Build a Briefcase

Learning Objectives

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

Create a briefcase and add records to it.
Assign a briefcase to mobile workers or groups.
Select the apps that use a briefcase.
Test and activate a briefcase.

We assume you’re a Salesforce Field Service administrator with the proper permissions and licenses. If that’s not the case, that’s OK. Read along to learn how your administrator would take the steps in a production org. Don’t try to follow these steps in your Trailhead Playground as it’s not set up with the proper data to create a briefcase.

Create a Briefcase and Add Records

Maria and her team are ready to get started with Offline Briefcase. She decides to create her first briefcase for the members of the solar water heater installation team in California.

First, she creates and names the briefcase.

From Setup, in the Quick Find box, enter briefcase, and then select Briefcase Builder.
To launch the setup wizard, click New Briefcase.
Enter a unique briefcase name and an optional description. This information is visible to admins after the briefcase is saved, but it’s not visible to the users assigned to the briefcase.
Maria names her briefcase California Solar Water Heater Installers. She notes that the Developer Name is automatically populated. For description, she enters Information about solar water heaters available in California.
Click Next.

Next, Maria adds objects to her briefcase. She’s going to add the Work Order object and filter it to show only open work orders. Filters reduce the number of records to only those that the mobile workers need to see and this increases performance and reduces sync time. Open work orders have a status of New or In Progress.

In the Briefcase Builder, click next to Objects to view a list of objects and then select one.
Maria enters work and clicks Work Order.
Enter the desired filter and click Add Filter. Maria uses the following values.
- Filter By: Status
- Criteria: Equals
- Value: New
Repeat for new objects or filters. Maria adds another filter for Work Orders using these values.
- Filter By: Status
- Criteria: Equals
- Value: In Progress
If you have more than one filter, enter the filter logic to determine how they’re combined.
Maria enters 1 OR 2
Click Next.

Assign the Briefcase to Mobile Workers

Maria assigns the briefcase to the members of her California teams. She’s created groups for each team, Los Angeles and San Francisco, so she assigns the briefcase to both. A mobile worker can see multiple briefcases. For example, California technician James Clifton sees both the California Solar Water Heater Installers briefcase and the General Safety briefcase.

In Briefcase Builder, click Groups.
Select the groups.
Maria has two groups in California and she selects both.
Click Next.

Choose Apps

The briefcase is viewed on workers’ mobile devices. At Ursa Major, that means they see them on their mobile phones. Some members of her team use iPhones and others use Android phones. Maria makes sure that both work. She’s already set up connected apps for Salesforce Field Service and mobile.

In Briefcase Builder, select the app or apps to associate with the briefcase.
Maria selects Salesforce Field Service for iOS and Salesforce Field Service for Android.
To move the apps to the Selected Apps list, click the forward arrow.
Click Next.
If you want to activate the briefcase immediately, click Activate. If you’re not ready, click Save.

Maria saves the briefcase because she wants to test it before she activates it.

Test and Activate the Briefcase

Maria runs a quick test to make sure that the briefcase contains the right number of records before she activates it.

First, she runs the briefcase as a user that she knows is in the Los Angeles group, James Clifton, to see what comes up.

From Setup, in the Quick Find box, enter briefcase, and then click Briefcase Builder.
Click the briefcase to open.
Maria clicks California Solar Water Heater Installers.
Click Run As User.
In the search box, enter the user’s name.
Maria enters James Clifton
Click the username.
Maria clicks James Clifton. The records retrieved look like the right number of open work orders.
If you want to activate the briefcase now, click Edit Briefcase.
Click Activate.

Maria has created and activated her first briefcase. Now it’s ready for her team to view.

Workers See the Records Everywhere

James Clifton’s phone syncs up automatically at the beginning of his shift. He tests the briefcase by putting his phone into airplane mode. He sees the open work orders right there and some new flows that Maria created using objects in his briefcase.

He tells his team member, Lamar, that he’s glad to see the information everywhere—online, offline, and upside down. They’re so excited that they make a list of the other records they’d like to see offline.

All service appointments assigned to each worker that start in less than a week.
Information about the assets they install and service.
A list of reasons to close out a work order. Ursa Major has an object with close codes and fault codes, but it’s not in the Salesforce Field Service data model hierarchy. Now Maria can add it as a custom object.
Information about their fellow service crew members.

They present the list to Maria. Maria can edit, delete, or clone a briefcase at any time, so she gets to work. She edits the briefcase to add those objects, tests it, and activates it again. Her team is thrilled to have access to the records they need even when they don’t have access to the internet. They bring Maria a giant cup of chai tea to thank her.

In this unit, Maria created a briefcase for one of her teams and they viewed it offline. That created new suggestions and she updated the briefcase to implement them. Her team is enjoying the benefits of Offline Briefcase, how about yours?