Salesforce Summer '20 Release Tips & Features

The Salesforce Summer '20 release is upon us (check the release date for your instance on Trust) and now is the perfect time to familiarize yourself with the new features being released. As with every Salesforce release, there are so many new features to take in that it can sometimes be overwhelming. My hope with this article is to give you an overview of some exciting new features and to spark your interest in exploring the release notes yourself.

Release Readiness Tips

From my experience, every Salesforce Professional analyzes the release notes through the lens of their work and prioritize the features and clouds their company or clients use. This is why it is imperative to conduct your own review of the release notes. But there is so much information, where do I start?

Over the years, Salesforce has come up with several ways for you to review and familiarize yourself with the release features. Depending on your learning preference, you will likely find something that works best for you.

1. Pre-Release Org: For those early adopters among us who are impatiently awaiting the new features, make sure to sign up for a Summer '20 pre-release org. This will give you early access to the features and allow you to do some of your own investigation. Sign up for the Summer ’20 pre-release org.
2. Release Notes: For those of us who are thorough and can never have enough information, you will want to read through the release notes. The release notes are available in HTML and PDF format. Personally, I recommend the HTML version since it is easier to navigate. Check out the Summer '20 release notes here.
3. Sandbox Preview: For early access to the features in your own environment, make sure to follow the instructions to get access to the Summer '20 features in your sandbox. Per Salesforce, the refresh deadline is May 29. You can find more information on the Summer '20 Sandbox Preview blog post. You can also access the Sandbox Refresh Calculator.
4. Release-In-A-Box: The Release in a Box consists of presentations and videos about the new upcoming features. For those who prefer visual learning, this is the way to go. You can access the Summer '20 Release-In-A-Box here.
5. Trailhead Release Highlights Module: If you prefer hands-on learning, make sure to blaze your trail on Trailhead and complete the Summer '20 Release Highlights module. Check out the Summer '20 Release Highlights Trailhead module here.
6. Release Readiness Live: In these webinars, Salesforce employees review the features of the upcoming release. There are webinars for the different clouds and for admins and developers. Make sure to attend the ones that apply to you as Release Readiness Live is always quite useful. These are planned from June 12-18. You can register for the Release Readiness Live webinars here.
7. Release Readiness Trailblazer Community Group: Join the Release Readiness group in the Trailblazer Community for more info and to interact with your peers and Salesforce employees. Find the group here.

For further information, check out the Admin Countdown blog post.

Summer '20 Features

Now to the Summer '20 features you have been waiting for. These are features that stood out to me during my review of the release notes (notated in order of the release notes). For the full release notes, click here. What are your favorite Summer '20 release features?

1. Split List View in Standard Navigation

The split list view has been characteristic of the console apps in Salesforce. With Summer '20, the split list view will be in standard navigation apps as well. The split list view allows you to reference a list of records as you have one open, which enables you to more quickly open different records.

2. Salesforce Optimizer App

Wondering how much technical debt your org has? The Optimizer App gives you a centralized location to plan for your org maintenance. Rather than having to scroll through a PDF that is generated, it is interactive and much easier to navigate.

3. In-App Guidance Features

In App-Guidance is a user engagement feature that allows you to create pop-ups to more easily guide and train your users. With the Summer '20 release, Salesforce has added Walkthroughs, which allow you to create a guided, step-by-step experience for your users. Onboarding, training, and feature adoption walkthroughs are quick to create and easy to show to specific users. Furthermore, there is a new In-App Guidance Builder for easier and more intuitive creation of prompts and walkthroughs

4. Einstein Search (Beta)

Einstein Search is now available in beta and at no additional cost. Einstein Search is able to personalize search results for each user and also use Natural Language Processing. Furthermore, you can take actions on the record directly from search. We have been using Einstein Search already and it's a game changer.

5. Einstein Reply Recommendations (GA)

In Service Cloud chat, Einstein Reply Recommendations generate replies based on the predictive model you built and its analysis of past data from chat transcripts. This feature seems like a useful way to implement machine learning and enhance your support users' productivity.

6. Service Cloud Voice

Service Cloud Voice is a brand new product that natively integrates intelligent telephony into Salesforce for a seamless agent experience. Using Amazon Connect, you are able to see transcripts of agents' conversations and even monitor the call as a supervisor. Calls can also be routed to Omni-Channel in order to combine voice with your other support channels. Watch the Introduction to Service Cloud Voice video for more info.

7. Report Subscription Attachments (Beta)

This might seem like a minor feature, but there are many Salesforce users who would like the report to be attached to a subscription rather than just having a link or the report in the email body. With Summer '20, you can choose to receive the results as a .csv file attached to the subscription email.

8. Flow Builder Updates

The Flow Builder updates are arguably one of the most exciting Summer '20 features. The flow team at Salesforce has been hard at work pushing out new exciting updates every release. With Summer '20, flow now has the ability to be triggered by a platform event and run an record-triggered flow after each record is saved to the database. These features are in addition to the already released before-save triggered flows. You can also debug scheduled flows, pass values into record variables, roll back debug runs of autolaunched flows, and configure flows to run in system context without sharing. These features add more power to flow than ever before and consequently, add more tools to the declarative admin's belt.

9. Lightning App Builder: Dynamic Forms (Non-GA Preview) and Dynamic Actions (Beta)

One of my absolute favorite Summer '20 features is the release of Dynamic Forms in Lightning App Builder. This is a feature that I have been impatiently awaiting for years and that has the potential to completely change the way we use the Lightning App Builder. Dynamic Forms allows you to put fields and sections from the record details anywhere on a Lightning record page. The opportunities are endless for Dynamic Forms. It will allow you to control fields on the Lightning App Builder exclusively rather than on the Lightning App Builder and the page layout. You will be able to separate the record detail into different tabs or accordion sections, which will enhance the page's performance and make the page more user friendly. Dynamic Actions allows you to select what Lightning actions should appear on the Lightning Page. Note: this feature is currently only available on desktop and for custom objects.

10. Release Updates (Beta)

Salesforce has created an improved user interface to understand and act on updates. View your updates and alerts information in a single, easy-to-use page. It is important to stay up-to-date with the security updates and critical updates that Salesforce releases and this new page makes managing these updates much easier.

Conclusion

Hopefully, these Summer '20 features sparked some excitement for you. I encourage you to take advantage of the release resources to prepare for Summer '20. In the comments below, please share with me how you like to prepare for upcoming Salesforce Releases and what your favorite Summer '20 feature is. Happy Summer '20 release and here's to you being #ReleaseReady!

Resources

• Summer '20 Release Notes
• Admin Release Countdown Blog Post
• Salesforce Release Readiness Strategies Trailhead Module

__________________________________________________

Updated on 05/15/2020: Added links to Summer '20 Sandbox Preview blog post and Release-In-A-Box.

Updated on 06/03/2020: Added links to Summer '20 Release-In-A-Box, Summer '20 Release Highlights Trailhead Module, and Release Readiness Live Webinars. Added Salesforce Release Readiness Strategies Trailhead Module as a resource.