Launchpad Lesson 21 - The App Exchange

In this lesson, we're going to talk about the Salesforce AppExchange. Let's get right to it.

Think of the AppExchange like you think of the App Store for an iPhone. You can search thousands and thousands of add-ons for Salesforce. No, I'm serious. There are almost 4,000 apps at last count.

These could include integrations for other systems you use, like QuickBooks or Mailchimp, or apps built specifically for Salesforce and your industry.

In this lesson, we're going to show you how to use the AppExchange to download pre-built reports and dashboards.

Now that you know how to create and customize your own reports, this will give you a great foundation of reports to start from.

To get to the AppExchange, go to the Rubik's Cube and select View All. Then, from here, select Visit AppExchange.

You could also visit AppExchange.com on the web. This will take you to the homepage.

At the top, you can search for an app. Let's type in “accounting” as an example and press Enter.

You can see in the results that we have a ton of accounting apps built for Salesforce, like Accounting Seed. If you want to refine your search by adding “QuickBooks” and pressing Enter, you'll see a number of apps that help you sync Salesforce with QuickBooks.

From this list, you can see ratings and whether an app is free or paid.

Now, a warning here: Just because an app says “free” doesn't necessarily mean that it won't cost you anything. A lot of these apps use a premium model, like the iPhone App Store, where you may get very limited functionality for free, but to do what you need to do, you'll have to pay.

Some apps charge by user, while others charge a set price for your entire Salesforce org to have access.

Let's go back to the Accounting Seed app so we can show you a couple more things.

Up in the top right, you'll find payment information. However, we always recommend contacting the app maker directly to ensure that the listed pricing is accurate for your needs. In most cases, you can also request a demo from the company.

If you scroll down, there are a few more things to look at. You want to make sure that the app is marked as Lightning Ready. Otherwise, the app is probably very outdated.

Anytime you see that an app is marked as a Native App, it means that the app is built entirely on the Salesforce platform.

Accounting Seed is built on Salesforce, as opposed to QuickBooks, which is built on its own platform.

You also want to make sure that the app works with the edition of Salesforce you have. If you have Professional Edition, you always need to check this because some apps will only work with Enterprise Edition and above.

Now, let's download a package from the AppExchange so we can show you how that works.

We're going to download a free app that gives us access to pre-built reports and dashboards. In the search box, type “sales reports.”

Anything with a logo that says “Labs” and includes a beaker means it was built by Salesforce internally.

Let's click on Salesforce CRM Dashboards. To install it, click Get It Now.

There will be a pop-up asking you to log in. Click Open Login Screen, and a new pop-up will appear where you can log in to Salesforce with your credentials.

The AppExchange API needs access to your basic information, so allow it here.

It will then ask you whether you want to install the app in your production org or a sandbox org.

A sandbox is simply a replica of your real Salesforce org where you can try things out first. If you were a programmer and could write code, you would typically do this in the sandbox.

As this app is ready to go and doesn't need any testing or further configuration, you can install it directly into production.

You'll need to agree to the terms and conditions, then click Confirm and Install.

You'll then be taken to the final step, where you can choose whether you want the app installed for administrators only, all users, or specific profiles.

We typically recommend installing an app for administrators only and testing it before giving access to other users. However, if it's a straightforward app like this one, feel free to install it for all users.

Click Install, and the process will begin.

This page will update, and you'll also receive an email once the installation is complete.

Now that you've got a better sense of how to use the AppExchange, get in there and explore. It really is one of the most powerful features of the Salesforce ecosystem.

In the next lesson, we're going to look at dashboards and access some of the ones that we just downloaded.