Salesforce from the manual tester’s perspective – theory

In the previous series of articles, Most frequently occurring types of software tests – manual tester perspective, I presented the issues related to software testing in theory and practice. As a Salesforce tester, I decided to prepare another series of articles in which I present this technology from the tester’s perspective. Let’s start with the theory and work through the practical examples in the next article. Are you curious about my experience with the Salesforce Platform? If so, read on!

Salesforce – Cloud CRM

Salesforce is an American cloud-based CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solution to support marketing, sales, and customer service. The Platform can be easily customized; you can install additional (both paid and free) applications and solutions from the AppExchange store that enrich the platform with new functionalities without writing code. In Salesforce, you can also build your own solutions for customers using, among others, Apex, meaning the backend programming language (similar to Java) and frontend solutions, such as Lightning Web Components (LWC) that use JavaScript.

What can be helpful in understanding Salesforce?

Each technology is a specific technology stack that we encounter in subsequent projects. Our job is to learn about the solution before we even start testing it and gain project experience.

I remember my beginnings in Salesforce and feeling positively surprised that there was so much documentation. Most importantly, this was the first time I encountered Trailheads – interactive tutorials that help you get to know Salesforce technology step-by-step.

Among other things, Thailhead learning is attractive because of the gamification elements – each completed Quiz or Hands-On Challenge is rewarded with points and badges.  We are motivated to gain the next rank, starting from Scout and ending with Ranger.

Trailheads mostly end with a test or a practice task that tests your understanding of the chosen topic. They are usually divided into:

• Trail – addresses a topic; the content is divided into sections
• Module – may contain several Trailheads explaining a particular topic
• Project – may consist of several Trailheads, focusing mainly on practical tasks that you perform on your test sandbox, called playground

Salesforce specifics

Data Organization – Salesforce organizes data as objects and records (example based on an Excel workbook):

• Objects – Excel workbook templates are tables in the Salesforce database, represented as tabs in the application, containing records (rows) and fields (columns), for example, Accounts, Contacts
• Records – individual rows from an Excel template are rows in a Salesforce database table, available to the user as records in the application tab, for example, Acme, ABC Genius Tech Consulting
• Fields – columns from the Excel template are columns in the Salesforce database tables for the Object, for example, Account Name, Phone.

Organizing objects and records in Salesforce
Source: CRM for Salesforce Classic Trailhead

Salesforce apps – pre-built apps with built-in functionality and tabs that can be run within your Salesforce account, such as the sales app.

Administration – located in the Setup menu, the command center from which you can manage users and data, create and manage applications, and such.

The main categories in the Setup menu include:

• administration (user and data management, email template creation)
• platform tools (application management)
• settings (company data settings and org security)

Category structure in the Setup Menu

Releases – Salesforce provides users with three releases per year: Spring, Summer, and Winter. Within each release, we get a Trailhead module with information about the changes – what has been improved and what’s the newly available functionality.

Salesforce Classic vs. Salesforce Lightning

In Salesforce technology, we have two types of interfaces:

• Salesforce Classic – the interface used since the company’s founding in 1999
• Salesforce Lightning – new, optimized interface unveiled at the Dreamforce conference in 2005

Useful tools

• Salesforce Logins – a plugin developed by Synebo for the Google Chrome browser only. It allows username and password to be saved on a given sandbox so that we can efficiently switch between users or different environments for testing applications. We do not need to manually enter login information using https://test.salesforce.com/.
• Salesforce Inspector – an extension for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers. Features include checking fields and field relationships on a given record, exporting data from a database using a query, importing data from a CSV format, for example, an Excel file, checking limits and component usage on an org, downloading metadata, or quickly switching between users.
• Data Loader – an application created by Salesforce for operations on large amounts of data. It allows you to operate on a file containing up to 5 million records. Operations are performed using files in a CSV format.

To sum up

Salesforce is a complex platform with many capabilities allowing for quick customization to meet the needs of any customer. It runs on a SaaS model, meaning easy access from anywhere in the world without the need to install software – an Internet connection is enough. As with any solution, we need time to get to know it better, but it is faster and more fun with rich documentation and interactive tutorials (Trailheads).

In my next article, I will focus on practical examples and explain what Salesforce application development is all about.