29、Mastering Salesforce: A Deep Dive into a Hypothetical Car Rental Scenario

Mastering Salesforce: A Deep Dive into a Hypothetical Car Rental Scenario

1. Salesforce Communication Domain Insights

Before delving into the full - fledged scenario, it’s essential to understand the Salesforce communication domain. A Critical Technical Assessment (CTA) should cover specific details. Standard diagrams play a crucial role in presenting solutions. They help in clearly visualizing the proposed approach and are commonly used in professional settings.

1.1 Types of Diagrams

Diagram Type	Use Case
Flowcharts	Show the sequence of processes, like reservation or check - in processes.
Entity - Relationship Diagrams	Illustrate the relationships between different data entities, such as customers, cars, and rentals.

1.2 Handling Hypothetical Scenarios

A mini - hypothetical scenario was used to practice handling objections. During the CTA review board and real - life situations, it’s important to avoid common pitfalls. Simple solutions are often better as they reduce the chances of things going wrong.

2. Introducing the Packt Pioneer Auto (PPA) Scenario

PPA is a global car rental company operating in 50 major cities across 10 countries. It serves customers in AMER, EMEA, and APAC regions.

2.1 Company Overview

• Services : Allows customers to pre - book car rentals up to three months in advance. Also, customers can walk - in to rent a car.
• Customer Base : Around a million registered users globally with an average of 10 million car rentals per year.
• Partnerships : Works with partners for car cleaning, repair, and maintenance. Each car has a GPS tracking device.

2.2 Current Systems

System Name	Function	Limitations
Regional ERPs	Manage partners’ accounting and payments	Different technologies, on - premises hosting, difficult to maintain
Global Tracking System	Control car tracking devices remotely	Expensive to change, limited configurability
Customer and Rental Management Applications	Manage customer and rental information	Redundant and duplicate data
Violation Databases	Store vehicle violation data	AWS - hosted Oracle databases in different regions
Global Car Rental Calculator	Calculate car rental costs	In - house application with REST API, hosted on AWS

2.3 Project Decision

PPA has decided to use Salesforce as the central CRM solution for unified customer, rental, and partner processes.

3. User Types and Their Requirements

3.1 Internal Users

• Sales Agents : Staff regional offices, help with customer registration and car rentals, inspect returned cars, and provide invoices.
• Support Agents : Support registered customers, resolve rental and car issues, and support car reservations via the call center.
• Office Technicians : Ensure returned cars are functional and provide maintenance reports.
• Office Managers : Run the business end - to - end and manage partner relationships.
• Regional Executive Team : Analyze customer and rental data across regions.

3.2 External Users

• Registered Customers : Need access to modern services.
• Partners : Receive and update maintenance requests. Some may use PPA’s solution, while others may integrate their own systems.

4. Business Process Requirements

4.1 Customer Registration

• Channels : Customers can self - register via an online portal or mobile application. Sales agents can also register walk - in customers.
• Required Information : Full name, email address, mobile number, preferred language, driving license number.
• Consent : Customers must accept privacy terms and conditions and can opt - in for marketing materials.
• License Check : Real - time check of driving license validity.

4.2 Car Reservation

Online Process

graph LR
    A[Customer enters pickup location and dates] --> B[System shows available cars]
    B --> C[System calculates and displays prices]
    C --> D[Customer selects car and proceeds to payment]
    D --> E[Payment collected, email confirmation sent, car unavailable]

Call Center Process

1. Support agent searches for available cars using start and end dates.
2. Agent informs customer of available cars and prices.
3. Customer confirms car selection, agent captures payment details.
4. Payment collected, email confirmation sent, car unavailable.

4.3 Car Check - In

1. Customers use tablets with a specific application to enter the activation code.
2. The application validates the code, location, and date.
3. If valid, a confirmation message is displayed, and the reservation record is updated.
4. A sales agent hands over the car keys and updates the reservation status.

4.4 Car Check - Out

graph LR
    A[Customer returns car] --> B[Sales agent collects keys and inspects car]
    B --> C{Major damage?}
    C -- Yes --> D[Inform office technicians]
    C -- No --> E[Send information to ERP]
    D --> E
    E --> F[ERP generates invoice after 72 hours]
    F --> G[Send invoice notification to customer]
    G --> H[Sales agent closes reservation]

4.5 Car Status Update and Penalty Settlement

• GPS Tracking : Cars send location every 30 seconds via 4G/3G, even when turned off.
• Driver Behavior : PPA wants to analyze driver behavior, such as speeding and harsh braking.
• Theft Detection : Notify support team within 15 minutes if a possible theft is detected.
• Penalty Settlement : Check violation databases daily, transfer penalty amounts to ERP for invoicing.

5. Other Requirements

5.1 Data Migration Requirements

• Migration Scope : PPA aims to migrate data from all current customer and rental management applications to the new Salesforce - based system.
• Data Quality : The existing data has many redundancies and duplicates. Strategies need to be developed to ensure high - quality data in the target system.
• Historical Data Access : With around 50 million rental records in each current application, PPA wants to maintain access to historical data for at least 10 years, and sales and support agents should be able to access it in the new system.

5.2 Accessibility and Security Requirements

User Type	Access Rights
Office Managers, Sales Agents, Service Agents	Can view customer accounts globally
Support Agents and Their Managers	Can view support incidents
Office Technicians	Can update car status to out - of - service, but cannot view customer’s driving license number
Support Agents Trained for Theft Incidents, Their Managers, Regional Executives	Can view theft incident details
Regional Executive Team	Has access to all regional data, including driver behavior
Office Managers	Can see partner account details in their own country
Partners	Log in to Salesforce using Salesforce - managed credentials
Customers	Can self - register on online portal and mobile application, and log in using Facebook accounts
PPA Employees on Corporate Network	Can automatically log in to Salesforce
PPA Employees Outside Corporate Network	Log in using LDAP credentials with second - factor authentication

5.3 Reporting Requirements

• Regional Executive Team :
  • A report showing relations between customers’ driving behavior and particular times of the year across the past 10 years.
  • A trending monthly report on pickup and drop - off locations for car distribution.
• Customers :
  • View a full history of rental bookings, including the past three years.
  • View full trip history for each completed rental.
• Partners :
  • View a monthly report on repair jobs completed for PPA.

5.4 Project Development Requirements

• Code Management : With three different service implementers (SIs) working on parallel projects, a method to manage the code base is needed to avoid conflicts such as code overwriting and broken logic.
• Coding Standards : PPA wants to control and avoid duplicate functionalities introduced by SIs and enable better code reuse in the Salesforce environment.
• Bug Prevention : Understand the likely cause of bugs reappearing in production after being fixed in UAT and find ways to prevent it.
• Development Methodology : Determine the right development methodology and governance to release the solution first in Italy and then roll it out to other countries according to a pre - agreed schedule, while accommodating country - specific requirements.

5.5 Other Requirements

• Customer Consent Management : PPA wants to know the best practices for managing customer consent.
• Data Anonymization : Ensure that data in development environments is always anonymized.

6. Analyzing Requirements and Creating a Draft Solution

To create a draft end - to - end solution, one should first understand the entire scenario. Here are some steps to follow:

6.1 Understanding the Big Picture

• Take sufficient time to read through the scenario and note down potential solutions.
• For in - person review boards, notes can be made on a separate paper or the printed scenario. For virtual review boards, Excel sheets can be used. A combination of both can also be chosen based on personal preference.

6.2 Identifying Requirements

• Break down the requirements into smaller, manageable parts. For example, separate the business process requirements from the security and reporting requirements.
• Group related requirements together. For instance, all the requirements related to customer - facing processes can be grouped.

6.3 Drafting the Solution

• Based on the identified requirements, start drafting the solution. Consider the capabilities of Salesforce and how they can be leveraged to meet each requirement.
• For example, for the car reservation process, use Salesforce’s workflow and automation features to implement the online and call - center processes as described.

graph LR
    A[Understand Scenario] --> B[Identify Requirements]
    B --> C[Group Related Requirements]
    C --> D[Draft Solution]
    D --> E[Review and Refine]

In conclusion, this hypothetical scenario of PPA using Salesforce as a central CRM solution presents a comprehensive set of requirements. By carefully analyzing these requirements and following a structured approach to creating a draft solution, one can effectively address the challenges and ensure a successful implementation.