Winter '24 Top Highlights for Power of Us License Grantees

It's that time of year. Winter 24 arrives in about 8 weeks for most of us. It will be after Dreamforce. In this preview blog, I cover the topics that I found in the release notes that I think admins at small but mighty orgs needs to know about. This preview post is pretty lengthy so I only put the copy on my blog since to save me time. But here's an outline with a few comments (not generated by AI).  The full post is https://mighyforce.dreamhosters.com/2023/08/winter-2024-preview-for-power-of-us-grant-recipients/

Here’s what I found in the way of changes that you will want to adopt when you can from Winter ‘24 that I’m going to be prioritizing to look into. I'll be back after release weekend with a blog about how I adopted these and any other surprises with Winter:

1. Dynamic Fields: Mobile and everywhere but but campaign and task and products. This is the way. Start using it! 

2. Analytics Home and Analytics: This feature didn't work for me when it arrived in summer but it got better with mid-release updates and is ready. Check out collections!

3. Contact and Lead Home tabs: I'm skeptical of this change and it's applicability to nonprofits but it's coming so...

4. Email productivity in Salesforce: Did you know that we now have free access to some form of Sales Enablement through another mid-release change? (I didn't.) It could be pretty good way to handle simple external engagement plans. It's available NOW (prior to Winter).

5. Permission Sets: Better and the ONLY way you should permission anything new IMO. Like flow, you need to start practicing this skill before its critical.

6. Flows. Based on the type of questions I see on Trailhead, I believe everyone is working with flow. Be encouraged and keep going. There are so many uses for flow that you have to break the topics about flow down into categories:  

a. Flow Migration: My thoughts and experience with flow migration and updates for winter. 

b. Record Triggered Flows: Some pretty cool things coming including support for custom validations using flow in winter. 

c. Flow Actions. HTTP Callouts sound very technical but you can google or youtube and find cools applications where admins are bringing in temperature, zip-code info, and more. Plus you can integration to an external system now with http callout pus the new "transformation" action. 

d. Flow Editor: More intuitive and easier to use. That's importance since we're pretty much seeing that Salesforce expects us to use if for record workflow, user workflow, forms on screen and experience cloud, validation, approvals and more as time goes by. 

e. Screen Flows: More changes that make flow the built-in form tool for most of us with better end user experience.

7. Change dashboard owner: you can do it now!

8. Health Check: Includes Experience Cloud. Did you know that 100 free Experience Cloud sites are included in every Power of Ten License grant? Your internal users can use them but... you can intentionally expose dynamic program data on public experience clouds without additional licenses and host flow forms without additional cost. (here's two examples: volunteer program https://go.SYMin.org/connect and client calendar https://go.symin.org/help/events. Health Check makes sure you haven't overexposed anything for security.

9. AI. AI is clearly the topic for Dreamforce. There is no AI (predictive or generative) changes included in the Power of Us Grant release notes that I can see. The note provided for licensed products are vague. I have been informed that Generative AI will be released monthly in 2024 rather than quarterly, but it's unclear who gets what. Closed pilot participants are making it clear to me that it's real and coming soon, however. But nothing to really share with Power of Ten license holders for now that I see.  

Here's a new thing for me. Nonprofit Cloud release notes! I'm not using this product (wish I was) but I figure we all need to know what's going on there. So here are the release notes for Power of Ten users that opt for Industry Cloud based Nonprofit Cloud:

1. Nonprofit Cloud for Fundraising: New. This complets the software. It is feasible and reasonable for a nonprofit to adopt now in a greenfield situation. It is NOT POSSIBLE to convert or migrate with even moderate ease . 

2. Nonprofit Cloud for Program Management. Minor updates to this exsiting product from Summer. 

3. Nonprofit Cloud for Case Management. Minor updates to this exs.iting product from Summer. I so wish I were using this product now! 

4. Nonprofit Cloud for Outcome Management: Brand New. This takes Nonprofit Cloud features well beyond NPSP offerings.

5. Common Tools available to Nonprofit Cloud Users. These are the tools that are also available to Nonprofit Cloud license holders. Thought we should get used to them and what they do inside Nonprofti Cloud: 

a. Actionable List Members: 

b. Actionable Relationship Center: 

c. Actional Segmentation: 

d. Batch Management: 

e. Business Rule Engine: 

f. Data Processing Engine: This is your rollups but far more.  

g. Service Process Studio: 

h. Timeline: This is the activities vew component on steroids. 

i. Omnistudio: This is a VERY complex automation tool 

6. Nonprofit Cloud Grantmaking: I listed this because it's available but is NOT part of the Power of Ug license grant.

I don’t cover SLACK because of Salesforce’s continuing discriminatory policy that religious nonprofits can’t receive free licenses on par with other nonprofits. I have no idea why this policy persists. It’s just not in line with Salesforce core values.

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