Intro to Salesforce Vlocity!

Published in

Cloudwerx

5 min readJan 9, 2023

What is Vlocity?

· It’s a managed package, built on Salesforce to provide industry-specific needs. With the help of Vlocity, we can build high-end applications very faster with low code

· It is also called Omni studio, providing us with a drag-drop-based tool that helps customer to create a business-specific flow with just a few clicks instead of creating the custom code. With help of build-in tools, Omnistudio also provides us the option to interact with other applications to share the data

· In 2020, Salesforce successfully acquired Vlocity, enabling it to provide the Salesforce sector with a combination of basic platforms, solutions, and sector-specific models. Vlocity offers pre-built Salesforce platform solutions that cater to the needs of particular companies that require highly specialized CRMs.

How does Salesforce Benefit from Vlocity?

· Vlocity applications (built on the Salesforce platform) solve the needs of particular industries such as Communications, Insurance, Energy & Utilities, Financial Services, Media, Health, Government, and Public Sector with omnichannel sales, marketing, service, and CPQ solutions.

Source: Company Management Software by Industry — Salesforce.com

· Vlocity complements Salesforce with enterprise product catalog (EPC), CPQ, order management, and digital commerce, as well as pre-built processes and product models. The software is built in close conformance with common industry standards, promulgated by organizations like TM Forum and the MAF. As a result, companies go live faster. They get their staff trained and may become self-sufficient, avoiding unnecessary costs on a bunch of consultants and developers.

· The key to success is simple. Companies benefit from ready-made flows and pre-built processes that otherwise would take months (and millions) to custom-develop.

All these can be done by using its user-friendly customization functionality called ‘OmniStudio’.

Overview of Vlocity / OmniStudio :

OmniStudio is a modular system with standard click-based components to quickly build Salesforce flows and solutions.

Source: OmniStudio Architecture — Just Another Dang Blog (lopau.com)

OmniStudio Architecture consists of three layers, as follows :

(1) Digital Experience:

The Digital Experience layer includes two primary user interface (UI) components.

· OmniStudio FlexCards: Cards that display contextual information and actions in an at-a-glance format for customer account data

· OmniScripts: A guided path to complete a business process. A drag-and-drop editor helps you design customer interactions by creating specific sequences with its elements like below

· Actions (Updating data, sending an email)

· Display (adding text, Images)

· Functions (Formulas, Warnings)

· Groups (e.g., Blocks for grouping items for a one-page view or Type Ahead Blocks for autocomplete and search)

· Inputs (data input or selection)

These two declarative tools provide rich user interaction experiences that are easily understandable. They’re built on Salesforce Lightning web components (LWC), which run inside Salesforce and improve UI performance.

Example of Flex card:

Source: PolicyGenius-300k-Life-Insurance-quotes.jpg (1273×624) (wp.com)

(2) The Service Management Layer:

The Service Management layer includes data services that read, write, transform, calculate, and track data within and outside of Salesforce.

· OmniStudio DataRaptors: Configurable services for retrieving, transforming, and updating data

· OmniStudio Integration Procedures: Declarative, server-side processes that execute multiple actions in a single server call

DataRaptors and Integration Procedures deliver data to and from UI components. They orchestrate calls to Apex classes, calculation engines, and external application programming interfaces (APIs) to execute whatever business logic is required by the process.

(3) The Developer Experience Layer:

The Developer Experience layer is an application lifecycle layer of tools for developers to manage and move OmniStudio component changes between environments. These developer tools are:

· IDX Build Tool: Command-line automation tool that packages and migrates OmniStudio Datapacks in a source-control-friendly format

· IDX Workbench: Desktop application that enables developers to migrate Datapacks and Salesforce metadata from one org to another or from an org to a Git repository

For simple migrations, developers can export and import the component as a Datapack, a collection of OmniStudio components packaged together for exporting and importing purposes. For example, developers can export and import a FlexCard with a specific Integration Procedure.

· For large or complex migrations, developers use either IDX Build Tool or IDX Workbench.

· IDX Build Tool preserves dependencies, validates data, and verifies the success of migration.

· IDX Workbench includes a Test Console where users can run Test Procedures and view Gantt charts of their step-by-step performance. A Test Procedure is an Integration Procedure that performs a unit test of almost anything an Integration Procedure can invoke, such as a DataRaptor, a Calculation Matrix, an Apex class, or even another Integration Procedure.

Salesforce Industries Certification:

Salesforce Industries now offer the following certification. A few more are available; however, they are at Vlocity University.

· For Trailblazers with experience consulting on the development of cloud-based applications with OmniStudio tools, the Salesforce Certified OmniStudio Consultant credential is the right choice.

· Trailblazers with experience developing cloud-based applications using the OmniStudio declarative development tools should apply for Salesforce Certification OmniStudio Developer.

· For Trailblazers with experience creating configure, price, and quote apps for the Salesforce Communications, Media, and Energy & Utilities Clouds, there is the Salesforce Certified Industries CPQ Developer accreditation.

Who is a Salesforce Vlocity Developer?

· A Vlocity Developer creates and integrates unique platform solutions like Vlocity, Apex classes, Visualforce, and others.

· To efficiently and smoothly give solutions to its clients and customers, Salesforce developers will need to become familiar with the ideas and offerings of Vlocity.

· The Apex Classes, Vlocity, Visualforce, and other custom Salesforce platform solutions are developed and integrated by Vlocity Developers.

Some websites developed using Vlocity platform:

Below are a few examples of website which are built on Vlocity platform :

Conclusion:

As Salesforce Vlocity provides pre-built solutions for various industries, users can quickly and affordably adapt them to their needs. Additionally, the UI can be modified quickly or we can say more user friendly by using various Vlocity tools.