Every year, Salesforce releases three major updates to its platform. The Winter, Spring, and Summer releases are planned far in advance, and they follow a strict schedule, giving users adequate time to prepare and test for a seamless release. With the Winter 2020 release approaching quickly, here is everything you need to know to prepare yourself.

When Will I Get The Release?

The release date for Winter ‘20 will be determined by your Salesforce Instance. If you want to check your specific date, follow these steps:

1. Go to trust.salesforce.com
2. Click on Status
3. Enter your instance, domain, or MID
4. Click on Maintenances
5. Look for “Winter ’20 Major Release” in the Subject column to find your date

How Can I Preview The Release In Advance?

 If you want to do a bit of testing (highly recommended) before the big update, you can have your Sandbox upgraded in advance. For this, there are two Sandbox release windows – September 6/7th and October  11/12th. The date your Sandbox is updated depends on whether you have a “Preview” instance or a “Non-Preview” instance. You can check this by following this guide by Salesforce. If you can, we highly recommend previewing the Winter ’20 release to check for compatibility and to make the transition as easy as possible.

Winter ‘20 Highlighted

Release notes can be long and intimidating, so we’ve simplified some of the major updates here! 

Note: While this summary will be helpful, we still recommend checking out the full release notes when you have time or using them as a reference for your organization.

General Updates

• Lightning Experience will be turned on for all orgs and the option to disable it will be removed. Click here for our series on migrating to Lightning!
• Additional transition tools for using Lightning have been added
• Lightning access to the recycle bin enabled
• Topic filters available for list views 
• Ability to perform mass actions on search results and quick filters
• Printable View allows for lists to be printed without printing an entire screen
• Additional controls and analysis capabilities for Salesforce Surveys – automate invitations with Process Builder, test with sample surveys, and view responses based on specific records
• Revised Salesforce feedback form includes screenshot attachment capabilities and subject lists

Mobile

• Introduction of the new Salesforce mobile app
• Improvements to navigation, access to reports and dashboards, and greater control over notifications
• Send custom push notifications to Mobile Publisher apps, upload contacts, and access device location

Einstein

• Personalized search results beta allows for customized results based on geographical location, industry, status, product area, and people
• Conversational search beta creates instant reports based on conversational search terms
• Recommended result beta to find records faster
• Profile-specific search results layouts beta uses the user’s profile to show the most relevant data available
• Sales Cloud Updates
  • Support for quarterly forecasting
  • Field-level security inheritance
  • Added opportunity scores to standard reports
• Service Cloud Updates
  • Einstein article recommendations use data from past cases to identify relevant knowledge articles
  • Automatically end bot chats 
  • Connect bots to third-party NLPs  (natural language processors)

Sales

We will be releasing a more in-depth article on improvements to Sales Cloud, but here is an abbreviated version:

• Sales Cadence Branching for different communication outcomes
• Line item sorting on quotes and opportunities
• Opportunity Contact Role and Account Team customization
• Email template added functionality for HTML and other content
• Integrations with Google and Microsoft mail platforms
• New dataset for B2b Marketing Analytics featuring prospect demographics and engagement activity data

Service

• Mobile timesheet logging for mobile workers
• Additional channels for communication including WeChat and WhatsApp
• Conversations available on contact detail pages and attached files shown in chat window
• Knowledge articles can be shared through more channels
• Skills-based routing available without coding through Attribute Setup for Skills-Based Routing

Analytics

• Row-level formulas now generally available
• Field-to-field filters beta 
• New unique count summary

Communities

• Flexible layouts allow for highly customized pages
• Role-based access controls while building and customizing communities
• Tile Menu component generally available
• Enhanced guest user security – org-wide defaults, record ownership, and explicit data-sharing model

Where Can I Read The Release Notes?

The full Winter ‘20 release notes and details surrounding the update can be found in a variety of different formats:

• Interactive Winter ’20 Release Notes
• PDF Winter ’20 Release Notes
• YouTube Videos on Winter ’20 Release

Need Additional Support?

Salesforce release notes are always long and detailed. The team at Ntegro is here to help you understand the upcoming changes! If you have any questions, let us know, and we will do what we can to help you. Contact us online and we will be in touch!

Are you excited for the Winter ‘20 Release? What features are you looking forward to most? Comment below to share your opinions!