Step One: Lightning Preparation and Research

If you are considering making the switch from Salesforce Classic to Lightning, it is important to understand the work involved for a successful migration. There are many different ways to approach preparation and research, but we recommend:

• Running a Lightning Experience Readiness Check
• Conducting a gap analysis
• Starting user testing and feedback sessions
• Obtaining executive support

The Lightning Experience Readiness Check

The best place to start gathering information is by running a Lightning Experience Readiness Check. Salesforce designed this tool to assist with the process by scanning your instance and outputting a personalized report that shows how ready you are to make the jump to Lightning. By carefully examining the report, you can get a good idea of how you should approach your next steps. The report is simple to run and can even be run several times so you can see your progress as you make efforts towards migration. In order to use this tool:

• Click on the Setup page.
• Click on Lightning Experience just under the search bar.
• Find the section titled Evaluate if Lightning Experience is Right for Your Org.
• Find the section under that titled Check Your Lightning Experience Readiness.
• Click Evaluate.
• The report will then be created for you to see.

Gap Analysis

Once you have a list of readiness points to look into, you can start conducting your gap analysis. At the very core of your migration, you need to understand the features that Classic has that are absolutely necessary for your organization’s success. While many features are still supported in Lightning, there are some that may require custom coding or other workarounds after the migration. By understanding the gap that exists between your current and desired state, you can begin to gauge the amount of work it will take to fill.

Salesforce has some great resources that detail the differences between Classic and Lightning, and the best place to start is with this guide. You should also speak with your organization’s users about vital features for their business cases. By getting an all-around picture of how Salesforce is being used, you can better prepare your organization for the switch. If there is something that will no longer exist in Lightning, it may be a good idea to review the original requirement to make sure that the feature is still relevant and necessary moving forward. This way, you can understand how each business unit within your organization uses the features in Classic so you can begin planning the work needed to migrate over.

Testing the Waters

The best way to get an idea of how Lightning will be received by your users is to get actual feedback from them. Schedule some time where a few heavy Classic users complete all of their daily tasks using the Lightning upgrade. Hold a feedback session afterward in order to see how it meets or falls short of expectations. By doing this several times early on, you will slowly introduce your users to the new technology while involving them in the migration process. Take all feedback seriously and use multiple groups of testers in order to get a comprehensive view of the landscape. You can move a user to and from Lightning easily by clicking on their name in the top header and selecting Switch to Lightning Experience or Switch to Salesforce Classic to navigate back and forth.

Alternatively, you can set up a sandbox in order to complete your testing. Using a sandbox has the added advantage of being able to develop code and install applications in a completely different environment. This way, you can test functionality and user experience without even touching your production environment!

Building Executive Support

Depending on where you stand in your organization, you will have to obtain the support of executive leadership in order to secure the resources for your campaign. There are many ways you can approach this, but combining a qualitative and quantitative argument for the migration is a solid strategy.

Qualitative support can come in the form of user testimonials. The more users you invite to test sessions, the more buzz will be created about Lightning. By forming a grassroots campaign, word will travel quickly to leadership about the benefits of the upgraded platform. Testing can also show you the most enthusiastic users, and you can leverage this information to invite interested users to collaborate on further testing or focus groups.

Qualitative support can also be collected in the same way. By monitoring test groups and tracking how Lightning improves their productivity, you can compile metrics that boost the case for migration. The trick is to form measurable goals that you can use to create reports showing how Lightning will positively impact your organization.

Enlisting the Help of a Consultant

Laying the groundwork for a migration to Lightning can easily make or break your campaign, and the best way to ensure success is to work with a Salesforce consultant. Bkonect is here for any questions and guidance, and we can be reached easily online. In fact, if you get in touch with our team, your first consultation is free!

Have you had success with step one of the Salesforce Lightning Migration, or are you having trouble? Comment below to share your stories or offer up some tips! Check back in soon for the next post to learn about step two: Developing Your Strategy.