This chapter will give you a general introduction to Salesforce.com. You will learn the benefits of cloud computing technology and how to extend beyond the Salesforce CRM application using custom objects. There is also an introduction to Schema Builder. Then we will be covering the Salesforce.com architecture, setup menu, and testing environment. This guide will involve some hands-on activities for mastering reports and dashboard creation from Chapter 3, Creating Your First Report, and onwards.

This chapter contains information about reporting and dashboards that applies to both business users and system administrators. Some topics in this chapter discuss features specific for system administrators, but business users will also find it interesting to understand the Salesforce.com architecture better.

Throughout this chapter, we will provide notes and tips for you to understand the Salesforce.com technology. The following topics will be covered in this chapter: