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Back 2 Work, BCOE centralises their subcontractor data in Salesforce thanks to SimpleImport

“SimpleImport solves something that’s not possible out of the box.”

Jeremy Bruce, Information Systems Analyst, Back 2 Work, Butte County Office of Education

Promoting Salesforce as a single source of truth

The Back 2 Work program, run by Butte County Office of Education (BCOE), is a transitional employment program for underserved and disadvantaged adults.

With a number of subcontractors collecting client data on disparate spreadsheets, Back 2 Work wanted to use their new Salesforce CRM implementation as the centralised place for this information. Back 2 Work needed to enable subcontractors to upload spreadsheet data to Salesforce through an Experience Cloud digital experience – something that out-of-the-box Salesforce does not offer.

Importing subcontractor data on a digital experience

Subcontractor spreadsheet data was siloed, and each contractor used their own formatted spreadsheet. There was no way for Back 2 Work to report on the data without manually looking at vast numbers of disconnected and unstandardised spreadsheets.

A new Salesforce CRM implementation

Back 2 Work chose Salesforce CRM as their single source of truth for this client data. Once the data was in Salesforce, Back 2 Work could create real-time visual dashboards of their subcontractor data, enabling the team to report accurately and make informed business decisions.

The main hurdle was getting the subcontractor data into Salesforce.

Using SimpleImport on a Salesforce digital experience

Back 2 Work, at the recommendation of their implementation partner, Bitwise Industries, installed SimpleImport.

With the solution configured and the data import ‘mapping’ saved, all the team had to do was place SimpleImport’s ManagedImport Lightning component on their Digital Experience. Subcontractors could drag and drop their spreadsheet files into the component for a fast and secure import.

SimpleImport compliments Back 2 Work’s custom solution for standardising spreadsheet data. Together with Salesforce CRM, Back 2 Work has a successful implementation for empowering their subcontractors to import their data to Salesforce via a digital experience.

Expanding out-of-the-box Salesforce

Now, Back 2 Work can confidently report on accurate client data in Salesforce and use this data to shape their strategy. Their crucial import requirement is solved without requiring subcontractors to visit third-party websites or download external tools. The subcontractors don’t even have access to the import configuration within SimpleImport – it’s preconfigured for them!

From spreadsheets to a world-class CRM

With Salesforce CRM in place, Back 2 Work is digitally transformed. They’ve moved from working with disparate Excel spreadsheets to operating on a leading Customer Relationship Management platform. Alongside this powerful functionality, Back 2 Work has leveraged the power of the Salesforce ecosystem. By working with an experienced Salesforce system integrator partner (Bitwise Industries) and a Salesforce independent software vendor (us!) to fulfill their requirement of importing spreadsheet data to Salesforce through a digital experience.

Empowering external users to import to Salesforce

Back 2 Work has found a solution that enables subcontractors to import their own data themselves, saving precious admin time while keeping the import process secure and simple.

A quick to adopt solution

Thanks to SimpleImport’s preconfigured drag-and-drop component, Back 2 Work has in place a scalable method for centralising client data from their subcontractors. If their list of subcontractors expands, Back 2 Work doesn’t need to worry about changing the process since little onboarding time is required.

Why Back 2 Work recommends ProvenWorks

BCOE Information Systems Analyst Jeremy Bruce says: “We didn’t have many support requests as an end customer. When we asked for help with configuration, together we solved it.”

Why Bitwise Industries recommends ProvenWorks

“The solution fit the client’s requirement perfectly. It meant we saved significant time and costs on custom dev and we found the ProvenWorks team extremely responsive and a pleasure to work with. We’ve worked with them since and I’m sure we will do again!” Says Jacob Aguilar, Salesforce Solutions Architect at Bitwise Industries.

Do you need to import data via a Salesforce digital experience?

Do you have external users who need to import spreadsheet data to Salesforce via a digital experience (community)? Whatever industry you work in, SimpleImport is the only managed package in the Salesforce ecosystem that has got you covered! 

Get in contact with us to discuss how SimpleImport could be your solution for data imports on a Salesforce digital experience. It’s that simple.

Find out more about Back 2 Work

Learn more about the Back 2 Work program and the vital work they do in California.

Find out what Salesforce Ben has to say about SimpleImport

Salesforce Ben has published their review of SimpleImport, our data import solution for Salesforce! 🚀

Andreea Doroftei, writer for Salesforce Ben, talks through the key features of SimpleImport as well as ideal use cases, setup effort, and how this importer could be a great addition to your Salesforce org.

“SimpleImport is a powerful time-saving tool for anyone – power users, end users and partner users. Whether it’s importing order forms on opportunities, handling deal registrations in a partner portal, or something completely custom, SimpleImport opens the door to a new approach for importing data.”

Lucy Mazalon, Salesforce Ben

Check out this in-depth review of SimpleImport by Salesforce Ben.

Interested in seeing it for yourself?

If you’re interested in finding out more about SimpleImport, use the scheduler below to book a demo with our team.

Can you import data in a Salesforce digital experience?

It is not possible, with standard Salesforce functionality, to allow digital experience users to import data to Salesforce.

SimpleImport is the only managed package in the Salesforce ecosystem that solves this common problem. Setup is quick and easy so continue reading to find out how!

We’ll look at both:

  • the business value (👋 hello C suite, ops managers, other people who have been sent this link to review)

Why is it useful to allow partner users to import data into Salesforce?

Salesforce Digital Experiences (Communities) built on Experience Cloud have been growing in popularity. It’s easy to see why they’re so popular, since digital experiences can be used in so many contexts: partner portals, e-commerce sites, help centres and even franchisee hubs.

With so many different digital experience audiences come lots of reasons why external users need to import data into Salesforce CRM:

  • Partners submitting deal registrations 
  • Franchisees uploading quarterly / annual sales information 
  • Retailers importing point-of-sale data 
  • Offices and field units reporting stock management

Organisations need a simple, fast and secure way to enable external users to import data in a Salesforce digital experience.

How to provide import functionality to a Salesforce digital experience

This is where SimpleImport comes in! SimpleImport is our exclusive-to-Salesforce spreadsheet data import solution.

SimpleImport is available on the AppExchange. Start your 14 day free trial and empower digital experience users to import data to Salesforce CRM.

Once you have installed SimpleImport, the steps are simple:

1. Configure an import ‘mapping’ for the partner data and save it.
  1. We‘ve got a handy User Guide to help you configure your import. 

💡 Top tip: To make things easy for the partner, provide a downloadable template spreadsheet file that matches this import mapping.

2. Copy the import mapping ID.

The saved mapping results in an import mapping ID. You just need to copy the ID.

3. Paste the mapping ID in SimpleImport’s Lightning Component.

Place SimpleImport’s Lightning Component on your digital experience and paste the mapping ID to configure the component.

The results 

When it’s time to import, the partner users simply need to drag and drop their completed templated spreadsheet onto the component… 

and that’s it… the import is done! 

What are your other options? 

Let’s take a closer look at one example. An organisation can use a digital experience for enabling partners to register multiple deals. 

With standard Salesforce, the organisation has three options: 

  1. Register these deals one at a time using the Deal Registration Global Action 
  2. Add multiple deals to a spreadsheet and send them to an internal user to import 
  3. Develop a custom solution 

Empower partner users to import data in a Salesforce digital experience 

SimpleImport is the only managed package in the Salesforce ecosystem that solves the problem of external users importing data in a Salesforce digital experience. 

And if you need more convincing: 

  • Partner users can import their spreadsheet data themselves – no more relying on admins which can result in bottlenecked tasks! 
  • There is no onboarding time – partner users just need the spreadsheet and a drag and drop. There’s no more fiddling with CSVs. Users won’t even realise they’re using an import solution.
  • You’re not compromising minimum-access security – don’t compromise the permissions you have in place. Limit object and field mapping access by user or profile. 
  • Imports take less than 20 seconds on average* (varies on the file size). 

How much does SimpleImport cost? 

We price our SimpleImport digital experience implementations on a case-by-case basis depending on: 

  1. Number of digital experience users who will be importing 
  2. Number of admins who will be managing the back end of the solution 
  3. How frequently you’ll be importing 
  4. Average size of file you’ll be uploading 

That’s why we’d recommend scheduling a demo call with us to discuss your requirements and create an accurate quote.

Book a demo of SimpleImport 

Do you need to empower external users to import on a Salesforce digital experience? 

Check out SimpleImport for yourself on a live demo with one of our team.

Import donations into the Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP)

Giving back to the community is a big part of our culture here at ProvenWorks. We are a proud member of Pledge 1% and offer nonprofit discounts on our solutions!

Each year we find ourselves working with nonprofit organisations looking to expand their Salesforce implementations. This case study is one of the most common use cases we see when working in this sector with our tool, SimpleImport.

It’s no surprise that donations are at the heart of many nonprofits. It is not uncommon that they might be managed in another database, accounting system, or with spreadsheets. For these organisations who use Salesforce CRM, it’s vital to try and get as much of this data into your org so you can cultivate a single source of truth.

The Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) leverages the Salesforce-standard Opportunity object to track and manage donations. These Opportunity records are related to donors which are maintained in the Account and Contact objects.

How can SimpleImport simplify importing to the Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack?

SimpleImport is the perfect companion for importing donation data, providing a drag-and-drop experience to import the donation spreadsheet file. It can be set up in just a few minutes to create a reusable, scalable, and secure import process meaning your teams don’t need to be tech experts to get donation data into Salesforce.

Do you need to load records with a master-detail relationship? No problem we have you covered. The ability to load child records at the same time and save the mapping is perfect for handling donors and recurring donations. This can be set up for non-admins too since the ManagedImport component can be placed on a Lightning App page. Provide your Salesforce users with everything they need for importing the data – they then only need the file!

Immediate benefits of using SimpleImport

  • Centralise your donation data into one platform instead of storing it across multiple external websites/systems. Cultivate a single source of truth about your supporters.
  • Remove time-consuming, complex repeat activities by leveraging saved mappings in the SimpleImport application.
  • Reduce time spent onboarding new staff on your donor administration process – they only need to learn how to drag and drop!
  • Streamline the whole process of maintaining and creating the donations into a single task by using the upsert operation.

What’s next?

Learn more, book a demo and get a trial of SimpleImport by ProvenWorks.

Increase Salesforce Vaccine Cloud Adoption

Coronavirus has been one of the most challenging times in recent years for many different reasons. Clinics around the world were forced to adapt quickly, and when vaccines became available, they need to ensure they had systems in place to support a successful roll out.

Healthcare providers needed to go digital, and quick. Many businesses turned to using tools that were taught through school, one of these being Excel. As the usage expanded, bottlenecks began to show. We all know how using a tool like Excel could lead to almost 16,000 unreported cases of covid, or at least England knows.

Salesforce was quick to deploy Vaccine Cloud which focuses on securely managing vaccine administration, COVID vaccination statuses, and test results. Businesses then needed a tool to transform the data they were collecting in Excel and push it into Salesforce.

How can SimpleImport extend the potential of Salesforce Vaccine Cloud?

SimpleImport has potential to be used in several different ways, but its primary benefit to clinics is its ability to be rolled out to non-administrative users in the Salesforce organisation. It isn’t possible to rely on existing importing tools due to their locked down nature I.e. being restricted to admins or certain objects. Clinics needed a tool they could hand to their staff to complete repeat import tasks but whilst staying within the set confinements of their permissions.

There are valid fears from technical teams about granting ‘non-technical’ staff an importing solution for Salesforce. The concern is that it’s too easy for staff to make a mistake. SimpleImport eases that pressure by providing a locked down experience so that users can only import to pre-defined mappings and objects, ensures that Salesforce’s CRUD and FLS permissions are adhered to, and lastly provides an undo button that rolls back an import.

In a time of fast adoption of technology, it’s expected that mistakes could happen, so finding ways to mitigate and undo them with SimpleImport provide extreme reassurance and operational value.

Immediate benefits of using SimpleImport

  • Teams adopt Salesforce quicker by having their data from Excel regularly imported.
  • Provide licenses to standard users and empower wider teams to help with the data tasks.
  • Save repeat tasks so that users can save significant time during their import process. 
  • Provide an undo button to roll back an import.

What’s next?

Learn more, book a demo and get a trial of SimpleImport by ProvenWorks.

Import reviews into Salesforce

As a managed package provider on the Salesforce AppExchange, we understand the value of receiving reviews and tracking them in a centralised location. Salesforce is a great platform for centralising data and managing actionable outcomes, but quite often reviews can be received via several different platforms, especially in the Travel, Tourism & Hospitality verticals.

We love talking about this use case because it covers a common (and often manual!) problem of trying to unify multiple sources of data. The “review” element gives it some context that we can all resonate with.

We’ve seen some exciting implementations specifically linked with review data in Salesforce. One particular case uses Einstein Sentiment – “The Einstein Sentiment API classifies text into positive, negative, and neutral classes to understand what the words people use can tell us about how they’re feeling”. The output of the Sentiment API’s classification would generate follow up activities in Salesforce specific to their case. This truly highlights the importance of getting the data in a central location.

Import review data into Salesforce using SimpleImport

So, we’ve identified why centralising review data in Salesforce is useful, but how can SimpleImport help?

Most review systems allow users to export data in a spreadsheet file. Each system will have its own variation of the spreadsheet format (I.e., column headers) so having a single mapping won’t be sufficient. However, using a saved mapping per review engine will get us closer to a seamless experience.

So, we have multiple mappings, one for each review system. How can we make it easy for our importing users to import these files? With the power of Salesforce Flows! Why is this helpful? Because the ManagedImport component can be embedded within a Salesforce Flow Screen. This means you can present a selection on a first screen for your user to choose the relevant review platform and a decision logic can load the correct import mapping ready for your user to import. Simple!

Immediate benefits of using SimpleImport

  • Reviews are in one centralised platform instead of being stored across multiple external websites/systems.
  • Handle the hurdle of different platforms using different export spreadsheet formats by utilising Salesforce Flows with the ManagedImport component.
  • Open endless possibilities with that data in Salesforce like using Einstein Sentiment API.
  • Once configured, it’s easy to use, simple to expand, and difficult to make a mistake.

What’s next?

Learn more, book a demo and get a trial of SimpleImport by ProvenWorks.

Import price book and promotion data

It’s no secret that managing price books in Salesforce isn’t the easiest of operations. Whether it’s updating existing prices, or creating new ones for seasonal promotions, it can be a thankless task that ends up consuming hours of admin time. It’s why many teams favour handling this operation in a shared spreadsheet document which can then be imported into Salesforce.

Import price book information into Salesforce

SimpleImport is the perfect tool for importing the price book information with just a drop of the file. Since SimpleImport supports workbooks with multiple sheets, complex spreadsheet formulas, and isn’t just limited to CSV files, the solution really empowers those who wish to leverage the benefits of a spreadsheet document and get that data into Salesforce seamlessly.

The structure of pricing and promotion data rarely change. This means that teams can rely on SimpleImport’s saved mapping feature to store how the data should be imported. This means you can focus on what is important – managing pricing information.

In the event of needing to insert and update data in a single operation, you can configure the tool to execute an upsert, therefore saving the process of splitting out the import into two jobs. Furthermore, if the mapping of objects and field metadata rarely changes, leveraging the ManagedImport component in a dedicated App page can provide your Salesforce users with a “one-stop-shop” for importing the data.

Immediate benefits of using SimpleImport

  • Allow team members to leverage tools that are more native to the audience.
  • Encourage and promote cross team collaboration using shared spreadsheets before committing the changes to Salesforce.
  • Streamline the process to a single task by using the upsert operation. 
  • Remove repeat activities by leveraging saved mappings in the SimpleImport application.

Supporting workbooks and complex formulas gives you the control you need to be productive in your day without fears of tech incompatibilities. This enables you and your teams to continue at the pace you want by using SimpleImport in your Salesforce organisation.

What’s next?

Learn more, book a demo and get a trial of SimpleImport by ProvenWorks.

Streamline the Opportunity Line Items (Opportunity Products) Importing Process

If we had a slice of cake each time a prospect reached out to us asking for help to streamline their importing process for the Opportunity Line Item object, the ProvenWorks team would be living off cake. It is no exaggeration that this object is the one we hear about the most.

How does SimpleImport help with importing opportunity line items?

That answer can be different per use case due to the quirks associated with the object. Nevertheless, what all these use cases have in common is our ManagedImport component. With its “pass current record ID” functionality, the component takes a huge load of admin out of the import process when working with Opportunities.

This functionality allows users to import products directly on the Opportunity record, without the need to fetch a record ID or some unique identifier for the excel file. This is ideal for orgs who receive orders in a spreadsheet document that need loading into Salesforce.

Import related records quickly

Let’s break that down further. I have a list of products in a spreadsheet file that an existing account wants to purchase. I open the opportunity for the account, use the ManagedImport component, and I simply drop the file with the products in into the modal.

Those line items will now be inserted to the Opportunity Line Item object and automatically are related to the opportunity record that I am looking at. This will allow us to create a list of products to be purchased by the customer in a few seconds. No more faffing about getting record IDs or a unique piece of data from Opportunity. Let the tool do the work!

Immediate benefits of using SimpleImport

  • Quickly load opportunity products to existing opportunities and require little training to do so.
  • Pass current record ID functionality in ManagedImport removes the requirement to edit the file prior to import and mitigates potential mistakes.
  • Support for workbooks with multiple sheets allows you to distribute and share complex workbooks with your customers that can be loaded directly into Salesforce without having to export a CSV.

What’s next?

We’ve written a step-by-step guide explaining how to use SimpleImport for importing opportunity products.

Learn more, book a demo and get a trial of SimpleImport by ProvenWorks.

Import data via a Digital Experience with Experience Cloud

Use of Digital Experiences (previously known as Communities) have been growing in popularity since their launch, with even more adoption since the repositioning of Salesforce Experience Cloud.

Salesforce Experience Cloud implementations have been expanding with use cases growing where external users need to interact with an internal CRM. Some of these use cases even include importing data – this is where we come in!

A digital experience can be used in so many contexts: partner portals, e-commerce sites, or even franchisee hubs. With lots of different audiences come lots of reasons why users need to import data.

Empower external users to import

One of our favourite use cases to date has involved importing annual employment diversity data of over 40,000 registered businesses based within an allocated region. Each entity was already using a spreadsheet to collect all the required data, but it was previously left to a single admin to manually import all the data that was received via email across a one-month period.

With the aim to cut out the middleperson, they worked with Salesforce and ProvenWorks to roll out a new Digital Experience which had SimpleImport’s ManagedImport component as a way of importing all the data into Salesforce.

With the component in place on the Digital Experience and the import mapping configured, the business entities could drag and drop their spreadsheets onto the component, importing the data themselves.

Immediate benefits of using SimpleImport

  • Emails are no longer being sent to the incorrect email address which potentially resulted in leaked data.
  • Internal teams can run reports in Salesforce to see which businesses were yet to import their data. Additionally, automated processes can then send notifications to the correct contacts.
  • Mistakes are highlighted to the businesses at point-of-entry, so they are able to correct any missing data.
  • The admin previously in charge of the process no longer has to download all email attachments and import their data.

SimpleImport acknowledges the user’s permissions, so the digital experience users only need write permissions to their custom object. There is no concern that they would be able to use SimpleImport to access data that they should not have access to.

What’s next?

Learn more, book a demo and get a trial of SimpleImport by ProvenWorks.

SimpleImport turns 10 years old! 🎈🎈🎈 

Our data import solution for Salesforce, SimpleImport, is a decade old and we’re getting emotional…

Just watch our 10 years of SimpleImport video:

We’re celebrating a special birthday… 🎂

This autumn we’re celebrating 10 years of SimpleImport. Yep, it’s been a whole decade since we released our exclusive-to-Salesforce, 5-star data importing solution.

But why does an import solution need a birthday? Because it’s not really about the solution. 

As ever, people are at the heart of everything we do. 

We’re celebrating 10 years of fantastic SimpleImport customers as well as the system integrators and Salesforce team we’ve met along the way. Not to mention the 10 years in which our own team has grown, building importing expertise on the Salesforce platform. 

So, we’re marking this milestone by having a little party. Don’t worry – we’re not leaving you out, you can get involved too. Keep your eyes on your inbox and LinkedIn for some 2012 nostalgia! 

Talking of 2012, let’s take a look back to see where ProvenWorks was 10 years ago…  

Where were we in 2012? 

ProvenWorks was created in 2008 at the kitchen table of our Managing Director, Joel Mansford in Reading, UK. Fully bootstrapped and independent, we built a native-to-Salesforce solution for cleaning up address data and became a Salesforce partner in 2009. 

Then, in 2012, we had an idea.

We noticed the need for a better, simpler data importing tool for Salesforce users. So, we wrote the app ourselves and SimpleImport was born.

As for Salesforce in 2012… Forbes selected Salesforce as the world’s most innovative company for the second consecutive year, a year in which Salesforce was celebrating its 100,000-strong customer base and establishing offices around the world. 

Now 10 years on, where are we and how far have we come? 

Where are we now? 

ProvenWorks hosts drinks at Salesforce Tower alongside GTM Guides, September 2022

SimpleImport has transformed, as Salesforce and the digital world have grown and changed. It now features a unique-on-the-market ManagedImport Lightning component for empowering users to import via a pre-configured drag and drop interface, as well as a new, more intuitive UI. And our development team never stops, with more features and updates being added to the roadmap constantly. 

More widely, we’ve come a long way as a company since we released SimpleImport in 2012. From hitting the $1 million dollar mark, to winning a Salesforce Partner Innovation Award and, most recently, to being accepted onto the Salesforce Grow Accelerate Programme. 

Nevertheless, some things have remained constant – we’re still completely bootstrapped and independent for a start. We still operate exclusively in the Salesforce ecosystem, and that’s where our expertise and passion is. And most importantly, we’re still committed to delivering gold standard customer success alongside each of our products. 

What’s left to say? 

10 years is a significant milestone in a fast-moving industry like software. We want to say thank you to everyone who we’ve worked with and alongside over the last 10 years for making SimpleImport and ProvenWorks what they are today. 

Happy Birthday SimpleImport! 

We look forward to celebrating with you all.  

🥳 Join the birthday party on LinkedIn #10yearsSimpleImport