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Prepare Your Org for Salesforce Customer Identity

Learning Objectives

After completing this module, you’ll be able to:

  • Configure a custom profile and role for Salesforce Customer Identity.
  • Assign the Salesforce Customer Identity role to a user.
  • Create an account to store your Salesforce Customer Identity users’ information.

Ready to Get Hands-on with Salesforce Customer Identity?

Create a new Trailhead Playground now to follow along and try out the steps in this module. Scroll to the bottom of this page, click the playground name, and then select Create Playground. It typically takes 3–4 minutes for Salesforce to create your Trailhead Playground. You also use the playground when it's time to complete the hands-on challenges. 

Note

Yes, we really mean a brand-new Trailhead playground! If you use an existing org or playground, you can run into problems completing the challenges.

Let's Get Going

The first step to debuting Salesforce Customer Identity is to set the stage. Here’s what it takes.

  • A cloned Salesforce Customer Identity profile and role.
  • A user assigned to the Salesforce Customer Identity role.
  • An account.

Set Up a Simple Org

To demo Salesforce Customer Identity, let’s set up a simple org for customers to access. Salesforce Customer Identity requires a user profile with an External Identity license, a role, and an account to contain your customers’ information. It also requires a site, which is covered in the next unit.

Set Up a Profile for Your Customers

A profile is a collection of settings and permissions that determine what users can access after logging in to Salesforce. Use settings to specify what users can see, such as the types of records. Use permissions to manage what users can do, such as what apps they can access.

Salesforce includes a default profile with an External Identity license. You clone this profile and name it Customers. Later on, when visitors register for your site, they’re assigned the Customers profile.

To set up your own version of the profile, first clone the External Identity User profile.

  1. From Setup, enter Profiles in the Quick Find box, then select Profiles.
  2. Next to External Identity User, select Clone.
  3. Name the profile Customers, and click Save.

For now, let’s keep the defaults.

Add a Role

You create a customer site in the next unit. But first, you must create a role for the person who manages the site. So let’s set up a Customer Manager role and add it to the role hierarchy.

  1. From Setup, enter Role in the Quick Find box, then select Roles.
  2. From the dropdown list, select Product-based Sample, then select Set Up Roles. It’s at the bottom of the page.
  3. Under CEO, click Add Role.
  4. For the role label, enter Customer Manager.
  5. Click Save.

Assign the Role to a User

  1. From Setup, enter Users in the Quick Find box, then select Users.
  2. Next to your username, click Edit.
  3. Under Role, select Customer Manager.
  4. Click Save.

Create an Account

  1. From the App Launcher (App Launcher icon), find and select Accounts.
  2. Click New.
  3. Name the account Customers, and click Save.

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