Salesforce 101 - Accounts & Contacts
- Elizabeth Aste (Unlicensed)
- Carrie Felton
What is an Account?
An Account represents an individual organization, department, business entity, partner, etc. The Account record is the center of all interactions with that entity.
There are several types of Accounts found in Salesforce, organized into different record types:
Record Type | Definition |
|---|---|
Academic Program | A program in which a student can enroll. |
Administrative | An account-level representation of a contact. |
Business Organization | A business organization or non-university entity. |
Educational Institution | A college, university, high school, or school district. |
Household Account | A household containing one or more individuals. |
University College | A college of the university. |
University Department | A department in the university. |
What is a Contact?
A Contact represents a person.
There are two different types of Contacts in Salesforce:
Record Type | Definition |
|---|---|
General Contact | All other contacts that do not have a known uNID. |
PeopleSoft Contact | Contacts that have a uNID. |
We want to be sure to have as many PeopleSoft Contacts with uNIDs as possible so we are able to connect that Contact record with the data we already have about the student!
In Continuing Education, we know that one person can wear lots of hats! They can be an employee, who teaches a class for us, who is also enrolled in a class, who is the mother of another student..
In Salesforce, we are able to have record of all of these relationships, with the student’s Contact record at the center of all of it!
What is an Affiliation?
An Affiliation is record of the association between a Contact and an Account.
Some examples of this could be having record that someone is employed at a particular Business Organization. Or, that someone has taught for a particular University Department.
On the Affiliation record, we are able to capture:
The Status of the affiliation {Current/Former}
The Start & End Date of the affiliation (if applicable)
The Contact’s Role as associated with the Account
The Contact’s Title
Any Description information that is important
Whether this affiliation is the Contact’s Primary affiliation
How to create an Affiliation record
The easiest way to create an Affiliation record:
Navigate to the Account you would like to associate a Contact with
On the Related Tab, click New
Complete the information on to create a new Affiliation record. This is where you will associate the Account with the correct Contact.
If you are not finding the Contact you are looking for, be sure to click the magnifying glass to view more records:
What is a Relationship?
A Relationship record models the relationship between two Contacts.
Some examples of this could be having record of a student’s parent or an assigned advisor.
On the Relationship record, we are able to capture:
The Status of the relationship {Current/Former}
The Type of relationship this is
Any Description information that is important
How to create a Relationship record
The easiest way to create a Relationship record:
Navigate to the Contact you would like to associate another Contact with
On the Related Tab, click New
Complete the information on to create a new Relationship record. This is where you will associate the Contact with the correct Contact.
If you are not finding the Contact you are looking for, be sure to click the magnifying glass to view more records:
Additional resources