Appirio Product Tip: How to use Facebook at Work

As the enterprise begins to take note of social media like Facebook, and look for ways to get involved, you may find your work life encroaching on sensitive personal information.

To address this, we've created this quick guide to keeping your Facebook personal and Facebook work life separate. Enjoy!

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How can you use Facebook at work while still maintaining privacy over your personal life? For example:

• Do you want to control who sees photos of you, even when they are tagged with your name?
  
• Do you want to keep your colleagues from seeing your frequent and personal status updates?

Believe it or not, you can do all these things in Facebook. There are two steps. First, sort your Facebook friends between work friends and personal friends. Then, determine which parts of your Facebook profile will be visible to which set of friends.

Here's how:

• Login to Facebook, click on "Friends," and "make a new list" of friends. You'll be prompted to type in the names of friends you'd like to add to this list. You want to create a list for every group of friends from which you want to hide some part of what you do on Facebook.

• In the upper right of your screen, click settings / privacy settings, and configure each element of your Facebook Profile. Click "Profile." Then, select "customize" under each element of your profile, and select to "exclude" your work friends list from the portions of your profile you'd like to keep private.

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That's it! Now you can maximize the benefits of leveraging your expansive and fun-to-use social network for work use, with defined barriers between the two.

To find out more about our work connecting Facebook and the enterprise, check out our current projects below, and follow us on Twitter for our future releases.

• MyFriends@Work
• Jobs4MyFriends

Release Notes: Appirio Professional Service Essentials - V 0.8.6

Appirio PS Essentials leverages Salesforce.com's On-Demand Platform to offer core PSA functionality at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions.

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Appirio Professional Service Essentials - Version 0.8.6

Added Functionality:

• Updated the following Project field label: "Travel Amount" is now "Expense Amount"
  
• Updated the following Project field label: "Travel Notes" is now "Expense Notes"
• Removed an automated notification email and added comments to the underlying code to indicate it's function: sample code illustrating how to send a notification from a button
• Updated the Skills Matrix to prevent users from saving skills without first selecting the associated Resource

Known Issues Addressed:

• Realigned the tab order for the Timecard user interface
  
• Addressed known issue for non-admin users within the Resource Planner user interface
  
• Removed the 'Request Deletion' button from the Timecard page layout

Release Notes: Appirio Professional Service Essentials - V 0.8.3

Appirio PS Essentials leverages Salesforce.com's On-Demand Platform to offer core PSA functionality at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions.

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Appirio Professional Service Essentials - Version 0.8.3

Added Functionality:

• Created a new configuration for the Timecard ("default.billable") which controls the default value of the Timecard billable checkbox
• Added "Resource Planner" as the page title
• Added "Include in Project Financials" checkbox to the Timecard and changed all Project Timecard roll-ups to filter based on this checkbox - it will ultimately be up to the customer during implementation to set Workflows based on the Timecard Status or other criteria to set or unset this checkbox as necessary
  

Release Notes: Appirio Professional Service Essentials - V 0.8.1

Appirio PS Essentials leverages Salesforce.com's On-Demand Platform to offer core PSA functionality at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions.

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Appirio Professional Service Essentials - Version 0.8.1

Added Functionality:

• Created the Team field on the Resource record (to be used instead of the Team field on the Contact record)
  
• Re-wrote the Utilization Report to use the Resource Team field in grouping functionality
• Replaced references to 'Consultant' in the Utilization Report with 'Resource'
• Added a date picker field to the Timecard entry UI
  

Known Issues Addressed:

• Fixed the Javascript API *namespace* bug that was causing a failure in the "Mark as Invoiced" list button for Timecards
  
• Fixed the alignment problem in the Resource planner when fields are added to the assignment details section
• Fixed a known issue which occurs when saving a null value in a number field in the assignment details section

Release Notes: Appirio Professional Service Essentials - V 0.8

Appirio PS Essentials leverages Salesforce.com's On-Demand Platform to offer core PSA functionality at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions.

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Appirio Professional Service Essentials - Version 0.8

Known Issues Addressed:

• Fixed a SOQL error for the Resource Resumes control (when no resources are present in system, provided error)
  
• Removed unnecessary references from the help text of some Resource fields
• Replaced references to 'consultant' with 'resource' in Resource and Project fields
• Removed unnecessary string literals from the Enter Skills S-Control

Release Notes: Appirio Professional Service Essentials - V 0.7.7

Appirio PS Essentials leverages Salesforce.com's On-Demand Platform to offer core PSA functionality at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions.

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Appirio Professional Service Essentials - Version 0.7.7

Added Functionality:

• Added time-based filtering of available projects in the Timecard UI (based on the start and end dates of the associated Assignments)
• Added next and previous week buttons to the Timecard object
  
• Created a "pop-up" in the Utilization Report for the link: "How does PS Essentials calculate utilization?"
• Added functionality to allow the Resource Planner to show the assignments in correct order after an edit

Known Issues Addressed:

• Fixed a known Timecard issue regarding an intermittent dialog box appearance
  
• Fixed the handling of assignments with invalid date ranges in the Resource Planner
• Fixed the column mis-alignment in the rendered Utilization Report results
• Removed unnecessary references in rendered string literals and field help

Launching Appirio Professional Service Essentials

Appirio PS Essentials leverages Salesforce.com's On-Demand Platform to offer core PSA functionality at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions.

As a professional services organization here at Appirio, we've had to address our own needs for a PSA solution quickly and with the option to scale. Current options available on the market either didn't provide the value we'd expect, or weren't on-demand (as a serverless enterprise, it's not just a choice, but a mandatory requirement). Our natural progression led us to create the building blocks for what's becoming a full services management tool, using the Force.com platform.

We have been using early versions of PS Essentials to run our own business since we started. In just the last 12 months, our business has grown over 500 percent. We've significantly increased the size and reach of our delivery team and have added subcontractors to our resource pool. The PS Essentials package has helped us scale quickly, and manage a high volume of daily resourcing activity with minimal administrative staff. We've decided to package this powerful solution into a product to provide the same value we see everyday to our customers.

Our intent with PS Essentials is threefold:

• To solve the core needs of professional services firms at a fraction of the cost of traditional offerings. Our solution builds on the Force.com platform, therefore it eliminates the need to purchase expensive IT infrastructure, lowering both up-front and ongoing costs.
  
• Enable customers to get up and running quickly without getting locked into a solution that may not be right for them down the road.
  
• To provide existing Salesforce CRM customers with the added value of using this solution to help unify their sales and services businesses, which can improve win rates, client satisfaction and overall utilization.

Information on Appirio PS Essentials is now available today on the Force.com AppExchange or by contacting us directly.

Pricing:

• Starting at $20 per user per month, PS Essentials represents a signficant TCO reduction when compared to traditional solutions.
• Available today. Click here to request a trial, or for a free evaluation from an Appirio Client Manager.

Launching Appirio Adoption Accelerator (AAA)

Appirio Adoption Accelerator: A Personalized Help Tab for Salesforce.com

User adoption is a hurdle that any organization considering new technology must take into account. Anyone leveraging SaaS solutions will face these exact same challenges. Today we announced our launch of Appirio Adoption Accelerator (AAA) to help users engage more collaboratively and effectively, and go a step beyond generic product help or one-time training classes.

AAA consolidates and organizes a wide range of material; from useful web pages and presentations, to training manuals and video help files. AAA allows the user community to propose and rate material they find helpful, and makes it easy for Salesforce CRM administrators to add, categorize, and manage this material in a way that is most useful to their organization. AAA also comes with a one year subscription to a stream of content that is selected and edited by our in-house experts who have experience with hundreds of customer implementations.

From assistance with basic Salesforce.com usage, to screen-capture movies, to online presentations and training personalized to your organization, to user-promoted content, it's time to provide your users with the information they need to make the most of your Salesforce.com investment.

Features of Adoption Accelerator:

• A single place for your users to search and find help, best practices, and training tailored specifically to how your organization uses Salesforce
• User community can rate and propose material that they find helpful
• Easy administration of all materials-- add new content, manage and categorize existing content.

Pricing:

• $24 per user per year for our "Standard Edition." Contact us to ask about "Unlimited Edition" or Volume Discounts
• Comes with 1 year free subscription to a weekly stream of pre-screened and edited content sent directly from Appirio
• Enterprise-level support for customers with >10 users

Getting Started:

• View the Demo
• Read the Datasheet
• Download today from the AppExchange
  
• Drop by and see it in action at Dreamforce 2008 in San Francisco, in Appirio booth #487 and in the AppExchange booth #452A!
  

MyFriends@Work Goes Viral!

In our mission to Accelerate the Adoption of On-Demand, and Connect the Cloud, we announced on 10/23/2008 our new Facebook application that allows businesspeople to use their social network to get their job done by connecting Salesforce to Facebook. Today we are inviting users and spreading the word using the viral nature of Facebook.


MyFriends@Work compares your list of Facebook friends to all the contacts, leads, and users in your company's Salesforce org. When there's a match, we'll let you know via notification or via email whenever your friends do business with your company. MyFriends@Work is a free application from Appirio available on Facebook.

Here's what you can do now to get started:

• Watch a demo of the application, read the press release, and check out our product page
  
• If you haven't already, sign up for a free Facebook account, and become a fan of Appirio!
• Add MyFriends@Work to your profile
• Enter your Salesforce creditials and check out your Salesforce "feed"
• Send your friends at work "thank you's", "introductions", and "recommendations"!
  

Appirio wants to help companies use social networks in every area of their business to more effectively promote their brand, generate new business and even find new employees. Contact us to learn more.

Alert: Appirio Cloud Storage Notification - 10/28/08

Our AppExchange package updates to address the issue between the recent Shockwave Flash v10.0 r12 upgrade and Salesforce's Winter '09 API are now available here:

• Appirio Cloud Storage v1.31
• Appirio Cloud Storage for Professional Edition v1.0.7

As with any new package, the upgrade is seamless-- you can update the package without having to redo any security settings, page layouts, custom object configurations, and without affecting any of your existing attachments. Please also note that this package update will work with any previous version of Flash, along with Flash 10 (unaffected users will not be adversely affected by this update).

The technical details on the issue are as follows: There is a problem with the Force.com toolkit when running in Flash 10 if the SWF file is not hosted on Salesforce. It's undetermined whether it's an Adobe issue or a Salesforce issue with the Force.com toolkit. To fix, we are now hosting the SWF file within Salesforce.

Please contact support@appirio.com if you have any questions.

Alert: Appirio Cloud Storage Notification - 10/24/08

Please note that there is a current issue with the recent Shockwave Flash v10.0 r12 upgrade (and its interaction with the Salesforce API) that has disabled the ability to upload documents within Appirio Cloud Storage.

We are working with high-priority on a package update to address this issue. The updated Appirio Cloud Storage package is slated for release today or early Monday. Any current Appirio Cloud Storage customers should expect a follow-up email with the new package details and updated information as soon as it's available.

Please contact support@appirio.com if you have any questions.

Appirio Cloud Storage 1.19: Featuring Local Backup, Data Loader, Storage Cleanup, and Easy Administration

We're pleased to announce the availability of the Appirio Cloud Storage release 1.19. This upgrade focuses on ease of setup and ongoing administration.

All customers are required to upgrade their existing Appirio Cloud Storage from AppExchange. The upgrade is seamless-- you can update the package without having to redo any security settings, page layouts, custom object configurations, and without affecting any of your existing attachments.

Here's some more information about the new package... more details can be found in our updated administrative guide:

• Data Loader: Appirio has launched a Cloud Storage data loader similar what Salesforce offers-- a client application that takes a .csv file as input, and will load local files into Appirio Cloud Storage as attachments.
  
• Storage Cleanup: The Storage Cleanup utility allows you to search the Cloud Storage repository for files that are no longer referenced by objects in your Salesforce org. Files can become unreferenced when a parent object is deleted which will in turn delete the attachment objects (but not the files) automatically. Unreferenced files will not cause any problems or impact performance but do count against your storage space. Therefore, you can run the utility periodically or as you reach your storage limit.
• Easy Administration: Redesigned the "About Appirio Cloud Storage" tab to include access to all ACS utilities-- migrate new attachments, create a local backup for existing attachments, or cleanup existing attachments all in one location.
  
• Contract Attachments: Added support for Contract attachments without the need to create a custom object.

Launching Appirio Personal Sync

For individuals who use Salesforce and Google to get their jobs done, Appirio is pleased to announce the personal edition of our sync products. For the first time, individuals can combine the on-demand tools they use personally with the tools they're given to conduct business, without any application for IT to install or configure.

This free service extends Appirio's enterprise synchronization products, unveiled earlier this year and being used by more than 1,500 organizations of all sizes worldwide. The new personal edition removes barriers to adoption, offers an enhanced user experience, and an easy upgrade path.

See our press release here, our product page here, and a 4 minute flash demo of the application here. You can also view the full user guide here. Best of all, just click here to login and get started... there's no application to install or administrative permission required.

Features of Personal Edition:

• No barriers for individuals to use Salesforce and Google together-- get started today without altering your organization's Salesforce application
• Enhanced user experience that makes keeping Salesforce and Google in sync easier than ever
• Easy upgrade path: Always enjoy basic calendar and contact sync for free, or upgrade to Unlimited edition for the individual or Premium Sync for the entire organization to enjoy unlimited sync from within Salesforce, centralized user administration, and enterprise-level support

Launching Appirio Premium Sync

For companies that use Salesforce together with Google Apps (Google's business-focused communication and collaboration applications), Appirio also unveiled Premium Contact and Calendar Sync. This subscription-based service extends Appirio's free synchronization products, unveiled earlier this year and being used by more than 1,500 organizations of all sizes worldwide. The new Premium edition delivers unlimited sync for both contacts and calendars, centralized user administration, and enterprise-level support in one convenient package.

See our press release here, our product page here, our Appexchange package here, and a 4 minute flash demo of the application here. You can also view the full administration guide and user guide here.

The product features:

• Calendar Sync and Contact Sync between Google Apps and Salesforce, together in 1 application
• Unlimited Sync: Sync as many contacts and as many years worth of calendar entries as you'd like, every half an hour.
• Easy Administration: Configure and monitor multiple user accounts from any admin login
• Enterprise-level Support: Calendar and contacts are mission critical information-- you'll get our highest priority phone support from trained local support engineers.

Premium Sync is a paid product-- the price chart below reflects an over 50% discount for an annual contract. Click here to place your order now.

Appirio Cloud Storage Local Backup Utility

Appirio already ensures the security of your attachmetns by offering the built-in redundency of Amazon S3 + an incremental backup we maintain on S3 in case of accidental user deletion.

Starting today, Appirio Cloud Storage now provides a backup utility to enable you to download your content to your own local storage if you so choose. The utility provides incremental backup so that you only need to download new content that has been added since your last download.

The utility is simple - it collects all of your files into 5 GB zip files for you to download. Each time you run the utility, it will start a new backup from the time of your last successful backup.

Note that the backup files remain in a special storage area and count against your storage total. You may delete the backup files from this storage area at any time.

For security, only a single authorized Salesforce.com user is allowed to perform the backups. By default, this is the user that performed the initial installation of Appirio Cloud Storage. If you need to change the authorized user, please contact Appirio Support.

Appirio Cloud Storage Update: Security, Encryption and Performance

We're pleased to announce a new version of Appirio Cloud Storage, featuring at-rest encryption of attachments, improved performance and reliability, and enhanced functionality, especially for Professional Edition customers.

All customers are required to upgrade their existing Appirio Cloud Storage from AppExchange. The upgrade is seamless-- you can update the package without having to redo any security settings, page layouts, custom object configurations, and without affecting any of your existing attachments.

New Features

• On disk encryption availability. AES 128-bit encryption for files stored on Amazon S3.
  
• Load balancing for increased performance and redunancy
• A new s-control named "Adjust Notes & Attachments List" that can be used to remove the "Attach File" button from the standard Notes & Attachments related list. This is useful if you still want to use standard Notes functionality. Simply add the s-control anywhere on the page layout, double click to edit it and set the height and width to 0 so it is invisible.
• Improved help instructions regarding custom object setup
• Now available for Professional Edition Customers, with improved help instructions
  

Issues Fixed

• Better error handling and clean up if an error occurs during upload
• Uploading while in console mode is fixed
• Removed Clone button from Case Attachment page layout
• Updated the View formula field to include the current version of the Salesforce server URL
  

Appirio Search for Google Docs - Outage Report

Beginning on June 26, our Appirio Search for Google Docs product displayed an error to all customers when attempting to sign into Google.

We determined this was caused by a bug in the Salesforce Proxy and filed a case with Salesforce. The Proxy enables Javascript hosted by Salesforce (S-Controls) to call out to remote services hosted on non-Salesforce servers. In this case, the Proxy was failing to pass requests from the browser to our servers, which enable the integration between Salesforce and Google.

As of July 21 at 9 am this problem has been resolved by Salesforce support.

Appirio Cloud Storage Update - Automatic Backup

We're pleased to announce a new version of Appirio Cloud Storage that features automatic backup of attachments and the resolution of several issues experienced by some customers. This is an automatic update - no AppExchange upgrade is required.

New Features:

• Automatic backup - we retain a backup of all files stored in Cloud Storage. We can restore files that you have deleted by contacting Appirio support. If you do not want your files backed up automatically for retention reasons, please contact Appirio support.
  

Issues Fixed:

• Microsoft excel files opened from IE now open properly
• A problem with incomplete downloading of large files (>15 MB) has been fixed
• Fixed a problem with opening migrated attachments that were given an incorrect mime type by Salesforce

Launching Appirio Contact Sync

Appirio today announced Appirio Contact Sync for Salesforce and Google Apps, a simple tool to select and sync contacts between Google Apps and Salesforce address books.

You can check out the press release here, the product page here, or the appexchange listing here. You might want to watch our 2 minute flash demo for a quick orientation.

Organizations need to bridge the gap between the information in Salesforce and the tools people use to manage their day-to-day activity. Today, you waste time manually importing, exporting, copying, and pasting contact information from Google to Salesforce. And you still don't have a single view of all the business activity related to a given person.

With Appirio Contact Sync, it is easy to automatically keep your Salesforce Contacts in sync with your Google Contacts. You choose which contacts you want to keep in sync using sophisticated filters-- Appirio does the rest automatically. Now you have the rich business context of the Salesforce contact management with the "add-as-you-email" convenience of Gmail. The result is a more complete view of your business network.

Product features:

• Filter Salesforce Contacts by ownership or other contact fields (all Salesforce security rules are enforced)
  
• Filter Google Contacts by group or domain
  
• Automatically update contact information via a Salesforce "stay-in-touch" email
• Advanced options for name parsing and conflict resolution (e.g., data conflicts and filter rule conflicts)
• Manage and monitor your syncs (e.g., start / stop syncs, see time of next sync, view log for previous sync)
  

Appirio Connects Salesforce to Google Apps: Launching Calendar Sync, Campaign Timeline, Document Search, and CRM Dashboards

We're happy to announce four new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings that bring together Google Apps and Salesforce CRM. The four Appirio offerings enable Salesforce and Google users to easily synchronize calendars, collaborate on marketing campaigns, find and embed documents, and create and share customized CRM dashboards.

See our press release here, our blog post here, or here for a 2 minute flash demo of each product.

Organizations using Salesforce for Google Apps have access to four Appirio products that combine the customer, sales and marketing information in Salesforce with the power of Google's collaboration tools. These Appirio products are available today as a part of the Salesforce for Google Apps launch, including:

• Appirio Search for Google Docs. Traditional office documents are costly and difficult to attach, store, and manage. Using Google Docs for Salesforce is an attractive, on-demand alternative, but requires manual effort that may inhibit adoption (e.g., changing screens to find the right document and copy / paste its URL into Salesforce). Appirio Search for Google Docs is the easiest way to get started capturing the benefits of Google Docs. Search for documents as you work in Salesforce, right from a Salesforce record detail page. Just one click, and you've linked a Google Doc to that record.
  
• Appirio Calendar Sync - With Appirio Calendar Sync, it is easy to automatically keep your Salesforce Calendar in sync with your Google Calendar. You can share customer-related events across company boundaries through an easy-to-use online calendar. And it is easy to associate every event in your calendar with the right account, opportunity, lead, case or any other custom object.
• Appirio Campaign Timeline for Google Calendar - Campaign managers spend time manually importing, exporting, copying, and pasting campaign data from Salesforce. Nobody has a single calendar with an overview of the campaigns that are relevant to them. As a result, campaigns are out of sync with people's day-to-day calendars. With Appirio Campaign Timelines, campaign managers have a simple tool to manage what information from what campaign is shared with whom. They can publish campaigns to a Google Calendar, giving key people inside or outside the company an "at-a-glance" overview. As a result, it's easier to coordinate your marketing campaigns with your team's day-to-day priorities.
• Appirio CRM Dashboards - Today, "casual" Salesforce users (e.g., executives) can't see Salesforce data without going into Salesforce... they don't know what they don't know. If they do go to Salesforce, the information they see sits in isolation from non-Salesforce data. With Appirio CRM Dashboards for Google Start Page, Salesforce data can be embedded on a Google Start Page, Google Doc, or Google Site. Appirio CRM Dashboards are dynamic, allowing for in-place drilldown, customization, and links to the underlying Salesforce data. And the data can be combined with any other information available through Google, right where people start their day.

Each of these products uses Force.com and Google's open APIs to run entirely "in the cloud" without any Appirio servers. The products are available through the salesforce.com AppExchange, the Google Solutions Marketplace, and the Appirio products page.

Launching Appirio Cloud Storage

We're pleased to announce the launch of Appirio Cloud Storage. You can read the press release here, and our blog post on the implications of the product here. You can also get started by going to our product page, or our Appexchange listing to install a free trial.

This post will go into additional detail regarding the features and functionality features of the product, giving you a "behind-the-scenes" glimpse of what's behind Appirio Cloud Storage.

The value proposition of Appirio Cloud Storage is simple: we allow an organization to use salesforce.com as the central access point for all sales, marketing and support information

• Works exactly the same for the end user
• Work with files larger than the 5MB limit (up to 1GB)
• Virtually unlimited document storage at a fraction of the cost
• Easy for Admins - No administrative overhead

Appirio Cloud Storage is powered by Amazon S3-- this allows us to take advantage of the security and reliability of the same storage solution that power's Amazon's global infrastructure.

Here's how it works
Appirio Cloud Storage is designed to be easy for an admin to setup , and transparent for end-users-- they shouldn't need to know where their attachments are being stored... just that file size limitations are a thing of the past!

But here's what's going on behind the scenes:

When users add a file

• User selects one or more files to add
• Files are uploaded via a secure web service to Amazon S3
• Programmatic confirmation that the user submitting the files is who they say and the organization is licensed for the service
• File Object is created inside of salesforce.com that points to the newly created url on S3 (contains information on owner, file type, size, name and description – all searachable attributes from within salesforce)
  
  

When users retreive a file:

• A formula field creates a link that contains the file location and secure session ID
• When the user clicks on this link there is programmatic confirmation that the user requesting the files is who they say and the organization is licensed for the service
• File is downloaded and handled like any other (open in new window, save, etc.)

Welcome to the Appirio Product Blog

Welcome to Appirio's Product Blog! Appirio provides products and services that help enterprises accelerate their adoption of on-demand.

Conventional wisdom holds that technology companies need to choose whether they are going to focus on products or services. We believe that this was true with on-premise software, but that the availability of web platforms makes a truly hybrid business model not only possible, but advantageous in turning innovation into customer success, and customer success into further innovation.

Appirio has over 1,500 companies using our product offerings that bring together technologies from Google, Salesforce.com, and Amazon. For example, we recently launched 5 products connecting Salesforce to Google Apps, allowing users to easily synchronize calendars and contacts, collaborate on marketing campaigns, find and embed documents, and create and share customized CRM dashboards.

We're launching this blog to keep those customers up to date on Appirio's product portfolio. You'll see us cover:

• Tips and tricks for users and admins of our products
• Status updates on bug fixes and feature enhancements
• Details of new product releases from Appirio