Drawloop Blog

Salesforce users rely on Drawloop to help them automate the creation of proposals, sales quotes, presentations and many other document packages critical to selling or servicing their products. Our on-demand services will allow you to deliver a one-click process for the creation of Dynamic Document Packages (DDPs).

We’re proud to have launched the most recent version of our document merge, automation and packaging service within Salesforce. We’re launching the latest version (v4.5) of LOOP Document Services today. The following is a summary of the new features available with LOOP Document Services:

Dynamic Ordering of Attachments
A powerful new feature is your ability to add and order any static or dynamic (doc contains merge fields) documents that have been uploaded to Notes & Attachments on an Object.

Dynamic ordering of attachments allows “ad hoc” or “custom” docs to be added to a DDP at run time.

Parameter Based Sections
All DDP Admins will love this new feature — parameter based DDP sections. In addition to making sections (pages) of a DDP optional to the user at run time, you can now quickly and easily have sections (pages) included or excluded based on field values.

Example: You want to include the Quote section of the DDP only when Account Level field value = Enterprise

Product Addendums
If you use Products and Product Line Items, you will appreciate the ability to dynamically add Product Addendums to DDPs. This new feature simplifies administration of DDPs while you are utilizing product line items in Word or Excel files.

Example: Sales rep has just added Product A, F and M to his new Opportunity. He clicks a button on the Opportunity to run his customized Sales Proposal. The DDP delivers to him a merged and customized Sales Proposal as a single PDF that also includes the addendums for the products he selected (A, F and M).

Mass DDPs
This new feature is extremely valuable a business use case where you need to send a DDP to hundreds of customers at the same time. DDPs can now be emailed, attached, downloaded, printed, and e-signed en masse with Mass DDPs.

Example: Tim needs to email a DDP to hundreds of Salesforce Contacts in a list view. He selects the contacts to be emailed, clicks Mass LOOPlus, selects the DDP he wants to send, and clicks Run. When the emails have finished being sent, Tim receives the Mass DDP results via email.

DDPs with DocuSign Embed Signing
This new feature was added to take advantage of business use cases where DDPs are created and delivered directly to DocuSign’s embedded signing process within a Force.com application or a Customer Portal.

We recently had the pleasure of completing an exciting new deployment for Expedia that combines the power of Salesforce, Drawloop and DocuSign. The integrated solution allows Salesforce users to create and package multiple documents for execution merging over 500 Salesforce fields . . . all with the click of a button!

Drawloop’s document integration technology is suberb!
by Gene Harden, Expedia
“I needed a solution to combine Salesforce field data into multiple documents to send to our hotel suppliers. The suppliers could then update and add additional information and sign the document using Docusign. After all that was finished, I needed all the data and documents back into Salesforce. To complicate the issue, one of the documents has close to 500 fields. Drawloop pulled all of this together! If you need to manage your documents and their contents, then contact Drawloop. Beyond having a great application their support and tech staff is just outstanding.”

Thanks Gene!

Our team has been working hard to incorporate the latest features of Salesforce Winter ‘10 with our dynamic document creation (DDP) service. Below we have highlighted some of the upcoming enhancements for DDPs that can help you take advantage of new features in Salesforce’s Winter ‘10 release:

Real Time Quotes
Add Salesforce Quotes to your DDPs. This allows you to add a Salesforce Quote along with your other required documents like a proposal (.doc), a product data sheet (.pdf) and product terms and conditions (.doc) . . . delivering one packaged document to your prospective or existing customer.

Example: ACME has deployed Real-Time Quotes for Salesforce, but the Director of Sales wants to include a cover letter, company overview and product slick.  These documents also need contact information (Salesforce data) merged into the documents.  LOOPlus works with Real-Time Quotes and includes all of the additional merged documents as a single PDF for delivery.

Product Addendums

Upload your product addendums to the Salesforce document tab and tie them to your products in your product library. This can be useful when you need to include in your DDP a product info sheet for each Product added under an Opportunity.

Example: ACME has leveraged Saleforce Opportunity Line Items and Products, but at run time wants to include a detailed product specification sheet when the proposal is generated.

Capture Data to Salesforce

Email the DDP (.pdf) to your contact; he or she then completes the PDF form fields and returns the completed PDF via email. By leveraging Salesforce email services, the data will automatically update fields in Salesforce or create new records. This can be tied to various work flows as well as tied to other DDP generation.

DDPs with Visualforce Pages
Like adding a Salesforce quote to a DDP, you can add any Visualforce page to a DDP. This is a powerful feature providing you with the ability to add additional documents or collateral to any Visualforce page.

Salesforce Tasks or Workflows with DDPs
Create a Salesforce task, update a Salesforce record or trigger a workflow when a DDP is created and delivered. This is extremely useful for generating invoices, proposals, sales contracts and other document packages that require a “next action” upon delivery of the DDP.

Mass DDPs
Send DDPs en masse directly from a Contact (Opportunity, Case, Contract, etc.) List View. You can deliver Mass DDPs through email, attach back to Salesforce, attach back to Salesforce with LOOP Storage or log the DDP as an Activity History.

Attachments with DDPs
Order attachments with your DDP. This powerful new feature allows users to not only add attachments to a DDP but also to order the attachments at run time. This is often used for incorporating redlined terms and conditions with a DDP.

Since the launch of LOOP Storage (document storage solution for Salesforce), we have seen several creative deployments. One of those includes an integration for the real estate industry.

Excellent Support. Unmatched Value.
By James Pasquarella

“We’ve just completed an implementation using LOOP Storage Services to save documents right on opportunities, contacts and the custom objects that we created specialized to our business.

Now everything is available in one place. Our team uses Salesforce everyday and now we have the documents we need right at our fingertips. When viewing an opportunity or custom object, etc, I can just click the file to download the relevant file and view it. No separate file server with old folder systems to navigate while on a call. I only see the documents related to what I’m working on.

We can even share certain documents with our customers via our Customer Portal in Salesforce. And since Salesforce works the same no matter if we’re at the office, at home, or on the road, we can get to our related files without having to log on to the office network. That just makes life a little easier.

The best feature of all is LOOP Storage’s high value proposition relative to other solutions we looked at in the AppExchange. The highly responsive support staff and efficient combined pricing of both this service and Amazon’s S3 storage space makes for the best value solution for storing documents related to Salesforce records.”

LOOP Storage Demo:

Install our free trial on AppExchange

We are excited to announce our Amazon S3 document storage service for Salesforce, called LOOP Storage Services. LOOP Storage Services offers document storage for Salesforce. It provides a simple interface to store and manage any files, at any time, from within a documents tab or within an object in Salesforce.

Features:

A simple interface to store and manage any files or documents, at any time, from within Salesforce

Use single or multiple folder hierarchies

Add security (profile, role, user or user group) and keywords to your stored documents

NO file size limits . . . unless 5GB is not enough per document

How It Works:

Salesforce Tab: Custom Documents tab allowing you to store and manage all of your documents – simply upload and organize your files

Documents in Objects: Allows you to store documents within objects. You can also organize with document folders inside the objects. Deployed for all standard objects – contact Drawloop for custom objects

Amazon S3: All of your documents are managed within Salesforce but are stored with Amazon S3

How To Get Started:

1) Install LOOP Storage Services from AppExchange

2) Sign-up for an Amazon S3 account

Drawloop is an AWS Solution Provider. The AWS Solution Providers Program serves a growing community of Independent Software Vendors and Systems Integrators that offer a rich set of solutions and consulting services on AWS.

Contact us today with any questions.

Are you a Salesforce user? Are you worried about your documents using up Salesforce storage? Are you interested in a more robust document storage service within Salesforce?

If yes, please contact us today to join our LOOP Storage beta user group. LOOP Storage provides a simple interface to store and manage any files, at any time, from within a documents tab and/or from within an object in Salesforce.

Now is a great time to implement tangible solutions to reduce costs and increase profitability. Our simple user interface and out-of-the-box integration with Amazon S3 allows you to store, manage and retrieve all of your documents at market competitive pricing. There is no hardware or software required.

Next Steps:

1) Contact us to join the beta user group

2) Install LOOP Storage Services

3) Sign-up for Amazon Simple Storage Service

LOOP Document Services on Salesforce.com 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 KONE, ASCAP, LinkedIn Corporation and IntraLinks have leveraged our document automation service within their Salesforce platform.

We continue to extend our LOOPlus document services within Salesforce to accommodate deployment within Salesforce and now within Force.com applications.

How can you use Drawloop within your Force.com application?

If you need to generate customized documents or document packages, we can help. With LOOPlus, you can quickly add document creation and delivery to your application. Some examples include:

1) Sales Proposals
2) Quotes
3) Contracts
4) NDAs
5) Invoicing
6) Service Agreements
7) New Employee Packages

Any document package required to sell or service your product!

Force.com Drawloop Mashup: AdvologixPM

Advologix has deployed LOOPlus within its Force.com application, AdvologixPM™. AdvologixPM is the most comprehensive web-based practice management solution for legal and other service professionals. AdvologixPM provides complete client relationship management to streamline your business. Drawloop’s LOOPlus service has been integrated into AdvologixPM’s Force.com application to deliver document automation services for invoices, contracts and legal forms.

“The ability to integrate Drawloop into our total solution for law practice management, has given AdvologixPM a distinct competitive advantage. Having document automation services embedded in our application is something no other traditional or SaaS practice management solution can claim.”

Paul Deschenes
CEO Advologix.com

Force.com Cloud Platform

The Force.com cloud platform makes building applications faster and easier than ever. It includes a database, security, workflow, user interface, and other tools that step you through the process of building powerful business applications, Web sites, and mobile applications.

Contact us today to learn how you can add all of our document services into your Force.com application.

We recently had the pleasure of meeting and working with JP Seabury, a Force.com Technical Architect, Developer, Business Analyst, and Blogger. JP was helping a new customer implement and deploy our LOOPlus service integrated with DocuSign.

Fantastic Product, Fantastic Support
by JP Seabury
“We ran into an early snag when deploying Drawloop, related to DocuSign / Drawloop / Salesforce integration with Person-Accounts. Drawloop came through, and had a patch in less than 24-hours. I was impressed with their ability to turn this requirement around in such a short time frame . . . I couldn’t be more pleased with the results, and I won’t hesitate to recommend Drawloop to all my clients.”

Thanks JP! We were also impressed with your work and understanding of our LOOPlus service.

In working with several new customers and Salesforce integrators, we have expanded our LOOP Document Services to include the ability for a DDP to be sent to any service that can be exposed with an HTTP post. In addition to sending or pushing documents (DDPs) out of Salesforce, we can also help you pull documents back into Salesforce associated with the appropriate object / record. By applying logic to the document (DDP) name or properties, you can now trigger any Salesforce workflow or apex trigger to complete the document cycle.

By automating both outbound and inbound documents, LOOP Document Services can help you:

Outbound Documents

1. Send documents to a 3rd party fulfillment service
2. Send documents to an electronic signature service (like DocuSign)
3. Send documents to a tablet based signature service
4. Send documents to a 3rd party storage service (like S3)

Inbound Documents

1. Pull documents into any standard or custom object
2. Store documents in Salesforce or as activity history with links to download (stored externally)

We encourage Salesforce users, consultants and integrators to contact us to learn more about how to add LOOP Document Services for outbound and inbound document requirements within Salesforce.