Drawloop Blog

LOOP Document Services 3.0 went live on AppExchange today. As an active user of Salesforce, we often find ourselves looking for help within the Salesforce community or posting feature requests on the Salesforce Idea Exchange. While participating in this amazing community, we kept seeing ideas shared that related to documents (our expertise). Those ideas presented an opportunity for us to review our current document services (LOOP, LOOPlus and LOOP Reports) and see how we could incorporate real solutions to posts on Idea Exchange.

We are pleased to officially announce LOOP Merge - the answer to over thirty (30) Salesforce Ideas. LOOP Merge significantly enhances, compliments and extends the out-of-the-box Salesforce Mail Merge functionality.

Our Objectives:

Enhance the current Salesforce merge process

Improve maintenance and organization of merge templates

Support multiple browsers and operating systems

Extend merge to other applications and file types

Pricing: $4 per user/month (no minimum users)

Enhancements (11 ideas)

1. Increase File Size Limitation of 1MB: LOOP Merge allows you to upload your merge templates into the Salesforce documents tab which has a file size limit of 5MB. Like LOOPlus, you can also work with publicly accessible URL based documents which allow you to go beyond the 5MB limit if needed.
2. Date Formatting: All dates used by any of LOOP Document Service format the date using the long date format by locale.
3. Empty Fields: All fields that do not have values pass as a blank instead of “______”.
4. Ability to Select a Contact: Accounts, Cases, Opportunities and Contracts allow you to select contacts related to the object.
5. Customize the Button: You can easily deploy your own buttons and point to the LOOP Merge s-control.
6. Additional Delivery Options: You can Email, Email and Attach, Attach Only or send the Mail Merge Document to our free LOOP service where you can download or add any additional documents to the final merged PDF file.

Maintenance and Organization (7 ideas)

1. Folder Support: LOOP Merge allows you to upload your merge templates into the documents tab and store in any document folder - any security established within document folders will control access for available LOOP Merge documents.
2. Update and Tracking: Deploying templates in the documents tab also allows you to update and track templates.
3. Filter by Object: Document keyword tags allow you to limit documents by object.

Browser and OS Support (4 ideas)

1. Web Browsers: Our LOOP Document Services support Firefox, IE, Safari and Chrome.
2. OS: Our LOOP Document Services support any OS that can run Firefox, IE, Safari or Chrome.

Applications and Document Types (11 ideas)

1. Additional Application Support: LOOP Merge works with Google Docs and Spreadsheets as well as OpenOffice. Although we work with the Saleforce Office Plugin, this is not a requirement for any of our services. Any document that can be saved as an Microsoft Office document can be used with our document services.
2. Additional Document Types: Works with Mail Merge Templates or any Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel (up to 2007 versions) or PDF file.

With all the discussion about cloud computing and the recent Microsoft announcement of a cloud computing platform called Azure, we thought we would take a moment to discuss the cloud and how our customers have been automating document creation in our cloud for years. All of the talk and discussion is simply validation for what we have seen for years . . . moving document creation to our cloud drives efficiencies, lowers costs and delivers scale to any business, large or small.

The past couple of weeks have been flooded with new announcements and discussions of cloud computing coming from Salesforce.com, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and posts like Tim O’Reilly’s Web 2.0 and Cloud Computing.

So What Exactly is the Cloud?

The cloud is just a metaphor for the Internet and its underlying infrastructure. Many companies, like us, have been delivering services on-demand, now often referred to as cloud-based applications, for years. So what’s new? It can get even more confusing as many people use the term cloud in different ways. For example, some define the cloud simply at the infrastructure level (like Amazon S3). Others define the cloud as web applications running in the cloud (like Salesforce.com). Regardless of the definition, buzz word or latest acronym, the value of the cloud to a business is significant and real.

Drawloop’s Cloud: Automate Your Document Creation

We offer cloud-based end-user applications to quickly automate all of your document creation. With a web browser and the same Microsoft Office documents your company has used for years, you can instantly run all of your documents in our cloud. Our document automation service allows you to move document creation from a desktop function to a web application or what we call a Dynamic Document Package (DDP). A DDP can be deployed anywhere on the web and integrated with any web service, like Salesforce.com. Our document service provides your administrators with the added benefit of working with the documents in their normal desktop environment. In other words, your legal team will still be able to update and edit your contract terms and conditions in the same Microsoft Word application they have used for years. Our approach is a unique balance between the past and the future which is critical to effectively manage all of the documents required to help sell and service your business.

What is the Business Value?

Automating document creation in our cloud will drive significant business value . . . increased productivity, increased revenue, faster sales cycle, and a significant reduction in the expenses associated with traditional document creation (man hours, software, versions, updates, networks, training and the list goes on and on). Our customers realize an immediate return on investment while reducing costs associated with document creation.

“Drawloop allowed us to dynamically package our documents to meet the needs of our unique and specific outgoing document requirements.”
AVP of Licensing Business Analysis
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers

“My reps love this solution, and I love the fact that it frees-up more of their time to spend with customers rather than filling out paper work.”
Sales Manager
Dun & Bradstreet, Canada

With Drawloop, your documents become the application. Contact us today and let us help you move document creation to our cloud.

We are pleased to announce the beta release of LOOP Merge, our latest document automation service within Salesforce.com on AppExchange. Our service significantly extends and enhances the Salesforce Mail Merge. LOOP Merge automates your existing Salesforce.com Mail Merge Templates, any Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint file or any PDF file. We have streamlined the user experience to allow a user to click a button and then determine how to deliver the merged file as a PDF. You can Email, Email and Attach, Attach Only or send the Mail Merge Document to our free LOOP service where you can add any additional documents to the merged file.

Easily incorporate Salesforce data in Word, PowerPoint, Excel and PDF documents. Use all of your sophisticated mail merge templates in Salesforce with LOOP Merge!

FEATURES:

Mail Merge Templates: Works with any Salesforce Mail Merge Template.

Web Browser: Works in any web browser (Firefox, IE, Safari and Chrome), you are not limited to IE.

LOOP Merge Process:

1. Merge Document: Merge your document with Salesforce data. This includes any Mail Merge Template as well as any Word, Excel, PowerPoint or PDF file.
2. Converts to PDF: The merged document automatically converts to a PDF file.
3. Delivery Options: You control the delivery options for the merged document. You can send the merged PDF document to (i) email, (ii) email and attach (goes to email and automatically attaches the PDF file to the object), (iii) attach only, or (iv) LOOP It (our free document service to add any additional documents, page order and then deliver as one combined PDF).

Additional Document Types: Works with Mail Merge Templates or any Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel (up to 2007 versions) or PDF file.

Security: Any security established within Document Folders will control access for LOOP Merge documents.

Merge Documents by Object: You can tag documents to limit “merge templates” available per object. For example, a document tagged as a Lead will only show up as a merge template within Leads.

PRICING:
LOOP Merge is available for $4 per user / month (Enterprise and Unlimited only) - no user minimum. We will be announcing a LOOP Merge promotion for existing and new customers in early November.

Contact us today to learn more about LOOP Merge.

We are pleased to announce the release of our Silverlight 2 embed code for Dynamic Document Packages (DDPs). Our Silverlight embed functionality for DDPs allows our enterprise customers to quickly deploy document automation anywhere on the Web.

Install Microsoft Silverlight 2

The ease of use and flexibility of our Silverlight application has allowed our on-demand document automation service to accommodate the deployment needs of our customers. It is reported that one in four consumers worldwide now have access to Silverlight. Silverlight penetration is quickly approaching 50 percent in some countries.

Drawloop remains committed to continuing our development to allow anyone to deploy document automation in seconds anywhere on the web.

Learn more

If you encounter any problems, please uninstall Silverlight and then reinstall. To uninstall, go to add/remove programs under your control panel.

Today, we’re rolling out two important changes we thought you should know about.  We attacked these upgrades aggressively to enhance our end user experience. The first of these changes is an upgrade to our javascript libraries. Read the rest of this entry »

This week, we are pleased to welcome several new enterprise customers. Some new customers include ReachForce, Comfort Care & Resources, Inc. and Telecom. Our commitment to adding new delivery options for DDPs has allowed us to expand our customer base and accommodate their unique and specific requirements for deploying Dynamic Document Packages or DDPs.

New DDP Delivery Options:

Mobile Device: There’s now a simple way to consolidate, report and analyze Salesforce.com data right on your mobile device. With LOOP Reports Mobile, powered by Webalo, you can schedule any standard or custom Salesforce report to be delivered to your smartphone or wireless PDA (BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Pocket PC, Palm, Symbian, or Java-enabled device).

Salesforce.com Outbound Messaging: DDPs can be seamlessly integrated with Salesforce.com workflow management and automation capabilities. The result is greater control over document creation within Approvals and Workflows. One powerful option is to incorporate document creation with outbound messaging within Salesforce.com. Contact Drawloop today to learn more.

HTML Embed: In addition to Microsoft Silverlight Embed, our customers can now deploy DDPs using HTML embed code. We are also working on Flash Embed code to be released at the end of this year.

Life Insurance Illustration Engines: We are close to launching DDP integration with life insurance illustration engines through our partnership with Ebix. The seamless integration allows an insurance company, agency, brokerage firm or producer group to integrate life insurance illustrations and numbers into sales proposals and quotes. Contact Drawloop today to learn more.

We are also working to add e-fax and print on-demand as delivery options for DDPs in the coming months. As you can see, we are committed to provide seamless integration with multiple DDP delivery options for all of our customers. We understand what you need and can deliver on-demand document creation to meet the unique and specific requirements of your business. We encourage you to register today for our free on-demand document services and get your feet wet with automating document creation on-demand.

There’s now a simple way to consolidate, report and analyze Salesforce.com data right on your mobile device. With LOOP Reports Mobile, powered by Webalo, you can schedule any standard or custom Salesforce.com report to be delivered to your smartphone or wireless PDA. Just create the required reports, configure them using the step-by-step wizard, and Webalo transforms them instantly for your BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Pocket PC, Palm, Symbian, or Java-enabled device. Delivery is immediate, you can set any schedule you want, and you can be sure of having the latest information right at your fingertips.

LOOP Reports Mobile does not deliver reports to the browser. Therefore, off line capability exists and the ability to drill down into the data goes far beyond anything available today. LOOP Reports Mobile requires an install by your Salesforce.com administrator of LOOP Document Services on AppExchange.

View Product Data Sheet

You may have noticed over the past week that we have instituted a number of changes to improve the usability of our applications, along with giving us more flexibility when developing new services and enhancing existing services.

The primary change this past week was a separation of our corporate content pages and our document services.  With our new cleaner code base, we can be more agile in our response time and ensure the highest quality of service.

Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, we completed development on a Silverlight interface for LOOP Exchange.  During this development, we ran into some interesting issues with some fairly simple solutions.

Woe # 1
The first issue we ran into involves file downloads.  Downloading a file in a browser requires a user to initiate the process.  This is a security precaution and it makes perfect sense.  The problem comes in when you try to have a Silverlight control, when clicked on by a user, initiate a download.  In Firefox, this works without a problem. However, IE decides that this isn’t user initiated, and if you want to allow it, you must specifically okay the action.  If you choose to allow it in IE, this reloads the entire page, bringing you back to the start of what could be a long set of forms.

Read the rest of this entry »

We are pleased to announce an improved user interface and additional functionality to LOOP for Salesforce.com. With LOOP, you can convert and combine files to PDF with the option to email or archive in Salesforce.com.

New User Interface

We have created a new interface for LOOP to make it look and feel more like a normal Salesforce page.

Log a File

Users can now create an activity history record that links to a PDF created within LOOP with the simple click of a button. The PDF is stored on Drawloop’s servers and the link in the comments of the activity history allows anyone to download the PDF. The PDF will not count toward your allowed Salesforce storage.

Attach a File

LOOP now offers a quick and easy way to attach a PDF to a Salesforce record. By clicking the “Attach File” button or link, your PDF will be stored as an attachment under the object you clicked LOOP It from.

Add to Salesforce Documents

A PDF created with LOOP can be saved to the Salesforce Documents tab. Click the “Add to SF Documents” button or link, select the folder to save the document to, and the document is stored in Salesforce.