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.

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 excited to announce the new release of LOOP Reports within our Salesforce.com document automation service. You can automate and schedule the email delivery of Salesforce.com reports as one combined file. A powerful feature of LOOP Reports is your ability to dynamically send Salesforce.com reports into an Excel file allowing you to create any required analytics. The end result is a scheduled email report designed, calculated and structured to meet the unique needs and requirements for your reps, managers and executives.

Do you need to customize your scheduled Salesforce.com reports?
No problem. We work with CRM Advantage who provides both training and professional services for LOOP Reports.

We encourage you to install our free trial from AppExchange to begin automating and scheduling your Salesforce.com reports.

We are proud to announce three new enhancements for LOOPlus, our document automation service within Salesforce.com.

Easily run LOOPlus from any Custom Object

LOOPlus out-of-the-box now supports running DDPs from any custom object. Once the LOOPlus Detail Page button has been added to the Custom Object, simply select the Custom Object record type when creating a new DDP and type in the custom object’s API name in the Object Name field. The same security settings still apply as in any other DDP.

Automate Salesforce Reports with LOOP Reports

LOOP Reports allows you to automate and schedule any combination of Salesforce reports to be emailed to anyone. This reporting feature is extremely powerful since you can automatically “dump” multiple Salesforce reports into an Excel file to perform custom analytics on the data for reporting purposes. The end result is emailed, per the schedule, as a single PDF.

Use Opportunity Product Line Items in Word 2007

LOOPlus now supports Opportunity Product Line Items in Word 2007 documents. You can create multiple tables and include Product fields to create customized quotes, proposals or contracts.

LOOPlus can be run on any browser and can fill Microsoft (versions 97/2000 and higher) Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files.

All of this and more is available with LOOP Document Services.

We have just updated and are pleased to announce that our Salesforce.com customers can now add Opportunity (or Product) Line Items to their Dynamic Document Packages or DDPs.

Our LOOPlus service allows your business to customize, control and manage document creation at the enterprise level for all users within Salesforce.com. You can dynamically customize and package any combination of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files into a single combined file. This combined file can then be delivered through Salesforce.com email or virtually any required delivery option, like electronic signature, a work flow, a document queue or a required approval process.

We offer LOOPlus training every Tuesday and Thursday, on the hour, from 10:00am to 2:00pm PT. Please email us at support@drawloop.com to register for a training session - please identify the date and time slot.

Our LOOP and LOOPlus document automation service was recently Recertified for AppExchange. Applications on Salesforce.com’s AppExchange that have earned a “certified” designation have met a higher set of standards. The AppExchange certification process includes extensive testing by Salesforce.com, as well as a security assessment of company policies, application and network infrastructure.

We continue to work with Salesforce.com customers in helping them automate works flow and other business processes around the creation and automation of what we call Dynamic Document Packages or DDPs.

Take a moment to learn why companies like ASCAP, IntraLinks, Price Pfister, 24-Hour Fitness, 1913 and others have leveraged our document automation service within their Salesforce account.

Our LOOPlus users have already significantly reduced their document preparation time and automated the manual steps typically required to deliver a contract, sales proposal or virtually any set of documents that require customization. Our latest version of LOOPlus introduces new features that will help companies of any size increase efficiency around document creation enabling them to deliver mass customization and control around document creation throughout their entire organization.

New features include:

1. Document Queue: Allows a Dynamic Document Package (DDP) to be sent to a Queue for fulfillment allowing the salesforce user to create multiple document packages, from any Objects, with the click of a button. From the Queue, the user can deliver the document through email, download the document or send through another work flow, like e-signatures by EchoSign.
2. File Options for the DDP: You can now map any field from Salesforce.com into Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel and PDF. In addition, we have opened up the service to allow a creator of the DDP to include (as required or optional files) any JPG, GIF, Bitmap, PNG, Plain Text, Rich Text, XML, Visio, Publisher and/or HTM/HTML files to the packaged document.
3. Work Flows: DDPs can now be triggered by a work flow in Salesforce.com. This allows a company to have Dynamic Document Packages created based on work flows on the front and/or back-end of the document creation. This integration is extremely powerful for organizations that require mass customization for a high volume of document packages. We have a single organization generating over 4,000 DDPs a week with LOOPlus.
4. Images: A DDP can now have images dynamically passed into the files used to create the final packaged document. This can be extremely valuable for documents that require private labeling or letters that required an image of a sales rep signature.
5. Outbound Messaging: Using Salesforce’s outbound messaging, a DDP can be deployed behind the scenes, i.e. without any user intervention. The DDP is created based on the information in the outbound message and the final PDF is sent back to Salesforce for any further work flows to be completed.

Please contact us today if you are interested in learning more abour our LOOPlus service for Salesforce.com. You can also install LOOPlus from AppExchange and use our 30-day free trial.

We wanted to share a recent review from one of our LOOPlus customers, 1913, on Salesforce.com. We continue to expand our salesforce.com users while refining our document automation services. If you use salesforce.com, we encourage you to install our free trial and begin automating document creation for your entire team.

Excellent Tool - Easy to USe
02/15/08 by 1913

Great tool (LOOPlus) to automate document merge and publishing processes. Very easy to maintain. The support team is quick to answer any question.

Learn more about LOOP and LOOPlus on Salesforce.com

We wanted to share a recent review from one of our LOOPlus customers, Aurora Lifetools, on Salesforce.com. We continue to expand our salesforce.com users while refining our document automation services. If you use salesforce.com, we encourage you to install our free trial and begin automating document creation for your entire team.

Killer App
01/23/08 by Drew Hyde, Partner

Aurora Lifetools provides Social Security Disability Representation nationwide. LOOPlus is the killer application we have been looking for. It reduced our time in contract preparation by almost 90%. The staff at Drawloop is unbelievable, support, sales, billing - just phenomenal. This one app alone saves us enough to pay our salesforce subscription. The integration with EchoSign is flawless and simple and leaves you wondering how you ever did anything the old way. We will be implementing a solution that auto-creates a complete docket and related exhibits and records, and annotated correspondence this spring. We have looked, and looked and cannot find another product that will do this either in salesforce or standalone for under $20,000. What more is there to say, great product, great service. Work with Drawloop, they make money, you make money, the cool factor is unbelievable - everyone is happy.

Learn more about LOOP and LOOPlus on Salesforce.com

Chris Russell of Salesforce.com named our LOOP to PDF application “App of the Week” on the Salesforce.com AppExchange.

“I’d like to introduce this weeks champion from Drawloop Technologies. This new application, LOOP to PDF, is available now on the AppExchange. LOOP to PDF can simply and effortlessly combine multiple documents and files into one secure PDF. Rather then sending out multiple attactments, you can just send out one PDF. You can browse through all your documents and files both on your hardrive and in your salesforce database. Your new PDF can be automatically attached to an e-mail within salesforce and your PDF will be logged as an activity to be viewed or downloaded at anytime. LOOP to PDF is a clean and seamless on-demand PDF converter that lives right within your salesforce org to let you efficiently deliver your outward facing documents.”