What questions would you like to see in the community FAQ ?(was: Where to post questions? There's no FAQ) [ Edited ]

[Killian]

I am a little confused about where to post questions about configuration/settings in salesforce. It seems like similar questions get posted to Best Practices and others get posted to Product Discussion.

Is there a guide as to where I should post "dumb" questions that don't seem to be in salesforce Help?

In other communities, there is usually a FAQ posting area. I can't find one in the salesforce community. Or am I just missing something somewhere???

Message Edited by Kingsley on 11-14-2006 11:10 AM

[Kingsley]

No, Killian there's no FAQ yet. It's my job to make one. This seems as good a place as any to start that discussion. What other questions would you like answered?

To answer your specific question, a technical how-to kind of question should be addressed to product discussions, and business or process related questions should be addressed to the best practices board. There is some overlap there, but regardless of which board you choose, this is a forgiving and friendly community, so you should be able to get an answer!

Message Edited by Kingsley on 11-14-2006 11:56 AM

[Killian]

Dear sysad

I would think that there must be a heap of questions logged with Support which would serve as a good start to a FAQ.

I will put my mind to some FAQ content when I get a bit of breathing space amongst my current activities... probably next week.

As for posting questions, I have posted a couple into both the Product and the Best Practices forums, and have received good support there. I was posing my initial question because the content of past postings in both forums seem similar in flavour..."How to" and "Why". (I have also found that the Ideas Exchange an interesting place to search for solutions to a couple of my questions/issues...especially rewarding when an idea has been released!

Cheers

Killian

[dmrs22]

'How do you change the Contract from Active to InActive'  - I know that SF.com doesn't change contracts to InActive once they pass the Expiration Date.  Is there any automation that can be done easily by a non-programmer?  please let me know when you have the answer to this one (smile) I need it asap

[Jakester]

I would respectfully disagree with adding dmrs22's question to the FAQ - that's a very specific question.

As far as a general FAQ, I'd say a discussion of the following topics would be good to include:

1. sforce connector - where to download it, what it does, etc.
2. Salesforce IDs - 15 vs 18 digits
3. A comprehensive list of everything you can call tech support and ask them to turn on for you - encrypted fields, disabling IP-based security, etc.
4. A description of s-controls vs Apex vs validation rules vs .Net/PHP/etc coding. Their strengths, weaknesses, and differences

That's all that comes to mind for now.

[dmrs22]

it is not too specific and it should be in a FAQ area - something that is hard to find in the manuals or is not explained well should always be a FAQ

[Jakester]

Gee, and all this time I thought that it should be something that was frequently asked, too.

[Gemini@Work]

Suggestion for Community Managers building an FAQ:

1.) Look at Tags -- which Tags are most popular throughout the entire message board.  It might be helpful to orient FAQ's around questions centered on these topics.

2.) Look at Posts with the Highest Views.  This post has been viewed more than 60,000 times -- so clearly it's something that Community Members are interested in.  Finding the posts that have the MOST views may be good candidates for a FAQ.  It might even be helpful to have FAQ posted within each forum, rather than one FAQ for the entire message board.

3.) What does the SFDC Support organization say is the most frequently asked questions to their organization?  Along side that (but in many support organizations, a different answer), what are the Top Solutions recommended by Users?  These are both great for an FAQ, because they might help reduce support calls to the Support Organization. 

4.) Finally, it's important to recognize that an FAQ is never static.  It changes constantly with the increase and/or change in subscribers, their individual skill-levels, and their needs.  To meet the needs of the Community Members, the FAQ would need to change constantly, as well.

[JillW]

I expect that questions about territories would be useful. Starting with the simpler ones, like setting up territories by zip code or state (I can't be the only one having problems with that) to questions about sharing rules. (I expect to have problems with that step, should I ever reach it.)

[baquinndotcom]

I am new to using this part of salesforce and find the whole community area pretty difficult to find myself around - I've tried posting ideas in the ideas exchange and don't know if they have been posted - I thought I had started a thread on this board yesterday but can't find it now!  Its a real jungle and for me anyway is not an easy forum to find way round in - I am on the brink of giving up as a I have a lot of work to do - but in general this whole community area has been fairly low down in terms of my expectations of Salesforce - which I am a big fan of as a CRM.  FAQs would be a good simple idea but someone needs to take a serious look at the who layout of this community area.