few common issues, and tips on how to avoid them as a new Salesforce user.

New call-to-action

Salesforce Admin = Company Know-All Source

Salesforce Admin

While it is expected that the Salesforce Administrator should be the in-house Salesforce expert, it is also important that they have a complete understanding of all of your company’s business processes. Without a complete understanding of the business processes, a Salesforce admin is more likely to build an overly complicated process. Think of it like asking a baker to make a wedding cake without telling them when or where the wedding will take place.

Ideally, the Salesforce Admin should get business process training in all aspects of the company, so that person or team can then map that business knowledge to Salesforce. This can allow for better data and the correct setup of object structures.

Defining Report Requirements

In most organizations, only a few staff members are tasked with creating reports for everyone else to use. This is especially true for companies who are utilizing Salesforce, as reports can be tricky to build without proper training.

A common issue that arises is when someone requests a custom report to be built. Once it is provided to them, they find that their requirements have not been appropriately met, such as fields not accessible from the report type.

Understanding the report needs before building the report will reduce the likelihood of having to restart from scratch. If you are one of the report builders at your company, it would be helpful for you to follow up on the report request by asking the following questions:

  • Why are they building this report?
  • What is the intended business use for the report?
  • What information does the user need to get from the report (especially ALL fields they want to see)?

Once you have the answers to these questions, you can start building the report with confidence that you reach the desired end result.

Utilizing Permission Sets

Sometimes Salesforce Admins will create multiple custom profiles to grant permissions to groups of users. These can include enabling additional abilities to transfer or delete object records when the profile only allows read, write, and create access. We recommend not to have too many profiles, as it can be difficult to manage and cause troubleshooting issues.

Salesforce Permission Sets allow the administrator to grant additional access to certain users within a profile, eliminating the need to numerous profiles with similar abilities.

Password Confusion

If your Salesforce entity has a customer community, staff may not realize that they have two separate user accounts: Staff Portal and the Community Portal. This can cause confusion—and sometimes frustration—if they use the same email address for both their staff and community login, especially when they try to reset the password.

We recommend that the Salesforce Admin append one or both of the user accounts with a standardized indicator of which portal the user account is tied to. For example, you can choose to add “.staff” to the end of the user account for the Salesforce user or “.community” to the end for the Community one:

  • Salesforce Login:
  • Community Login:

It’s up to you and your staff to decide which username should have an indicator (or both, if that makes sense for you).

New call-to-action

How your Salesforce Managed Services Can Help Your Business Grow

Avatar photo October 10th, 2022 by

Salesforce is one of the most popular CRM software programs on the market. It’s often praised for its robust features such as the industry-specific offerings and its vision to transform customer services to help businesses grow. However, Salesforce can be difficult to manage. Luckily, Salesforce Managed Services can help organizations get the most out of their investment in this business application by offering professional support, training, and implementation so you can start using Salesforce as soon as possible. By working with a Certified partner who provides Managed Services, businesses can enjoy all of the benefits of Salesforce without having to worry about managing the application themselves.

New call-to-action

What are Salesforce Managed Services, and what do they include?

Salesforce Managed Services include a wide range of support and administrative services for Salesforce customers. These services can help you maximize the value of your Salesforce investment by providing expert support and guidance on how to best use and configure the platform.

Salesforce Managed Services can also help you keep your system up-to-date and compliant with the latest security and privacy standards. In addition, they can provide valuable insights into how your Salesforce deployment is performing and make recommendations for improvements.

Some of the most common services offered by Salesforce Managed Service providers include:

  • System administration: Managing user accounts, permissions, and data access, configuring Salesforce settings, and troubleshooting issues.
  • Data administration: Maintaining data quality and integrity, performing data backups, and developing custom reports and dashboards.
  • Security and compliance: Ensuring that your Salesforce deployment meets all security and privacy requirements and auditing user activity to identify potential risks.
  • Change management: Planning and executing changes to your Salesforce configuration and managing the release of new Salesforce features.
  • Application development: Building custom applications on the Salesforce platform and integrating Salesforce with other enterprise systems.
  • Training and support: Providing end-user training on Salesforce features and functionality; and 24/7 technical support for Salesforce users.

What are Salesforce Managed Services, and what do they include?

Salesforce Managed Services can help your business grow and succeed in many ways:

  • They can provide you with the necessary tools and resources to manage your Salesforce data effectively. This includes access to the latest data reports, analytics, and dashboards.
  • They can help you customize Salesforce to meet your specific needs and goals.
  • Salesforce Managed Services can also provide you with ongoing support and training to ensure that you are using Salesforce effectively.

In addition to providing you with the necessary tools and resources to manage your Salesforce data effectively, Salesforce Managed Services can also help you customize Salesforce to meet your specific needs and goals. They can do this by providing you with access to the latest customization options and by helping you create custom reports and dashboards.

What are the benefits of using Salesforce Managed Services for your company?

Here are just a few of the benefits that you can enjoy by using Salesforce Managed Services:

  • Streamlined administration and management – One of the biggest advantages of using Salesforce Managed Services is that it can help streamline the administration and management of your Salesforce org. With a team of experts handling all aspects of your org, you can free up time to focus on other important tasks.
  • Improved security and compliance – Salesforce is a complex platform, and keeping your org secure can be a challenge. But with Salesforce Managed Services, you can rest assured that your data is safe and compliant with all relevant regulations.
  • Enhanced performance and stability – When you use Salesforce Managed Services, you can enjoy improved performance and stability for your org. With a team of experts monitoring and managing your org, you can avoid potential issues before they cause problems.
  • Increased ROI – Perhaps the most critical benefit of using Salesforce Managed Services is that it can help you achieve a higher return on investment from your Salesforce investment. By ensuring that your org is being used effectively and efficiently, you can maximize your Salesforce ROI.

What should you consider when choosing a provider of Salesforce Managed Services for your company?

There are a few key factors to consider when choosing a Salesforce Managed Services provider for your company. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

  • The provider should have extensive experience working with Salesforce. They should be able to provide examples of successful projects they have completed using the platform.
  • The provider should have a strong understanding of your company’s specific needs and objectives. They should be able to tailor their services to meet your unique requirements.
  • The provider should be able to offer a comprehensive package of services, including support, training, and consulting. They should also be able to scale their services to meet the changing needs of your business.

Salesforce Managed Services can provide your business with a wide range of benefits, from increased efficiency and productivity to improved customer service. When choosing a Certified partner for your Salesforce Managed Services, it is essential to consider the company’s experience and expertise as well as their ability to meet your specific needs. At fusionSpan, we pride ourselves on our ability to provide custom-tailored solutions that help our clients achieve their goals.

New call-to-action