Picklist fields in Salesforce are a dream for data entry and reporting. For fields with standard values like industry, program type, or service level agreement, simply choose from a dropdown, and then organize, segment, and sort your Reports to your heart’s desire. But consider if you will this admin nightmare: a client’s region is critical to your business. It drives how you sell and provide service. You list their region when they start out as a lead, and this carries over on conversion to their Account. Every time you make a change to your regions in Salesforce, you have to update the field on both the Lead and Account objects taking care to keep your spelling and formatting the same, then reorder both to avoid confusion. This takes WAY too much time. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could make your change to one picklist and have that update reflected across the board? Keep reading!
Global Picklists in Salesforce are an exciting new feature! Creating a global picklist is easy – go to Setup -> Create -> Picklists, then go through the usual process for creating a new picklist on any object. Next, go to an object, create a new Picklist, then choose the radial button “Use global picklist definition” and choose the picklist you need from the dropdown. Note that this feature is currently in Beta, and while it is already available in some Developer Orgs and Sandboxes, it may not be available to everyone. For more information on how to get your hands on this feature a little early, check out the release notes here, and enjoy this exciting new feature in Salesforce!
-Jared and the Salesforce Guys
CEO of CloudMyBiz Salesforce CRM consulting services with a deep knowledge in the lending industry. Taking keen interest in the project management side of operations, playing a vital role in the 31% YOY company growth. Strategic leader, mastering the ability to problem solve at every level of the business, providing effective solutions for clients.