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Glossary
Simploud Glossary
Activity
An event, a task, a call you’ve logged, or an email you’ve sent. You can relate an activity to other records. In an org with Shared Activities enabled, you can relate an activity to multiple contacts. Tasks can also be generated by workflow rules and approval processes configured by a Salesforce admin.
Administrator (System Administrator)
One or more individuals in your organization who can configure and customize the application. Users assigned to the System Administrator profile have administrator privileges.
Apex
Apex is a strongly typed, object-oriented programming language that allows developers to execute flow and transaction control statements on the Force.com platform server in conjunction with calls to the Force.com API. Using syntax that looks like Java and acts like database stored procedures, Apex enables developers to add business logic to most system events, including button clicks, related record updates, and Visualforce pages. Apex code can be initiated by Web service requests and from triggers on objects.
App
Short for “application.” A collection of components such as tabs, reports, dashboards, and Visualforce pages that address a specific business need. Salesforce provides standard apps such as Sales and Service. You can customize the standard apps to match the way you work. In addition, you can package an app and upload it to the AppExchange along with related components such as custom fields, custom tabs, and custom objects. Then, you can make the app available to other Salesforce users from the AppExchange.
App Launcher
The App Launcher presents tiles that link to your connected apps and standard apps, all from one location in Salesforce. All Lightning Experience users have access to the App Launcher. Salesforce Classic users must have the “Use Identity Features” permission and the App Launcher option in their profile set to Visible. In Salesforce Classic, the App Launcher appears as an app in the Force.com App menu.
AppExchange
The AppExchange is a sharing interface from Salesforce that allows you to browse and share apps and services for the Force.com platform.
Application Programming Interface (API)
The interface that a computer system, library, or application provides to allow other computer programs to request services from it and exchange data.
Asynchronous Calls
A call that does not return results immediately because the operation may take a long time. Calls in the Metadata API and Bulk API are asynchronous.
Auto Number
A custom field type that automatically adds a unique sequential number to each record. These fields are read only.
Batch Apex
The ability to perform long, complex operations on many records at a scheduled time using Apex.
Batch, Bulk API
A batch is a CSV, XML, or JSON representation of a set of records in the Bulk API. You process a set of records by creating a job that contains one or more batches. Each batch is processed independently by the server, not necessarily in the order it is received. See Job, Bulk API.
Beta, Managed Package
In the context of managed packages, a beta managed package is an early version of a managed package distributed to a sampling of your intended audience to test it. Beta packages cannot be upgraded.
Boolean Operators
You can use Boolean operators in report filters to specify the logical relationship between two values. For example, the AND operator between two values yields search results that include both values. Likewise, the OR operator between two values yields search results that include either value.
Bulk API
The REST-based Bulk API is optimized for processing large sets of data. It allows you to query, insert, update, upsert, or delete a large number of records asynchronously by submitting a number of batches which are processed in the background by Salesforce. See also SOAP API.
Cascading Style Sheet (CSS)
Files that contain all of the information relevant to color, font, borders, and images that are displayed in a user interface.
Callout, Apex
An Apex callout enables you to tightly integrate your Apex with an external service by making a call to an external Web service or sending a HTTP request from Apex code and then receiving the response.
Child Relationship
A relationship that has been defined on an sObject that references another sObject as the “one” side of a one-to-many relationship. For example, contacts, opportunities, and tasks have child relationships with accounts. See also sObject.
Class, Apex
A template or blueprint from which Apex objects are created. Classes consist of other classes, user-defined methods, variables, exception types, and static initialization code. In most cases, Apex classes are modeled on their counterparts in Java.
Clone
Clone is the name of a button or link that allows you to create a new item by copying the information from an existing item, for example, a contact or opportunity.
Cloud Computing
A model for software development and distribution based on the Internet. The technology infrastructure for a service, including data, is hosted on the Internet. This allows consumers to develop and use services with browsers or other thin clients instead of investing in hardware, software, or maintenance.
Collapsible Section
Sections on detail pages that users can hide or show.
Combination Chart
A combination chart plots multiple sets of data on a single chart. Each set of data is based on a different field, so values are easy to compare. You can also combine certain chart types to present data in different ways on a single chart.
Connected App
A connected app integrates an application with Salesforce using APIs. Connected apps use standard SAML and OAuth protocols to authenticate, provide single sign-on, and provide tokens for use with Salesforce APIs. In addition to standard OAuth capabilities,
connected apps allow Salesforce admins to set various security policies and have explicit control over who can us the corresponding apps.
Console Layout
Objects chosen by an administrator to display in the list view frame of the Agent console. For example, if an administrator adds cases to a console layout, then users whose profiles are assigned to that console layout can see list views of cases in the console’s list view frame.
Controlling Field
Any standard or custom picklist or checkbox field whose values control the available values in one or more corresponding dependent fields.
Cookie
Client-specific data used by some Web applications to store user and session-specific information. Salesforce issues a session “cookie” only to record encrypted authentication information for the duration of a specific session.
CSV (Comma Separated Values)
A file format that enables the sharing and transportation of structured data. The import wizards, Data Loader and the Bulk API support CSV. Each line in a CSV file represents a record. A comma separates each field value in the record.
Custom Field
A field that can be added in addition to the standard fields to customize Salesforce for your organization’s needs.
Custom Help
Custom text administrators create to provide users with on-screen information specific to a standard field, custom field, or custom object.
Custom Links
Custom links are URLs defined by administrators to integrate your Salesforce data with external websites and back-office systems. Formerly known as Web links.
Custom Object
Custom records that allow you to store information unique to your organization.
Custom Settings
Custom settings are similar to custom objects and enable application developers to create custom sets of data, as well as create and associate custom data for an organization, profile, or specific user. All custom settings data is exposed in the application cache, which enables efficient access without the cost of repeated queries to the database. This data can then be used by formula fields, validation rules, flows, Apex, and the SOAP API. See also Hierarchy Custom Settings and List Custom Settings.
Custom View
A display feature that lets you see a specific set of records for a particular object.
Dashboard
A dashboard shows data from source reports as visual components, which can be charts, gauges, tables, metrics, or Visualforce pages. The components provide a snapshot of key metrics and performance indicators for your organization. Each dashboard can have up to 20 components.
Dashboard Builder
Dashboard builder is a drag-and-drop interface for creating and modifying dashboards.
Data Encryption
The process of applying a cryptographic function to data that results in ciphertext. The platform encryption process uses symmetric key encryption and a 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm using CBC mode, PKCS5 padding, and a randomized, 128-bit initialization vector (IV) to encrypt field-level data and files stored on the Salesforce platform. Both data encryption and decryption occur on the application servers.
Data Encryption Keys
Shield Platform Encryption uses data encryption keys to encrypt and decrypt data. Data encryption keys are derived on a key derivation server using keying material split between a per-release master secret and an organization-specific tenant secret stored encrypted in the database as a part of your organization. The 256-bit derived keys exist in memory until evicted from the cache.
Data Loader
A Force.com platform tool used to import and export data from your Salesforce organization.
Data Manipulation Language (DML)
An Apex method or operation that inserts, updates, or deletes records. Data State The structure of data in an object at a particular point in time.
Database
An organized collection of information. The underlying architecture of the Force.com platform includes a database where your data is stored.
Database Table
A list of information, presented with rows and columns, about the person, thing, or concept you want to track. See also Object.
Decimal Places
Parameter for number, currency, and percent custom fields that indicates the total number of digits you can enter to the right of a decimal point, for example, 4.98 for an entry of 2. Note that the system rounds the decimal numbers you enter, if necessary. For example, if you enter 4.986 in a field with Decimal Places of 2, the number rounds to 4.99. Salesforce uses the round half-up rounding algorithm. Half-way values are always rounded up. For example, 1.45 is rounded to 1.5. –1.45 is rounded to –1.5.
Dependency
A relationship where one object’s existence depends on that of another. There are a number of different kinds of dependencies including mandatory fields, dependent objects (parent-child), file inclusion (referenced images, for example), and ordering dependencies (when one object must be deployed before another object).
Dependent Field
Any custom picklist or multi-select picklist field that displays available values based on the value selected in its corresponding controlling field.
Detail
A page that displays information about a single object record. The detail page of a record allows you to view the information, whereas the edit page allows you to modify it.
A term used in reports to distinguish between summary information and inclusion of all column data for all information in a report. You can toggle the Show Details/Hide Details button to view and hide report detail information.
Detail View
The Agent console’s center frame, which is the detail page view of any record selected from any of the console’s other frames. The detail view displays the same page layouts defined for the object’s detail pages. When a record is displayed in the detail view, it is highlighted in the list view.
Developer Edition
A free, fully-functional Salesforce organization designed for developers to extend, integrate, and develop with the Force.com platform. Developer Edition accounts are available on developer.salesforce.com.
Salesforce Developers
The Salesforce Developers website at developer.salesforce.com provides a full range of resources for platform developers, including sample code, toolkits, an online developer community, and the ability to obtain limited Force.com platform environments.
Developer Sandbox
Developer sandboxes copy customization (metadata), but don’t copy production data, into a separate environment for coding and testing.
Developer Pro Sandbox
Developer Pro sandboxes copy customization (metadata), but don’t copy production data, into a separate environment for coding and testing. Developer Pro has more storage than a Developer sandbox. It includes a number of Developer sandboxes, depending on the edition of your production organization.
Development Environment
A Salesforce organization where you can make configuration changes that will not affect users on the production organization. There are two kinds of development environments, sandboxes and Developer Edition organizations.
Document Library
A place to store documents without attaching them to other records.
Dynamic Dashboard
A dynamic dashboard runs using the security settings of the user viewing the dashboard. Each user sees the dashboard according to his or her own access level. This approach helps administrators share one common set of dashboard components to users with different levels of access.
Email Alert
Email alerts are actions that send emails, using a specified email template, to specified recipients.
Email Template
A form email that communicates a standard message, such as a welcome letter to new employees or an acknowledgement that a customer service request has been received. Email templates can be personalized with merge fields, and can be written in text, HTML, or custom format.
Enterprise Application
An application that is designed to support functionality for an organization as a whole, rather than solving a specific problem.
Enterprise Edition
A Salesforce edition designed for larger, more complex businesses.
Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)
A data modeling tool that helps you organize your data into entities (or objects, as they are called in the Force.com platform) and define the relationships between them. ERD diagrams for key Salesforce objects are published in the SOAP API Developer’s Guide.
Event
An event is an activity that has a scheduled time. For example, a meeting, or a scheduled phone call.
Event Series
A series of events that recur with a regular pattern. For example, you may have a weekly meeting with a customer defined as an event series.
External Data Source
An external data source specifies how to access an external system. Salesforce Connect uses external data sources to access data that’s stored outside your Salesforce organization. Files Connect uses external data sources to access third-party content systems. External data sources have associated external objects, which your users and the Force.com platform use to interact with the external data and content.
External Lookup Relationship
An external lookup relationship links a child standard, custom, or external object to a parent external object. When you create an external lookup relationship field, the standard External ID field on the parent external object is matched against the values of the child’s external lookup relationship field. External object field values come from an external data source.
External Object
External objects behave similarly to custom objects, except that they map to data that’s stored outside your Salesforce org. Each external object maps to a data table in a defined external data source, and each external object field maps to a table column. Users and the Force.com platform use external objects to interact with the external data.
External User
External users are users with Community, Customer Portal, or partner portal licenses.
Field
A part of an object that holds a specific piece of information, such as a text or currency value.
Field-Level Help
Custom help text that you can provide for any standard or custom field. It displays when users hover a mouse over the help icon adjacent to that field.
Field-Level Security
Settings that determine whether fields are hidden, visible, read only, or editable for users. Available in Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited, Performance, and Developer Editions.
Field Dependency
A filter that allows you to change the contents of a picklist based on the value of another field.
Field Sets
A field set is a grouping of fields. For example, you could have a field set that contains fields describing a user’s first name, middle name, last name, and business title. Field sets can be referenced on Visualforce pages dynamically. If the page is added to a managed package, administrators can add, remove, or reorder fields in a field set to modify the fields presented on the Visualforce page without modifying any code.
Field Update
A field update is an action that automatically updates a field with a new value.
File Owner
You are the owner of a file when you upload the file in Chatter, attach the file to a Chatter feed, or upload the file in Salesforce Content.
As the owner of the file you can view, edit, download, share, upload a new version, and delete the file, as well as make the file private and change the permission on the file.
File Viewer
Users with the “viewer” permission can view, download, and share files in Chatter.
Files Tab
A tab that lists a user’s Chatter and Salesforce CRM Content files.
Filter Condition/Criteria
Condition on particular fields that qualifies items to be included in a list view or report, such as “State equals California.”
Fiscal Year
A period that an organization uses for financial planning purposes, such as forecasting, whose length is usually similar to the length of a calendar year. Fiscal years usually contain smaller fiscal periods, such as quarters or trimesters.
Flag
An icon that users can click on a question or reply to report it as spam, hateful, or inappropriate.
Flow
A flow is an application that can execute logic, interact with the Salesforce database, call Apex classes, and collect data from users. You can build flows by using the Cloud Flow Designer.
Flow Trigger
A flow trigger is a workflow action that launches a flow. With flow triggers, you can automate complex business processes—create flows to perform logic, and have events trigger the flows via workflow rules—without writing code. For example, your flow looks up and assigns the relevant entitlement for a case. Create a flow trigger to launch the flow whenever a case is created, so that all new cases are automatically set with a default entitlement.
Folder
A folder is a place where you can store reports, dashboards, documents, or email templates. Folders can be public, hidden, or shared, and can be set to read-only or read/write. You control who has access to its contents based on roles, permissions, public groups, and license types. You can make a folder available to your entire organization, or make it private so that only the owner has access.
Follow
A subscription to a user or record that lets you see related updates in your Chatter feed. Follow a user to see the users’s posts. Follow a record to see posts, comments, and field changes.
Force.com
The Salesforce platform for building applications in the cloud. Force.com combines a powerful user interface, operating system, and database to allow you to customize and deploy applications in the cloud for your entire enterprise.
Force.com IDE
An Eclipse plug-in that allows developers to manage, author, debug and deploy Force.com applications in the Eclipse development environment.
Force.com Migration Tool
A toolkit that allows you to write an Apache Ant build script for migrating Force.com components between a local file system and a Salesforce organization.
Formula Field
A type of custom field. Formula fields automatically calculate their values based on the values of merge fields, expressions, or other values.
Full Sandbox
Full sandboxes copy your entire production organization and all its data, including standard and custom object records, documents, and attachments. Use the sandbox to code and test changes, and to train your team about the changes. You can refresh a Full sandbox every 29 days.
Function
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.
Global Search
Search more records and fields in Salesforce from the header search box. Global search keeps track of which objects you use and how often you use them, and arranges the search results accordingly. Search results for the objects you use most frequently appear at the top of the list.
Group
A group is a set of users. Groups can contain individual users, other groups, or the users in a role. Groups can be used to help define sharing access to data or to specify which data to synchronize in Salesforce for Outlook configurations or Lightning Sync configurations.
Users can define their own personal groups. Administrators can create public groups for use by everyone in the organization.
Highlights Panel
A customizable table of up to four columns and two rows that appears at the top of every primary tab in a Salesforce console. It lets you view key information about records at a glance.
Home Tab
Starting page from which users can choose sidebar shortcuts and options, view current tasks and activities, or select another tab.
Hover Detail
Hover detail displays an interactive overlay containing record details. Details appear when users hover over a link to that record in the Recent Items list on the sidebar, or in a lookup field on a record detail page. Users can quickly view information about a record before clicking to view or edit the record. The record’s mini page layout determines which fields are included in the hover details. Users can’t customize which fields appear.
ID
See Salesforce Record ID.
Immediate Action
A workflow action that executes instantly when the conditions of a workflow rule are met.
Import Wizard
A tool for importing data into your Salesforce organization, accessible from Setup.
JSON (JavsScript Object Notation)
JSON is a lightweight format for transferring data.
Junction Object
Length
Parameter for custom text fields that specifies the maximum number of characters (up to 255) that a user can enter in the field.
Parameter for number, currency, and percent fields that specifies the number of digits you can enter to the left of the decimal point, for example, 123.98 for an entry of 3.
Letterhead
Determines the basic attributes of an HTML email template. Users can create a letterhead that includes attributes like background color, logo, font size, and font color.
Library
A file repository in Salesforce CRM Content.
Library Permission
A group of privileges that determines user access within a Salesforce CRM Content library.
List View
A list display of items (for example, accounts or contacts) based on specific criteria. Salesforce provides some predefined views.
In the Agent console, the list view is the top frame that displays a list view of records based on specific criteria. The list views you can select to display in the console are the same list views defined on the tabs of other objects. You cannot create a list view within the console.
Local Name
The value stored for the field in the user’s or account’s language. The local name for a field is associated with the standard name for that field.
Locale
The country or geographic region in which the user is located. The setting affects the format of date and number fields, for example, dates in the English (United States) locale display as 06/30/2000 and as 30/06/2000 in the English (United Kingdom) locale.
In Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited, Performance, and Developer Edition organizations, a user’s individual Locale setting overrides the organization’s Default Locale setting. In Personal and Group Editions, the organization-level locale field is called Locale, not Default Locale.
Logged-in User
In a SOAP API context, the username used to log into Salesforce. Client applications run with the permissions and sharing of the logged-in user. Also referred to as an integration user.
Long Text Area
Data type of custom field that allows entry of up to 32,000 characters on separate lines.
Lookup Dialog
Popup dialog available for some fields that allows you to search for a new item, such as a contact, account, or user.
Lookup Field
A type of field that contains a linkable value to another record. You can display lookup fields on page layouts where the object has a lookup or master-detail relationship with another object. For example, cases have a lookup relationship with assets that allows users to select an asset using a lookup dialog from the case edit page and click the name of the asset from the case detail page.
Lookup Filter
An administrator setting on a lookup or master-detail relationship field that specifies the criteria records must meet to be valid values for the field. Invalid records do not appear in the lookup results. If a user manually types the name of an invalid record and clicks Save, Salesforce blocks the save and displays an error message.
Lookup Icon
A magnifying glass icon that displays next to certain fields and launches the lookup dialog window.
Lookup Relationship
Mail Merge
A mail merge is the process of generating form letters and other Microsoft® Word documents that are personalized for the recipient, who is often a contact or lead. The content of each document is predefined in a mail merge template. Mail merge templates include variables called merge fields where data from your Salesforce records—for example a contact’s name and address—displays in the generated document.
Managed Package
A collection of application components that is posted as a unit on the AppExchange and associated with a namespace and possibly a License Management Organization. To support upgrades, a package must be managed. An organization can create a single managed package that can be downloaded and installed by many different organizations. Managed packages differ from unmanaged packages by having some locked components, allowing the managed package to be upgraded later. Unmanaged packages do not include locked components and cannot be upgraded. In addition, managed packages obfuscate certain components (like Apex) on subscribing organizations to protect the intellectual property of the developer.
Manual Sharing
Record-level access rules that allow record owners to give read and edit permissions to other users who might not have access to the record any other way.
Many-to-Many Relationship
A relationship where each side of the relationship can have many children on the other side. Many-to-many relationships are implemented through the use of junction objects.
Master-Detail Relationship
A relationship between two different types of records that associates the records with each other. For example, accounts have a master-detail relationship with opportunities. This type of relationship affects record deletion, security, and makes the lookup relationship field required on the page layout.
Matrix Report
Matrix reports are similar to summary reports but allow you to group and summarize data by both rows and columns. They can be used as the source report for dashboard components. Use this type for comparing related totals, especially if you have large amounts of data to summarize and you need to compare values in several different fields, or you want to look at data by date and by product, person, or geography.
Metadata
Information about the structure, appearance, and functionality of an organization and any of its parts. Force.com uses XML to describe metadata.
Metadata Component
An instance of a metadata type. For example, the Account standard object is a metadata component, which is an instance of the CustomObject type.
Metadata Type
A type of object in a Salesforce organization, for example CustomObject or CustomTab.
Migration
The process of moving metadata from one organization to another, usually between two development environments. See also Deploy.
Multitenancy
An application model where all users and apps share a single, common infrastructure and code base.
Multi-Person Event
A planned event to which multiple users are invited, also referred to as a meeting. You can create multi-person events by inviting other users to any calendar event you create.
MVC (Model-View-Controller)
A design paradigm that deconstructs applications into components that represent data (the model), ways of displaying that data in a user interface (the view), and ways of manipulating that data with business logic (the controller).
My Settings
When the improved Setup user interface is enabled in an organization and the user has Salesforce Classic, personal settings are available from the My Settings menu under the user’s name.
Namespace
In a packaging context, a one- to 15-character alphanumeric identifier that distinguishes your package and its contents from packages of other developers onAppExchange, similar to a domain name. Salesforce automatically prepends your namespace prefix, followed by two underscores (“__”), to all unique component names in your Salesforce organization.
Namespace Prefix
In a packaging context, a namespace prefix is a one to 15-character alphanumeric identifier that distinguishes your package and its contents from packages of other developers on AppExchange. Namespace prefixes are case-insensitive. For example, ABC and abc are not recognized as unique. Your namespace prefix must be globally unique across all Salesforce organizations. It keeps your managed package under your control exclusively.
Nickname
A nickname is the name used to identify this user in a community. Up to 40 alphanumeric characters are allowed. Standard users can edit this field.
Object
An object allows you to store information in your Salesforce organization. The object is the overall definition of the type of information you are storing. For example, the case object allow you to store information regarding customer inquiries. For each object, your organization will have multiple records that store the information about specific instances of that type of data. For example, you might have a case record to store the information about Joe Smith’s training inquiry and another case record to store the information about Mary Johnson’s configuration issue.
Object-Level Help
Custom help text that you can provide for any custom object. It displays on custom object record home (overview), detail, and edit pages, as well as list views and related lists.
Object-Level Security
Settings that allow an administrator to hide whole objects from users so that they don’t know that type of data exists. Object-level security is specified with object permissions.
One-to-Many Relationship
A relationship in which a single object is related to many other objects. For example, an account may have one or more related contacts.
Organization
A deployment of Salesforce with a defined set of licensed users. An organization is the virtual space provided to an individual customer of Salesforce. Your organization includes all of your data and applications, and is separate from all other organizations.
Org
An org is an abbreviation of organization as it pertains to a deployment of Salesforce with a defined set of licensed users. An org is the virtual space provided to an individual customer of Salesforce. Your org includes all of your data and applications, and is separate from all other orgs.
Organization-Wide Defaults
Settings that allow you to specify the baseline level of data access that a user has in your organization. For example, you can set organization-wide defaults so that any user can see any record of a particular object that is enabled via their object permissions, but they need extra permissions to edit one.
Overlay
An overlay displays additional information when you hover your mouse over certain user interface elements. Depending on the overlay, it will close when you move your mouse away, click outside of the overlay, or click a close button.
Owner
Package
A group of Force.com components and applications that are made available to other organizations through the AppExchange. You use packages to bundle an app along with any related components so that you can upload them to AppExchange together.
Package Installation
Installation incorporates the contents of a package into your Salesforce organization. A package on the AppExchange can include an app, a component, or a combination of the two. After you install a package, you may need to deploy components in the package to make it generally available to the users in your organization.
Page Layout
Page layout is the organization of fields, custom links, and related lists on a record detail or edit page. Use page layouts primarily for organizing pages for your users. In Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited, Performance, and Developer Editions, use field-level security to restrict users’ access to specific fields.
Partial Copy Sandbox
A Partial Copy sandbox is a Developer sandbox plus the data that you define in a sandbox template.
Patch
A patch enables a developer to change the functionality of existing components in a managed package, while ensuring subscribing organizations that there are no visible behavior changes to the package. For example, you can add new variables or change the body of an Apex class, but you may not add, deprecate, or remove any of its methods. Patches are tracked by a patchNumber appended to every package version. See also Patch Development Organization and Package Version.
Patch Development Organization
The organization where patch versions are developed, maintained, and uploaded. Patch development organizations are created automatically for a developer organization when they request to create a patch. See also Patch and Package Version.
Patch Release
A minor upgrade to a managed package. During these releases, the patch number of a package version increments.
People
Users in your Salesforce organization. A list of people is available on the People tab in Chatter.
Permission
A permission is a setting that allows a user to perform certain functions in Salesforce. Permissions can be enabled in permission sets and profiles. Examples of permissions include the “Edit” permission on a custom object and the “Modify All Data” permission.
Permission Set
A collection of permissions and settings that gives users access to specific tools and functions.
Person Account
A person account is an individual consumer with whom you do business, such as a financial services client, an online shopper, or a vacation traveler. Person accounts are applicable to organizations that operate on a business-to-consumer model as opposed to a business-to-business model.
Personal Information
User information including personal contact information, quotas, personal group information, and default opportunity team.
Personal Settings
Settings and customization options to help users personalize their Salesforce experience. All Salesforce users can edit their own personal settings. Depending on an organization’s user interface settings, users can access their personal settings from the Personal Setup area of the Setup menu, or from the menu under their avatar or name.
Phrase Search
A type of full-text search that matches only items that contain a specified phrase, such as “customer relationship management.”
Picklist
Selection list of options available for specific fields in a Salesforce object, for example, the Industry field for accounts. Users can choose a single value from a list of options rather than make an entry directly in the field. See also Master Picklist.
Picklist (Multi-Select)
Selection list of options available for specific fields in a Salesforce object. Multi-select picklists allow users to choose one or more values. Users can choose a value by double clicking on it, or choose additional values from a scrolling list by holding down the CTRL key while clicking a value and using the arrow icon to move them to the selected box.
Picklist Values
Selections displayed in drop-down lists for particular fields. Some values come predefined, and other values can be changed or defined by an administrator.
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
An environment where developers use programming tools offered by a service provider to create applications and deploy them in a cloud. The application is hosted as a service and provided to customers via the Internet. The PaaS vendor provides an API for creating and extending specialized applications. The PaaS vendor also takes responsibility for the daily maintenance, operation, and support of the deployed application and each customer’s data. The service alleviates the need for programmers to install, configure, and maintain the applications on their own hardware, software, and related IT resources. Services can be delivered using the PaaS environment to any market segment.
Post
Post Sharing
Lets you copy a public Chatter post and publish it to your profile or a group you’re a member of. You can also share the post with other Chatter users by sending a link to the post in an email or instant message.
Printable View
An option that displays a page in a print-ready format.
Production Organization
A Salesforce organization that has live users accessing data.
Profile
Defines a user’s permission to perform different functions within Salesforce. For example, the Solution Manager profile gives a user access to create, edit, and delete solutions.
Profile, Chatter
A personal page for each Salesforce user that includes contact information, following and followers lists, a Chatter feed, and a photo.
Public Calendar
A calendar in which a group of people can track events of interest to all of them (such as marketing events, product releases, or training classes) or schedule a common activity (such as a team vacation calendar). For example, your marketing team can set up an events calendar to show upcoming marketing events to the entire sales and marketing organization.
Public Group
A set of users defined for sharing purposes. Only administrators can create public groups.
Push Upgrade
A method of delivering updates that sends upgrades of an installed managed package to all organizations that have installed the package.
Queue
A holding area for items before they are processed. Salesforce uses queues in a number of different features and technologies.
Quick Text
Quick Text lets users create messages, such as greetings, answers to common questions, and short notes, which support agents can easily insert into case updates and communications with customers to save time and increase standardization.
Read Only
One of the standard profiles to which a user can be assigned. Read Only users can view and report on information based on their role in the organization. (That is, if the Read Only user is the CEO, they can view all data in the system. If the Read Only user has the role of Western Rep, they can view all data for their role and any role below them in the hierarchy.)
Recent Items
List of links in the sidebar for most recently accessed records. Note that not all types of records are listed in the recent items.
Record
A single instance of a Salesforce object. For example, “John Jones” might be the name of a contact record.
Record Detail Page
A record detail page, is a page that includes details about a Salesforce record such as an account or a contact. Examples of details include the record owner, contact information, and company information.
Record ID
The unique identifier for each record.
Record-Level Security
A method of controlling data in which you can allow a particular user to view and edit an object, but then restrict the records that the user is allowed to see.
Record Name
A standard field on all Salesforce objects. Whenever a record name is displayed in a Force.com application, the value is represented as a link to a detail view of the record. A record name can be either free-form text or an autonumber field. Record Name does not have to be a unique value.
Record Type
A record type is a field available for certain records that can include some or all of the standard and custom picklist values for that record. You can associate record types with profiles to make only the included picklist values available to users with that profile.
Recurring Event
An event that has been created as part of an event series, such as a series of weekly meetings or monthly status reports. See Event Series.
Recycle Bin
A page that lets you view and restore deleted information. Access the Recycle Bin by using the link in the sidebar.
Regression Testing
Testing that uncovers why functionality that was previously working stops working as intended. A stable set of data must be used for regression testing. For this reason, it is a good idea to use a configuration-only sandbox that pulls its data from an immutable source.
Related List
A section of a record or other detail page that lists items related to that record. For example, the Stage History related list of an opportunity or the Open Activities related list of a case.
Related List Hover Links
A type of link that allows you to quickly view information on a detail page about related lists, by hovering your mouse over the link. Your administrator must enable the display of hover links. The displayed text contains the corresponding related list and its number of records. You can also click this type of link to jump to the content of the related list without having to scroll down the page.
Related List Item
Any entry within a related list such as a note, contact, or activity.
Relationship
A connection between two objects, used to create related lists in page layouts and detail levels in reports. Matching values in a specified field in both objects are used to link related data; for example, if one object stores data about companies and another object stores data about people, a relationship allows you to find out which people work at the company.
Report
A report returns a set of records that meets certain criteria, and displays it in organized rows and columns. Report data can be filtered, grouped, and displayed graphically as a chart. Reports are stored in folders, which control who has access. See Tabular Report, Summary Report, and Matrix Report.
Report Builder
Report builder is a visual editor for reports.
Report Type
A report type defines the set of records and fields available to a report based on the relationships between a primary object and its related objects. Reports display only records that meet the criteria defined in the report type. Salesforce provides a set of pre-defined standard report types; administrators can create custom report types as well.
REST (Representational State Transfer)
A software architecture that lets clients and servers communicate resources, usually via HTTP.
REST API
A Web services application programming interface that uses REST to provide access to your Salesforce organization’s information.
Role
Assigned responsibility of a user, partner account, or contact for specific accounts and opportunities. Administrators can define user roles in Setup. Individual users can assign specific partner and contact roles for accounts and contacts.
Role Hierarchy
A record-level security setting that defines different levels of users such that users at higher levels can view and edit information owned by or shared with users beneath them in the role hierarchy, regardless of the organization-wide sharing model settings.
Roll-Up Summary Field
A field type that automatically provides aggregate values from child records in a master-detail relationship.
Running User
Each dashboard has a running user, whose security settings determine which data to display in a dashboard. If the running user is a specific user, all dashboard viewers see data based on the security settings of that user—regardless of their own personal security settings. For dynamic dashboards, you can set the running user to be the logged-in user, so that each user sees the dashboard according to his or her own access level.
SaaS
See Software as a Service (SaaS).
Salesforce for Outlook
Salesforce for Outlook, a Microsoft® Outlook® integration application that you install, syncs contacts, events, and tasks between Outlook and Salesforce. In addition to syncing these items, you can add Outlook emails, attachments, events, and tasks to multiple Salesforce contacts, and view Salesforce records related to the contacts and leads in your emails and events—all directly in Outlook.
You may be able to customize what you sync and the sync directions between Outlook and Salesforce. Your administrator determines the level at which you can customize these settings in Salesforce.
Salesforce for Outlook Configuration
Salesforce for Outlook configurations include settings for the data that Salesforce for Outlook users can sync between Microsoft® Outlook® and Salesforce. Administrators can create separate configurations for different types of users, and give users permission to edit some of their own settings. For example, an opportunity team might want to sync everything, while a manager might want to sync only events.
Salesforce Record ID
A unique 15- or 18-character alphanumeric string that identifies a single record in Salesforce.
Sandbox
A nearly identical copy of a Salesforce production organization for development, testing, and training. The content and size of a sandbox varies depending on the type of sandbox and the editioin of the production organization associated with the sandbox.
Save As
Option on any standard, public, or custom report to save the parameters of the report without altering the original report. It creates a new custom report with your saved changes.
Save & New
Alternative “save” on most pages with which you can save your current changes and create a new entry.
Search
Feature that lets you search for information that matches specified keywords. If you have sidebar search, enter search terms in the Search section of the sidebar or click Advanced Search… for more search options. If you have global search, enter search terms in the search box in the header.
Search Layout
The organization of fields included in search results, in lookup dialogs, and in the key lists on tab home pages.
Session ID
An authentication token that is returned when a user successfully logs in to Salesforce. The Session ID prevents a user from having to log in again every time he or she wants to perform another action in Salesforce. Different from a record ID or Salesforce ID, which are terms for the unique ID of a Salesforce record.
Session Timeout
The period of time after login before a user is automatically logged out. Sessions expire automatically after a predetermined length of inactivity, which can be configured in Salesforce from Setup by clicking Security Controls. The default is 120 minutes (two hours). The inactivity timer is reset to zero if a user takes an action in the Web interface or makes an API call.
Settings
When the user has Lightning Experience, personal settings are available from the Settings menu under the user’s avatar.
Setup
A menu where administrators can customize and define organization settings and Force.com apps. Depending on your organization’s user interface settings, Setup may be a link in the user interface header or in the drop-down list under your name.
Sharing
Allowing other users to view or edit information you own. There are different ways to share data:
- Sharing Model—defines the default organization-wide access levels that users have to each other’s information and whether to use the hierarchies when determining access to data.
- Role Hierarchy—defines different levels of users such that users at higher levels can view and edit information owned by or shared with users beneath them in the role hierarchy, regardless of the organization-wide sharing model settings.
- Sharing Rules—allow an administrator to specify that all information created by users within a given group or role is automatically shared to the members of another group or role.
- Manual Sharing—allows individual users to share records with other users or groups.
- Apex-Managed Sharing—enables developers to programmatically manipulate sharing to support their application’s behavior. See Apex-Managed Sharing.
Sharing Model
Behavior defined by your administrator that determines default access by users to different types of records.
Sharing Rule
Type of default sharing created by administrators. Allows users in a specified group or role to have access to all information created by users within a given group or role.
Show/Hide Details
Option available for reports that lets you show/hide the details of individual column values in report results.
Sidebar
Column appearing on the left side of each page that provides links to recent items and other resources.
SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)
A protocol that defines a uniform way of passing XML-encoded data.
SOAP API
A SOAP-based Web services application programming interface that provides access to your Salesforce organization’s information.
sObject
The abstract or parent object for all objects that can be stored in the Force.com platform.
SOQL (Salesforce Object Query Language)
A query language that allows you to construct simple but powerful query strings and to specify the criteria that should be used to select data from the Force.com database.
SOSL (Salesforce Object Search Language)
A query language that allows you to perform text-based searches using the Force.com API.
Standard Object
A built-in object included with the Force.com platform. You can also build custom objects to store information that is unique to your app.
Summary Field
A summary field is a numerical report column with one of the following summaries applied: sum, average, largest value, smallest value. Users can define custom summary formulas to extend these options. In addition to showing summarized information, summary fields can be used to define charts and reporting snapshots.
Summary Report
Summary reports are similar to tabular reports, but also allow users to group rows of data, view subtotals, and create charts. They can be used as the source report for dashboard components. Use this type for a report to show subtotals based on the value of a particular field or when you want to create a hierarchical list, such as all opportunities for your team, subtotaled by Stage and Owner.
Tab
A tab is an interface component 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. A tab can be associated with an object, a Web page, or a Visualforce page. In a packaging context, a one- to 15-character alphanumeric identifier that distinguishes your package and its contents from packages of other developers onAppExchange, similar to a domain name. Salesforce automatically prepends your namespace prefix, followed by two underscores (“__”), to all unique component names in your Salesforce organization.
Tabular Report
Tabular reports are the simplest and fastest way to look at data. Similar to a spreadsheet, they consist simply of an ordered set of fields in columns, with each matching record listed in a row. Tabular reports are best for creating lists of records or a list with a single grand total. They can’t be used to create groups of data or charts, and can’t be used in dashboards unless rows are limited. Examples include contact mailing lists and activity reports.
Tag
In Salesforce, a word or short phrases that users can associate with most records to describe and organize their data in a personalized way. Administrators can enable tags for accounts, activities, assets, campaigns, cases, contacts, contracts, dashboards, documents, events, leads, notes, opportunities, reports, solutions, tasks, and any custom objects (except relationship group members) Tags can also be accessed through the SOAP API.
Test Case Coverage
Test cases are the expected real-world scenarios in which your code will be used. Test cases are not actual unit tests, but are documents that specify what your unit tests should do. High test case coverage means that most or all of the real-world scenarios you have identified are implemented as unit tests. See also Code Coverage and Unit Test.
Test Method
An Apex class method that verifies whether a particular piece of code is working properly. Test methods take no arguments, commit no data to the database, and can be executed by the runTests() system method either through the command line or in an Apex IDE, such as the Force.com IDE. Custom help text that you can provide for any custom object. It displays on custom object record home (overview), detail, and edit pages, as well as list views and related lists.
Text
Data type of a custom field that allows entry of any combination of letters, numbers, or symbols, up to a maximum length of 255 characters.
Text Area
A custom field data type that allows entry of up to 255 characters on separate lines.
Time-Dependent Workflow Action
A workflow action that executes when the conditions of a workflow rule and an associated time trigger are met.
Time Trigger
An event that starts according to a specified time threshold, such as seven days before an opportunity close date. For example, you might define a time-based workflow action that sends email to the account manager when a scheduled milestone will occur in seven days.
Translation Workbench
The Translation Workbench lets you specify languages you want to translate, assign translators to languages, create translations for customizations you’ve made to your Salesforce organization, and override labels and translations from managed packages. Everything from custom picklist values to custom fields can be translated so your global users can use all of Salesforce in their language.
Trigger
A piece of Apex that executes before or after records of a particular type are inserted, updated, or deleted from the database. Every trigger runs with a set of context variables that provide access to the records that caused the trigger to fire, and all triggers run in bulk mode—that is, they process several records at once, rather than just one record at a time.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
A process used to confirm that the functionality meets the planned requirements. UAT is one of the final stages before deployment to production.
User Interface
The layouts that specify how a data model should be displayed.
User License
A user license determines the baseline of features that the user can access. Every user must have exactly one user license.
Validation Rule
A rule that prevents a record from being saved if it does not meet the standards that are specified.
Version
A number value that indicates the release of an item. Items that can have a version include API objects, fields and calls; Apex classes and triggers; and Visualforce pages and components.
Visualforce
A simple, tag-based markup language that allows developers to easily define custom pages and components for apps built on the platform. Each tag corresponds to a coarse or fine-grained component, such as a section of a page, a related list, or a field. The components can either be controlled by the same logic that is used in standard Salesforce pages, or developers can associate their own logic with a controller written in Apex.
Visualforce Page
A web page created using Visualforce. Typically, Visualforce pages present information relevant to your organization, but they can also modify or capture data. They can be rendered in several ways, such as a PDF document or an email attachment, and can be associated with a CSS style.
Web Service
A mechanism by which two applications can easily exchange data over the Internet, even if they run on different platforms, are written in different languages, or are geographically remote from each other.
A Web services application programming interface that provides access to your Salesforce organization’s information. See also SOAP API and Bulk API.
Wildcard
A character that is used in a search term to represent one or more other characters. In most Salesforce searches, the asterisk (*) and question mark (?) can be used as wildcards.
Workflow Action
A workflow action, such as an email alert, field update, outbound message, or task, fires when the conditions of a workflow rule are met.
Workflow Email Alert
A workflow action that sends an email when a workflow rule is triggered. Unlike workflow tasks, which can only be assigned to application users, workflow alerts can be sent to any user or contact, as long as they have a valid email address.
Workflow Field Update
A workflow action that changes the value of a particular field on a record when a workflow rule is triggered.
Workflow Rule
A workflow rule sets workflow actions into motion when its designated conditions are met. You can configure workflow actions to execute immediately when a record meets the conditions in your workflow rule, or set time triggers that execute the workflow actions on a specific day.
Workflow Task
A workflow action that assigns a task to an application user when a workflow rule is triggered.