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Scott.MScott.M 

Force.com Core Objects

Hi,

Does anyone know which core objects are available to a Force.com application. Specifically is it possible to display the contracts tab as part of a Force.com application or does a user have to buy Salesforce for the contract funtionality?

Thanks in advance!



Message Edited by Scott.M on 12-05-2008 12:23 PM
Brad HuffmanBrad Huffman
The platform edition only comes with the core Contacts and Accounts objects.  CRM objects are not available in the Force.com platform edition.  http://www.salesforce.com/platform/platform-edition/  A customer would have to be a Salesforce customer to have access to those CRM objects.


Message Edited by Brad Huffman on 12-05-2008 02:40 PM
Scott.MScott.M
Thanks, I guess this leads to my next question, If I'm writing an app that requires contracts and only contracts -  at least the proper thing to do would be to use contracts - and contracts is the only object I need for my application my only options are

1. Recreate contracts with a custom object (this seems like an aweful waste and looks really dumb if the customer ends up buying the entire CRM application which is highly likely)
2. Require my users to pay for the entire CRM package even though the only object necessary for the app is Contracts

I would really rather  pay a small fee (1$/ user) to salesforce which would come to 16$ instead of 15$ and have the contract object enabled, any chance of that?
Brad HuffmanBrad Huffman
Not sure.  Though, I'd guess, probably not.  From what I understand, the idea of the platform edition is for ISVs to develop apps that are NOT CRM like, but that utilize the Force.com platform and infrastructure to create something new and totally different.  If you need Salesforce like functionality, then they want you to buy Salesforce.  It sounds like what you are doing might be more appropriate for the AppExchange.  Extending the existing app as opposed to creating a completely new app.  Hope that helps, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong/out of place.  :)


Message Edited by Brad Huffman on 12-05-2008 04:17 PM

Message Edited by Brad Huffman on 12-05-2008 04:27 PM
advlgxpmadvlgxpm

Platform Edition licensing seems to be a gray area is some respects. Yes, it is true, you can not use Contracts in your application.

I would create another object "similar" to Contracts and call it something different. The Contracts object in SF is VERY generic so I would imagine it would need to be highly customized to meet a specific vertical or elaborate contract management process. If you're in the car biz, call it Leases, in software call it Maintenance, etc. The differentiation and add on value should be enough to satisfy Salesforce legal that you are not recreating CRM components.

 
Scott.MScott.M
Thanks, that's definitely what I'll have to do.

One of the things that bothers me about the solution is that at Dreamforce it seemed like they were pushing the idea of Force.com apps enticing customers to also buy salesforces CRM. It seems like it would be a cleaner solution to be able to write applications that seemlessly integrate with the CRM App Objects since there's inevitebly going to be some overlap between the objects in custom applications. So in the case of the car biz wouldn't it make more sense to have a Lease record type for Contract since Leases are a type of Contract?

At any rate I've made it an idea, so perhaps salesforce will consider providing some way of making CRM objects available to Force.com objects.They could price the objects on an exponential curve so that the more CRM like objects you use the more you have to pay so that if you're using all the objects your paying the same price as if you had purchased a Salesforce CRM License but using one or two isn't too expensive.

For now I'll work around the limitations, thanks for everyones input!