LIGHTNING EXPERIENCE
Since August 25, 2015, the Salesforce ecosystem has been buzzing with excitement over the Lightning Experience, a revolutionary update to Salesforce as we know it. Lightning, or LEX as it is often called, is more than just a visual change. It will change the future of Salesforce and how we all use it. The Lightning framework allows a user to create custom pages and layouts, using standard and custom components, while greatly enhancing the user experience and interface.
Lightning has become famous for its drag and drop Opportunity Board, customizable Home Page, redesigned List Views, enhanced Dashboard layouts and assistant led record pages. Other features native to LEX are the sleek and more responsive interface, improved Lookup fields that auto-search records as you type, and an enhanced date picker field.
In January 2017, Congregation Connect shared that switching to Lightning was on the roadmap. Attendees at the NATA/NASA conference were shown a high-level demonstration of what LEX would look like down the road. We are excited to announce that the School Module is fully Lightning ready. Over the summer, all Congregation Connect instances will be introduced to some Lightning properties in the School Module.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?
For this release, Congregation Connect users do not need to take any specific actions to utilize the Lightning features. The release is built directly into the Classic experience and will be accessible once our next release is generally available. Users will have the same functionality they have had until now, with an upgraded interface.
The School Module contains 5 features that have been upgraded to LEX:
- Schedule Meetings Button: Users will continue accessing the Schedule Meetings from the Meetings related list on the Class record. Clicking on the button will lead to a custom Lightning page to create the Meeting records. The lookup fields on the page use the new LEX functionality and will display a filtered list of suggested records as you type. The start and end date fields as well take advantage of the new Lightning date picker feature.
- Attendance Button: This button is still accessed from the Meeting record. Users will now take attendance through an enriched Lightning interface. All fields function as they always have.
Lightning Attendance interface
3. Deep Clone Button: Still on the Class record, users have the same ability to clone the current Class along with its related records. The Lookup fields and Date fields are both using LEX functionality.
Deep Clone Lightning Interface with LEX Date Field
- Send an Email Button: This is the same feature you know and love with a Lightning redesign.
- Add to Outreach Button: This button uses the new Lightning Lookup field capability to (optionally) select an Outreach and add the enrolled Contact to it.
Switching these School Module features to Lightning is our first step in upgrading Congregation Connect to LEX. It will provide users with an initial hands-on experience to using Lightning features, without requiring any configuration or setup on your end. We welcome your comments and feedback on the Lightning Experience, as well as user adoption.
Learn more here: