Salesforce Quick Guide for Full-Time Faculty & Program Directors

Salesforce is your central place for student information, alerts, communication history, and support requests. This guide will walk you through the most common tasks step by step so you can learn by doing. For each section, you will explore the feature in Salesforce and complete a short hands-on activity before moving to the next section. You will also use a tracker sheet to record your progress and make notes as you go.

⭐Click here to download your tracker sheet. Before you begin, make a copy of the file and then share your copy with Valerie Akbulut.

Salesforce Homepage

The Salesforce Home Page provides quick access to the tools and information you use most often to support students.

Feature	Description
My Students	View and access students assigned to you and open cases
My Open Alerts	Review changes that may require attention
Interaction Summary	View recent student engagement and communication activity
Bulk SMS	Send text messages to groups of students
Manage OOO	Set your Out of Office status when unavailable and assign a delegate

📝 Try It Yourself

Log in to Salesforce.
Locate the My Students
Locate the My Open Alerts
Locate Interaction Summary
Locate Bulk SMS
Find the Manage OOO option.
Spend a few moments exploring the information available in each section.

Success Check: You can locate all the tabs on the homepage.

Finding a Student

There are two primary ways to locate a student:

➡️ Note: In Salesforce, clicking a student’s name automatically opens their full student record.

Option 1: Search for a Student

Use the Search Bar at the top of the page.
Enter the student’s name or ID number.
Select the student from the search results to open their record.

Option 2: Access My Students

Navigate to My Students on the homepage.
Review the list of students assigned to you.
Select a student’s name to open their record.

IMPORTANT CONTEXT: The My Students list is based on case team assignment in Salesforce. Each student has an Advising (or Success) Case, and staff are assigned to that case as members of the Success Team.

📝 Try It Yourself

Use the Search Bar to locate a student. (If you do not currently have students assigned to you, search for Daine Test Calloway.)
Open the student’s record.
Return to the homepage.
Navigate to My Students and locate the same student. If your My Students list is empty, that’s okay. The list is based on case team assignments and may not be populated for all users yet.
Compare the two methods and determine which feels easiest for you.

Success Check: You successfully opened a student record using both methods.

Student Profile Card

Located on the left side of the student record, the Student Profile/Overview Card gives a quick snapshot of key student information.

Use it to quickly review academic, contact, and personal details before reviewing alerts or creating a case.

Academic: credits, GPA, term, enrollment
Contact: phone, email, address
Personal: demographics, citizenship, etc.

Note: This section is view-only and cannot be edited. Updates to this information must be made in the appropriate system or record source.

Note: Want to access the student’s information in Nexus? Under the student name in the overview card, select “Click to view student in Nexus”

****This image is of a test account and does not represent a real student.

📝 Try It Yourself

Open a student record and locate the Student Profile/Overview Card. Can you find the following information?

Current GPA
Enrollment Status
Student Email Address
Phone Number
Current Term
Link to Nexus (Once complete, click the Nexus link to see how student information appears in Nexus.)

Success Check: You were able to find GPA, enrollment status, contact information, and current term in the Student Profile/Overview Card, and successfully opened the student in Nexus.

Student Tabs

When you open a student record in Salesforce, the information is organized into tabs. Each tab contains a different type of student data and helps you quickly locate what you need without searching through the entire record. Understanding what each tab contains will help you navigate student records more efficiently and ensure you are using the correct information when supporting students.

Tab / Area	Meaning
Details	Student profile and basic data
Program Summary	GPA, program, current/past courses
Purpose Statement	Where the student’s purpose lives
Related	Where cases and related records may live
Communication	Email, tasks, notes, outreach history
Support Team	Who is attached to the student

📝 Try It Yourself

Open a student record from My Students or the Search Bar.
Click through each of the following tabs:
- Details
- Program Summary
- Purpose Statement
- Related
- Communication
- Support Team
Take note of what type of information appears in each tab.
Locate at least one example of:
- Academic information
- Communication history
- Assigned support staff
- Related records or cases

Success Check: You can confidently navigate between tabs and identify what type of information is stored in each section.

Alerts vs. Cases

How to View and Manage Alerts

Alerts keep you informed of changes for your students, such as a failing grade or an updated purpose statement. There are two ways to access alerts in Salesforce.

Option 1: Homepage

Navigate to the Homepage
Select My Open Alerts
Review alerts requiring attention

Option 2: Student Record

Open the student’s record
View Active Alerts or All Alerts
Select View Details to review the alert

🎥 Watch: How to View and Clear Alerts in Salesforce

This video demonstrates the two ways to access alerts in Salesforce, how to review alert details, and how to clear an active alert after it has been reviewed.

Note: This video uses a test account and does not represent a real student.

📝 Try It Yourself

Navigate to My Open Alerts on the home page (located under My Students) If no alerts appear, that is okay—this means there are currently no alerts assigned to you.
Open an alert assigned to you. If none are listed, you may skip this step for now.
Review the alert details.
Select Clear Alert.
Confirm the alert no longer appears in your list of open alerts.
Return to the student record and locate the same alert from the student record’s page. It should be located under All Alerts once cleared
If you do not have any alerts or students assigned yet, please take time to carefully watch the training video, as it walks through the full process step-by-step.

Success Check: You were able to view and clear an alert.

How to View and Manage a Student Cases

Student Cases help track support requests, interventions, and follow-up activities related to a student. Cases may be created automatically through integrated systems, such as the Student At-Risk Form submitted in Canvas, or manually by faculty. All cases are stored within the student’s record in Salesforce.

Watch: How to View and Manage Cases

This video demonstrates how to locate and open a student case in Salesforce. It also shows how to manage an active case by:

Editing case details
Adding notes or updates
Sending an SMS/text message to the student
Reviewing case status and activity

Note: This video uses a test account and does not represent a real student.

📝 Try It Yourself

Open a student record. If you do not currently have students assigned, or if you do not see any cases, search for Daine Test Callaway and open that student record.
Navigate to the Related tab
Locate Support Cases
Open an active case. If no cases are visible on your assigned students, use Daine Test Callaway, which includes sample cases for practice.

Once the case is open, locate:

Case status
Case type/subtopic
Priority level
Case description
Student contact information

Success Check: You can successfully open and view a student case from the Related tab.

Creating a Case

Student Cases are used in Salesforce to document student concerns, support needs, and intervention requests. Full-time faculty and Program Directors (PDs) can create cases directly in Salesforce to support student follow-up and collaboration. Adjunct faculty do not create cases directly in Salesforce. Instead, adjuncts submit the Student At-Risk Form, which automatically generates a case in Salesforce for the student support team to review and act on.

Want to learn more about the adjunct form? Adjunct faculty create cases through the Student At-Risk Form in Canvas. View the Student At-Risk Form guide for additional information about the submission process.

Watch: How to Create a Student Case

This video walkthrough demonstrates how full-time faculty and PDs create a new student case in Salesforce, including how to:

Create a case
Enter case details
Save the case
Add the Program Director as a collaborator so they receive alerts and can assist

Note: This video uses a test account and does not represent a real student.

📝 Try It Yourself

Open a student record. If you do not currently have students assigned, or if you do not feel confident navigating a live record, search for Daine Test Callaway and use that student for practice.
Locate and select Create Case
Review the information box that appears

Important: Do not save the case. This activity is for practice only to help you become familiar with the layout and required information.

Success Check: You can successfully locate the “Create Case” option, open the case information box, and identify required fields

Closing a Case

Once a student issue has been resolved or no further action is needed, the case should be closed in Salesforce. Closing cases ensures accurate tracking of student support activity and keeps records up to date.

Watch: How to Close a Student Case

This video demonstrates how to locate and close a student case in Salesforce.

You’ll learn how to:

Open a student record
Navigate to the Related tab
Locate the Support Cases section
Open the correct case
Select Close Case
Complete the case closure process

Note: This video uses a test account and does not represent a real student.

Important Note for Program Directors: Program Directors should ensure the feedback loop is closed before closing a case. This means confirming that communication, updates, and follow-up actions have been completed with all relevant faculty or support staff.

📝 Try It Yourself

Open a student record. If you do not currently have students assigned, or if you do not see any cases available, search for Daine Test Callaway and use that record for practice.
Navigate to the Related tab.
Locate the Support Cases section.
Open a case by selecting the Case Number.
Locate the Close Case button on the right-hand side of the page.

Important: Do not select Close Case. This activity is intended to help you become familiar with where the option is located.

Success Check: You successfully located the Close Case option within a student case.