ABC FAQ

Any suggestions for other actions we could track to promote health and wellness for remote workers?

Sure, Alex initial came up with 10. Here is the complete list of field labels and help text we started with. The top 5 are in the package already.

ActionHelp Balloon Text
Break a sweat20 min. min. – get your heart rate up: run, walk, bike, take the stairs (a few times) – whatever works best for you.
HydrateDrink water – the daily recommended amount. Set funny reminders, finish a water bottle before eating or reaching for that next cup of coffee.
Be MindfullSay thank you, try to assume the best, smile often, be grateful, compliment others – you know the the drill. It will help when life throws the curveballs.
HygieneWe don’t care if you washed behind your ears but wash those hands. Often and with soap.
Stand up, StretchStand up, reach for the sky, swing your legs around, do 1 exercise for 60 seconds once an hour throughout your workday. Keep the blood flowing. Don’t forget to breathe.
ConnectCall a loved one or check in on a far away friend.
Set goals, dailyBaby steps – make an attainable list of personal + professional tasks: line em up, knock em down.
RechargeNot just your devices but YOU. Unplug, sleep, meditate, whatever you need.
Fuel upEat for success – fruit, vegetables, whole grains. It’s a marathon not a sprint, shoot for the slow burn. You know what makes you crash and what sustains you until happy hour. There is no time for brain fog.
Get strongermind + body – try or learn something new, do a HIIT workout, do both: A+

How do I implement a new/different wellness action?

If you want to replace one of the existing actions, simply relabel the Action and ActionNum field you don’t want anymore. Use the Object Manager. This is one of the reasons why the package is unmanaged, so Admins can do things the easy way.

If you want to ADD a new action, then you need do a few more things:

  1. Add a new Action6 (or whatever number you are up to) field to the object, follow the pattern and then update the label to be whatever you want the user to see.
  2. Add a new Action6Num formula field and copy the CASE() formula to translate from the picklist value to the numeric value. Set the label to match using “#” at the end to indicate it is the numeric version of the action.
  3. Update the Points formula field to include the new Action6Num field so people get credit for doing whatever the new thing is.
  4. Update the page layout to show the new action in the right spot.
  5. Update reports and dashboards as necessary, adding the new field to each of the breakout reports.

Why is the data model for this app so simple?

Salesforce is an incredible platform. The ability to create and customize Objects quickly and easily is almost magic. By keeping the data model super simple, it makes life easy on the end-user. They can fill out the whole day on 1 screen on a single record.

The other way to model this app is to go normalized. I’ve done that before in an AppExchange product we built called PULSE used to track social impact metrics. The advantage of a normalized model is flexibility for data collection. Not everyone would need to track the same metrics, etc.

The downside of the PULSE model is the difficulty using standard Salesforce data entry and reporting features to collect and display data. We wound up writing 1000’s of lines of Apex and Visualforce to make it work well. I wasn’t doing that again if I didn’t have to.

One of my axioms for technology solutions is learn to love the way your tools work by default. Sometimes you need to do things the hard (expensive) way, but you better be sure before you do it with my money.

Why no programming in Version 1?

Visualforce and Apex could definitely make this app better, and VF works in Classic and Lightning so it would meet the Version 1 requirement to work everywhere. I was reading the latest Bluewolf State of Salesforce and it appears about 50% of Salesforce users are still using Classic at some level. It is one of the challenges of Salesforce being so popular, there are a lot of really good Classic implementations out there.

The other reason why I didn’t write any VF or Apex was I’m saving my energy to do a Lightning Components version of the app. If I’m going to add complexity, and spend time writing code, let’s have it be the latest and greatest. Stay tuned, I’ll post my progress on LinkedIn and on my website.

wanna see more?